2-982-330 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Attack on the Peiho Forts by the English and French Fleets, 1858. 'Dragonne (French); Fort, 15 Guns; Slaney; Firm; Opossum; Severn; Staunch; Fusee (French); Cormorant; Bustard; Fort, 15 Guns...The Chinese sent off a message to the Russian Plenipotentiary's ship to say that we (British and French) had better clear out of the river, that if we were afraid they were not, and that they really should have to fire at us if we would not go away. No answer, of course, was given. On the following morning...Captain Reynaud...and Captain Hall...landed abreast of the middle fort, on the left hand, and presented a communication to the effect that, peaceably or otherwise, we intended to occupy the forts, and giving the Chinese an hour to think over it...puff went the Cormorant's ten-inch with a shell at 500 yards...The Chinamen fired very fairly on the ever-moving vessels, and stuck to their guns bravely. I doubt if Europeans under so unequal odds in material would have done better; but the fire of the allies was first rate. The shells burst in the embrasures, wounding men, guns, and carriages...The forts were, of course, taken - which means that the allied flags were stuck about indiscriminately'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.