2-982-331 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Attack on the Peiho Forts by the English and French Fleets, 1858. 'Fort, 8 Guns; Nimrod; Fort, 10 Guns; Avalanche (French)...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...[the British and French] 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...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.