Chapter C (2)

A convention for the cessation of hostilities was to be signed on the 7th, and ground was actually taken for a review of all the troops, which was to be held for the edification of the Commissioners, after they should have signed the treaty.

Suddenly the sky darkened: it was ascertained that “Kweiliang” and his brother Commissioners were not armed with the powers they asserted, and ultimately, instead of parading on the 8th in holiday pageant, a portion of our forces began that day the march towards Pekin. The Ambassadors left next day, in company with the Commanders-in-Chief; the forces were advanced as far as carriage could be procured; but the means of the commissariat were insufficient to move the whole army to such a distance, and to carry the necessary supplies. The draught cattle furnished by the mandarins at Tientsin were spirited away at the first halting place, and the 2nd division of the British army, which was to have brought up the rear, had to devote its carriage to the assistance of the 1st division, and remain behind.

In this emergency the commissariat would have had the greatest difficulty in feeding the troops in the front, but for the measures taken by Sir Robert Napier, who remained in command at Tientsin. By inducing persistent efforts to push boats up the river Peiho, which runs parallel to the road nearly up to Pekin, but which had been pronounced unnavigable by even the smallest craft, and by laying embargo on the traffic of Tientsin, General Napier procured, and with the aid of the navy organised, large means of water transport, which afforded invaluable assistance.

As the Ambassadors advanced they were met by letters announcing the appointment of “Tsai Prince of Ee” as Chief Commissioner to conclude negotiations in lieu of Kweiliang, who was pronounced to have proved himself incompetent; and on the 14th September, Messrs. Parkes and Wade held a conference with the Commissioners at Tung-chow, whereat, all preliminaries being settled, a letter was written to Lord Elgin acceding in terms to all his demands.

It was arranged that Lord Elgin was to meet the Commissioners in the walled city of Tung-chow, eight miles short of Pekin, where he would sign the convention, under escort of 1000 men; and that he should immediately afterwards proceed to Pekin, there to exchange ratifications of the Treaty of Tientsin (1858), under similar protection. Our armies meanwhile were to encamp four miles below Tung-chow.

Nothing remained but to settle details, and take up suitable quarters for Lord Elgin at Tung-chow. For this purpose Mr. Parkes, accompanied by Messrs. Loch (private secretary), De Norman (attached to Shanghai mission), and Bowlby (_Times’_ correspondent), with an escort of Fane’s Horse, under Lieut. Anderson, went out on the 17th. Lieut.-Colonel Beauchamp Walker accompanied the party, for the purpose of inspecting the ground designated by the Chinese for our encampment, and Mr. Thompson (Commissariat) was sent to guage the capabilities of supply of the city of Tung-chow.

On arrival they were well received; but in discussing affairs they were surprised to find objections raised on several points to which the Chinese Commissioners had before consented. However, after a discussion of five or six hours, the Chinese negociators gave way; and having arranged details, our party slept that night in the city, the guests of the Commissioners.

Next morning Colonel Walker, accompanied by Messrs. Parkes and Loch, and attended by a Chinese officer deputed by the Commissioners, proceeded to examine the ground on which the British army was to be encamped, leaving the larger part of the escort at Tung-chow, where Messrs. Bowlby and De Norman also remained, pending the return of Parkes and Loch, who had yet to find a suitable residence for Lord Elgin within the walls of Tung-chow. On the way out, the party found the Tartar army in hurried movement in the direction of our forces, and on reaching the ground proposed for encampment, discovered it to be entirely commanded by the position which the Tartar forces, supported by a numerous artillery, were then taking up.

Seeing this, Parkes turned round and rode back to Tung-chow to demand a cessation of these hostile movements. Loch went on into the British camp with a couple of men to report progress, whilst Col. Walker, Thompson, and half-a-dozen dragoons, remained in the Tartar position, at Parkes’s request, until he should return. Having reported progress to the Commander-in-Chief, whom he met advancing, about a mile from the Tartar position, Loch returned towards the Tartars, accompanied by Captain Brabazon, R. A., with orders to Parkes to come back at once.

Mr. Parkes, on reaching Tung-chow, was rudely received by the Prince of Ee, and was told that until the questions to which objections had been made the day previous had been satisfactorily determined, peace could not exist. Thereupon Parkes, with Bowlby, De Norman, and all our people, left Tung-chow for the British camp. Mid-way they met Loch and Brabazon, who turned homewards with them, and all went on together, preceded by a flag of truce.

Before they came in sight of Colonel Walker and his few men, Tartar cavalry, blowing their matches, and making other hostile gestures, came galloping along the high bank on either side of our people, who were in a hollow way. Presently the party was summoned to halt; being surrounded, and ignorant of the ground, it was deemed advisable to comply, both to insist on the sanctity of the flag of truce, and to gain an opportunity of discovering the best way out of their uncomfortable position. The Tartar officer in command civilly told them, that as firing had commenced, he was unable to let them pass, without orders from his General, to whose presence he would conduct Mr. Parkes. Parkes, Loch, and one Sikh rode away with the officer. Suddenly turning the angle of a field of maize, they found themselves in the midst of a mob of infantry, whose uplifted weapons their guide with difficulty put aside. Further on stood San-ko-lin-tzin, the Tartar General, of whom Parkes demanded a free passage. He was answered with derision; and, after a brief parley, in which San-ko-lin-tzin upbraided Parkes as the cause of all the disasters which had befallen the empire, at a sign from the General our men were tossed off from their horses, their faces rubbed in the dust, and their hands tied behind them, and so, painfully bound, were placed upon carts, and taken to Pekin. Orders, were, at the same time, sent to capture the escort, which had been already surrounded by ever increasing numbers. Some of the troopers suggested the propriety of cutting their way through, but Anderson replied it would compromise the others, and refused to do what his gallant heart desired.

