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The National Geographic Magazine 



Tuan encouraged them to come to the 

 capital. In their devastating march they 

 killed missionaries and laid waste Chris- 

 tian villages; nor did they abstain from 

 man}^ a village which was not Christian, 

 but which excited their cupidity by the 

 spoils which it offered. Reaching the 

 vicinity of the capital, they tore up the 

 railway leading to the west and burned 

 down the stations near the city. Then 

 it was, not till then, that the ministers 

 in the capital awoke to the seriousness 

 of the situation. Missionaries had been 

 uttering their Cassandra warnings, but 

 the ministers always turned for informa- 

 tion to the Tsung I^i Yamen, the official 

 organ or Foreign Office of the Chinese 

 Government. They were there told that 

 these Boxers practiced an innocent kind 

 of gymnastics, and if they did sometimes 

 show themselves turbulent and disposed 

 to quarrel with native Christians, it was 

 not without cause ; but the Empress 

 Dowager intended shortly to issue a de- 

 cree dismissing them to their homes. 

 Such decrees were issued, accompanied 

 by secret instructions not to regard them. 



THE SIEGE. 



The meaning of the destruction of the 

 railway was not to be misunderstood; the 

 ministers, without waiting for the con- 

 sent of the Chinese Government, ordered 

 a guard of marines to be sent up from 

 the seacoast, and the}^ arrived not a day 

 too soon. The next day the railway to 

 the east was also broken up, and had 

 their arrival been delayed forty-eight 

 hours no foreigner in Pekin would have 

 lived to tell the tale. They were only 

 350 in number, but their mere presence 

 for a time held our enemies in check, 

 and the3^ served eventually to make good 

 the defense of the legations. 



On June 1 1, a fortnight after their ar- 

 rival, an attache of the Japanese Lega- 

 tion was killed at the railway station by 

 Boxers and Chinese soldiers combined. 

 This may be regarded as introducing the 



first stage of the siege; for the next nine 

 days the Boxers were specially promi- 

 nent, setting fire not only to churches 

 and mission houses, but burning up all 

 the native storehouses which they sus- 

 pected of containing foreign goods. 

 Square miles of ground were left by 

 them covered with the ruins of the rich- 

 est bUvSiness houses in Pekin. On June 

 19 a circular from the Foreign Office in- 

 formed the foreign ministers that the 

 admirals had demanded the surrender of 

 the forts at the mouth of the river. This, 

 said the}', is an act of war. You must 

 now quit the capital with all 5^our people 

 within four and twenty hours The 

 ministers agreed to protest against the 

 severity of this condition. The first to 

 set out for the Foreign Office with this' 

 purpose in view was Baron von Ketteler, 

 the German Minister. No sooner had 

 he reached the great street than he was 

 shot in the back by a man wearing the 

 official costume of the Chinese Govern- 

 ment, and fell dead. His interpreter 

 was wounded, but succeeded in making 

 his escape and giving the alarm. 



The other ministers believed that a 

 general massacre had begun, and with 

 their people, who had already taken 

 refuge under their several flags, they 

 fled precipitately to the British legation, 

 which, having been the residence of a 

 high prince, covered a large space of 

 ground and was surrounded by strong 

 walls, forming a citadel capable of de- 

 fense. It had accordingly been agreed 

 upon as a place to make a stand in the 

 last resort, and Sir Claude Mac Donald 

 not only generously welcomed his col- 

 leagues, but received all their people, 

 whether civilian or missionary. The 

 missionaries were accompanied by their 

 converts, Catholic and Protestant, to the 

 number of nearly two thousand. For 

 the converts an asylum was secured in 

 the grounds of a Mongol prince on the 

 opposite side of a canal from the British 

 legation. Professor James, the man 

 chiefly instrumental in securing it, was 



