The French Admiral Laguerre held that the obstinate resistance ofthe rebels was due to foreign encouragement， and to supplies from theEnglish Settlement， and criticized the English for not observing stricterneutrality.
When the rebels raised a battery near where Rue Tourane nowis， Admiral Laguerre ordered it to be demolished， and upon theirrefusal to comply with his request， joined forces with the Imperialistsin an attempt to take the city. An attack was made on the North Gate，close to the site of the present St. Joseph"s Church， but although theFrench succeeded in making a breach in the walls and fought bravely，lack of support on the part of the Imperialists hindered them fromaccomplishing their object. The French casualties were two officerskilled and four wounded， seven men killed and thirty-two wounded.
The Rebels Evacuate the CityLater， a wall was built by the Imperialists from where the FrenchBund now is to where a bridge on Honan Road then crossed theYangkingpang， to isolate the city from the Settlement. Cut off fromsupplies， the beleaguered city was soon reduced to sore straits， andthe rebels evacuated it on February 17th， 1854， as rapidly as they hadentered， after having occupied the city for seventeen months.
When the Imperialists obtained possession of the city， it was givenover to three days， looting， and the eastern half was almost entirelydestroyed by fire. The Imperial-ists showed no mercy to the rebels， andall who were captured were immediately executed.
Effects upon the SettlementThe Settlement was affected in many ways by the struggle betweenthe Imperialists and the insurgents.
Trade was greatly disorganized. The Taiping Rebellion， whichis described in a later chapter， had closed the whole of the Yangtzebasin from Chinkiang upwards， and the greater part of the ChekiangProvince， so that there was no market for goods imported intoShanghai. Although the immediate vicinity of Shanghai had remainedquiet， yet the feeling of uncertainty caused a decline in purchases. Theresult was that general imports， consisting mainly of cotton goods，remained unsold and accumulated in the merchants‘ godowns.
The amount of opium imported and sold， however， greatlyincreased at this time. The opium was delivered into receiving shipsat Woosung and then smuggled into the country. Between 1847 and184 9 the average deliveries of opium amounted to 18，814 chests， theaverage value being ＄11，185，000 annually. In 1853 they had increasedto 24，200 chests， valued at ＄14， 400， 000， and in the course of the nextfew years amounted to 33，069 chests.
Although conditions affected all imports except opium， theexports largely increased. Tea came to Shanghai， not by the Yangtzebut over the mountains from Anhwei， Kiangsi， Fukien， and Chekiang.
In 1853 ， 69，000，000 pounds were exported. This fell off in 1854 to50，000，000 pounds， owing to the coming of the “Small Swords” toShanghai， but increased again in 1855 to 80，000，000 pounds.
The same is true in regard to silk. In 185 1， 20，36 0 bales wereexported and in 1853 ， 58 ，319 bales. This was largely due to the factthat after Nanking fell into the hands of the Taipings the people weredestitute and could no longer afford to purchase silk， and the outputof the great silk producing district between Soochow and Hangchowwas forced to seek a foreign market. Thus for a considerable time theexports exceeded the imports and this led to a large importation ofsilver dollars to balance the trade.