In March 1859 Mr. Frederick Bruce, brother to Lord Elgin, was sent out
as Minister Plenipotentiary to China, and instructed to proceed to
Pekin to exchange the ratifications of the treaty. He was to be
accompanied by Admiral Hope, the English admiral commanding in China.
Pekin lies inland about a hundred miles, being connected with the sea
by the river Peiho, the entrance to which was commanded by the Taku
Forts. For some reason, the Chinese did not want Mr. Bruce to proceed
to Pekin, or at all events they objected to his proceeding by the river
route, as he proposed. Obstacles to the progress of our ships were put
in the way, and the Chinese refused to remove them. Mr. Bruce thereupon
called upon the Admiral to take steps for their removal, and on his
attempting to do so, the Chinese fired on the English ships with such
telling effect that four gunboats were placed _hors de combat_. Nor was
the Admiral more successful when he attempted to storm the forts. The
result of that day's work was that out of 1100 men in the English force
nearly 450 were killed or wounded. The feeling in England was, that
though Mr. Bruce had acted very hastily in thus committing England to
another war without definite instructions from home, the matter could
not be allowed to rest. The French again joined us, and Sir Hope Grant,
who had distinguished himself in the Indian Mutiny, was appointed to
the command. This General, it may be remarked, was an earnest Christian
no less than an eminent soldier. The Taku Forts were captured and the
troops were marching on Pekin, when the Chinese sought to open
negotiations, in order to prevent our army from entering their capital.
Our representatives consented to enter into negotiations at Tungchow, a
place about a dozen miles from Pekin. Some English officers,
accompanied by a few of the staff of the English and French envoys,
went forward to Tungchow, to make the necessary arrangements for the
interview of the envoys with the Chinese commissioners. A
misunderstanding arose, and twenty-six British and twelve French
subjects were seized, in spite of the flag of truce, and hurried off to
different prisons. Their sufferings as prisoners were frightful, the
result being that half of them died, while the remainder, when
released, bore evident signs of the ill-treatment they had undergone.
The allied armies at once marched on Pekin, and Lord Elgin refused to
treat with the Chinese till the prisoners were rest