NEWS OF THE WEEK.
LORD ELGIN has been compelled, not only to go to Pekin, but to take possession of that capital.
No news since the war in Italy broke out has been so eagerly looked for as that brought by the mail which has some to hand while we are writing these lines. The telegram from the Fo- reign Office, published on Saturday, raised expectation to a high pitch. It reported that Mr. Parkes, Mr. Loch, and M. L'Es- chayrao, together with some soldiers, had been given up to the Allies ; that Captain Anderson and Mr. de Norman had 4ied from the effects of the brutal treatment they received at The hands of the Tartar soldiery ; that Captain Brabazon and Mr. Bowlby had not been heard of; that the Allies had sacked the summer palace of the Emperor ; that they had finally obtained. possession of two gates of Pekin ; and that the Emperor had fled to Tartary. The earlier details which alone are accessible to us do not add much to this intelligence. We learn something of the manner of proceeding, but we learn nothing on the vital points—where has the Emperor gone ? who did he leave in au- thority behind? When the preceding mail of the 23"d of September quitted the camp of the Allies, they were lying some six or seven miles from Pekin, in position on the South side of the Grand Canal. Here, it appears, they remained until the 3d of October. What they were doing during the interval of ten days we are not yet in- formed. It is a long period to pass in quiet, but it may be that Lord Elgin's despatches, when they are published, will explain this protracted delay. On the 3d, then, the army marched forth to make a reconnaissance on the Southern side of Pekin. No troops were seen. Three days elapsed, and then the army moved again. They must have made a flank march round the South-western angle of the town, for it is stated that, meeting with no resistance, they proceeded as far as Yuen-min-Yuen, the summer palace of the Emperor, lying a few miles to the North- west of the capital. Here the French, finding the place un- guarded, rushed in, and began to plunder, taking with their usual luck the pick of the spoil. Our own soldiers subsequently got some share. A third delay ensued, occupied in preparing for a bombardment of Pekin. In the meantime, Mr. Parkes and his friends were sent back. All preparations having been completed, the town was summoned, and a few hours before the guns were to open fire the local authorities surrendered, and our troops occupied the walls. But the Emperor had fled, and although a Hongkong report states that he had yielded to all our demands, we must wait until we see the, despatches before we give credit to the story. At all events, it is stated in the official telegram that the army will -winter in Pekin and Tien-tsin. Thus we enter upon a totally new phase of the Chinese question.