Soon, however, the whole party was disarmed, and taken to Pekin on their horses without dishonor. Next day they were removed to the Summer Palace of Yuen-Ming-Yuen, where they were severally bound. Their hands and feet tied together behind their backs, they were thrown on their chests, and kept in the open air exposed to the cold at night, and the still considerable heat by day, without food or water, for three days and nights. From the first their bonds were wetted to tighten them, and if they attempted to turn or move to rest themselves, they were cruelly kicked and beaten. On the third day poor Anderson’s fingers and nails burst from the pressure of the cords, which were not even then relaxed. The wrist bones became visible, and mortification ensued; the victim became delirious, and thus mercifully made unconscious of the horror of his position, this gallant soldier died. During his sufferings his men made efforts to approach him and to gnaw his cords, but they were savagely kicked away by his inhuman jailers. The condition of the survivors was only ameliorated, after the lapse of three days, by the bonds on their hands and feet being exchanged for heavy chains and irons. But, from this time, they were regularly, though most scantily and miserably, fed.

Poor Bowlby died the fifth day, in the same way as Anderson, then De Norman and several of the men. All appear to have kept noble hearts, and to have cheered and encouraged each other, but no less than thirteen sank under the horrors of this captivity. Brabazon and a French Abbé, who were taken with the escort, were, still unbound, seen to leave the party, on the way to Pekin, saying they were going to the Chinese Commander-in-Chief to procure the release of their companions. Their mournful fate was, we rejoice to know, less horrible. They were beheaded, by order of a Chinese General, on the 21st September, in revenge for a wound he had received during the action of the day; but their bodies being then thrown into the canal, were unhappily never recovered.

Parkes, Loch, and their Sikh orderly, had been taken off straight to Pekin, and never saw anything of the rest of their party. Parkes was known by sight and reputation, and his position and that of Loch was, in a manner, recognised. Their cords were unbound after eight hours, when they were heavily ironed, separated from each other, and each put into ward with sixty prisoners--murderers and felons of the first class--with whom they ate and slept and lived. By day they were allowed to move about in their wards; at night their chains were fastened to staples in the prison roof. They represent their fellow prisoners to have behaved uniformly with kindness towards them, sharing with them any little comforts they possessed, and carrying their chains when they moved. But they were treated with extreme rigour, and their allowance of food was scanty.

After the 29th September a change of treatment was adopted. Parkes and Loch were taken from prison, and confined together in a temple, where they were treated with every consideration. Their dinner was furnished by the Véry of Pekin, and mandarins visited them, bringing little presents of fruit. During this time the diplomatists were trying to turn Parkes to political account. They wrote to Lord Elgin to say that the prisoners then in Pekin were very well, and that the basis of a treaty was being arranged with Mr. Parkes, which would no doubt be satisfactory to all parties. And thus matters went on until the joyful day came of the prisoners’ release.

The firing spoken of as the immediate cause of the detention of our people, began thus: Colonel Walker and his party had been left in the lines of the Tartars, who were at first rudely good-humoured, as he moved about and observed how completely the guns, now in position behind a ridge of sandhills, covered the ground allotted by the Commissioners for the encampment of our forces. Suddenly Walker’s attention was attracted by a cry uttered close to him. He saw a French officer who had come out of Tung-chow during the morning, and had attached himself to the English, in the act of being cut down and pulled off his horse by a party of soldiers. Walker rode up to him, and catching hold of his hand, essayed to drag him away. A mob closed round Walker; some attempted to lift him off his horse; whilst others, taking advantage of his right hand being engaged, canted his sword out of its scabbard and made off. A mortal blow was dealt to the poor Frenchman; swords were drawn on all sides; and Walker calling on his men to put spurs and ride, galloped for his life towards our troops, now drawn up within sight, about half a mile away. The party was pursued by cavalry, and fired on by Tartar infantry and guns in succession; but they reached our lines alive, with one horse severely, and two men slightly, wounded.

An immediate advance was made by the Allied forces; the enemy were speedily driven from their guns, and their cavalry was swept away by successive charges of our horse. All their guns, seventy-five in number, their camps, and quantities of arms, were captured by our troops, who occupied for the night the walled town of Chan-kya-wan, which gave its name to the battle. That place is twelve miles from Pekin, in a direct line, and four from Tung-chow, which is the port of Pekin on the Peiho; and lies to the right of the direct road from Tientsin.

