golia, Mandchouria, Dzoungaria, Daouria, and Chinese Turkestanare all comprised under the general and usual name of Tartary.

Moukden was the residence of the sovereigns of China until 1644, the period of the conquest. It comprises two distinct cities-the imperial one, which has a circumference of two miles and a half and a magnificent palace; and the other, which surrounds the former, and is seven miles and a half round, and enclosed by a wall much more considerable than that of Pekin. The population of Moukden does not now exceed 500,000. The city contains very fine temples and magnificent buildings of all kinds.

[We may conclude the foregoing with the following extract from the Daily News, announcing the fall of Pekin.]

Since the day of our arrival negotiations have been going on through the authorities in the city with Prince Coong, who is supposed to be somewhere in the neighbourhood. The Emperor and his court fled some days before our arrival, as well as all the grandees of the empire, so that no one of high rank is left in Pekin. The people are reported to be in great fear and excitement, and the principal men with whom any intercourse has been held are evidently in the same state, fearing not only the allied army without the walls, but the armed city guards within. The result of all this has been that yesterday afternoon, at four o'clock, we were gladdened by the arrival from the city, where they had been in confinement, of Parkes, Loch, five Frenchmen, and one Sikh soldier, all of whom were taken prisoners on the 18th ult.

When our army advanced and the Emperor fled, they were taken from prison, and from that time kindly treated. They have had a marvellous escape. Of the others we know nothing. They are not in the city; but the old mandarin who showed the most kindness to Parkes and the others who have been released, affirms that they are alive, at least most of them, and that they will be given up to us as soon as they can be brought back.

In the meantime we are in hourly expectation of one of the gates of the city being given up to us, and if that is done, Pekin is of course at our mercy--indeed it is almost so now, for our engineers and artillerists are confident they can breach the wall in a few hours, and the siege guns are now within a few miles of our camp, and will arrive this evening. What our subsequent proceedings will be depends, I presume, in a great measure on Lord Elgin. So far, with the exception of the unhappy capture of the prisoners, all has gone prosperously with the army. The men are in fine health and spirits, and able and ready for anything, and the climate is most charming. The Emperor's summer palace is a succession of detached buildings, with large courtyards, artificial mounds of earth planted with trees, fish ponds with rustic bridges, artificial rocks, and all those varieties of ornamentation you may see depicted on Chinese crockery and drawings. The buildings have small pretension to architectural beauty externally, and are more grotesque than handsome. Within NO. 1.-VOL. XXX.

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they are more striking. The audience hall is a well-proportioned lofty room, the floor of marble, the roof richly painted, supported on wooden pillars; the throne is a magnificent piece of wood carving. The whole suite or suites of apartments were furnished in the most costly style, and after the French troops had been sacking them for two days presented a most singular appearancce. The whole place had been ransacked. The French camp was like Vanity Fair. The rooms were in utter confusion, and crowds of soldiers were turning everything upside down, or hurrying forth from the doors laden with spoil.

It is impossible even to enumerate a tithe of the various articles found in the palace. Fine bronzes, costly ornaments of jade stone; the copper enamel vases for which Pekin is famous, of marvellous beauty and fabulous value; old china, French watches, and articles of English and French jewellery,-amongst them the presents sent to the Chinese Emperor by Lord Macartney; silks, satins, and embroidery, fans and bracelets, all in enormous quantities, and most of them of the most costly description. The courts were strewed, the rooms were knee-deep in such a variety of articles, such a strange combination of shapes and colours, such a heterogeneous collection of all things imaginable and many unimaginable, as probably no human eye ever rested on before. Besides all these, a quantity of treasure in gold and silver was found. This latter was not allowed to be plundered, but was divided between the forces, to be distributed as prize. A number of articles also, of more or less value, have been secured for the English army, and will be sold by auction, and the proceeds added to the treasure and divided.

