It is stated in locat mandarin circles that the Empress Dowager prior to her flight issued an edict commanding: the following Boxer Chiefs to remain in the capital, namely, Prince Tuan, Prince Chuang, the Grand' Secretary Hsii Tung, the Assistint Grand Secretary Kang Yi, and Chung Li, President of the Board of Punishments and Commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie, "to defend the Imperial city and administer the Government." It will be noted that three of the four above-nanted are Manchus, the third named, sil Tung, being a Chinese Bannerman of Hanchun, a descendant of the Chinese traitors who admitted the Manchus into the Great Wall and aided them to conquer China. Before leaving Peking the Empress had more than twenty of her etutichs beaten to death,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.