'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎156] (175/622)

156
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Gough, blew in the west outer gate, and carried all before him ;
and Captain Richards, of the flagship, with a naval brigade,
including a strong detachment of the Indian Navy, escaladed
the wall at another point.
" The enemy," wrote Greneral Schoedde, " defended himself
with the greatest gallantry, disputing every inch of ground, and
fighting hand to hand with our men and the Admiral reported
that "incredible numbers of Tartars, in some cases including
whole families, have unhappily died by their own hands."
Such was the capture of Chin-Kiang-foo, a city situated some
two hundred miles from the mouth of the mighty Yang-tze, and
only thirty miles from Nankin, the ancient capital and second
city of China. The British loss w^as heavy, numbering one
hundred and eighty-five killed and w T ounded, of whom about
twenty had died from sunstroke, the day being oppressively
hot.
The Admiral spoke in high terms of " the zeal and gallantry
evinced by every officer and man of the Royal and Indian Navy
and Royal Marines under my command, which has been equally
manifested in bringing the fleet up this river, as in the sub
sequent operations on shore, in which they have been en-
gaged."
A strong detachment of troops was left to occupy the heights
—the city being uninhabitable owing to the number of decaying
corpses—and to secure the mouth of the Grand Canal, and the
remainder of the force embarked for Nankin, where they arrived
on the 9th of August. u This vast city," says Sir Hugh Gough,
in his despatch, " which contains a population of one million
souls, is surrounded by a wall twenty miles in circumference,
and in some parts seventy feet high; and the garrison num
bered fifteen thousand men, of whom six hundred were Tartars,
exclusive of militia. The nearest part of the wall is 1000
yards' distance from the river, and at this point the ships of
war took up their stations in order to shell the city." On the
11th, the force was landed, and the guns placed in position, the
13th being fixed for the bombardment. But the Commanders-
in-chief were anxious to avert the scenes of horror they had
witnessed after the assault of Chin-Kiang-foo, when " women
and children in dozens were hanging from beams, or lying on
the ground with their throats cut, or drowned in deep wells, to
prevent their falling into our hands." The fall of one of the
strongest cities in China had, at length, taught the Emperor
and his advisers that the white "barbarians" were invincible,
and, a truce being granted, full pow T ers were given to three
high Commissioners to conclude a treaty of peace.
After some conferences this instrument was signed on board
the 6 Cornwallis,' on the 29th of August, by the Commissioners
Keying, Elepo, and New-King,—exactly three years from the