It was said that one of the most influential smugglers, whose avocations had long been winked at by the authorities, who were themselves participators in the gains, had been suddenly arrested, and threatened with the confiscation of all his property, and even death; but that a free pardon was offered to him if he would contrive to collect together all the best boats, and furnish the men with arms; putting them under the orders of the mandarins, to co-operate for the defence of the city. Accordingly, a vast number of these boats were seen at a distance, drawn up in a curved line across the river, at the mouth of the Macao passage. Besides these, it was known that some gun-boats, completely formed after European models, and thoroughly coppered, had been equipped by the government. Our flotilla of men-of-war-boats was therefore to be employed in pursuing and destroying this legion of the enemy. At half-past eleven, the Nemesis commenced the attack upon the little battery, called by us the Birdsnest Fort, which she had engaged two days before, She opened her fire of guns and rockets with effect, and the Chinese returned the fire with spirit for some time; but the Modeste and Madagascar joined in the attack, and it is not surprising that the fort was silenced in a very short space of time. Some of the boats immediately pushed off to make themselves masters of the place, and the Chinese were chased out of it in great confusion. Another field-work, almost close to it, was also captured at the same time. They were found to mount upwards of thirty guns, which, together with the magazine, were destroyed. In the meantime, the Starling and Algerine had contrived to force a passage through the raft, and had scarcely got to the other side, when a small sand-bag battery and several war-junks opened their fire upon them, very near the point of junction with the Canton river. The Hebe and Louisa took part in this affair; and the Nemesis came up as soon as the lower forts had been silenced; part of the flotilla of boats, under Captain Bourchier, also arrived, and the sand-battery was soon carried, while the war-junks and the flotilla of Chinese armed boats already began to disperse. A strong fort, opposite the city, mounting twenty guns, called the Rouge Fort, was next silenced, but was not taken possession of immediately. Later in the day, however, a boat from the Nemesis, under Lieut. Pedder, was sent to hoist our flag upon it; and another party from the Sulphur landed nearly at the same time under Captain Belcher. The large Chinese flotilla before described, was pursued up the river by the Nemesis and the boats, and was soon in a state of indescribable confusion.