110 



CHINA. 



smoke. On June 16 the flames from a steam flour 

 mill and a foreign drug store spread to adjacent 

 buildings, and a strong wind carried the confla- 

 gration on until the richest fur and cloth stores 

 and the most important banks were in ashes. The 

 Boxers supplicated the fire god in vain to spare 

 the great tower in the south wall, which was 

 opened only for the passage of the Emperor when 

 he visited the Temple of Heaven- or that of the 

 God of Agriculture. 



On the day following the entrance of their main 

 body the Boxers made the first attack on the 

 legations, to which the troops replied with a volley, 

 killing a number, wounding many, and causing 

 the rest to retire quickly out of sight. In their 

 retreat they came upon and set fire to a mission 

 compound that the missionaries had abandoned, 

 leaving there 200 converts with their families, all 

 of whom perished in the flames or were slain in 

 trying to escape. The same night they burned 

 several foreign houses, and on the night following, 

 in two divisions of about 2,000 each, they renewed 

 the attack on the legations. Several volleys were 

 fired by the troops, putting the bands to flight; 

 and as they fled in disorder the troops sallied out 

 and chased them a short distance, killing a great 

 number. After this a new proclamation of the 

 Empress Dowager ordered the Boxers to disperse, 

 and threatened all who remained in Pekin with 

 arrest and punishment as bad characters, since 

 all good Boxers must already have departed in 

 obedience to previous edicts. Soldiers were at the 

 same time detailed to patrol the streets and special 

 guards were set to protect the legations. The 

 Boxers denounced it as false, the work of the 

 Chinese party, and contrary to former decrees, 

 and subsequently they murdered several high 

 Chinese officials. 



When Admiral Seymour's expedition set out 

 without leave, the Chinese Government protested 

 throvgh its representatives abroad that it was a 

 hostile act. The advocates of peace and modera- 

 tion in Pekin were rendered dumb. The Boxers 

 were supplied with weapons from the Government 

 armories and recognized as a militia for the de- 

 fense' of the country, and, recruited by deserting 

 soldiers from Nieh's army, they were authorized 

 to stop the expedition, for which purpose Tung- 

 Fuhsiang's troops also marched out. 



On June 16 the Empress Dowager summoned a 

 Grand Council. She is said to have first consulted 

 the Manchu princes and nobles and then to have 

 announced their decision to the Grand Council, 

 which was for war against foreigners until these 

 should abate their pretensions. The Chinese of- 

 ficials protested that a general war against Chris- 

 tendom would be fatal, and urged that time 

 should be taken to make a choice of enemies and 

 also of friends, some advocating an understanding 

 with Russia, others one with Great Britain and 

 Japan. The Boxers in Pekin from this time grew 

 bolder, and the lawless soldiery of Tung-Fuhsiang 

 joined them in attacks on the legations. 



In the night of June 16 American and Russian 

 sentries were fired upon by Chinese soldiers. On 

 June 17 a collision occurred between a detach- 

 ment of German and Austrian troops and Chinese 

 regulars, some of whom were killed, which led to 

 a request of the Tsung-H-Yamen that the foreign 

 guards should be withdrawn, assurance of protec- 

 tion being given. The ministers replied that 

 thereafter their own soldiers would protect them. 

 Large bodies of Chinese troops encamped near the 

 legations. 



The capture of the Taku forts by the powers and 

 the subsequent advance of the relieving column 

 were accepted by the Chinese Government and 



by all authorities in north China as acts of open 

 war. The Empress proclaimed a state of war, 

 called on the ministers of the powers with the 

 Europeans in the legations to withdraw under a 

 safe conduct to within the lines of the allies at 

 Tientsin, and sent orders to the provincial author- 

 ities to notify Europeans to leave the country, and 

 to raise troops for the purpose of repelling the 

 foreign barbarians and maintaining the national 

 prestige. Gen. Nieh, who had been sent out to 

 suppress the Boxers when they damaged the rail- 

 roads and then recalled because he carried out his- 

 orders with too much violence, was commanded 

 to assist the Boxers and the troops of Tung-Fuh- 

 siang in resisting the advance of the allies. When 

 the ministers refused to leave the legations under 

 the escort of Chinese troops, they were regularly 

 besieged in the legation compounds and attacked 

 nightly by the Boxers and mutinous soldiery, and 

 intermittently were shelled by the imperial troops. 

 The first notice to the foreign ministers to leave 

 Pekin was delivered on June 19 in an identical 

 note from the Tsung-li-Yamen, stating that the 

 admirals had demanded the surrender of the Taku 

 forts and threatened to attack them and take them 

 by force, showing the intention of the powers to 

 break off friendly relations. The princes and min- 

 isters, astonished at this news, could not promise 

 complete protection to the legations from the 

 Boxer banditti if war ensued, and therefore begged 

 the ministers to depart for Tientsin with their 

 guards under the protection of an escort of Chinese 

 troops that had been provided for the purpose. 

 The ministers, who knew nothing before this of 

 the action at Taku, asked for a conference with 

 Prince Ching and Prince Tuan, to satisfy them- 

 selves as to the sufficiency of the military escort 

 and the means of transport, and to stipulate that 

 members of the Tsung-li-Yamen should accom- 

 pany the expedition. The Russian minister still 

 hoped for a peaceful outcome. The German min- 

 ister, Baron von Ketteler, who felt called upon to- 

 uphold the interests of his Government with firm- 

 ness and vigor, strongly dissented from the opinion 

 of most of his colleagues that it was necessary to 

 leave Pekin, and determined to convey a serious 

 warning to the Tsung-li-Yamen, and the Manchu 

 princes in particular, that if they broke off diplo- 

 matic relations with European nations they would 

 bring about the fall of the dynasty. Although 

 he received no reply from the Tsung-li-Yamen to- 

 his demand for an interview, he set out with- 

 out an armed escort in the morning of June 20 r 

 and as he passed a squad of soldiers he was shot 

 dead in his sedan chair by the officer in command 

 of the troops, his interpreter reported. 



The death of the German minister convinced the 

 other ministers that they could not depend on a 

 Chinese escort, and determined them to fortify the 

 legations and defend them until the relief col- 

 umn arrived. The missionaries in their quarter 

 of the city, the staff of the Maritime Customs, 

 and other Europeans and Americans, were hastily 

 escorted to the British legation. At the hour 

 when the time set for their departure by the 

 Tsung-li-Yamen was up, the troops of Tung-Fuh- 

 siang opened a rifle fire on the Austrian legation. 

 On the day following the Tsung-li-Yamen sent a 

 courteous reply to the diplomatic body, stating 

 that the warning to leave Pekin had been given 

 in consideration of the dangers that the ministers 

 incurred by remaining, but since the country out- 

 side was also disturbed and the time given was 

 too brief for proper preparations, the Yamen agreed 

 to the delay and to further negotiation; the re- 

 lations between China and the powers had not 

 been strained by any animosity on the part of the 



