We have at last a trustworthy account of the French
expedition Against Corea, which appears to have been a somewhat dis- creditable affair. Admiral Roze took his fleet up the river to Kanghoa, the Corean capital, and summoned the King to punish 'his Ministers for murdering Frenchmen. The King asked him to send an embassy, which was declined, but in two attacks on small posts on the river bank the Admiral lost 60 men of his 600. He therefore resolved to retreat, plundered the royal magazines, took the library as a present for the Bibliotheque Imperiale, and burnt the city for no reason at all. He then returned to Shanghai, whence, unless prevented by orders from home, he will return in the spring, to give the Coreans another lesson in civilization and the wickedness of murder, pillage, and arson.
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