But the victory did not lead, as we had fondly hoped, to the immediate recovery of the prisoners, victims of treachery so dark as to have been unsuspected even by the experienced and wary Parkes. The night before the foul plot was carried out, the Prince of Ee had entertained our people at dinner, and, smiling, had bidden them adieu. An officer, deputed by the Prince, attended the party in the morning, and it was perhaps not unnatural for Parkes to believe that he could induce the Prince to countermand the movement of troops which he then saw, and which he supposed to be unknown to the High Commissioner. The Prince’s reception of Parkes, of course, dispelled this expectation, and no time was lost in returning to camp. Even then there was no appearance of immediate danger to the party, unless from possible excitement of the rude soldiery through whom they had to pass; for both Chinese and Tartars had up to this time invariably shown the fullest confidence in the protection of flags of truce, under which officers had frequently passed between the Allied and Chinese camps during the war then waging.

The soldiers, however, possessed that reverence for the emblem of peace which animates most other savages; and it was at the hands of San-ko-lin-tzin, the commander-in-Chief of the Chinese army, and the apostle of competitive examination, that the Chinese Government was degraded to the last degree by the deliberate violation of a flag of truce, and by the capture of the heralds whom it should have shielded.

Having ascertained that a considerable force of Tartars was encamped between Tung-chow and Pekin, Sir Hope Grant advanced on the 21st September to attack their position. Again the Tartars were completely beaten, their camps and guns all captured, and great loss inflicted on the enemy by our cavalry. The King’s Dragoon Guards made a capital charge; and a squadron of Fane’s horse, under Lieutenant Cattley, attached for the day to the French, after driving the enemy into a village, galloped quickly round it, and falling on the enemy’s flank, as he emerged on the other side, inflicted signal punishment. The number of Tartar troops on or about the field this day is estimated at 80,000 men, of whom 30,000 were actually engaged. The allied forces numbered 6200--viz., English, 3200 of all arms, and fifteen guns; and French, 3000, with twelve guns.

The action of Pā-li-chow left us in possession of the important strategic point called the Pā-li bridge, whereby the paved causeway from Tung-chow to Pekin crosses the canal constructed between those places. It further gave us the line of the canal on which the enemy had rested, and left the approach to Pekin open to our troops.

Our success was immediately followed by a letter from the Prince Koung, brother of the Emperor, and heir to the throne, announcing to the Ambassadors that he had been appointed, with full powers, to conclude a peace, in the room of Prince Tsai.

After the fight of the 18th, Sir Hope Grant had sent an express to summon General Napier, with as much of the 2nd division as could be spared from Tientsin. The General had already succeeded in procuring from the Chinese authorities carriage for his troops, which the Commissariat was unable to furnish. The order found them ready to move, and General Napier reached headquarters on the 24th, having marched seventy miles in sixty hours, with a supply of ammunition, which was much required, escorted by a company of Brownlow’s light-footed Punjabees.

The army halted in the position it had won until siege guns had arrived by water from Tientsin; fourteen days’ supply had been brought up the river, and all available troops had been collected. The force in front was strengthened by all the infantry of the garrison of Tientsin, which was replaced by the 19th Punjab Infantry from Tahlien Bay, and by marines, whom the Admiral landed from the fleet.

Advancing from Pā-li on the 6th October, the British took up position on the northern road leading from the gates of Pekin to Tartary, without falling in with any of the enemy, except a picket, which retired with precipitation. The French who were to have operated on the left between our flank and Pekin, marched, through some misunderstanding, across our rear, and took possession of the imperial palace of Yuen-Ming-Yuen, “the Fountain of Summer,” six miles to the North of Pekin, and four miles away to our right. We heard nothing of them all night; but Sir Hope Grant found them the next morning, when arrangements were made for the division between the two forces of the treasures which the palace contained. But in the absence of any British troops the arrangements broke through, and our prize agents, finding the principal valuables appropriated by the French, abandoned their functions. Thereupon on the 8th indiscriminate plunder was allowed; but as of the British a few officers only had access to the palace, and none of the men, our officers were ultimately desired to give up all they had brought away, and the property they had collected was ultimately sold by auction for the benefit of the troops actually present in the field before Pekin.

A most spirited sale ensued of china, enamels, jade, furs, silk, &c., which realised £5000; and this sum, added to the amount of gold and silver bullion which had been brought in, enabled the prize agents at once to make a distribution amongst the troops, ranging from £3 for a private soldier, to £60 for a first-class field officer. All our generals surrendered their shares to the troops. The arrangement made was perhaps the fairest that could be arrived at under the actual circumstances of the time; but of a booty worth at least a million of money, belonging to the imperial crown--therefore prize of the fairest character--the British troops have profited only to the amount of £25,000. The balance has gone to the French, who take the broadest view of the question of halves, or to the Chinese peasantry, who plundered as they pleased, after the departure of the French, on the third day of occupation.

On the 8th October, the first-fruits of our advance on Pekin were realised, in the surrender to us, by the Chinese, of Messrs. Parkes and Loch, and the Sikh orderly who had been taken with them. A French savant and three men were given up at the same time. Our poor fellows looked wonderfully well; but M. d’Escayrae’s hands were still contorted by the pressure to which they had been subjected during the twenty hours in which he was bound. The delivery of prisoners was the direct result of an intimation sent to the Chinese, on the 7th October, that unless all the prisoners still in their hands were delivered up immediately, a gate of the city placed in our possession without opposition, and competent persons deputed to conclude a peace, Pekin would be taken by assault; but if all the prisoners were given up, our troops would not be allowed to enter the city, and the lives and property of the inhabitants should be respected.

