by G. A. Henty
The morning after the troops entered, two mines heavily charged were fired. If the troops had been one day later, there is no saying what the consequences might have been. All with whom Rex had chatted were of opinion that the Chinese were deterred from attacking, not by our rifle fire, but by a superstitious fear that we were keeping some secret means of destruction in reserve. Whether it was that we had mined the ground everywhere, and would blow them all into the air as soon as they crossed our barricades, or whether they feared some unknown, but even more terrible form of death, could not be said, but the men who were ready to endure the deadly fire of our rifles could not be got to make a rush against a position where only some fifteen or twenty men faced them. The Chinese kept up their straggling fire all day, and among others one English lady was hit in the arm, this being the first time that a woman had been struck since the siege began. Rex learned that out of a total strength of nineteen officers and three hundred and eighty-eight men, including volunteers, thirteen officers were killed and wounded, and sixty-seven men killed and a hundred and sixty-seven wounded. Fighting still went on, but great surprise was expressed that the French did not make any attempt to go to the relief of their countrymen in the North Cathedral.
In the evening, Rex went into the Fu, where the Japanese were for the most part quartered, and enquired of General Fukushima if there was anything that he could do.
“No, I do not think there is anything at present. When we once get out into the city I shall be very glad of your services again. You can, if you like, go with a force I am sending out in the morning to relieve the French missionaries. We know they must be in extreme danger, and it would be a scandal if we allowed them to be massacred after we have entered the city.”
Accordingly the next morning Rex started with the Japanese. They made a long detour and approached the cathedral from the other side. They attacked and drove off the Chinese on that side and really raised the siege, but at the same time they heard heavy firing on the other side, and found that the French and Russians had arrived there. Fukushima therefore halted his men, being willing to give the French the opportunity of being the first to relieve their countrymen.
The garrison had had indeed a terrible time, and in spite of the entry of the allied force, the attack had been maintained up to the very moment of their relief. The Japanese had met with resistance on coming through the gate that separated the cathedral quarter from the palace of the Empress. Here they came upon a number of Boxers, who were so occupied by their attack upon the cathedral that they had scarcely noticed the arrival of the relieving force. Taken by surprise, a good many of them were hemmed in, and a machine-gun was trained upon them with terrible effect. Fighting was kept up through the various streets, and continued until they reached the cathedral. The garrison at first refused to admit this unknown band of swarthy warriors, and some explanations had to be exchanged before they could be brought to understand that they had been relieved.
The Catholics would never have remained in possession of the cathedral had not the Chinese municipal officers assured them that they would be altogether undisturbed. When the Boxers first appeared near the cathedral, the governor asserted that he had special orders to protect the cathedral. The regular troops there consisted only of thirty French and twelve Italian marines, who at the last moment, when the danger of the situation could no longer be winked at, had been spared from the slender garrison of the Legations to aid in the defence. This was the force that was called upon to defend the circuit of the walls of the great French establishment, whose circumference amounted to nearly a mile. Within this circle there were no fewer than three thousand five hundred people, the larger portion of whom consisted of children from the orphanages. The adults were formed by the fathers into a body, and armed with spears made by fastening knives to the ends of long poles. The eight muskets, which were all the firearms they had, were distributed among the different sections.
The Chinese authorities threw off the mask on the 10th of June, and on that day the Chinese regulars and Boxers surrounded the place, cut the telegraph wires, and completely isolated it.
At the head of the defence was Mgr. Favier, the heroic bishop, who by his courage, self-devotion, and zeal, kept up the spirits of the defenders through the darkest days of the siege. He was the soul of the resistance. Under him were six priests, who organized the work of defence and set a noble example to the others. The converts were set to work with pick and spade to assist in the defence, and the whole defensible area was quickly surrounded with trenches and barricades. Ammunition was unfortunately very short, but the priests set some of the converts to manufacture powder and bullets. The shot was not difficult to make, as lead and pewter could be obtained from the roofs and vessels, but both sulphur and charcoal were very scarce. After many failures, however, some thousands of rounds were manufactured. These would have been of no use for distant fighting, but they were sufficient for what at times was almost hand-to-hand work.
The Boxers burnt all the houses in the neighbourhood, threw inflammable pots into the convent and upon the roof of the cathedral, and maintained a continuous fire of musketry and artillery. Fortunately the fire was principally directed against the cathedral, and though that building was sorely battered, but little harm was done to the defenders.
Continual messages were shouted to the converts calling upon them to come out. One note, which was thrown into the trenches on an arrow, ran as follows: “You Christians shut up in the Peitang, reduced to die in misery, eating the leaves of trees, why do you so obstinately resist? We have cannon and mines, and can blow you all up in no time. You are deceived by the devils of Europe. Return to the ancient religion of the Fu, hand over Mgr. Favier and the rest, and your lives shall be saved and we will supply you with food. If you do not do this, your women and children will be cut to pieces.”
