Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 582

128

PEKING

ouside affairs, and learned that Tientsin had been attacked and relieved, and that a Relief Column was being organized for them. The paucity of information was one of the most curious surprises in a situation that was full of surprises. China is a country where news may as a rule be bought for money easier than in any country in the world, as spies abound; yet for weeks the World knew nothing of Peking, foreign-Peking nothing of the World. For the next ten days active hostilities were in complete abeyance, though vigilance on both sides was unremitting, and the defences were continually being strengthened.

On the 22nd of July, the attack was renewed at the Pei-tang or Northern Roman Catholic Cathedral, where the Catholic Fathers under Bishop Favier had assembled more than three thousand native Christians, and where, with the help of fifty French and Italian marines, one of the most pathetic and desperate resistances of modern times had been carried on. They were short of food, of aminunition, of medicines, and of every- thing but calm courage and Christian fortitude. They were the especial object of Boxer hatred and fanatical effort, and had to conduct their defence amidst inconceivable conditions of overcrowding, disease and famine; during the last few days of the Siege their daily allowancee of food was four ounces of rice, and at the very last this had to be reduced to two. The children and aged died like flies. They were not only in utter ignorance of the outside world but also of their lay countrymen in the Legation part of the City.

News that the relief column was leaving Tientsin at once came to the American Minister on August 2nd. This was somewhat premature, as the Column did not finally start till August 3rd; but it served to reanimate the defenders. At this time there were 883 people within the enclosure of the British Legation, that being the refuge to which all had recourse when they were driven from other positions in the defence. Of this number 527 were Europeans and Japanese. The reports of the defeat of the Chinese at Pei-t'sang and Yang-tsun, and of the swift advance of the Allied army, had the effect of making the Chinese more resolute to gratify their hatred, even at the last moment; consequently the attacks of the 12th and the 13th were the most desperate of the whole Siege; but as the heavy guns of the Relief were distinctly heard fromTung-chow, the defence knew the meaning of it and were more resolute on their part to beat the enemy off. The Japanese and the Russians were at the eastern gates of the Tartar City on the 13th of August, and to these localities the Chinese withdrew their best forces, leaving the eastern Gate of the Chinese City all but unguarded. Here Sir Arthur Gaselee and General Chaffee leading the British and American contingents of the Column found an easy entrance. After seizing the Temple of Heaven, they swiftly pushed along in a direction parallel to the South Wall and found a way on through the Water Gate, by which the waters of the Imperial Canal flow under the Wall.

In a few minutes the relief of the Legations was an accomplished fact. The Russians and French got in early the following morning at the Tung-pien-men, and the Japanese, who, after being the leaders all the way from Tientsin and bearing the brunt of most of the hard fighting on the road up, had the bad fortune to meet with most of the real opposition at the Walls, entered later on in the same morning. The gallant little Islanders found some solace in coming across the chief Treasury as they fought their way across the City, driving the beaten Chinese before them. On the following day the Americans advanced on the Imperial and Forbidden Cities and, with the co-operation of the French and Russians, seized these citadels of prejudice and seclusion. The French, backed by the Japanese, effected the the release of the sore-tried people in the Pei-t'ang.. The City was given up to a "modified looting" for a period of three days, and then military government was established, the different Powers undertaking different areas of the town. The Palaces fell to the Russians, who also sent out a column and seized the famous Summer Palace, thirteen miles distant. The capture of the City was formally celebrated by a visit of all the leading Ministers, Officers, and some of the troops to the Palace. For the first time in history, foreigners were able to see the arena of the Imperial Court.

The Imperial Family had the day before the Relief escaped from the City and fled into Shan-si via the Northern passes, en route for Si-an-fu, where it now is.

Peking though it has suffered indescribally from the depredations of the Boxers, the Imperial troops, the awful ruffianism of Tung-fuh-shiang's barbarians from Kansu, to say nothing of the subsequent attentions of the Allied troops, is at present more attractive as an object of travel than ever, for the simple reason that the City has been cleansed, and is being kept clean by the foreign Powers, and that all places of antiquarian, artistic or historic interest are now accessible if the visitor sets about his object with due attention to national susceptibilities.