Saturday, the 13th October, at noon, was the period fixed on for compliance with our demands. Before the time elapsed, eleven of our Sikh horsemen who had been prisoners, were delivered up alive, and the remains of all who had perished (save poor Brabazon and the Abbé), were received in coffins. On the 17th they were buried in the Russian cemetery, with all the honour and solemnity that could be paid. The Ambassadors of England, France, and Russia, the Commanders-in-Chief, and the allied officers not on duty, attended. The Roman Catholic and Greek prelates showed, by their presence, generous sympathy in the untimely fate of our countrymen.

But as the complete fulfilment of the demands was still uncertain, batteries were erected against the city wall at a distance of 150 yards, by the British and French respectively, and arrangements were made for opening fire at noon of the 13th, if the gate was not by that time given up. Every one agreed in hoping that thousands of inoffensive people might be spared the misery of an assault; but the 2nd Division must have felt something like a pang when, at the appointed hour, they saw their General ride with an escort through the gate, and found, by the display of the ensign from its top, that the Tartars had surrendered to us the command of the Imperial city.

Yes, we were there, masters of the capital of China--at the very end of the map of the world--at the point which appears to schoolboy minds the limit of creation. We held the massive four-storied keep which frowns like a line-of-battle ship above the Gate of Peace; our troops and field artillery were actually on the walls which commanded the whole of the interior of the city, and they could move to any point along the fifty feet road which the summit of the wall presents. The walls and gates adjoining, together with some few larger double-storied buildings, were the only objects visible from our position varying the universal dun-colour of the city houses and enclosing walls. The broad street which leads from our gate into the city was packed with a dense crowd, anxious to make out the foreigners, and indulging in sonorous “Ei Yaws” at every novelty which met their wondering eyes. Electrified indeed were the Celestials when the bands of a French regiment, and of our 67th and 99th, struck up within the gateway, and guards presented their clanging arms as the Generals rode by; but the climax was reached when Desborough’s guns were spurted up the steep stone ramps which lead from the base to the summit of the wall, fifty feet in height, drawn by six horses of fabulous stature, and driven by the terrible barbarians who eat their enemies.

The surrender was carried out in good faith; but the appearance on the walls of guns of heavy calibre, evidently recently moved into positions whence our batteries were observed, spoke either of divided counsels or of tardy resignation on the part of our enemies.

Still our success was insufficient. No retribution had been exacted for the violation of the flag of truce, and for the murder of our countrymen, and no one seemed to feel certain whether a treaty was to be obtained or not. It was useless to demand the surrender of the persons who had instigated the barbarous treatment of the prisoners, for they were known to be very near the person of the Emperor, and there was therefore no chance of our getting the real offenders. An atonement in money, for the iniquities perpetrated, though repugnant to our feelings, appeared to be the only kind of demand with which the Chinese Government, humiliated and beaten as it was, could be expected to comply. The readiest means of obtaining a treaty was obviously to remain at Pekin until we got it; but the French Commander refused positively to detain his troops at the capital after the 1st November, and the English General was greatly indisposed to incur the risk of keeping his force there through the winter, in the absence of complete and timely arrangements for provisionment, which it was considered the advanced period of the season rendered impracticable.

Accordingly, on the 18th October, an ultimatum was addressed by the plenipotentiaries to Prince Koung, requiring him to reply by the morning of the 20th, whether, after paying, as a necessary preliminary to further negotiations, a sum of money in atonement for the murders committed, he would on an early day sign the convention already agreed upon? His Excellency was told that the Summer Palace, which had been partially plundered before the fate of the prisoners was known, would now be entirely destroyed, that its ruins might present a lasting mark of the abhorrence of the British Government at the violation of the law of nations which had been committed. He was also told, that in case of refusal to comply with the demands now made, the Imperial Palace of Pekin would be captured, plundered and burned.

In support of the ultimatum, the 1st Division of the British force, with cavalry, proceeded on the 18th and 19th to complete the plunder and destruction of the Summer Palace, whose smoke, driven by the northerly wind, hung over Pekin, whilst its ashes were wafted into the very streets of the capital. The French declined to take any part in this act of punishment--first, because they thought the palace had already been destroyed on their quitting it; and further, they feared that this demonstration would frighten the Chinese out of all hope of making any treaty at all.

The result showed that not one-fourth of the Imperial pavilions which constitute the Summer Palace had been even visited in the first instance, much less burned; and great booty was acquired by the troops employed as well as by the members of the embassy, navy, and staff, who were able to accompany the force. And so salutary was the effect produced on the advisers of the Imperial crown, that a letter acceding to all demands was received at daylight on the 20th, to the renewed disappointment of the 2nd Division, who again were under arms for the assault.

On the 22nd, the atonement-money, amounting to £100,000, was paid; and on the 24th, her Majesty’s Plenipotentiary, accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief, and escorted by a division of the army, entered in state and triumph the gates of the dim, mysterious city. The Ambassador was received by a deputation of Mandarins, who accompanied Lord Elgin to the hall, three miles distant, at the far side of the Tartar city, where the Prince Koung, surrounded by the principal officers of state, awaited his arrival.

