Ho-see-woo.—­September 14th.—­We had a charming march to this place yesterday morning.  The country much more beautiful than before, and hills in the distance.  All around us the most luxuriant crops, and hamlets embosomed in clumps of willows.  The temperature was delicious; almost too cold at starting, but, later, a fresh breeze in our faces gave the requisite coolness and no more.  Our march was about twelve miles, and on reaching its close I was conducted to a temple where I now am.  It is a monastery, with very nice apartments, and quantities of stabling, grain, agricultural implements, &c., all indicative of a very prosperous community.  I have seen no bonzerie on anything like so comfortable a scale.  I had a second letter from my Commissioners in the evening of the last day on which I wrote a page of this journal, more humble in its tone then the preceding one, and as my General was getting uneasy about his supplies, &c., I thought it necessary to make a kind of proposition for an arrangement. ...  Our soldiers do so little for themselves, and their necessities are so great, that we move but slowly.  Our present party consists of about 1,500 fighting men; but we count about 4,000 mouths, and all must have abundantly of the best.  The French (I admit that they take more out of the country, and sometimes perhaps by rougher methods) carry on their backs several days’ provisions.  They work in all sorts of ways for the army.  The contrast is, I must say, very striking. ...  I therefore thought it better to send Wade and Parkes to the new Imperial Commissioners, to see whether they intended to resist or not, and to make a proposal to test this.  They set out last night, and I have just heard from them, that, as they did not find the Commissioners at the place they expected (Matow), they are gone on to Tung-chow, the place where I intend to sign the Convention.  Parkes is one of the most remarkable men I ever met; for energy, courage, and ability combined, I do not know where I could find his match; and this, joined to a facility of speaking Chinese, which he shares only with Lay, makes him at present the man of the situation.

[Sidenote:  Terms agreed to.]

After eight hours’ discussion the Chinese Commissioners conceded every point; agreeing among other things that the army should advance to a place called Five-li Point, within six miles of Tung-chow, and there remain while the Ambassador proceeded with an escort of 1,000 men to Pekin.  In the high character and standing of the two Commissioners, one the Minister of War, the other a Prince of the Blood Imperial, and in their repeated assurances that ‘what they signed was as though the Emperor signed it,’ and that ’no comparison could be drawn between the authority vested in them and that held’ by previous Commissioners, there appeared to be everything necessary to justify the belief that their word might be trusted.  Unhappily the confidence which the Allies were thus led to repose in them was destined to be deceived; not however, so far as appears, owing to bad faith on their part, but owing to the fact that their pacific influence at court was overborne on this occasion by that of the war party, headed by the Commander-in-Chief, Sang-ko-lin-sin.[3]