The Braves, however, made some very plucky stands at three different places, but were all shot or bayoneted, though in this case they opposed our men hand to hand, and showed a good deal of personal courage. But there was no organisation amongst them, each man acted independently; otherwise the raw material was good, but they will never learn to make use of it. We established our Headquarters on the high ground within the city walls on the north and the east of the five-storeyed pagodas, where I am now living in the house marked H.Q., and the troops bivouacked along the ramparts. And so the Maiden City was captured. We were fired on from that portion we had not occupied that day and the following night, but the day after the Governor and Tartar General sent an officer of very subordinate rank to treat with us. The Admirals and General listened to what he had to say, and when they discovered his low rank and that therefore nothing could be arranged with such a fellow, they packed him off, telling him that if the Tartar General were really anxious to treat, they would meet him at the North Gate in an hour's time. This was an instance of Chinese policy; they probably wanted to see if we would treat with this man: if we had, it would have been lowering ourselves in the Chinese eyes, and they would have had us at an advantage. However, the hour arrived, and no Tartar General was there, so we collected a small force and proceeded to the West Gate and round all the walls of the town, destroying all the guns we came across, so that this completed our conquest of the city walls. Still, we had not been inside the city. Yeh, the Tartar General, and the Governor of the Province were still there, and until we could bring them to make overtures nothing had really been effected. On the morning, therefore, of the 5th January, soon after daylight, five columns with guns moved into the city at different points, so as to arrive simultaneously at the West Gate, the Treasury, a house where Yeh was supposed to be, the Governor's yamen (residence), and the Tartar General's yamen. The expedition succeeded beyond everybody's expectation. Yeh, the Governor, and the Gefneral were all captured, and brought under escort through the city to Headquarters, where they were lodged in safety as prisoners of war. Yeh was soon down on board the Inflexible that evening to be the better secured, the Governor and General remaining up here, as it was our object to induce them to continue governing the city under our protection and to issue proclamations to the people to that effect, and telling them that we were masters of the town. This they refused to do at first, so we gave them twenty- four hours to consider over it, intending in case they refused to send them on board ship too. But the next day they thought better of it and gave in to all our demands, so on the 9th we marched them back to the Governor's yamen, where Lord Elgin, Baron Gros, and suite, accompanied by the Admirals, General, and a large staff of officers, had previously gone to receive them. On arrival Lord Elgin made them a very good speech, congratulating them on being restored to their homes, and that now they were going to be associated in the government of the city with three Commissioners chosen from the Allies for that purpose; that if any treachery were shown or further opposition offered it would be met with the severest repression, and adding as soon as the Emperor could grant our terms we should leave the city. Baron Gros then made a speech, and the Governor replied. When the meeting broke up, the three Commissioners remained with a guard in the Governor's house to carry on the government of the city, which seems to promise well. Everything is going on well; the people are most submissive, and we have nothing more to fear except from treachery or surprises, but I do not think with all their cunning that they will catch us asleep. We are fortifying ourselves in a position which will soon be strong enough to resist the whole Chinese Empire. I send you a portrait 28 of that coarse, bloated savage Yeh, — ^you never saw such a beast, he is like a prize ox, but they say he is very clever; he may
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
be so, but a more disgusting-looking fellow I never saw. The profile is admirable, it is a perfect likeness; the front face is not so good, he does not squint quite so much. They are done by Major Crealock ^^ in the Q.M.G.'s department....