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CHINA 463 the same time informed that the government would make such arrangements as might be necessary to enforce acceptance of the terms offered to the Chinese emperor. The French government received information of what had occurred in the same spirit, and entered upon similar preparations to enforce their views. The ultimata of the two governments were addressed to the Chinese government in March, 1860, and in April the response was received flatly refusing the demands of the allies. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros reached Shanghai in June as special ambassadors of their respective governments. The month of July was occu- pied with preparations for the approaching campaign. On Aug. 1 a force of 5,000 men was landed by the allies at Pehtang, which was found to be deserted. The Pei-ho forts were taken from the rear on the 21st, and Tientsin was occupied without resistance on the 24th. At this point imperial commission- ers appeared, who declared that they had full powers and presented them. A negotiation ensued, which resulted in the preparation of a treaty ; but at the last moment the commis- sioners stated that they could not stipulate that the convention would take effect without previous ratification. The ambassadors could only attribute this action of the commissioners to a design to create delay, and determined to march against the capital. While the al- lied forces were moving forward, other repre- sentations were received which led to further negotiation, and to an arrangement that the troops should halt at Tungchow, where con- ferences, which it was hoped would be final, should be held. Mr. Parkes and others were sent forward to this town to agree upon a place for an encampment, the means of pro- curing supplies, &c. While in the prosecution of their work they were arrested and detained under circumstances of indignity and cruelty. At the same moment the allied troops were met by indications of a determination to resist their progress, and a battle followed in which the Chinese were routed. The treacherous treatment of Mr. Parkes and his associates left the allies no alternative but to proceed against Peking, in front of which city they ar- rived on Oct. 6. Mr. Parkes and some others of those captured with him were finally given up on the 9th, but several Englishmen were killed by ill usage and horrible and protracted cruelty. One of the gates of the city was surrendered to the allies on the 13th. On the 24th a con- vention of peace, in terms nearly identical with that of the articles prepared a few weeks before at Tientsin, was signed, and the rati- fications of the treaty of 1858 were exchanged. The next day a convention with France was signed, and the ratifications of the French treaty of 1858 were exchanged. An incident of this war which deserves mention is the destruction of the imperial summer palace. It has been condemned as an unnecessary and wanton act, and has drawn forth the severest stric- 184 VOL. iv. 30 tures in this country. The defence made by Lord Elgin is that the treatment of Mr. Parkes and his comrades deserved signal punishment, and that no other course would have so ef- fectually humbled the government with so little harm to the people. Twenty-six Brit- ish subjects carrying a flag of truce had been seized in defiance of honor and of the law of nations. Thirteen only were returned alive, all 8f whom bore marks of the indig- nities and ill treatment from which they had suffered ; the others were barbarously mur- dered. The destruction of a palace was sure- ly no undue retaliation for guilt so great. The death of the emperor occurred soon after the close of the war. The heir to the throne was under age, and a regency was established, which ended Feb. 23, 1873, by his assumption of power. During this interval the actual con- dition of the empire was greatly improved, and foreign relations were undisturbed. The more salient events were the suppression of the great rebellion, the close of the two Moham- medan rebellions, the despatch of the embassy of which Mr. Burlingame was the chief, and the Tientsin massacre. The great rebellion, generally known as the Taiping rebellion, broke out in southern China in the year 1850. The British war of 1840-'42 had destroyed the prestige of the imperial government. There had been repeated failures of crops in the dis- tricts where it originated, and such failures are frequently the cause of outbreaks in China. Hung Siu-tsuen became at an early moment the prominent figure in the outbreak. He had failed in the literary examinations, and was therefore unlikely to rise in the service of the government. He had read some of the tracts printed by the missionaries, and appears to have considered himself the recipient of divine messages. His associates professed to acknowledge a "supreme being" and an " elder brother." Foreigners were disposed to believe that they inclined toward Christianity, and that its cause would be advanced by their success. By April, 1851, the Taiping forces were well organized, and numbered upward of 12,000 men. A little later Hung Siu-tsuen assumed the title tien-wang or heavenly prince. They accomplished various successes in the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Hu- nan, and on Dec. 23, 1852, they captured Han- yang on the Yangtse. In January, 1853, they took Woochang, the capital of the Hu provin- ces. In February Kiukiang and Nganking suc- cumbed to their forces, and on March 8 they arrived before Nanking, which they captured on the 19th, murdering about 20,000 Mantchoos found in the city. In May a force was sent northward toward Peking. It consisted of only about 6,000 or 7,000 men, yet it marched over 400 m., subsisting on the country through which it passed. It was turned back when within 100 m. of the capital, and rejoined the forces at Nanking in the summer of 1854. For several years after the military operations