Our parliamentary columns contain this day full particulars of one of the most gratifying scenes which a legislative assembly can display — the representatives of a great country offering the thanks of the nation to the leaders of her victorious forces upon the conclusion of a war. Had this compliment been omitted, the gallant services in China would fully entitle those in command to niches in Our Gallery; but the Parliament having delighted to honour them, a second reason is afforded for adding to the portrait illustrations of our paper a sketch which we feel certain must be welcome to our readers. The British regiments in China, according to the last statement published in the United Service Journal, are the 18th., the 26th., the 49th., the 57th., and the 98th. Our engraving of their gallant commander Sir Hugh Gough, for which alone we can find space at present, we may speak of with confidence as regards the likeness; the original being carved in ivory, and remarkable for its fidelity. The events of the Chinese campaign are too recent to require recapitulation beyond that which the Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Stanley, thought fit to introduce in the House of Commons on Tuesday last. . . .
Sir Hugh Gough, commanding a force of 4,500 men, 73 ships (including a line-of-battle vessel and ten war steamers), penetrated the Yang-tse-Keang River from the coast 170 miles inland, along the route conquering towns and fortresses (armed with a total of 2,000 guns, all of which Gough's force captured or destroyed) with populations varying from 1,000,000 to 60,000 or 70,000. Sir H. Gough and his second-in-command, Sir W. Parker, at the head of so considerable and highly disciplined an army supported her Majesty's plenipotentiary, Sir Henry Pottinger, 'to dictate peace on the terms prescribed by his sovereign, and they had obtained this peace on terms of entire equality, at the hands of the Emperor of China. (Cheers.)' (117) The Secretary of the Colonies also singled out for praise the officers and men of the East India Company's private army and thoseÊ of the 'Infant navy of the East India Company' (117), presumably an allusion to the armed steamer Nemesis and the role she played at Nankin. Both Lord Palmerston and the Duke of Wellington added to Lord Stanley's speech of gratitude to the armed forces.
Bibliography
The Illustrated London News (18 February 1843): 117.
Last modified 16 September 2006