=Taku Forts, 1860.=--The signature of a treaty was one thing, the ratification another; and when the British Envoy was proceeding up the Peiho River, in order to obtain the ratification, the forts at the mouth of the river opened fire upon the ships accompanying him, and they had to retire. It was therefore determined to achieve by force of arms what diplomacy had failed to do. An army of 10,000 British troops, and a force of 7,000 French, were organised to take the offensive against the Celestials. The British were under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Hope Grant, and the French under General de Montaubon, a "beau sabreur." At the end of July 1860 the British and French fleets were ready, and on August 1st the allied troops were disembarked a couple of thousand yards from the Pehtang Forts in the Gulf of Pecheli, and they marched towards Sin-ho, where a battle was fought in which the new Armstrong guns were used in warfare for the first time. In this battle the allies outnumbered the enemy by two to one, and their steadfastness in the face of the most modern artillery and seasoned troops called forth the praise of General Sir Robert Napier, who stated that the enemy "had behaved with courageous endurance." After another engagement on the following day, and the rout of the enemy, the way was clear to attack the Taku Forts. The northern forts were assailed on land and bombarded from the sea on August 21st; the assault was made difficult by an arrangement of spiked bamboo stakes that had been planted over a space 20 feet wide, and while the allies were gingerly creeping over it missiles of all kinds were hurled at them. Ultimately the walls were reached, and a daring French soldier planted the tricolour on the parapet, only to fall dead with the cry of victory on his lips. Lieutenant Rogers of the 44th and Ensign Chaplin of the 67th were more fortunate, and the Queen's colours were firmly fixed over the fort. In their retreat from the first northern fort the unfortunate Chinamen had to cross the ground they had so ingeniously staked out as an obstacle for their enemy, and were spitted on their own stakes. The fall of the first fort advised the commander of the second fort that opposition was useless, and he hoisted a white flag; later the troops took possession of it, and then the southern forts were likewise surrendered, and the capture of the Taku Forts effected with the loss to the British force of 67 rank and file killed, and 22 officers and 161 men wounded; and to the French of 30 killed, and about 100 wounded. The Chinese are said to have had at least 2,000 killed.