It was on this occasion that Commander Tatnell of the U.S.navy, who was present, strictly speaking, as a spectator only, in complete violation of international law, of which luckily the Chinese knew nothing at that date, lent efficient aid by towing boat-loads of British marines into action, justifying his conduct by a saying which will always be gratefully associated with his name,--"Blood is thicker than water." By August, 1860, thirteen thousand British troops, seven thousand French, and two thousand five hundred Cantonese coolies, were ready to make another attempt.

This time there were no frontal attacks on the forts from the seaward; capture was effected, after a severe struggle, by land from the rear, a feat which was generally regarded by the Tartar soldiery as most unsportsmanlike.

High Manchu officials were now hurriedly dispatched from Peking to Tientsin to stop by fair promises the further advance of the allies; but the British and French plenipotentiaries decided to move up to T`ung-chow, a dozen miles or so from the capital.

It was on this march that Parkes, Loch, and others, while carrying out orders under a flag of truce, were treacherously seized by the soldiers of Seng-ko-lin-sin, the Manchu prince and general (familiar to the British troops as "Sam Collinson"), who had just experienced a severe defeat at the taking of the Taku forts.

After being treated with every indignity, the prisoners, French and English, numbering over thirty in all, were forwarded to Peking.