Through the courtesy of a Chinese official, Intely arrived from Peking, the vicinity of which he left on the Ist of July, and who was interviewed by a member of our Staff, we are enabled to give a sketch of events which happened in the North during the month of June last and which, having occurred under the narrator's own eyes, ure thus graphically told.
At the beginning of the Boxer troubles in the vicinity of Peking all the officials, high and low, in the capital resolved themselves into two Parties, very distinctly marked. One was the Chinese Party, composed entirely of men of Chinese descent who were opposed to the Boxers' crusade against Foreigners as a whole, and who sought to ailvise the Empress Dowager to suppress or disperse the Boxers; and the other, the Manchu Party, who were unani exception of Prince Chi Tang, a newly appointed Minister of the Tsungli Yamen, in favour of war to the knife against all foreigners, and who therefore stontly supported the Boxers and clamoured for rheic being regulaly organised and armed as Government auxiliary troops to fight the foreign troops. The leaders of the Chinese Party are the AssistantGrand Secretary, Wang Wen-shao; Hsii Ching-ch'éng, Vice-President of the appointments, ex-Minister to Rassia, President of the Chinese Manchurian Railways, ete; Hsit Yun: President of the Board of Rites, and se others. While of the Manchu Party leaders are the infamous and notorious am, Prince Chuang, Yang Lu, Chi Hsin, ete. U Party held the military power in the persons of Prince Tuan, commanding the Peking Field Force and the Husény Corps (all Manchus), and Yung Lu, the Generalissimo of the Wuwei Army, Grand Army of the North—Tang Fu-hsiang, Sang Ching, Nieh Sze-ch'éng, ete., bei under his command. stances the power of the Party was actually inland they could only, once in a while, persuade the Empress Dowager to issue a decree or two ordering the suppress sion of the Boxers or censuring them for their misdeeds; but this was only when the arch-cunspirater, Kung Yi, happened to be away from Peking. Hence we have an explanation of the curious phenomenon of one day there appearing a decree ordering the suppression of the Boxers, and on the next day, of another one, exactly opposxed tu its. predecessor, praising up the Boxers, collin them " patriots" and ordering compensation to be paid them for their "bravery and loyalty."
At the beginning of the outbreaks outside Peking, when the Boxers were engaged in slaying and pillaging native converts and setting fire to their churches and homes, the Boxers did dare to venture to uppyar openly inside the City walls, especially as at 4 Council at Eho Park, held on the Gth of June, before the Empress Dowager, the Chinese Party had by strong arguments persuaded her to appoint two of their number, viz Chao Shu-chiao and Ho Jun-sheng, Governor-Adjoint and Governor, respectively, of the Imperial Prefecture of Shuntienfa (Peking Prefecture), to be High Commissioners, and in her name go to the Boxer encampments at Liangshiang and Chochou (two district cities a few miles from Peking) and disperse the outlaws. Should this order be opposed, the Boxers were to be suppressed by force by General Nieh's troops outside Peking. The Manchu party at this particular Council happened to be in the minority, and so the tw Chinese got appointed and. started once, i.e., on the morning of the 6th of June, on their mission, Kang Yi, howe heard of this and fearing that these two members of the Chinese party might possibly spoil a'l his cherished plans of massacring all the foreigners within Peking, he persuaded the Empress Dowager to allow him to go after the two Chinese Commissioners, as he "was afraid that Chao Shu-chino, the Heid Commissioner, would not be capable of doing what was required.' Hence Kang Yi left Peking on his own mission that same afternoon, which was to tell the Boxers to go on and continue their work as they had the approval of the Empress Dowager.
In the meanwhile, the Kansa troops under Tung Fu-hsiang had hitherto been quartered in the Southern Hunting Park, about 40 li South of Peking. On the [ch of June, however, it began to be rumoured about that the Empress Dowager had sent a secret decree to General Tung, commanding him to bring in his troops into Peking. [In other words, Kang Yi had met Tung Fu-hsiang outside of Peking ey that time.] This rumour proved true, for on the morning of the 9th of June the advanced guards of General Tung Fu-hsiang appeared inside the city, and began forces. On the someday, the Kansu troops quarters for their general and his streamed into the streets of Peking, in great munters, Then, also, Boxers were seen to be invading Peking, deluging the city, as the day passed, in their thousands and tens of thousands. so that by the next day armed and uniformed Boxers with swords in their hands stalked openly xbout the streets, a menace to all, Before this the ordinary Chinese population of the city all thought that the Empress Dowaer would surely suppress the Boxers working their swagery outside of Peking, and were surprised and almost panic-stricken when they saw armed Boxers and outside troops entering and Gilling the streets of the capital instead. The Boxers now openly spoke out what their mission in Peking was to be, which was to exterminate all foreigners in the capital first, and then drive those on the seacoast and forts into the sea, The Boxers lost yo time in showing that they were in earnest and that they were the masters of the situate for on the day they entered en masse (10th June), while a num: her of them were at the Yungting-gate of the city telling the gaping crowd around them what they were going to do to the foreigners, an officer, a stranger in Po of the rank of General, named Yao, native of Anhui, who, in official hat and was riding past (having come from for an Imperia! audience), attempted the braggadociv of the Boxers, and cried out to the populace: "Don't believe these people. Don't be rash, Chinn and all the foreign At peace, Powers are Such deeds must never be." For reply the Boxers around cried' out: "Brh Mao-ize!" (or second-grade Foreigner) and jmmedistely pulled the unfortunate General off his horse, some smashing his official hat, others tearing his robes ieees and others again striking him.
sword hilts and clubs. fonmedia ly ds they dragged their victim, already more dend than alive, to a neigh ing "Tau" or altar, of the Boxer "to work the oracle" and ask what to do with the blasphemer. " Death" replied.the oracle, and a minute afterwards, the unfortunate General was a headless corpse. Of the thousands of horror-stricken bystanders around, only one ian, " military officer named Li, belonging to a Chiness regiment of the permanent garrison of Peking, attempted to save General Yuo's life by trying to intercede in his favour. But the Boxers tried to get hold of him also, and he only saved his own life by the swiftness of the horse he rode, This was the first act of bloodshed in Peking by the Boxers—only a few hours after entering and upon a General oticer at that.
'The next day, lish June, occurred the murder of the Japanese Chancellor, Sugiyama, by the Boxers' brothers—Tung Fu-hsiang's Kansu troops. The unlucky Chancellor attempted to loave Peking by the Yungting gate in order to meet Admiral Seymour's relief force, which was known to be on its way to the Capital from Tientsin, which was apparently expected to reach Peking that day. Sugiyama rode in a cart with a broad red band round the body, denoting that the occupant was of, at least, the Zid raul When he arrived at the Yungting gate he was accosted by a number of Tang Fu-hsiang's men who were guarding it. It semed that Prince Tww had that day given secret orders no foreigner was to be allowed either to leave the city of enter it, He was therefore stopped and asked who he was. Sugiyama told them that he was a member of the Japanese legation, ' Are you the Japmnese Minister?—"*No, T ain only a Chancellor of the Legation." "Then what right have you, a petty officer like that, to ride in such a high official's cart 2" S" they pulled him out of his cart and began to mob the unlucky Chancellor, Sugiyama then demanded to be brought. before General Tung Fu-hsiang—" What You "to speak to our Great General
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.