AMERICAN VIEWS OF THE BRITISH DISASTER IN THE PEIHO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 751, 18 January 1860, Page 5

AMERICAN VIEWS OF THE BRITISH DISASTER IN THE PEIHO.

A correspondent of the ' New York Herald,' writing from on board the United States steam frigate Powhattan, says of the engagement on the Peiho:— ..-

"Of course it will uever be known,how many Chinese were killed, but the number is supposed to hesmall. The only wonder is that any were killed at all, considering the defences. It .was the most desperate fighting that the imagination can picture upon the part of the English, and a premeditated, certain, coldblooded, relentless, and cowardly massacre upon the part of the Chinese. Englishmen have no cause to blush for the battle of the Peiho. Such indomitable courage and dogged resistance as were there displayed are in themselves sufficient to reflect the rays of glory around the semi-circum-ference of the globe, and dry the tears which will shortly flow for the unburied dead." /

The correspondent concludes with the following reflections:—

"And it is such men as these that have been lately down by this miserable nation; and yet there will be enough people, even in the United States, to rub their hand-? over this battle as 'a'check, to English pride and arrogance.' I wish they could visit this part of the world, and see how it is that English power ensures safety to the world's trade with the East. Once reduce her to the position.of a third-rate Power, and let the United States continue her hostility to a large navy, and the halfcivilised nations of the East.will soon expel all foreigners, and close their ports to our trade." A correspondent of the 'New York Journal of Commerce' also writes a lengthy letter to that journal from on board the Powhattan, in which lie states that the Chinese detained Mr. Ward at Shanghai, on the plea that, " as the right of the American Minister to go to Pekin was secured through the English treaty and ' the most favoured nation clause' inserted in the United States treaty, it was proper for the English Minister to go first. If Mr. Ward insisted upon going to Pekin, he must conform to the provisions of the. United State« treaty, which allowed him to:'go where important business made it necessary,' as the treaty specified, of which the Emperor, and not the Minister, must be the judge. They told him, in answer to a queshon, that he should have the right to go to Pekin w'th the other ministers, if he had important businesß. Mr. Wavd insisted that he should go to Pekin with the first Minister of any nation that Went, and with as much courtesy and honour; or he would refuse to exchange ratifications and return home."

This correspondent says that, during the engagements with the forts, a ball from one of them killed two men in a gunboat, and cut off a leg from six others who were standing in line. Another had his leg badly mangled by a cannon ball as he was working his gun, and soon was obliged to be carried ijway to undergo amputation, but he declared that ne would not go till he had his revenge; and, dangled and suffering as he was, he stuck to his gun and fired thirteen rounds more. "Nothing," £ ays the co-respondent, "could be cooler and than the English courage and heroism. Wounds, dismemberment, and death seemed nothing."