204
THE TASK NEARLY COMPLETE.
Further serious fighting is not anticipated, the Empress and Court having fled somewhere four
days previous to the arrival of the allies. The Naval Brigade will return to the ships as soon as the Forbidden City has been taken, which it is understood will be attempted to-morrow.
THE LOSSES.
The losses to the Anglo-Saxon contingents has been very slight; but the Russians and Jap- anese lost a considerable number in capturing their positions before entering the City. The Chinose, apparently expecting the principal at- tack would be delivered there, had strongly fortified that particular position-leaving the way that our troops and the Americans came practically undefended.
CORRESPONDENTS RETURN FROM PEKING.
The special correspondents of the London daily papers are beginning to come back from Peking, some arriving with the returning transports yesterday morning. In the course of a brief conversation one of them told a repre- sentative of this paper that he was surprised at the prevalence of the story that the British troops were the first to enter Peking. As a mätter of fact the Russians got in on the morn- ing of the 14th ult. The British, however, reached the Legations first, and this probably led to the impression that they had the honour of first entry. The Japanese reached the Imperial City before the other allies and seized all the gates. They would not permit anyone to enter, our informant continued, except General Gaselee himself. An interesting fact is that Japan was represented by no less than 23
press correspondents on the expedition, England coming next with 18. One English corres- pondent applied for leave to go with the Japanese contingent, but General Fukushima thought he had his hands full enough with his own country- men. Mr. R. T. Head, Hongkong readers will be interested to hear, soon recovered from his attack of dysentry and was still in Peking when our informant left. He was very popular with all at the front, we are told. With regard to China ponies, so hard to obtain before the ex- pedition started, they are now to be picked up for next to nothing in Peking. The general impression of the correspondents seems to be that their business is over-nothing more to be reported.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
fleet of transports was awaiting orders. Gen. Creagh and staff went into Shanghai; and up to Friday, the 17th, when the Nizam left, it was not known whether we should go to Shanghai or not.
THE JAPANESE FIRST For valour. An officer of the Centurion told me in the course of a long talk that he was sorry to say that the Japanese were a long way the bost of anything in the way of troops on shore during Seymour's march and during the fighting up to the taking of Tientsin. He had to say that they were better than Jack; and Jack had be- haved splendidly. He mentioned casually that at the taking of Tientsin the fight of the first day ended in a loss exceeding what the British had suffered at Magersfontein; but, while the Highlanders declined to advance again, the Ja- panese next morning, against the opinion of the Generals of the other allied Powers, went on and fought their way in.
AFTER THE CAPTURE OF TIENTSIN.
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the inhabitants back into their houses to con- He also said that, when in, our men forced
ciliate them, by order of their G.O.C., and that the Japanese shot them there, by order of their G.O.C., to encourage the remainder. As regards looting, the lower-class Chinese were already in the Treasury looting and the officers and men took the money to save it from the mob; those who took were forced to return the loot.
THE WOUNDED AND THEIR FATE. On the retreat from Peking to Taintsin the marines of the Centurion were obliged to leave The newspapers should agitate that poison he the wounded-but the wounded were shot first.
carried for such cases, adds our correspondent.
A SMART CAVALRY AFFAIR.
[September 15, 1900.
by the foreigners of all similar offers. There is also the fact that subsequently the raising of the flag of truce was invariably followed by yet heavier firing than usual. Baron von Ketteler's body must have been carelessly left by his mur- derers on the ground, and only given the e covering of a coffin after some days. When the relieving force arrived, this coffin was found, and it was only by the clothes that identification was
pos- sible. An extraordinary thing is mentioned by one gentleman. He states that in a London newspaper of the 18th of June he saw the state- ment that Baron von Ketteler had dered, whereas the deed was not committed until two days later. It will be remembered that his death was rumoured in Shanghai some days before the 20th.
mur-
This murder was the signal for the with- drawal of the foreigners to their Legations. They did not neglect one precaution, however. They looted-with no Provost-Marshal to say thom nay!-the contents of rice shops, and before they had the storm upon them. Shot stored the proceeds as food. It was not long
and shell marked the hurrying minutes, and at first the defenders occupied themselves busily in replying-at considerable cost of ammunition and life. They lost ten fighting men in one day, and this rude lesson showed them that such tactics would not pay. The total number of fighting men was 450-at that rate sufficient to last 45 days-and orders were issued that the defenders were not to fire unless there was reasonable chance of hitting a man. How well these orders were carried out may be judged from the computation that during the siege they killed 3,000 ( hinese.
was done, and how the ladies worked with their
Then came the work of fortifying and gener- mish took place, in which the British and ready heard how strongly and effectively this On Sunday (the 23rd August) a smart skir-ally strengthening the defences. We have al-
Madras Pioneers drove the enemy towards the American cavalry figured. One company of cavalry, who charged home, killing 350. Six men taken prisoners were tried next morning
as "Boxers" and were shot.
PEKING DURING THE SIEGE.
HOW THE LEGATIONS FARED.
The revenue cruiser Kaipan last week brought down to Shanghai some of those who had gone through the sixty days' siege of the Legations at Peking. They were Mr. and Mrs. Piry, and four children, Mr. P. von Rantenfeld, Mr. L. de Luca, and Mr. H. Bismarck, all of I. M. Customs. The details we give of the siege are from the N.-C. Daily News.
