in that land of riots and disorder. The civilized world was horrified by the massacre of foreigners,—men, women, and helpless children,—the destruction of foreign-built railways and property, and finally by the news that one foreign minister had been murdered in a street of the capital, and that all the other diplomatic representatives were besieged in their legations and their lives threatened by a bloodthirsty mob which had overawed or was controlling the imperial government. In answer to the urgent call which came from the beleaguered diplomats and foreigners resident at Peking, Tientsin, and other places, the United States, within a brief space was able from its forces in the Philippines to land upon Chinese soil a division of its army, supported by a squadron of its navy, and to take an important and honorable part in the rescue of its citizens and in the pacification and reorganization of the empire.
The so-called "Boxer" movement, which was the occasion of these troubles, suddenly dominated several of the most populous provinces and the imperial capital, and for a time threatened to carry the whole nation with it, in its cry for the expulsion of all foreigners from the country. Such a widespread and powerful movement, which imposed upon the United States and the other civilized powers the task of readjusting the foreign and domestic relations of the great empire, demands careful consideration.
China has been described as honeycombed with secret societies. The I Ho Tuan, or "Boxers," variously translated the "Sacred Harmony Fist," "Fists
