Letter to Captain Butler on the Anglo-French Expedition to China. An essay set against the backdrop of the Anglo-French invasion of China, Captain Butler wanted to take advantage of Hugo's illustrious reputation to get him to champion the so-called victory of the Expedition to China, but Hugo, a writer of integrity, without narrow nationalistic sentiments, representing the conscience of mankind, strongly condemned the brigandage of the Anglo-French Allied Forces who set fire to the Yuanmingyuan in this letter. "Somewhere in the corner of the world, there is a world wonder. This miracle is called the Yuanmingyuan. There are two sources of art, one is ideal, which produces European art; the other is fantasy, which produces Oriental art. The Yuanmingyuan is to fantasy art what the Parthenon is to ideal art. The imagination of an almost superhuman people was able to produce as much as it could. ...... This miracle has disappeared. One day two robbers broke into the Yuanmingyuan. One robbed and the other set fire to it. It seemed that after their victory, they were ready to steal. They looted the Yuanmingyuan on a large scale, and the loot was divided equally between the two victors. ...... This is what civilization does to barbarism. The two robbers who will be punished by history are called France and England. ...... The French Empire swallowed half of the spoils of this victory, and today the Empire is so naive as to think that it is the real owner of the property that it has brought the opulent rags of the Yuanmingyuan for display. I hope that one day the liberated and clean France will return this booty to the plundered China."