But although these attempts continued throughout the siege not one of the converts evinced the slightest desire to give in. The worst form of attack was that of mining. The enemy successfully exploded one huge mine, blowing up several buildings, and killing no fewer than eighty children and injuring a still greater number. Four tons of gunpowder were said to have been used, and the result was a huge round hole like the crater of a small volcano, measuring in diameter, from bank to bank, fully ninety feet. Even this did not shake the courage of the defenders, but it warned them of what they had to expect, and all available hands were at once set to work digging very deep trenches to prevent the Chinese from mining under the buildings. In spite of these efforts, however, four mines were exploded inside the compound, but another, which would have been almost as formidable as the first, was prevented from doing the damage that it would otherwise have done by one of the other trenches, though over seventy people were injured by the explosion.
Several other mines besides those exploded were met by countermines driven by the besieged. One mine, however, had escaped observation. This was driven under the foundations of the cathedral, and had the relief been delayed but a day or two longer it would have been fired and would probably have caused the death of a vast number of people, for the building was throughout the siege used as a hospital.
Towards the end of the siege the garrison was greatly annoyed by rockets. These were fired by an ingenious gun, and directed by the Chinese themselves. They rendered any passage across the enclosure dangerous, and set fire to many buildings. Once a brilliant sortie was organized and carried out by the handful of marines and a number of spear-armed converts. They succeeded in capturing a field-piece and some ammunition, the latter being invaluable during the siege.
But the greatest enemy with whom the garrison had to contend was hunger. Gradually the ration of rice served out to the converts was reduced, and at the end, although but two ounces of rice was all that could be allowed to the Chinese converts, even this would have failed in the course of another two or three days. This miserable ration was eked out in every way. Every green thing, every blade of grass, was
pulled up, cooked, and eaten. The last few starving animals, before they were killed, had stripped the bark off the trees as high as they could reach.
The little party of marines had lost heavily. The captain had been killed early in the siege. The lieutenant fell on the 30th of July. He was but twenty-three, but his cheerfulness and devotion had done much to maintain the spirits of the besieged. He had worked night and day, and his death caused the deepest regret among the garrison. Eleven of the soldiers were also killed and most of the others were wounded.
Mgr. Favier wrote: “We wept but once during the siege, and it was on this day. So terrible was the pinch of hunger that half-wild dogs which fell upon the dead Boxers lying round the entrenchments were killed and eaten.” The suffering was so great that one has to go back to the siege of Leyden for a parallel. The defenders, when relief arrived, were almost skeletons, living spectres scarce able to drag themselves along, and their rescuers, on viewing the shattered defences, the numerous pits made by the exploded mines, and the worn and pallid forms of the defenders, were astonished that they had been able to hold out so long against a horde of well-armed and determined assailants. Gallant as was the defence of the Legations, there could be no doubt whatever that it was as nothing compared with that of the cathedral.
As things began to settle down a little the pressure in the Legations was relaxed, the Chinese converts in the Fu and in the British Legation moved out and established themselves in the deserted houses near. Supplies began to come in, especially to the British Legation, where the natives quickly learned that they would be fairly treated. The Japanese were also well supplied, but no native would enter the Russian quarter. The attempts of Russia to pose now as the friend of China were wholly fruitless. Putting aside the atrocities the Russians had committed there, the natives had become well aware of the horrible massacres they had perpetrated in Manchuria, and their occupation of that province had excited so deep a feeling of animosity that even had their behaviour been good at Pekin they would still have been regarded with the greatest mistrust.
CHAPTER XVIII
CONCLUSION
Fighting went on for some days, but at last all opposition ceased, and the Chinese soldiers either left the city altogether or, changing their clothes, appeared as peaceable citizens. Rex went round the town and was horrified at the destruction that everywhere met his eye. The portion of the town held by the Russians was infinitely the worst; there the looting had been universal, and the atrocities committed upon the unfortunate inhabitants beyond description. In that part of the city Rex scarcely saw a native in the streets. In the German quarter things were little better, and in the French quite as bad. In those portions of the city occupied by the British and the Americans many natives were moving about, and in many of the streets fruit and other things were exposed for sale on stalls. In the Japanese quarter all was order and regularity. Looting had been prohibited from the first, and stringent orders given for the good treatment of the inhabitants. This had such a good effect that shops were already opening, and stalls lined the streets, and indeed the greater portion of the inhabitants from the other quarters had migrated to this part, where alone they found they would be safe from pillage and outrage. It was a humiliating sight for an Englishman that these swarthy little soldiers, whom the Europeans regarded almost as barbarians, should be so infinitely in advance of the Western troops in discipline, order, and good conduct.
The Americans, on the day following the relief of the Legations, fought their way to the entrance of the Forbidden City; but there they halted, as an agreement had been made that none should enter the Palace grounds until a formal entrance was made by the whole force. The jealousies and bickerings of the various generals had broken out afresh now that their purpose was achieved. The Russians, who had from the first signalized themselves by their brutal treatment of the natives, were now posing as their friends, and were already advocating a retirement. The French, owing perhaps to their supposed alliance with the Russians (though from the beginning they had been conspicuous for doing nothing), followed their lead in this as in all things. The Italians were inclined in the same direction; but the Japanese, British, and Americans were wholly against any movement of retirement until terms had been definitely settled.
