was utterly futile, and the revolutionary movement gained new strength and activity with the immunity it enjoyed. Towards the end of April outbreaks occurred at Tientsin, directed by a branch organisation known as the Sect of the Red Fish. Native Christians were the special objects of attack, and property belonging to the French missionaries greatly suffered. Urgent protests were lodged against the lawlessness of the mob, but the authorities either would not or could not control the disruptive forces which had been let loose. Soon the outbreak extended to Peking, and the streets became full of roughs who attacked native converts and insulted every foreigner they met. At length the rioting took the alarming form of tearing up the rails, and so severing communication with the coast. Impressed with the growing seriousness of the situation, the diplomatic representatives called for assistance from their respective squadrons, and some four hundred and fifty men were sent up. The trouble now assumed an even graver form. Violent outbreaks occurred in North China, and to the destruction of the railway at Paoting Fu, was added the murder of Messrs. Norman and Robertson, two missionaries at Yunching, and the wholesale assassination of native Christians wherever met with. A culminating feature of the occurrences was the murder of the Chancellor of the Japanese Legation in the streets of Tientsin. The seriousness of the situation had by this time impressed itself upon the foreign Governments, and soon a strong fleet—the largest ever seen in Chinese waters—assembled at Taku. But the crisis had now got beyond the point when any naval demonstration, however imposing, could ameliorate it. The Boxers caught up in their movement all classes of the population. In some places the officials openly identified themselves with it; in others they were powerless to resist it. Later it became perfectly evident that the Government itself was deeply involved in the propaganda. At Peking, as June advanced. the position of affairs, owing to the calculated inactivity of the authorities, became alarming. The Boxers carried on their crusade against the foreigners with increasing violence and determination, murdering and destroying wherever the hated influence was apparent. An urgent call from the Legations to the Admirals for reinforcements led to the prompt despatch from Tientsin, on June 10th, of a mixed force of fifteen hundred sailors, under the personal command of Admiral Sir Edward Seymour, the senior naval officer on the station. The detachment entrained for Peking, but at Lo-Ja they found that the permanent way had been destroyed, and that the route was barred by a large body of Boxers. As he had with him only three obsolete field pieces, and a badly equipped commissariat, Admiral Seymour deemed it advisable not to attempt to proceed. He conducted a masterly retreat to a point outside Tientsin where he remained entrenched until his little force was relieved by a column of allied troops on June 25th. On the following day the united force marched into the foreign settlements, taking their wounded with them in safety. While Admiral Seymour's expedition was proceeding, momentous events had occurred elsewhere. On Saturday, June 16th, owing to the menacing character of the situation in Chihli, the Admirals sent in a demand for the cession of the Taku forts before the next morning. The Chinese not only rejected the ultimatum but commenced hostilities against the fleet. The inevitable result followed. The forts were successfully attacked by the fleet, and finally occupied by the allied forces. Two days after these occurrences the Tsung li Yamen sent a notification to the Embassies demanding their withdrawal by 4 p.m. the following day. The reason assigned for this step was the attack by the Allies on the Taku forts, but the general concensus of opinion of those who had opportunities of watching on the spot the development of the crisis, is that the Chinese authorities were already at this period so deeply involved in the anti-foreign movement that the Taku affair only indirectly influenced their action. However that may have been, the foreign ministers declined to entertain the demand of the Yamen. They were influenced in their decision by the palpable inability of the Chinese Government, even if its good faith were beyond reproach, to afford adequate protection during the journey to the coast, and by the unavoidable necessity which would arise of leaving thousands of native Christians who had taken refuge in Peking to be slaughtered by the Boxers. When it became known that the Legations intended to remain, the situation swiftly advanced to a tragic dénouement. On the very next day the German Minister, Baron Von Ketteler, was brutally murdered in the Peking streets while on his way to interview the Chinese Ministers. The attack made on him was the work of imperial soldiers, and there can be little doubt of the direct complicity of high-placed officials in it. Its grave significance was too obvious to be ignored by the greatest optimist amongst the foreign ministers. Immediately measures were taken to place the Legations in a condition of defence to withstand the attacks which it was clearly seen were impending. Before twenty-four hours had elapsed the historic siege of the Legations had been entered upon. The details of that thrilling episode in Chinese history are too fresh in public memory to require to be related here. It is only necessary to say that after weeks of almost continuous fighting, during which the defending force showed a splendid spirit of valour and endurance, the Legations were relieved by an international relief column, which, leaving Tientsin on August 3rd, and pushing steadily onwards, arrived before Peking on August 13th, and almost immediately raised the siege. On the day previously the imperial family had taken flight into Shansi en route for w:Si-an-fu, where it was to remain for many months in a not too honourable exile. The foreign military occupation of the Chinese capital continued for a rather lengthened period, and even when the main forces were withdrawn strong detachments were left behind as a permanent measure of protection. Apart from the humiliation involved in this measure the Chinese Government had to pay dearly for the ineffaceable infamy of its conduct. The Peace Protocol, finally arranged between the envoys of the Treaty Powers and Prince Ching and the late Li Hung Chang, provided for the payment of an indemnity of £65,000,000, spread over a period of 39 years, and for a revision of commercial treaties on lines which were little to the taste of the reactionary Chinese officialdom. Eventually three new treaties were concluded, one with the United Kingdom, the second with the United States, and the third with Japan. Under the British Treaty Changoha in Hunan was opened to foreign trade, and the arrangements with the United States and Japan provided for the inclusion of Mukden, Tatunkow, and Antung, in Manchuria, amongst the Treaty ports.
China was not involved as a belligerent in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5, but the titanic struggle between the giant power of the north and the little island empire profoundly affected her interests directly, and indirectly it has exercised, and still is exercising, a powerful influence on her people. The stirring of the dry bones of Chinese life, which is one of the remarkable international phenomena of the day, is, there can be little doubt, an aftermath of the war. The spectacle of the Japanese triumphing over the colossal might of Russia by virtue of her thoroughgoing adoption and intelligent application of Western principles of life and government, has created in the minds of the