At five o’clock that afternoon, ratifications of the treaty of 1858 were duly exchanged by the representatives of the sovereigns, and a convention signed, which, commencing with a recital of the Emperor’s regret at the occurrences at the Peiho Forts in 1858, declares Tientsin a free port, and thereby opens the Peiho to within seventy miles of Pekin for the traffic of the world. The provisions of the convention permit free emigration of Chinese, with their wives and families, to all parts of the world, and transfer a territory at Cowloon, opposite Hong Kong, where our troops were encamped in 1860, to the British Crown. An indemnity of three millions sterling to the British is guaranteed; and stipulation is made for the establishment of a British force at Tientsin, until the terms are fulfilled. A portion of the indemnity is to be paid 31st, December, 1860, whereon Chusan is to be evacuated by the English and French troops. But no provision is made for the evacuation of Canton, to which the French are at present understood to be disinclined to agree. The remainder of the indemnity is to be paid by periodical instalments of one-fifth of the gross revenue of the customs of China.

After signing the convention, Lord Elgin expressed a hope that the treaty would inaugurate friendly relations between the powers. Prince Koung replied that he himself had been about to utter the same words; and acknowledging that foreign affairs had hitherto been greatly mismanaged, observed, that as their administration was now exclusively placed in his hands, he had no doubt their future management would be more satisfactory.

The Franco-Chinese treaty was ratified by Baron Gros and the Prince Koung on the following day.”

CINTRA, CONVENTION OF.--This disgraceful convention was concluded between the British army, under Sir Hew Dalrymple and the French under Marshal Junot. The latter were allowed to evacuate Portugal and to be carried home to France in British ships, taking with them their ill-got gain; signed the day of the battle of Vimeira, August 22nd, 1808.

CITATE.--Fought 5th January, 1854, between Omar Pacha and the Turks, on the one side, and the Russians on the other.

“The army to which was allotted the first active operation was that commanded by General Fishback, with Generals Engelhardt and Bellegarde under his orders. This force was to occupy the extreme west of the Russian line of attack, and to drive the Turks from their position at Kalafat. By the time, however, that Fishback had reached Citate, a village within a few miles of his destination, he discovered that his force of about 15,000 men was inadequate to dislodge an equal number, strongly intrenched, and in unimpeded communication with Widdin, on the opposite side of the river, whence considerable supplies of men and ammunition could doubtless be obtained. He resolved, therefore, to postpone the assault until the 13th of January (the Russian New Year’s day), by which time he would be in possession of the requisite reinforcements, which he anticipated would raise his force to 45,000 men. Achmet and Ismail Pachas, who commanded the garrison at Kalafat, were well aware of the plans of the Russian commander, and determined to forestall his action. At daybreak, on the 6th of January, they sallied from the town with fifteen field-pieces, 10,000 regular infantry, 4000 cavalry, and 1000 of the irregular troops, known as Bashi-Bazouks. Three thousand men from the garrison at Widdin crossed the river to defend Kalafat from surprise; and at Moglovitz, between that town and Citate, a similar number were detached as a reserve. About nine o’clock the Turks reached Citate, and opened a side fire upon the village, while the infantry vigorously charged in front. After three hours of sanguinary street-fighting, the nature of the ground forbidding organized military combinations, the Russians retreated to the works they had thrown up beyond the village. The Turkish field-pieces were now brought to bear upon the intrenchments, and several vigorous assaults were made and as bravely repulsed. In the midst of the conflict, a large body of Russian reinforcements arrived, and the Turks, who occupied the gardens and orchards round the village, were exposed to an energetic assault in their rear. Nothing daunted, and favoured by their position, the Ottomans fought nobly, and succeeded in routing the newly-arrived reinforcement of the enemy, just as Ismail Pacha appeared upon the scene with the reserve from Moglovitz. Concentrating their forces, they now rushed at the intrenchments, and, beating down all opposition, drove the enemy from the position they had held. Nearly 2400 Russians dead in the streets and earth-works, a like number wounded, four guns, and the depôts of ammunition and arms which they captured, attested that day the prowess of the Turkish arms. Their own loss was about 200 killed and 700 wounded. For two days they held the place against the attempts of the Russians to recapture it; and then, emerging into the open field, drove the Russians before them back to Krajova. Then, retiring in triumph, they re-entered Kalafat, which, now mounting 250 heavy guns, and garrisoned (including Widdin) by 25,000 men, might safely promise a desperate resistance to any further Russian attempt.”

CIUDAD RODRIGO.--This strong fortress of Spain was invested by the French, June 11th, 1810, and surrendered July 10th, following.--Remained in the hands of the French till stormed gallantly by the British, under Wellington, January 19th, 1812.--Loss of the British and Portuguese 1000 killed and wounded, equal number of French, and 1700 prisoners.

CLONTARF, BATTLE OF.--Fought between the Irish and Danes on Good Friday, 1039. The Danes were signally defeated, 11,000 of them perished in battle, but the Irish had to deplore the loss of Bryan Boiroimhe, the King, and many of the nobility.

CLOSTERSEVEN, CONVENTION OF.--Between the Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II, and the Duke of Richelieu, commanding the French; 38,000 Hanovarians laid down their arms and were dispersed,--signed September 10th, 1757.

COALITIONS AGAINST FRANCE.

1st. Prussia issued her manifesto June 26th, 1792.

2nd. Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Naples, Portugal and Turkey
signed them, June 22nd, 1799.

3rd. Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Naples, August 5th, 1805.

4th. Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Saxony, October 6th, 1806.

