d will make a point of seeing you, and giving you all our
news. ... I cannot decide as to my own return until I see Frederick.
... The deaths of poor Bowlby and the others who were with him were
very sad! Loch's escape was most providential. With 5,000 men led on
without delay, as ought to be done in China, nothing of this kind
would have occurred. I told Palmerston so before I started; but the
delays incident to conveying so large an army as ours without risking
anything, have nearly made the whole thing break down.

_October 27th.--Nine A.M._--Loch tells me he must be off, so I must
end my brief epistle. I take up my abode in Pekin to-day, in the
palace of the Prince of I., who played me false at Tung-chow.

_Pekin, Prince of I.'s Palace.--October 30th._--I have been in bed for
two days with an attack of influenza, but I am better to-day, though
not by way of going out. Here we (the General and I) are occupying a
great enclosure containing a series of one-storied wooden buildings
with covered passages and verandahs. There is a good deal of
aristocratic seclusion about the place, as it is surrounded by walls,
and entirely cut off from the world without; but there is little
appearance of luxury and comfort about it. It rained yesterday and the
day before, and I had considerable difficulty in reading in my bed, as
my paper windows, which keep out the cold pretty well, keep out also a
good deal of light. They are not transparent, so the view through them
is not lively. To-day there is a beautiful sunshine, and I have been
walking about a little in the court before my room door. The present
arrangement is that we remain here till the 8th. I had some difficulty
in obtaining this; but it is of great importance that, before the army
goes, I should get a decree from the Emperor sanctioning the
publication of the Treaty all over the empire. ... The French General
will not, however, consent to remain.

[Sidenote: Funeral of the murdered captives.]

_October 31st._--Another fine day, but I have not left the house,
partly from consideration for the remains of my cold, and partly
because I have had letters to finish. I have had visits from both my
colleagues, Gros and Ignatieff. The latter and I are always very good
friends. Perhaps he takes advantage of my simplicity; but at any rate
we always s