M. FRANÇOIS'S ACTION IN YUNNAN
M. O. Gérard, delegate at Phuong Do,
It is evident-strongly evident-that the prog- Tonkin, writes :-In your issue of August 18,
nant anxiety which has been felt in Shanghai, in I read an article on Missionary Refugees in China generally and all over the civilised world, Hongkong," writen very likely by the Rev. Mr.
as to the fate of the defenders of the Legations, Harding, whom I know personally. His account
has not been shared in any such degree by says that the French Consul, M. François, those defenders themselves. The late George being warned that he was to be murdered, Steevens, writing from beleaguered Lady decided to leave the city with his staff. No-smith, whimsically conceived of a bombard thing is more untrue. On June 4th, General Sou came officially to see the Consul, being sent by the Viceroy, and explained that if we were willing to surrender our guns everything would be 0. K. The answer was that we only had guns to prevent an attack from the population which last year, without any reason, tried to kill us all. On the 7th June we were at tiffin, when a despatch came from H. E. Ting, Acting Viceroy, ordering us to leave Chinese territory, within three days. Son Ta Sen came the same day, being sent by the Viceroy, and asked again for the guns. M. François' answer was: “Go and tell the Viceroy that we are leaving China, but there cannot be any question of giving up a single round of cartridge; we are decided to fight till death."
This is the exact version, Mr. Editor, and your informant will not dare to deny it. As for the journey from Yunnan-Fu to Tonkin it does not take weeks, but only 15 days.
RECENT EVENTS.
SOME ADDITIONAL DETAILS.
A correspondent who went up north on the Nizam writes giving some details which are of general interest. He says:---
Aft niet journey we reached the mouth of the ngtze Kiang on the 15th August about 10 a
There we found everything in an im the forts with their guns trained on the ships, hid the ships guns pointing back. The
ment which would go on so long that, should it end, those who had been bombarded would die of inanition. In Peking they must have got used to it, besides which the intense dramatic interest of the siege must be hidden largely from the participators. No doubt the men, whose duties of watching-the unending alert ness which is most wearing of all-as well as fighting, bore onerously upon them, had a bad time. But such letters as they have written are bright and cheery, touched hardly at all with the gloom one would hve expected had our grave fears of their sufferings and priva- tions been justified by actual facts. For the women, the anxiety and full knowledge of the danger has doubtless been minimised for them -as witness the letter of the young lady who would not have missed it for worlds." What could be more significant?
E
silk brocades, and other stuffs, at the making of bags which, filled with sand, afterwards formed barricades for the defenders. It is an indication of how near was the danger to say that at one point the barricades of the attacking Chinese-from which they sniped at the defon- ders-were but a few yards from theirs. Through loopholes the foreigners potted the enemy. Once it was found that a Chinese officer was shooting very well, and Mr. Bismarck, a good shot, was pitted against him. He ran a walking-stick through the loophole opposite that of a Chinese, and shifted his position to another at a short distance. From this point he succeeded in disposing for ever of the officer. This lust, by the way, was the officer referred to in the complaint of the Tsungli Yamên.
This barricading and entrenching did not extend quite far enough to avert an awful and imminent danger. However, a certain space was left, and at this space the Chinese com- menced mining. They had succeeded so well with their work that had the relieving force been a day later the Legation and its defenders would in all probability have been blown to atoms.
Throughout the siege and during the arduous work of barricading and entrenching Sir Robert Hart was a notable figure. He sank his posi- tion as Inspector-General entirely, holding himself as a plain Englishman and no more. He worked hard and gallantly with the rest,, drawing the same rations, and showing himself at all times a man of strength and fortitade in danger or trouble.
14 We
As to the rations aforesaid, they were all too short. The ordinary food soon gave out, and there remained the looted rice and the horses. So these were eaten, and rice and horseflesh was the diet of the garrison during the greater part of the siege. Wine there was in reason- ablo quantity, and champagne was a staple drink, Whisky was plentiful, too, though brandy ran very short. It is probable that the poorness First, and foremost, principal among the facts and scarcity of the food was the chiefest auffer- which have come to light, seems to be that Baroning of the siege. As to food," said one, von Ketteler's death was the salvation of his had a hard time," and the words go for much, fellows. The departure of the foreigners had been urged officially by the Chinese officials—or government-and a safe escort had been promis- ed them. On the 20th of June, however, the German Minister went out to confer with the Tsungli Yamên, was murderously assaulted, and killed. The interpreter, Mr. Cordes, escaped with wounds. This lamentable occurrence threw a lurid light on the value of the Chinese promises of escort and protection, and was the reason for the subsequent refusal
Next to food, perhaps guns and ammunition take rank in importance. The stories already to hand in regard to the manufacture of am- munition are borne out.
There is one amusing story in this connection, One of the guns used was an ancient piece, B relic of 1860, rescued from a brazier's shop, and this came to be called the "International Gun.” It rested on an Italian carriage, it was worked by an American, the powder used was Chinese, the projectiles were Russian-the recital of the
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