5th. England and Austria, April 6th, 1809.

6th. Russia and Prussia, ratified at Kalisch, March 17th, 1813.

COLONEL.--This word is derived from the French, and means the chief commander of a regiment of troops.

COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF OF THE BRITISH ARMY SINCE 1674:

Duke of Monmouth 1674
Duke of Marlborough 1690
Duke of Schomberg 1691
Duke of Ormond 1711
Earl of Stair 1744
Field Marshal Wade 1745
Lord Ligonier 1757
Marquess of Granby 1766
Lord Amherst 1778
General Seymour Conway 1782
Lord Amherst again 1793
Frederick, Duke of York 1795
Sir David Dundas March 25, 1809
Frederick, Duke of York May 29, 1811
Duke of Wellington Jan’y 22, 1827
Lord Hill, Gen’l Commander-in-Chief Feb’y 25, 1828
Duke of Wellington again Dec. 28, 1842
Viscount Hardinge Sept. 25, 1852
Duke of Cambridge July 15, 1856

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.--The League of the Germanic States formed under the auspices of Napoleon Bonaparte. By this celebrated League the German States had to raise 258,000 troops to serve in case of war. It terminated with the downfall of Napoleon.

CONFLANS, TREATY OF.--A compact between Louis XI of France and the Dukes of Bourbon, Brittany and Burgundy. This treaty put an end to the “War of the Public Good,” in 1468.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.--It was whilst preparing to cross the Alps, to chastise the barbarians, that Constantine is said to have witnessed the supernatural appearance which induced him to embrace Christianity, and establish it henceforth as the religion of the empire. While meditating in his tent on the dangers that surrounded him, and praying for divine guidance and protection amidst them, there is said to have appeared over against him in the heavens a pillar of light in the form of a cross, bearing this inscription, “By this overcome.” Those who were attached to paganism looked upon this as a most inauspicious omen, but it made a different impression on the Emperor. He caused a royal standard to be made, like the appearance he had seen in the heavens. This was always carried before him in his war as an ensign of victory and celestial protection. Soon after this event he embraced the religion of Christ, and a little while after encountered Maxentius, his opponent, whom he utterly defeated in a terrible battle--Maxentius himself having been drowned while attempting to cross the river Tiber.

CONSTANTINOPLE.--Taken by the western crusaders in 1204. Retaken in 1261. Conquered by Mahomet II., who slew 6000 of the people, A.D. 1453. Ever since possessed by the Turks.

COPENHAGEN.--Capital of Denmark. It was bombarded by the English, under Nelson and Admiral Parker. Of twenty-three ships belonging to the Danes, eighteen were taken or destroyed, April 2nd, 1801. Again, after another bombardment of three days, the city and fleet surrendered to Admiral Gambier and Lord Cathcart, September 7th, 1807. Immense naval stores and eighteen sail of the line, fifteen frigates, six brigs, and twenty-five gunboats were captured.

CORNET.--An instrument of music of the nature of a trumpet. In modern usage, a cornet is a commissioned officer of cavalry next below a lieutenant who bears the ensign or colors of a troop.

CORONEA, BATTLE OF.--Fought between the Athenians and Allies and the Spartans. The King of the Spartans, engaging the Allies, completely defeated them, B.C. 394.

CORPORAL.--The lowest officer of a company next below a sergeant. The corporal of a ship of war is an officer under the master-at-arms, employed to teach the sailors the use of small arms. Napoleon was familiarly known among his troops by the name of the Little Corporal, and as he used to say there was just one step between the sublime and the ridiculous, so opposite extremes are taken in his titles. Emperor! Corporal!

CORUNNA, BATTLE OF.--Sir John Moore commanded the British army of about 15,000 men, and had just accomplished a safe retreat, when they were attacked by the French with a force of 20,000. They were completely repulsed, but the loss of the British was immense. Sir John Moore was struck by a cannon ball which carried off his left shoulder and part of his collar bone, leaving the arm dangling by the flesh. He died immediately. In the evening of the day of battle the remains of the splendid British army embarked at Corunna, January 16th, 1809. Previous to the battle, the army under their illustrious leader, had accomplished an arduous yet honorable retreat, for many leagues through an enemy’s country.

CRACOW.--It was taken by Charles XII, in 1702. Taken and retaken several times by the Russians, and Kosciusko expelled the Russians, March 24th, 1794, but it surrendered to the Prussians the same year. Occupied by 10,000 Russians, September, 1831; seized by Austria, and incorporated into that empire, November 16th, 1846.

CRESSY.--Fought between the English and French, August 26th, 1346. In the month of July in the year 1346, King Edward, at the head of an army of 30,000 men, landed at La Hogue, in Normandy. He was accompanied by his son, the Prince of Wales, though only fifteen years of age, and by his principal nobility. Having taken several towns, he moved along the left bank of the Seine, which river he wished to cross, in order to join an army of Flemings in Picardy. But he found the bridges all broken, and King Philip, at the head of a numerous army, followed his motions on the opposite bank of the river. At length Edward contrived to repair one of the broken bridges, and to pass over unknown to Philip; and he then marched rapidly till he reached the river Somme; but he there again found all the bridges secured, and learned that Philip was at Amiens with 100,000 men. Being informed that there was a ford near the town of Abbeville, which might be passed when the tide was low, Edward set out for it at midnight; but when the English reached it, the waters were not sufficiently low; and while they were waiting, a large body of French cavalry came down to oppose their passage. The English horsemen, however, gallantly plunged into the stream, drove off the enemy, and gained the opposite bank. The whole army was over when King Philip arrived, and the rising of the tide obliged him to go round by the bridge of Abbeville.

