CHINA. 



141 



in Canton and the cities of the interior, out- 

 rages were committed upon missionaries and 

 Christian converts. Europeans were obliged 

 to flee from Qnangtung and other provinces. 

 In Canton and neighboring villages, in Nam- 

 hoi, Chantsung, Kite- Yung, Swatow, and other 

 places, Catholic and Protestant churches were 

 destroyed and houses pillaged. In a riot at 

 Wenchow on October 5th, the houses of for- 

 eigners and the records of the custom-house 

 were burned. 



Na?al and Military Operations. French hostili- 

 ties in China began with the bombardment of 

 Kelung, at the northeast extremity of the island 

 of Formosa, August oth. The object was to 

 gain possession of the coal-mines in the vicin- 

 ity. The town is an insignificant place, con- 

 taining only 3,000 inhabitants, bat has a trade 

 in rice, oil, and camphor, besides coal. The 

 harbor is large and was well protected by for- 

 tifications, placed on two rocky islands, several 

 hundred feet high, near the entrance. Admi- 

 ral Lespes was allowed to pass the forts with 

 the Villars and the Lutin. The Chinese sup- 

 posed that he merely wanted coal, and were not 

 prepared to fight. Opening fire from behind, 

 he dismantled two of the forts, and shelled the 

 town. The bombardment lasted one hour. 

 The Chinese troops afterward withdrew. The 

 Galissoniere, which engaged the forts from 

 outside, received three balls, and the following 

 day was beaten off with considerable loss. 



miral Courbet steamed up the Min river with 

 his squadron, and anchored opposite the arsenal 

 of Foochow. The only practicable entrance 

 to the river, the north channel, is dangerous 

 and difficult. The sand-bar outside can only be 

 passed at high tide. Within is another bar. 

 The long and narrow passage abounds in other 

 obstructions, and is commanded by the power- 

 ful Kinpai and Mingan forts and the fortifica- 

 tions on Woufou Island. With strange negli- 

 gence, the Chinese commanders allowed the 

 French vessels, one by one, in charge of Eng- 

 lish river-pilots, to steam by these invincible 

 fortifications. Admiral Courbet took his sta- 

 tion beyond the arsenal, with his guns bearing 

 upon it and the Chinese fleet, which was 

 hemmed in there. The French commander 

 threatened to fire on the Chinese vessels if they 

 moved. Safe from the shells in the rear was 

 the city of Foochow. He had the cruisers 

 Volta, D'Estaing, Villars, Chateau - Renard, 

 and Duguay-Trouin, the gunboats Aspic, Lynx, 

 and Vipere, and two torpedo-boats. Chang 

 Pei Lun, the Chinese commander, announced 

 that his defensive preparations were perfect, 

 and that he had the French fleet at his mercy. 

 He was restrained by the central authorities 

 from beginning hostilities. When the order 

 came to destroy all Government property on 

 the Min as an act of reprisal, August 23d, the 

 French first engaged the Chinese fleet, consist- 

 ing of the sloop Yang- Woo, carrying eleven 



LOWER MIN RIVER. 



The shells, which were of foreign manufacture, 

 failed to explode. A small party landed, but 

 subsequently retired. 



On the 18th of July, immediately after the 

 announcement of the French ultimatum, Ad- 



guns, two gunboats, with one eighteen-ton gun 

 each, five small gunboats, and three transports. 

 The batteries on shore were armed with Arm- 

 strong and Krupp cannon. The gunboats 

 fought well, as also did the sloop, until she 



