"They were unpicking the gown this morning at Miss Smith's, and inside the lining"

"What are you going to tell me?" screamed forth Mrs. Nash, as if a foreshadowing of the truth had flashed upon her, whilst she threw down her knife and fork on the table and pushed her chair away from it. "I declare you quite frighten me, with your satin gowns, and your unpicking, and your long, mysterious face. Don't go and say I have accused the girl unjustly!"

"Between the lining and the dress they found the two handkerchiefs," I quietly proceeded. "They must have fallen in there, the hemming of the pocket-hole being unsewn, when you thought you were putting them in your pocket. Sarah persisted, if you remember, that she saw you putting the first in a few minutes before you missed it."

I never saw such a countenance as hers, at that moment. She turned as red as fire, and her mouth gradually opened, and stopped so. Presently she started up, speaking in much excitement.

"Come along, Miss Halliwell. I'll go to the dressmaker's, and have this out at once; confirmed or denied. Lawk-a-mercy! what reparation can I make to Carry Powis ?".

There was no reparation to be made. In vain Mrs. Nash sent jellies and blancmanges, and wings of chicken, and fiery port wine, to tempt the invalid back to life; in vain she drove daily up in her own carriage, with her own liveried coachman (such an honour for the like of that little cottage of the Powises!), and sat by Caroline's bedside, and made all sorts of magnificent promises to her, if she would but get well; in vain she sent Mr. Powis a cheque for his quarter's rent, hearing there was some little difficulty about its payment, for Caroline's illness had been very expensive, and had run away with all the ready money; and in vain she put the youngest child, a boy rising nine, into the Bluecoat School, through an influential butcher, who was a common councilman, and very great in his own ward, and her husband's particular friend. Nothing recalled poor Caroline. "But don't grieve," she said to Mrs. Nash, on the eve of her departure, "I am going to another and a better world." Now it is quite possible, and indeed probable, that Caroline Powis would have died, whether this disgrace had fallen on her or not, for consumption, very rapid consumption, was hereditary in her family. But the effect the unpleasant circumstances had upon me was lasting, and I made a resolve, that if I lost all the pocket-handkerchiefs I possessed in the world, and had not so much as half a one left for use, I would never prosecute anybody for stealing them.

I hope none will question this little episode in my domestic experience, for it is strictly true, and occurred exactly as I have related it. If Mrs. Nash is indignant with me for telling it, though so many years since have now gone by, I cannot help it; and I am under no obligations to her. She still occupies the villa close by, and has now two horses to her carriage instead of one, and a footman to match the coachman, and herself and her appurtenances are on a larger scale, and altogether she is grander than ever. While Carry Powis's tomb rests in a quiet corner of the neighbouring churchyard, and her father and mother both lie by

her now.

288

THE EXPEDITION TO THE AMUR.*

THERE are many spots on the globe which still remain to be explored by the geographer; such are, for example, certain more or less central portions of Australia, Africa, and Arabia. These are regions difficult of access, and still more difficult to travel. It would, however, scarcely be believed that, till lately, the very extent of the easily accessible possessions, the nature of the establishments, and the means of offence and defence possessed by so powerful a rival as Russia in the Pacific; even the knowledge of the entrance into the river Amur, whether from the south by the Gulf of Tartary, or from the north by the sea of Okhotsk, have not been deemed worthy of inquiry or examination. The self-complacency of wealthy insulars must be appreciated to understand how those in authority could remain happy under such ignorance.

The disastrous repulse at Petropaulski came like a thunderbolt to arouse the nation to a sense of the power acquired by Russia in regions till then not deemed worthy of notice by our torpid Admiralty Board, and the hydrographer must have been somewhat humiliated and confounded when the fleet, no one knew how, made its escape within the shelter of a Tartarian Dnieper-the utterly unknown and unexplored Amur-yet in point of length the eighth river of the world, having a course of 2740 miles, and watering an area of 800,000 miles in temperate regions which have not as yet been marked on the maps as Russian, yet which are so to all intents and purposes. The Amur has, to what we know to the contrary, its Kinburns and Otchakofs at its entrance, and it certainly has its Nicholauski within-the representative in the east of Nicholaief in the west.

Captain Bernard Whittingham was on the eve of relinquishing the command of the Royal Engineers at Hong Kong in March, 1855, when he received an invitation from Commodore the Honourable C. Elliot to take a cruise with him in an attempt to discover the progress of Russian aggrandisement in North-Eastern Asia, and to ascertain how far the reports of her successful encroachment on the sea-frontiers of China and Japan were true. The Sibylle started on the 7th of April, accompanied by the steam-corvette Hornet, and the brig Bittern. Emerging from the China Sea, southerly breezes on the Pacific, with a strong northerly current, wafted them pleasantly along the ever-beautiful coast of Formosa, and on the 29th they dropped anchor in the capacious harbour of Hakodadi in Yezo, the central island of Japan, and one of the ports chosen by America to be opened to the world by that mysterious and inhospitable population.

