Note 5 — Chapter XLII · THE WALLS OF ISOLATION SAPPED.
Reading edition
In 1860, war with China broke out, the French and English forces took the Peiho forts, entered Peking, sacked the summer palace of the Son of Heaven, a few thousand European troops destroying the military prestige of the Chinese colossus. The Chinese emperor fled into Shing-king, toward Corea. The news produced a lively effect in Chō-sen, especially at court.5