THE PEIHO AFFAIR. (From the Sun.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1284, 3 January 1860, Page 3

THE PEIHO AFFAIR. (From the Sun.)

If ever there v were a ewe in which a whole band of men had nobly*earned thejVictoria Cross, it is that of the survivors of the 350 who were precipated headlong as a storming party on the) Chinese forts at the mouth of the Peiho. Whether tie whole proceedings were well or ill advised, and the strategy good or bad, we think all who have read jthe accounts will agree that nothing in the Crimean orj Italian campaigns, or the Indian mutiny, can have sprpassedMn cool bravery, and in undaunted execution of kn almoft'" impossible duty, the behaviour of thesf, 35 Wo have the accounts of surviving eye-witnesses — aiming, when, out of the little band 64 officers an I men were killed, and 252 ,wounded— only thirty-fou uninjured, and that, by what seemed a, miracle. From the moment they eft the ships' side* the conflict with witter, mud, a.d cannon ball* , commenced; I Encumbered with ladders vnd weapons, they leaped out into , water four, feet de p,, their rifles atod ammunition, and leaving them , little but ' their cofd »teel to rely on. hi d more thanj,tne third of a ;anU«Jjjo paw over before .tl »y could reach the forti, and *^üb^»rds Hhey bid to viiSk before' ihe water became %nly knee detp. At lex »th, delayed by the adhesive •mud and thl water, they i jeeeeded in reaching tHefirtt ditch. It wciMS.teem.th: tby this time they Had lost,' while slowly Struggling, al ng under a crois{fire, nearly one-third of their numbe "wall the t ' ladder-party, had J 'been killed but two, 'and n iCnf ''ofthe ladder* »%■&%* by round, shot;, but aft^ r an hour's straggle i with the elementi.ofimtui! and the shot offfhe,enismy, there' itobtt?.iheVemsn£pl the bn"the bntWi the' ifint^h^to'aombat.the"- 00 'cftnndbfand'perhapH the i'2o,ooo'Tartars'6l.the Emi ire of "ChiiaVind^hi^d they had nothing but menytp oc itendwith,"itney would have

[down get ioroM, PuihlHg'O^WM'di^dtill luw<>-d|o|rin |mud is 'loftyittukei^Tiour, under fire, to get 'ftorOw :ifc. •■' The-uftrrutor wto inmost imotnerid. in' MMi;it "wm »t leait 80 'yards fromibe wall,- »nid.th6,pfflceHi, ioSbyMJlt^^'^^tov6T%.Sy i oSbyMJlt^^'^^t0v6T%.Sy come from. f^fe'- 1 '•''*!' . ,And^n6wfthe|^jrf^ditohUi«sB'l%fi>re them, nob fifty ! 'yard- from the wmsl Three' ltMtrn only remain 1 ;Their-riflef"werV wet, ' jand 'would not* 1 go' off; with nothing butjwords or bay&nets* to %ht|with,~it 'were 'unless for-fewer than three to"'mounlfiJKe wall At once. |A few, by 4he help of the lt^ders^got^yer this la»t 'ditch, but Jo£man£ pressed f,ojw«rd/ And' the ladder* broko I ' And- tHedtthi?y were, the enemy picking them off at leisure,' only 1 35 yards 1 off! Their ladders broken, their ponder wet, before them'raud full^of jfßikes, and a chtvatiij'UeffUß under the /walls/*nd their two au(«rioi* officen badly wounded — they had done all that men oould do, aha now there , was nothing for it but to retreat, and it was. No Xenophon will' dei,oribe it; but nothing Recorded iv the Anabaiit outdoei this work,pf kitid, cool, «oldierly cournge. TAey would not leave' theh&wounded. JFor an hojur and a half they had to protec$ f the return of the -woutfded through au the perils they had faced in coming; and they helped their wounded.through all thff«p»rili they had facedin coming ; and they helped their founded to the boati under a fire to which an officer who had been in the Redan told them that the fire there was not to be compared. Thus fought her Majesty's troops at the Feiho. We again ask is there an individual who survives that murderous day, who ought not to wear in future the Victoria Cross ? Balaklava and the Redan were but a ruih forward amid a hail of artillery, but at the Peiho the dreadful mud, wjnter, ' and ditches, infinitely more depressing than any*firi£— though this was fast and furious, a/ou d'enfer, as Gortsohakoff would say — were the most deadly enemies. Had it been a land run of 700 yardt, in a few minutes not a Tartar would have stood to his guns. Let, then, these brave troops have their due. Let their- reward show that England's Sovereign will not coolly look On such service. Let other forlorn hop»i J Tcnow that they do not die or dare death/in an un-, honoured service. ' Dispute with brave admirals, -if need be, the merit of their places, but give to brave I men the reward of bravery. Let every English soldier Jt&pw that ndt. success, but duty bravely done shall -never miss its reward. The more fortune denies to merit, the more let justice reward it I