Let It Not Be Said,
Therefore, That Sir Hope Grant's Capture Of The Taku Forts Reflected In
Any Way On The Courage Or Capacity Of Admiral Hope For The Failure In
1859.
By this decisive success the road to Tientsin was opened both by land and
by the river.
The fleet of gunboats, which had participated as far as they
could without incurring any undue danger in the attack on the forts, were
ordered up the Peiho; and the English embassador, escorted by a strong
naval and military force, proceeded to Tientsin, where it would be
possible, without any loss of dignity, to resume negotiations with the
Pekin government. The advanced gunboats arrived at Tientsin on August 23,
and three days later the greater portion of the expedition had entered
that city. No resistance was attempted, although several batteries and
intrenched camps were passed on the way. Precautions were at once taken to
make the position of the troops as secure as possible in the midst of a
very large and presumably hostile population. The people showed, according
to the ideas of Europe, an extraordinary want of patriotic fervor, and
were soon engaged, on the most amicable terms, in conducting a brisk trade
with the invaders of their country; but there was never any doubt that on
the first sign of a reverse they would have turned upon the foreign
troops, and completed by all the means in their power their discomfiture.
Several communications passed between the opposite camps during these
days; and when Hang announced the withdrawal of all Chinese troops from
Tientsin he expressed a wish that the English embassador would not bring
many vessels of war with him.
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