CHINA. 



109 



The Roman Catholic mission gave asylum to 2,000 

 converts, and several hundreds were received at 

 different times into the British legation. A guard 

 of 20 marines under Capt. Hall was sent by Min- 

 ister Conger to help defend the Methodist com- 

 pound. 



The feeling of the court circles in regard to 

 the occupation of the military ports by European 



governments, and their assertion of spheres of in- 

 uence embracing the best parts of China, was 

 expressed in edicts of the Empress Dowager, de- 

 scribing the foreigners as robbers of Chinese terri- 



reflected in the remotest provinces, where the 

 anti-European spirit was strong. The French 

 consular officers in Yunnan were compelled to quit 

 their posts when 1'rincc Tuan sent a reactionary 

 mandarin to supersede the governor of the prov- 

 ince. 



The author of most of the acts and edicts of 

 the Government hostile to Europeans was Kang- 

 Yi. Whenever he was not present, Prince Ching 

 and his Chinese colleagues prevailed upon the 

 Empress to issue orders and publish edicts quite 

 different from those that had just before gone 



Copyright, 1901, by J. C. Hwnment. 

 BUILDING IN WHICH THE AMERICANS WERE QUARTERED DURING THE SIEGE. 



tory, and people who had expanded the rights of 

 commerce and intercourse and the privilege of 

 propagating Christianity into claims for seizing 

 territories and subjugating Chinese to foreign rule. 

 When the Boxers first appeared in Pekin and be- 

 gan to attack the native Christians, the legation 

 guards had several fights with them in the streets 

 and killed a number. This led the Government 

 to abandon its attitude of impartiality between 

 the Christian Chinese and the Boxers, and to con- 

 done the misdeeds of the latter on the ground 

 that they were provoked by the violent conduct 

 of the European troops patrolling the streets un- 

 lawfully. The assemblage of war ships at the 

 mouth of the Peiho, the landing of marines, the 

 seizure of the railroad terminus at Tangku, and 

 the preparations to send additional guards to 

 Pekin made the Empress Dowager throw herself 

 into the hands of the warlike Manchu party en- 

 tirely. Tung-Fuhsiang was ordered to bring his 

 troops from the hunting park up to Pekin, and 

 the Boxers were virtually invited into the capital. 

 The entrance of the Boxers and the unruly 

 Mohammedan soldiers into Pekin was synchro- 

 nous with the transfer of the principal offices in 

 the Government to the most reactionary of the 

 Manchus. Prince Ching, the only member of the 

 Tsung-li-Yamen possessing a knowledge of foreign 

 affairs, was superseded as president by Prince 

 Tuan, and three other Manchus of the Conserva- 

 tive stripe were appointed, while one Chinese re- 

 tired. The serious state of affairs in Pekin was 



forth. Twice orders were issued to respect the 

 sanctity of the legations and to allow the Euro- 

 peans to take converts under their protection. 



On June 11 Sujiyama, the Japanese Secretary 

 of Legation, while setting out for Tientsin to in- 

 form his Government of the situation, was killed 

 by Chinese soldiers outside the city gates. On 

 that day the telegraph line to Kalgan was out. 

 the Tientsin telegraph having been broken 

 eral days before. From that time for many weeks 

 no communications passed between the foreigners 

 shut up in Pekin and the outside world. On the 

 next day the Boxers made an open attack on the 

 British patrol. On June 13 the Boxers began the 

 work of razing all buildings in Pekin not pro- 

 tected by foreign military, that were owned or 

 occupied by foreigners. When the east and south 

 Roman Catholic cathedrals were burned many 

 native Christians lost their lives. A rescue party 

 shot many Boxers who were ina^acring Chris- 

 tians, and a second one, led by Dr. Morrison and 

 containing French and German marines, brought 

 away a large number of Chri>ti;uis. who \\ en- 

 lodged in a palace adjacent to the British location. 

 Buildings associated with foreigners or foraigl 

 methods wore burii"d with the rest. The destruc- 

 tion of the compound of the Maritime Customs 

 entailed a heavy pecuniary loss on the Chinese 

 Government. The electric light works, and even 

 the Pekin University with its library, were 

 burned. For several days fires raged in all quar- 

 ters of the city, obscuring the sky with their 



