LOOT OF THE IMPERIAL SUMMER PALACE AT PEKIN. 615 



The Tartars ru.shed at him, he hred his revolver once or twice, and 

 when in the act of taking- aim at a third soldier he received a violent 

 blow from a saber, whicli inflected a deep flesh wound, while almost at 

 the same moment he was Avounded in his left hand. M. Vivenot. who 

 had jumped after him. received a bullet in his side, and tlie Tartars 

 would have finished these two brave officers had not their men, who 

 hj^d scaled the wall in the meantime, come to their succor, and forced 

 the Chinese to retreat. The latter withdrew, carryinii- ofl their 

 wounded, and leaving- three dead in the courtyard. 



The great g-ate was opened, the first court was occupied by the Col- 

 lineau brigade, and for greater security the gates which opened into 

 the interior of the palace were barricaded without and guarded. 



The capture of the palace had cost us the wounds of M. de Pina and 

 M. Vivenot, as well as those of two marines, one sheep, and the gen- 

 eral's walking stick. 



The next morning the gates were unfastened and opened. All within 

 was silent and deserted. General de Montauban penetrated into the 

 palace accompanied b}" Generals Jamin and Collineau and Colonel 

 Schmitz. I had the honor to follow these four oflicers. 



The generals, from a feeling of delicac}', eas}" to comprehend, had 

 wished that the first visit might be made in the presence of a delega- 

 tion of English oflicers, whose troops were marching with us. None 

 of these officers knew what had become of their general in chief, and 

 the army, and cannon were fired every five minutes for an hour on 

 the great square, to itidicate to our allies the place where we could be 

 found. 



We five Frenchmen were joined by Brigadier Pattlc, Major Sley, of 

 the Queen's dragoons, and Colonel Fowley, and were preceded by a 

 company of marines. 



THE SUMMER PALACE. 



To depict all the splendors before our astonished eves, T should need 

 to dissolve specimens of all known precious stones in li(iuid gold for 

 ink, and to dip into it a diamond pen tipped with the fantasies of 



an oriental poet. 



What struck me at first was this: Although built in a pure and ele- 

 gant Chinese style, the summer palace furnished in its arrangement, 

 its architecture, and even in certain of its details, singular remmis- 

 cences of the palace at Versailles, modified by the peculiarities of all 

 Chinese constructions, which are never more than one story in height 

 havino- only a ground floor, without attics or mansard wukIows, with 

 nothing to'separate the roof from the rooms on the ground Hoor. I his 

 distant resemblance is not inexplicable. 



The Jesuits, who plaved so important a part in China, who gave to 

 it veritable Richelieus and Mazarins; the Jesuits, who remained ... h.gh 



