The state of affairs in Canton being deemed imminent, the little jolly-boat English steamer, called the Queen, which the commodore had hired and left off the hongs, previous to our leaving for Japan in January, ran down and took up another force to the city. A body of rebels had captured the wealthy and populous city Fuhshan, about twenty miles from Canton, and the mandarins were doing nothing to arrest their progress. One morning, for this purpose, a detachment of a thousand men under a brigadier, were quietly taking up their ground, when they were surprised by a party of rebels, and before they could seize their arms, some hundreds of them and their camp-followers were killed, and the rest escaped pell-mell into the city. The tents, matchlocks, and ammunition, were all carried off, and the brigadier was among the missing. I had an opportunity during this visit of seeing the largest fleet of the emperor, which had an immense number of streamers flying: and also at an early hour of making a visit to the tea-packing establishments at Honan, whose inmates appeared ready to decamp at short notice. Vessels going down the Pekiang were crowded with Chinese flying from the place, and the river steamers were chartered at enormous rates; so that the total emigration to Macao and Hong Kong was not much under five thousand, including several men of distinction, such as the brothers of Heu Chang-kwang, the provincial treasurer, and their families, and of Puntingqua and his family, to Macao; and Howqua and Eesing with their families to Hong Kong. On the 29th of July we were at Hong Kong, and the 11th of August saw us again at Whampoa, together with that noble steam-frigate the Susquehanna, that had not long been back from a very interesting trip to Nanking. On the 15th of August, when taking our final departure from Whampoa, we saw a Dutch ship fired upon from a rebel battery; also one of the mandarin boats, running up powder, but the fleetness of their sailing, and the bad gunnery of the Chinese, enabled them to go by unharmed.