defeated, and warlike operations were once
more commenced.

During these operations, Mr Hall performed a gallant act, which
probably saved the lives of Captains Elliot and Herbert and all standing
near. A congreve rocket had been placed in a tube and ignited, when it
hung within it instead of flying out. In another moment it would have
burst, scattering destruction around, had not Mr Hall thrust his arm
into the tube and forced it out from behind. The rush of fire, however,
severely burnt his hand, and caused him much suffering; it was long,
indeed, before he recovered the use of it.

Canton was now attacked both by sea and land; and after some severe
fighting, which lasted from the 23rd up to the 30th of May, that
important city was taken possession of by the British.

Amoy was captured on the 26th of August in a dashing manner, and
Chinghae on the 10th of October 1841, and Ningpo was occupied on the
12th of the same month. Early in the year, Captain Hall and the
officers and crew of the _Nemesis_ had a spirited brush with the
Chinese, to the north of Chusan. After this, the enemy kept at a
distance from that place.

Several attempts were made by the Chinese to destroy the ships of the
squadron, each time defeated by the vigilance of the officers and crews.
On the 13th of May 1843, Chapoo, a large town near the sea, was
attacked and captured; and Woosung and Shanghai shared the same fate on
the 16th and 19th of June, the greater part of the fighting on both
occasions being performed by the seamen and marines of the fleet.

CAPTURE OF CHIN-KEANG-FOO AND NANKIN--21ST JULY 1842.

We now come to the crowning victory of the British in China in this war.

Considerable reinforcements having arrived, it was resolved to advance
on Nankin itself, the ancient capital of the empire, as the most certain
way of bringing the Chinese to terms. To reach that city, the admiral
had determined to conduct his fleet, consisting of nearly eighty sail,
including two line-of-battle ships, up the great river Yang-Tze, into
the very heart of the empire, 200 miles from the sea.

On the 6th July, this imposing fleet passed up the river without any
opposition, the Chinese having even withdrawn their guns from most of
the towns on its banks, to escape the injury they expected would be
inflicted had they made any hostile demonstration. At Seshan, however,
about fifteen miles below Chin-Keang-Foo, some batteries at the foot of
a hill,