After a fortnight’s consideration they decided to march through the Imperial Palace, and on the twenty-sixth the troops paraded, the arrangement being that ten per cent of each nationality should take part in the demonstration. They drew up outside the inner gateway. The Russians took up their position in the centre, close to the great stone bridge, the Japanese a little to the left, the British were to the right of the Russians, and the remainder behind them. They had but one band, a Russian one, but there were also some pipers belonging to one of the Indian Regiments. In all there were eight hundred Russians, eight hundred Japanese, four hundred British, four hundred Americans, two hundred French, two hundred Germans, and one hundred Italians and Austrians. Soon after eight o’clock a salute of twenty-one guns was fired by one of our field-artillery batteries, and then, led by the Russians, the force marched through the central archway of the Tien-An-Mên.
The Imperial Hall of Audience, or, as it was called, the Hall of Great Harmony, was a magnificent building. It was here that the Emperor sat enthroned, receiving the homage of his court, on any great occasion, notably New Year’s Day, his own birthday, and various other times prescribed by the rigid ceremony of the court. Here he conferred literary degrees and distributed robes of honour and promotions in rank. The hall was over two hundred feet long, one hundred feet wide, and the same height. It stood on a noble terrace of white stone, twenty feet above the level of the courtyard, and was reached by five flights of steps. These were flanked, and the terrace surrounded, by white marble balustrades, both steps and balustrades being excellently carved. A number of huge bronze urns of very handsome design, and two great bronze tortoises, added to the brilliancy of the approach.
Externally the hall was in fair repair, but the ornamentation under the eaves was dirty, and the pillars outside and the woodwork round the walls were sadly needing paint, so that in spite of the fine approach the general aspect was that of shabbiness. Why this should be so under the rule of an all-powerful Empress, with the whole resources of the Empire at her command, was quite unaccountable. One would have expected that everything within the walls of the palace, which is the centre of the Empire, would have been kept in the most perfect order. The same want of repair was evident in the Hall of Central Harmony, the Hall of Precious Harmony, and the various pavilions in the courtyards through which the troops marched. In fact the aspect of all the rooms, halls, and pavilions was disappointing in the extreme. The waiting-rooms were gloomy, and everything was covered with dust. Grass grew thickly in the courtyard, and indeed the whole place had an aspect of neglect and privation. In the Imperial apartment there were superb vases and ornaments of all kinds, all bearing the same marks of neglect. The general feeling among the troops was one of disappointment. After a stay of an hour or two the troops marched out again. Some small articles were carried off, but there was nothing like general looting, and the mandarins who had remained behind in charge had no reason to complain of the conduct of the troops.
Rex accompanied the Japanese in their march, as being officially in their service, and, like all those who had formed the procession, was greatly disappointed.
“It is really a rotten old place,” he said to the girls on his turn. “It looks as if it hadn’t been inhabited for a hundred years. It is grimy, dusty, and dark. No doubt there were all sorts of good things in the way of vases, but even these were so dirty and dull that no one would think of looking at them if they were not in the palace. Certainly I did not see anything that I should have cared to carry off if I had been permitted to do so, except upon the supposition that, as they were in the palace they must be valuable. I have seen much better things in the loot taken in the city.”
“Well, I am glad to hear you say
so, Rex,” Jenny said, “for it does seem rather hard that the women who have taken part in the siege should not have been allowed to go to look at all the wonders.”
“Well, you have lost nothing, I can assure you,” said Rex. “Some of those things I bought are certainly better worth looking at than anything in the palace, at least till it has been cleaned up a bit.”
Pekin having been conquered, and the proof of conquest having been given to the Chinese by the march through the temple, the general topic of conversation was what was next to be done. The Empress was, it was known, making her way to Shansi, some hundreds of miles away, and all agreed that it would be impossible to pursue her there, for even if the journey could be accomplished she would simply make another move, and so evade capture. It was considered probable that she would make an offer to treat, but no doubt a considerable time, weeks perhaps, or even months, would pass before she could bring herself to do so. It was considered certain that sooner or later she must take such a step, for, credulous as the Chinese are, it would be impossible to get them to believe that she was staying at Shansi from choice, and that Pekin was occupied by the allies by her gracious permission. The question was, what would be the end? As a matter of course a huge sum would have to be paid for the expenses of the war. On this point opinion was unanimous. The question on which there were strong differences of opinion was, what else would happen? Would each of the Powers demand a slice of Chinese territory, and undertake the civilization of the huge Empire? One objection to this was that it would sooner or later lead to a general outbreak of hostilities between the Powers. It was probable that the mere work of fixing the respective frontiers would bring matters to a crisis at once. Russia would assuredly demand a far greater share than the others, and, on condition that France would back her, would see that that country also benefited very largely. Austria and Italy would certainly be unable to manage a concession of any size, and, moreover, they had so little interest in the East that they would probably put in no claims. Germany, with her sudden greed for colonizing, would certainly expect a large slice. On the other hand, Japan, Great Britain, and America might be expected to oppose any steps in this direction. None of them had any wish to acquire territory. As traders they desired that all doors should be kept open, and that trade should be free to all. Their interest, therefore, was that China should remain intact, and should be allowed to advance gradually in the path of reform.