Though the French army was nearly four times as numerous as his own, King Edward resolved to give it battle. He drew up his troops in three divisions on an eminence behind the village of Creci or Cressy. The prince of Wales, aided by the Earls of Oxford and Warwick, led the first, the King himself commanded the last. At dawn (the day was the 26th of August), Edward having heard mass and received the sacrament, rode along the lines, cheering his men, and at ten o’clock they sat down and took their breakfast in their ranks. The French, meantime, advanced from Abbeville in confusion and disorder. A storm of thunder and rain came on and lasted through a great part of the day; but at five o’clock in the afternoon, the sky becoming clear, Philip ordered a body of Génoese cross-bowmen, in his service, to begin the battle. The Génoese gave a shout, and discharged their bolts; the English archers, who were posted in front, showered in return their arrows of a yard in length; and the Génoese, unable to re-charge their ponderous crossbows, fell into disorder. The count of Alençon then charged the first division of the English with a numerous body of cavalry. The second line advanced to its aid, and a knight was sent off to King Edward, who was viewing the battle from the top of a windmill, to pray him to send more help. “Is my son slain or wounded?” said the King. “No, sire.” “Then,” replied he, “tell Warwick, he shall have no aid. Let the boy win his spurs.” When this message was brought to the English, it redoubled their courage; and the French were at length totally routed, with immense loss. “Fair son,” cried Edward to the Prince, as he clasped him to his bosom after the battle, “Fair son, continue your career. You have acted nobly, and shown yourself worthy of me and the crown.”

The person of the highest rank who fell in this great battle was John, king of Bohemia. This prince, who was blind from age, ordered four of his knights to lead him into the thick of the battle. They interlaced his and their own bridles, and rushed forward, and all were slain. The crest of the King of Bohemia, three ostrich feathers, and his motto, _Ich dien_, i.e. _I serve_, were adopted by the Prince of Wales, and still are those of the heir-apparent of the crown of England.

CRIMEA, LANDING IN THE.--_Crimean War._--The following graphic description is from Emerson’s Sebastopol:--“At length the great fleet, nearly 400 vessels in all, on the 7th of September, 1854, a memorable day thenceforth, set sail for its destination. What that destination was none knew. Orders were issued to rendezvous off the Isle of Serpents, near the Sulina mouth of the Danube. The scene, when the immense flotilla was fairly under weigh, was of the most exciting and animating character. Every ship bore on its side the number of the regiment and nature of troops it conveyed, and carried a distinguishing flag. As night closed in, lanterns signalling the division to which it belonged were displayed, and an illumination, such as the waters of the Euxine never reflected, was witnessed by the sharers in the daring adventure. No incident of these modern practical times, perhaps, has partaken so largely of the character of romance as the departure of this renowned expedition. The great armada, which taxed the energies of the most powerful maritime nation of the sixteenth century, was a puny flotilla compared to the one we are now writing of. The largest vessel of that celebrated fleet was a cockleshell to many of our noble steamers, detached from their customary vocation of carrying on the commercial intercourse of nations, and devoted to the service of war. Resources of science, unknown before the present generation, and adapted by skill to our naval requirements, were there in abundance, rendering a single steamer more than a match for a dozen vessels of an earlier age, and almost independent of the adverse winds and strong currents which had dispersed many a gallant fleet and defeated many a deep-laid scheme of conquest. Iron, naturally one of the densest of bodies, became, in the hands of the scientific shipwright, buoyant as cork; and vessels, each large enough to carry a regiment of cavalry besides its proper crew, and to which a Spanish brig-of-war of the days of Philip might have served for a jolly-boat, breasted the broad waves of the Euxine, freighted with as brave and chivalrous warriors as menaced Troy, or did battle with the infidel possessors of Jerusalem.

Brave and chivalrous indeed, for they sailed they knew not whither, to encounter an unknown enemy. It might be that they were to force a landing at once under the very guns of Sebastopol, and by sheer audacity achieve the capture of the renowned fortress. It might be that, debarking at a distance from that spot, they would be exposed to toilsome marches, in an enemy’s country, harassed by clouds of Cossacks, and opposed by great armies, in strong positions, infinitely outnumbering their own force, when even continuous victory would necessarily be almost entire annihilation. But, like the errant-knights of old, they anticipated no difficulties, and bore a stout heart for any fate. English and French, officer and man, seemed to have but one desire, that of meeting all foes at all hazards, and winning gallantly or dying gloriously.

