682 Mr. A. Henry Savage Landor, [May 31, 



An hour later, towards noon, white flags were seen hoisted all 

 along the Tartar wall, and firing practically ceased, except from 

 the south-east corner tower, which persistently continued firing all 

 day, notwithstanding that it was in return heavily shelled by the 

 Russian and later by the American artillery. 



The troops, unopposed, marched along the Tartar wall as far as 

 the Ha-ta Men gate, and others as far as the " Sluice " (Water gate), 

 through which, as we shall see, at about two o'clock p.m., an entrance 

 had already been made by the British. 



While this was taking place, the brunt of the fighting was borne 

 by the Japanese, who had come up by the paved road leading from 

 Tung-chow to the Chi-ho gate (East gate) of the Tartar city. 



On the evening of the 13th, they had encamped some three miles 

 from the East gate of Pekin. Their advance guard was a quarter of 

 a mile in front of the main force. I selected as my own camping 

 ground an open space between the advance guard and the main 

 column. Colonel Mallory, attached to the Japanese force on behalf 

 of the American Government, and Mr. Bass, correspondent of the 

 Herald, were with me. 



During the night the rain was torrential, and we had to cover 

 ourselves with Colonel Mallory 's poncho, when shots were heard in 

 close proximity, and presently a very smart fusillade was opened 

 from in front and behind us. Bullets were hissing over our heads. 

 It was pitch dark, and we did not know exactly what was happening. 



There seemed to prevail great excitement in the Japanese camp, 

 and in the meantime the shooting in front could not have been more 

 than forty or fifty yards from us. 



At sunrise we discovered that the Chinese had boldly attacked the 

 Japanese advance guard, which had to fall back on the main body, 

 hence the exciting skirmish. They were eventually beaten off. 



We marched briskly on Pekin, meeting with no resistance until 

 we got within four hundred yards of the gate, which we reached at 

 about eight in the morning of the 14th. A rush was made on the 

 gate by the infantry — a scene of the wildest enthusiasm. 



We were met by a fearful fusillade from the gate and wall, 

 and a sudden shower of shells burst among us. We still advanced 

 for some time, seeking shelter along the road-side, until the firing 

 abated. 



Four more guns were sent to shell the Tung-chih gate, where 

 the wall was broken down and reported scaleable. The Chinese 

 made quite a stout resistance on this side of the city. Probably 

 they only expected to be attacked from the east side, and had accord- 

 ingly made preparations, so that, although British, Russians, and 

 Americans were already inside the Chinese and Tartar city walls 

 since the afternoon, the Japanese did not succeed in blowing up the 

 gate till nine o'clock in the evening. Their losses during the day 

 were two hundred killed and wounded. 



The British, in the meantime, had been steadily marching on 



