revealed, will not be disposed to consider it exaggerated praise to say
that, for an adventure so honorably conceived and so nobly carried out,
where the risk was never reckoned and where the penalty was so patiently
borne, the pages of history may be searched almost in vain for an event
that, in the dramatic elements of courage and suffering, presents such a
complete and consistent record of human gallantry and devotion as the
capture and subsequent captivity of these English gentlemen and their Sikh
companion.
The further conditions as preliminary to the ratification of the Treaty of
Tientsin were gradually, if reluctantly, complied with. On October 13 the
northeast gate was handed over to the allied troops, but not before Sir
Hope Grant had threatened to open fire on the walls. At the same time
Prince Kung returned eight sowars of Fane's Horse and one Frenchman, all
the survivors, besides those already surrendered, of the small band which
had ridden from Tungchow nearly a month before. The Chinese prince stated
in explanation that "a certain number were missing after the fight, or
have died of their wounds or of sickness." But the narrative of the Sikhs
was decisive as to the fate of the five Englishmen and their own comrades.
They had been brutally bound with ropes which, although drawn as tight as
human force could draw them, were tightened still more by cold water being
poured upon the bands, and they had been maltreated in every form by a
cruel enemy, and provided only with food of the most loathsome kind. Some
of the prisoners were placed in cages. Lieutenant Anderson, a gallant
young officer for whom future renown had been predicted, became delirious
and died on the ninth day of his confinement. Mr. De Normann died a week
later. What fate befell Captain Barbazon and his French companion, the
Abbe de Luc, is uncertain, but the evidence on the subject inclines us to
accept as accurate the statement that the Chinese commander in the fight
at Palikao, enraged at his defeat, caused them to be executed on the
bridge. The soldier Phipps endured for a longer time than Mr. Bowlby the
taunts and ill-usage of their jailers, but they at last shared the same
fate, dying from the effects of their ill-treatment. The bodies of all the
Englishmen, with the exception of Captain Barbazon, were restored, and of
most of the Sikhs also. The Chinese officials were more barbarous in their
cruelty than even the worst scum among their malefactors; for the
prisoners in the jails, far from adding to the tortures of the unfortunate
Europeans, did everything in their power to mitigate their sufferings,
alleviate their pains, and supply their wants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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