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Consul Clarke writes to long, newsy letters to his favorite Aunt. In the first he alludes briefly to the violence in the waning days of the Taiping Rebellion, "...Soon after I took charge of the office the Chinese attacked our missionaries in the city, they fortunately escaped but their houses were destroyed. This gave me a great deal of trouble, my demands were not acceded to until I sent for a vessel of war..." In the second, he goes into more graphic detail, "...The two provinces of which Foo Chow is the capital are overrun with rebels we are in the midst of civil war large bodies of troops are constantly arriving and departing and every day brings us the news of fighting. The local authorities are quite paralyzed they know nothing how to provide for an army or conduct a war and are constantly coming to the British Consul or myself for advice. I intend soon to visit the camp of the Viceroy who is at the head of the Imperial troops encamped about 150 miles from here in the interior..."