The Terms The Chinese Had
Agreed To In A Few Hours Were That The Commissioners And All The Troops
Should Retire To A Distance Of Sixty Miles From Canton, And That
$6,000,000 Should Be Paid "For The Use Of The English Crown."
Five of the $6,000,000 had been handed over to Captain Elliot, and
amicable relations had been established with
The city authorities, when
the imperial commissioners, either alarmed at the penalties their failure
entailed, or encouraged to believe in the renewed chances of success from
the impotence into which the English troops might have sunk, made a sudden
attempt to surprise Sir Hugh Gough's camp and to retrieve a succession of
disasters at a single stroke. The project was not without a chance of
success, but it required prompt action and no hesitation in coming to
close quarters - the two qualifications in which the Chinese were most
deficient. So it was on this occasion. Ten or fifteen thousand Chinese
braves suddenly appeared on the hills about two miles north of the English
camp; but instead of seizing the opportunity created by the surprise at
their sudden appearance and at the breach of armistice, and delivering
home their attack, they merely waved their banners and uttered threats of
defiance. They stood their ground for some time in face of the rifle and
artillery fire opened upon them, and then they kept up a sort of running
fight for three miles as they were pursued by the English.
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