Here they remained till the 7th of May, by which time every one was glad to hear the order given to weigh the anchor, and to see the sails set again for the campaign in the north. On the 12th, the snowy ranges of Sagalien came in view. As to how much of this remarkable land was claimed or had been conquered by Russia, the expedition knew nothing;

Notes on the late Expedition against the Russian Settlements in Eastern Siberia; and of a Visit to Japan and to the Shores of Tartary and of the Sea of Okhotsk. By Captain Bernard Whittingham, Royal Engineers.

yet, as Captain Whittingham justly remarks, it was a question which a very hurried visit to these waters might have solved at any time during the past five years.

A landing was soon effected, the first time at a deserted village, the second with greater success amid a population of Ainos, with long black hair flying in the wind, seal-skin jackets, kilts, and boots. These poor people fell on their hands and knees and repeatedly touched the earth with their foreheads at the approach of their visitors. The extent of their mental degradation may be imagined when it is mentioned that they kept bears in log cages, not as zoological curiosities, but as creatures to which to make votive offerings, if not actually to worship. At the picturesque bight called Baie de la Jonquière by La Perouse, a still larger village was met with, but the inhabitants were, for some reason or other, less accessible.

At daylight of the 20th, the small squadron weighed and stood across the Gulf of Tartary, only about forty miles in width at this point, for the bay of De Castries, situate on the coast of Chinese Tartary, not very far to the south of the mouths of the river Amur. The shores of Sagalien and Chinese Tartary were made in existing charts and maps to approach so closely about forty miles to the north, as to leave only a narrow passage for boats into the estuary of the Amur, but this was afterwards shown to be a wondrous error. Matters of import presented themselves on approaching the bay of De Castries to rivet their interest and

attention.

That ever thought-inspiring and touching scene of a ship's company at prayers at sea, surrounded by the instruments of destruction, ready in a few moments "to thunder along the deep," whilst listening to the mild teachings of our holy faith, had just ended; and groups of officers and men were proudly watching the Sibylle's speedy sailing before the fast-freshening breeze, which was already too much for the smaller vessels following her, when "a sail under the land" was reported. All glasses were instantly in requisition, and pointed towards the direction indicated. "I see one-two-three," the experienced master murmured to me; and, as his telescope still bore on the bay before us, "Yes, there are four, five, and, I think, a sixth," he added.

The excitement was intense, though subdued by discipline; and when, in a few minutes, the Russian ensigns were discovered floating in the strong breeze, at a distance of seven or eight miles, the order and signal was given "to prepare for action;" and whilst we steadily pursued our progress, the cabins and their furniture were hurried below, and shot and shell brought up. Officers came on the deck with their swords on, and armed, as fortune willed, with pistols, single, double, or Colt-barrelled. The doctors and chaplain were quickly in the already-prepared cockpit, where medical instruments, bandages, and lint were lying in admirable order.

Ere many minutes had elapsed the noble main-deck of the Sibylle displayed its fine proportions; and perhaps at that moment ship-builders-if placed on board-might have acknowledged the folly of cutting seven immense ornamental and yacht-like windows in a frigate's stern, instead of four or five useful and ordinarily-sized gunports.

The brig was ordered by signal to examine the enemy's force. In her usual well-handled style, and to the muttered admiration of the Sibylle's crew, she approached the outer bay, and off it "signalled a large frigate, three corvettes, a brig, and a steamer," as the composition of the enemy's force.

The Hornet steam-corvette was directed by signal to enter the outer

harbour and reconnoitre, and she returned in the afternoon, with the report that there were six vessels. Further examination showed that the inner harbour was protected by three small islands. Rocks, shoals, or grounded ice obstructed the passages between. A Russian frigate was moored, with her broadside to the impracticable-looking passage to the southern island, and a long corvette, mounting eighteen or twenty guns, was moored also, with her broadside bearing on the channel between the southern and middle islets. Two other corvettes were similarly moored in an inner line; a brig, or brigantine, was placed further back; and a small steamer was half hidden behind a projecting point still further up the harbour. Russia had been five years busily laying the foundations of a settlement in this bay, as the nearest and earliest open harbour for her possessions in the Amur; and it was to this bay that the vessels which had eluded pursuit after the declaration of war were directed to proceed; and the same place of refuge saved the Petropaulski ships.

