The Offer
Was Accepted, Partly No Doubt Because It Could Not Be Refused, But Still
Also On Its Own Merits.
Safe conducts during the heat of battle, even with
civilized European peoples, are, however, not such easy things either to
grant or to carry out.
Mr. Parkes accepted his offer, therefore, and he,
Mr. Loch, and the Sikh trooper Nalsing, bearing a flag of truce, rode off
with the mandarin in search of the general, while the five other Europeans
and the Sikh escort remained on the road awaiting their return. They
proceeded to the left, where it was understood that Sankolinsin commanded
in person. They met with some adventures even on this short journey.
Coming suddenly upon a large body of infantry, they were almost pulled
from their horses, and would have been killed but for the mandarin rushing
between them and shouting to the men "not to fire." A short distance
beyond this they halted, when the approach of Sankolinsin was announced by
loud shouts of his name from the soldiery. Mr. Parkes at once addressed
him, saying that they had come under a flag of truce, and that they wished
to regain their army. The Chinese commander replied to his remarks on the
usages of war in true Tartar fashion - with laughter and abuse. The
soldiers pressed round the unfortunate Englishmen and placed their
matchlocks against their bodies. Escape was hopeless, and death seemed
inevitable. But insult was more the object of the Mongol general than
their death. They were dragged before him and forced to press the ground
with their heads at the feet of Sankolinsin. They were subjected to
numerous other indignities, and at last, when it became evident that the
battle was going against the Chinese, they were placed in one of the
country carts and sent off to Pekin. While Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch were
thus ill-used, their comrades waiting on the road had fared no better.
Shortly after their departure the Chinese soldiers began to hustle and
jeer at the Englishmen and their native escort. As the firing increased
and some of the Chinese were hit they grew more violent. When the news was
received of what had happened to Mr. Parkes, and of how Sankolinsin had
laughed to scorn their claim to protection, the soldiers could no longer
be restrained. The Englishmen and the natives were dragged from their
horses, cruelly bound, and hurried to the rear, whence they followed at no
great distance their companions in misfortune. While the greater portion
of these events had been in progress, Colonel Walker, Mr. Thompson, and
the men of the King's Dragoon Guards, had been steadily pacing up and down
on the embankment as arranged, in order to show the Chinese that they
suspected no treachery and had no fears. They continued doing this until a
French officer joined them; but on his getting into a dispute with some of
the Chinese about his mule, he drew his pistol and fired at them. He was
immediately killed. There was then no longer the least hope of restraining
the Chinese, so the whole of the party spurred their horses and escaped to
the English army under a heavy but ineffectual fire from matchlocks and
gingalls. Their flight was the signal for the commencement of the battle,
although at that very moment, had they only known it, the chief party of
Englishmen had gained the road east of Chan-chia-wan, and, if the battle
had only been delayed a quarter of an hour, they might all have escaped.
But the two hours of grace were up, and Sir Hope Grant saw no further use
in delay. General Montauban was still more impatient, and the men were
eager to engage. They had to win their camping-ground that night, and the
day was already far advanced. The French occupied the right wing, that is
the position opposite the spot where we have seen Sankolinsin commanding
in person, and a squadron of Fane's Horse had been lent them to supply
their want of cavalry. The battle began with the fire of their batteries,
which galled the Chinese so much that the Tartar cavalry were ordered up
to charge the guns, and right gallantly they did so. A battery was almost
in their hands, its officers had to use their revolvers, when the Sikhs
and a few French dragoons, led by Colonel Foley, the English commissioner
with the French force, gallantly charged them in turn, and compelled them
to withdraw. Neither side derived much advantage from this portion of the
contest, but the repulse of the Tartar cavalry enabled the French guns to
renew their fire with great effect on the line of Chinese infantry. While
the French were thus engaged on the right, the English troops had begun a
vigorous attack on both the center and their left. The Chinese appeared in
such dense masses, and maintained so vigorous, but fortunately so ill-
directed, a fire, that the English force made but little progress at
either point. The action might have been indefinitely prolonged and left
undecided, had not Sir Hope Grant suddenly resolved to re-enforce his left
with a portion of his center, and to assail the enemy's right vigorously.
This latter part of the battle began with a charge of some squadrons of
Probyn's Horse against the bodies of mounted Tartars moving in the plain,
whom they, with their gallant leader at their head, routed in the sight of
the two armies. This overthrow of their chosen fighting-men greatly
discouraged the rest of the Chinese soldiers, and when the infantry
advanced with the Sikhs in front they slowly began to give ground. But
even then there were none of the usual symptoms of a decisive victory. The
French were so exhausted by their efforts that they had been compelled to
halt, and General Montauban was obliged to curb his natural impetuosity,
and to admit that he could take no part in the final attack on Chan-chia-
wan.
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Page 132 of 188
Words from 133585 to 134592
of 191255