The palace and extensive grounds and detached buildings are surrounded by a high stone wall. The country round is very pretty. There is a range of low hills immediately behind, and on the summits of some of these are ornamental pagodas. Evidently very great care and taste, and enormous sums of money, have been expended on the place. A few hours sufficed to destroy the work of years, and to scatter the millions that have been lavished with an unsparing hand to the winds. It is no exaggeration to say that the total amount of spoil contained in these buildings was considerably more than the whole army could have carried away had every man been marched in and allowed to bring out as much as he could stagger under. The quantity of silks and satins was something quite incredible; and after plunder had been going on wholesale for two days, the quantity remaining seemed hardly diminished.

The Chinese vagabonds in the neighbouring villages, seeing what was going on, entered into the spirit of the scene, broke into many of the more remote buildings which had not been visited by the French, and carried on the work with much relish Plundering is always demoralising to an army, and it is subject of congratulation that the English soldiers were not exposed to the same temptation as their neighbours-the more so, as they will still have a share in the booty.

CHANNEL PORTS.

In our last number some remarks were made on Dover. In this paper on Channel ports we may introduce some further observations on the same place:—

Dover, from its geographical position, stands foremost in the Channel, and being the nearest port to Dunkirk on the East, and Dieppe on the West, should command the straits; and so that with an efficient harbour and a watchful look out, not a vessel of any description could pass into or out of the German Ocean without our knowledge.

Let us then consider what is the present state of Dover Harbour. It consists of an outer harbour, which dries at low water, and two inner basins or docks, where vessels can be always kept afloat, and which basins are capable of accommodating a large number of vessels, from 1000 tons downwards, or a squadron of gunboats ready for offensive or defensive purposes. The harbour is not, however, of that public utility, either for national, commercial, or packet services, it ought to be, for want of funds to do what is absolutely required.

In order to make Dover Harbour more useful and capable of meeting the urgent requirements of the country, it is necessary that the outer harbour should be deepened to six or seven feet below the low water spring tides, and that a new, wider, and deeper entrance should bo formed from the outer harbour to the inner basins. With these improvements (the rise of tide being greater than at any part of the coast) gunboats could run in and out at all hours, whilst vessels of larger size and draught of water could make it available at the other states of the tide.

The harbour is managed by the Lord Warden and ten Commissioners.

The amount raised by passing tolis during the last few years, is between £11,000 and £12,000 per annum. The tonnage dues, wharfage, &c., for the same period, amounted to about £1,200 per

annum.

The sums expended on new works for the improvement of the harbour, from 1854 to 1860, were,-for enlarging and deepening the pent, £27,000; cranes, posts, &c., £2,700; works in progress at the Union Bridge, £16,000; the ordinary annual repairs, renewals, and expenses, being about £4,000.

The works contemplated and required are-new entrance into the basins, £18,000; permanent groin to retain shingle, £6,000 These the Commissioners have been anxious to carry out, as well as the deepening of the outer harbour, &c.; but they have been obliged to let them stand over for want of funds, a large part of the sum received for tolls, &c., going to pay off the heavy debt.

The harbour, however, is in a much more efficient state than it was fifteen years since, and it would be admirably adapted (with the improvements suggested) for all the requirements for the defence of this

part of the country; more particularly as the new harbour of refuge and fortifications progress, and the new line of railway, which is nearly completed, is in connection with all the principal garrisons and arsenals in the United Kingdom.

Secondly I consider that sufficient attention has not been paid to the position and importance of the harbours on the opposite coast, in the immediate vicinity of Dover and the S.E. coast of England, viz., Dunkirk, Gravelines, Calais, Boulogne, Treport, and Dieppe, besides the minor inlets of Ambleteuse, Wimereaux, the Canche, and the Somme, all of which are within three or four hours of Dover.

Commencing from the eastward with Dunkirk :-this is now a large naval port, with commodious wet docks, extensive quay room for any number of vessels, from 1200 tons downwards, rapid railway and canal communication to the camps and arsenals of the North of France, viz., Valenciennes, Cambrai, Lille, Douai, Arras, St. Oüen, &c., and to the celebrated coal mines of Mons, Charleroi, &c.