There yet remained nearly two hours of daylight, and the commodore gratified the eagerness of the boyish crew of the Hornet by giving orders to hoist the red ensign and to try the range of the long thirty-two pound gun in the bow, which, as the furthest ranging gun in the service, ought to have reached the corvette at 2000 yards. We watched the flight of a shell, and were disappointed in seeing it fall short of the island. The Russians cheered and returned the compliment from a broadside gun, whose shot fell likewise short, amidst the cheers of our crew. The long gun was again pointed, and a second shell dropped some distance from the mark. A longer cheer from the Russians, who brought the bow of their corvette to bear on us, was followed by a welldirected shot which fell between three or four hundred yards short, and was greeted by another cheer. This practice was, I assume, thought a waste of time, and we steamed back to the frigate and brig, which were still outside.

The following day the three vessels "stood on and off" the entrance to the harbour, with a view to entice the enemy's squadron to leave their strong posi tion. The day passed without this object being attained; the Russians employing it in active measures to strengthen themselves.

Three alternatives presented themselves to the little British squadron. One which we cannot help thinking that some would have been glad to avail themselves of, was to attack at once. But the auxiliary steamcorvette having barely power of self-propulsion for herself alone, still less to act as a tug, this plan was rejected. A nation which boasts of her naval supremacy seems always to lack the means of preserving that ascendancy when the time comes to give it practical application. A second alternative was to blockade the Russian squadron; this was also negatived. A third and last was to blockade the port, by keeping the sea with two vessels, and to despatch the smallest for assistance. This alternative was acted on at once; the three vessels stood out to sea, and during the two following days sailed slowly to the south till the 23rd, continuing to cruise in a narrow part of the Gulf of Tartary until the 27th, when they bore up again for De Castries Bay. If they had sailed away on purpose to give the enemy time to escape, they could not have adopted a more effectual means.

The next morning, as we skirted the well-known bluff, every glass was turned towards the bay, and long before it was possible to see them, masts were de scried by anxious and eager eyes. A nearer approach revealed that the Russian ships had evidently changed their positions, though where they had moved to

could not be discovered; and slowly and disagreeably the conviction came to every mind that the enemy's squadron had escaped. Still to the last some hopes yet remained, until we got into the outer harbour, and found that the inner anchorage was unoccupied.

Regrets and disappointment were unbounded, and felt by none so deeply, though silently, as by the commander, who had, I am sure, sacrificed the quick impulses of his nature, and the honourable promptings of ambition, for the caution which his judgment dictated to him was his duty.

A landing was effected in De Castries Bay, and some rough log buildings explored, in which were found boxes, beds, clothes, books, papers, flour, and even bread still warm, but no inhabitants. To add to the climax of disaster, the Bittern arrived off Hakodadi on the 29th of May, but the reinforcements only reached the Baie de la Jonquière on the 25th of June, and never looked into De Castries Bay, nor bent a sail, until a rare northerly wind tempted a speedy return to the south!

་

On the 29th of May the little squadron stood out to sea again, and after being run into by an American whaler, were joined on the 7th of June by the Winchester and Spartan frigates. From that time till the 15th they continued under easy sail near the same spot, and it was not till the 16th that, being further reinforced by the Styx and Tartar, they once more turned their bows to the north! This time Captain Whittingham entertained sanguine hopes of being one amongst the first to solve a geographical question, rather mysteriously evaded by Russian surveyors, and unauthoritatively discussed by the great German physicists, that is, if, in contradiction to the statements made upon very insufficient data by La Perouse and Broughton, there exists a passage for ships at the northern extremity of the Gulf of Tartary into the Gulf of Amur.

The auxiliary steam-corvette hoisted the commodore's broad pendant on the afternoon of the 27th, and proceeded to sea. Rumours were rife that she was ordered to look into De Castries Bay at daylight, and then, if no enemy was seen there, to search the bays and inlets to the northward. The next morning broke with heavy rain and thick mist, and hopes were again buoyant that the boats of the squadron would be sent, on the return of the Hornet, to discover the enemy's position, the frigates advancing as far as practicable, probably thirty or even possibly forty miles, and the smaller vessels much further, to cover and protect the boats; and as the corvette steamed in at the early summer dawn of this latitude, the fresh northerly breeze and bright clear sky seemed to lessen the chances of getting ashore, and diminish the risks of accidents, Risks! how often that fatal word is used as a shelter for imbecility and indecision! As if war was a certain game at each move, even with the immense preponderance of the allied squadrons! It was soon known to all that no enemy's vessels had been seen, and the alacrity of getting the ships under weigh promised a speedy settlement of the much-canvassed passage to the north. Alas! in a few minutes each vessel, with every sail set-an unknown spectacle in our progress to the north-was flying to the south before the plea

sant breeze!

We have since learnt from Russian prisoners, that at that time, late as it was, only half their vessels had got through the passage never even reconnoitred by us!

The officers of the squadron engaged in ferreting out the Russian fleet in the Gulf of Tartary must wish the landsman, who thus details their proceedings, in that Tartary, where, according to poets familiar to them in their youth, the most impious and guilty among mankind were punished.