The general instructions furnished to Marshal St. Arnaud (who, by reason of the French army being so numerically superior to the English, and his military rank as marshal being higher than that of Lord Raglan, assumed the rank of generalissimo of the expedition), and which were understood to have been drawn up by the Emperor Louis Napoleon himself, though leaving to the discretion of the Generals the point of debarkation on the shores of the Crimea, yet strongly recommended--so strongly, in fact, as almost to amount to a command--the choice of Kaffa as the most convenient spot. It was, we cannot help believing, exceedingly fortunate that the allied Generals resolved upon examining for themselves the locality, and ultimately rejected the plans of the Emperor. Kaffa, it is true, affords the largest bay and the most secure anchorage in the Crimea, and, had they been the only requisites, there could have been little doubt that the imperial scheme would have been adopted. But the fleet was only valuable in the expedition as an auxiliary to the army--as a basis of operations, a depôt of stores, a means of conveying reinforcements, an assistant in the actual bombardment, or a medium of retreat in event of a disaster. For all practical purposes Sebastopol was the Crimea; and Sebastopol is on the western coast, while Kaffa is on the eastern, at least 100 miles distant. Had the object been to provide for the security and comfort of the fleet, it might as well have been in snug quarters at Spithead or Cherbourg, as at Kaffa, and there it would have been about as useful. The plan of Napoleon was to seize the town of Kaffa, thence to march across the peninsula, taking possession of Karu-Bazar, Simferopol, and Baktchi-Serai, thus advancing to Sebastopol, and securing the harbour of Balaklava, as a naval basis near the scene of intended operations. But the Emperor, by some strange oversight, seems to have forgotten his own previous caution not to separate from the fleets, when he sketched out the march of an army, only 50,000 strong, encumbered with necessary ammunition and baggage, along a road forty miles from the sea in some parts, through a mountainous district, in an enemy’s country, for a 100 miles, exposed to continued encounters with immense armies, and necessitated to seize and retain possession of, at least, three large towns, strongly garrisoned. It is true, a force stationed at Kaffa might intercept reinforcements arriving from Asia, or along the narrow strip of land bridging the Putrid Sea; but what was to hinder the arrival of the legions which should be poured into the Crimea, through Perekop, the most direct and available route from the very heart of the military strength of Russia, on the first intelligence of the invasion? Supposing, too, that a sufficient force to hold Kaffa had been left in occupation there (and if it had not been, what would have prevented the arrival of troops from Asia and the north, which would have followed the invaders, and enclosed them between two fires?)--that the three great towns had been captured and consequently garrisoned--or where the utility of taking them?--deduct the necessary casualties of the march, and the inevitable results of the unavoidable battles, even supposing them to have been victories, and how many men could possibly have arrived before Sebastopol out of 50,000? The expedition to the Crimea at all was romantic, and is said to have been strongly opposed by some of our most able Generals; but this contemplated march through a mountainous region, interposing innumerable obstacles to transit, in the face of a powerful enemy, far from assistance, cut off from supplies of food or ammunition, with three fortified towns to capture, at least several pitched battles to fight, and, as a finish to the prospect, the most strongly fortified town in the world to reduce, was the very absurdity of Quixoteism.

Fortunately, we say, the generals were wiser than their teacher. When the ships collected at their appointed rendezvous, orders were received to proceed to a spot about forty miles west of Cape Tarkan, in the north of the Crimea; then, embarking in the _Caradoc_, a small English steamer, Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan, accompanied by their seconds in command, Generals Canrobert and Brown, and Sir Edmund Lyons, proceeded to survey the coast and select the spot most favourable to their purpose. They skirted the western shore, ran close into Eupatoria, examined the coast thence to Sebastopol (where a few weeks previous, General Canrobert and Sir George Brown had closely scanned the fortifications on a flying visit, penetrating, under cover of night even into the harbour, and not retiring until the grey light of morning had revealed to them a considerable amount of information), passing almost within range of the guns, and coasting round to the little harbour of Balaklava; which having scrutinized, they returned in safety to the fleets. Had any of the large Russian steamers crossed the path of the little _Caradoc_, and attacked it, a very different fate might have awaited the Allies from that which they anticipated. But the Russian Admirals little dreamed of the prize they might have secured, and our modern Agamemnons were borne back unscathed from their perilous cruise.

On the morning of Monday, the 11th of September, the chiefs returned from their trip and rejoined the fleet; and the anxious expectation as to the point of debarkation, which had agitated the minds of all on board, during the two days’ tedious riding at anchor, was in some degree alleviated by the order to make sail, and rendezvous thirty miles west of Sebastopol. Even then, uncertainty seemed to cloud the counsels of the Commanders. The fleet was dispersed, the heavy sailing vessels having failed to keep in company with their more alert fellows of the steam fleet. At length, the English and French fleets, in one compact flotilla, approached the shore, and the town of Eupatoria, and the hills of the south-east, were presented to the eager gaze of the soldiers. A small steamer was despatched to summon the town to surrender at discretion, and a refusal being received, a small body of English and French marines was landed, their appearance soon stifling any qualms of conscience the local authorities might have felt at yielding up their trust to the enemy. The fleet then shaping a course in a south-easterly direction, the plans of the allied Generals became apparent. About eight miles from Eupatoria the ships cast anchor at a mile from the shore, in the Bay of Kalamita, near a place known as Old Fort. A narrow strip of level land was the spot selected for debarkation, and the enemy exhibited no signs of opposition, or even preparation. It had been not unnaturally anticipated that a formidable resistance would have been made to the expected landing of the Allies, which could only then have been accomplished with much loss. On the contrary, the only signs of Russian life apparent, was the presence of a mounted Russian officer, who, attended by three or four Cossacks, securely stationed on a neighbouring eminence, was calmly sketching the scene.