From its nautical position, lying inside the Flemish banks, its roads or harbour can only be approached from the westward, except at tide time, there being no outlet to the northward or eastward at low water for vessels of any moderate draught of water. Consequently, its advantages for the facilities of embarking troops or warlike stores are greater than at any place to the eastward of Cherbourg; and I have seen from 150 to 200 sail of vessels leave the docks and port in one tide, without the aid of steam. Its distance from the coast of Kent (Dover) being only between thirty and forty miles, and from the coast of Essex (Harwich) between sixty and seventy miles-an easy distance to run over to either coast in one tide.

Gravelines is a garrison town ten miles West of Dunkirk. It has a tidal harbour extending some distance from the sea, and is capable of holding a number of moderate sized steamers, &c., which could be ready to join any expedition from Dunkirk or Calais, Gravelines being half way between these two ports.

Calais is the next place of importance. It is situated about twenty miles from Dunkirk, and about the same distance from Dover. It has a large citadel and is well fortified. Great improvements and additions to the harbour have been made within the last few years, at a large expense-viz., the construction of a wet dock, extending the piers and quays, and forming a powerful sluice, which has so far deepened the channel that there is now from five to six feet at low water, spring tides, and from seven to nine feet at neap tides, making Calais by far the best and deepest harbour in this part of the English Channel.

Calais possesses a rapid railway communication to all parts of France, Belgium, and the whole of the continent of Europe, terminating on the port and docks. The town is within an hour's distance of the camp at St. Omer, and connects itself with all the great towns in the North of France, whilst its canal communication with the interior of the country leaves nothing to be desired. The harbour accommodation is ample for any number of steam-vessels from 1000

tons downwards; and the port, being situated at the narrowest part of the straits of Dover, is in the best possible position to annoy or intercept our commerce to and from the Thames and the North Sea or the British Channel.

Between Calais and Boulogne are the two small inlets of Ambleteuse and Wimereaux, close to the great camp at Boulogne, where a large number of small vessels of easy draught of water can be safely moored.

Boulogne of late years has become an important town and harbour. Large sums of money have been granted from time to time, and this year an additional grant of several millions of francs for making large wet docks, deepening the harbour, &c., which when completed, will make Boulogne an important naval station, within two hours' run of the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and will require more than ordinary watching in the event of a war, to protect our shores and commerce. There is in the immediate neighbourhood of Boulogne a large permanent camp. The town possesses rapid railway communication to all parts of France, and is within a tidal distance of Calais and Dunkirk.

A few miles to the westward of Boulogne are the rivers Canche and Somme, where small craft can assemble in any numbers for an emergency. After these rivers come Treport, also important in collecting vessels; and, lastly, Dieppe, an extensive port, with docks, railroad, and a large maritime population, and calculated to fit out any number of armed steam-vessels for the annoyance of our trade, or of molesting our coasts. Dieppe being also within the range of Dover, could collect a large auxiliary force to join the expeditions fitted out from the places already mentioned to the eastward, whilst places to the westward of Dieppe could be looked after from our next nearest point, viz., Portsmouth.

I trust I have pointed out, as briefly as possible, the great importance and necessity of a place of safety at Dover, as being the only point of these parts of our coast where a safe and constant look out could be practically kept up on all the harbours and places on the opposite side of the Channel.

To the foregoing we add the following extract from the Moniteur de la Flotte, in which the care of our neighbours in looking to the improvement of their smallest ports is remarkable. But where is the same to be found in ours?

Ports of the Department of La Manche in 1859.

The Phare de la Manche contains the following extract from the report of the Council de la Manche, from their chief engineer Deslandes, in reference to the commerce of that department and the harbour works belonging to it, dated 15th July, 1859.

Carentain. This port, which has a large tidal basin, is of recent formation, and the works of it are in good condition. They comprise an entrance, with gates, from the sea, three fresh water locks, a quay