Indiscreet Letters From Peking

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Indiscreet Letters From Peking

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by B. L. Putman Weale
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Title: Indiscreet Letters From Peking Being the Notes of an
Eye-Witness, Which Set Forth in Some Detail, from Day to Day, the
Real Story of the Siege and Sack of a Distressed Capital in 1900--The
Year of Great Tribulation
Editor: B. L. Putman Weale
Release Date: November 4, 2005 [eBook #17003]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING***
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INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING
Being the Notes of an Eye-Witness, Which Set Forth in Some Detail,
from Day to Day, the Real Story of the Siege and Sack of a Distressed
Capital in 1900--the Year of Great Tribulation
Edited by
B.L. PUTNAM WEALE
Author of "Manchu and Muscovite," and "The Re-shaping of the Far
East."

China Edition
1922
Shanghai Kelly and Walsh, Limited British Empire and Continental
Copyright Excepting Scandinavian Countries by Putnam Weale from
1921

CONTENTS
FOREWORD

PART I--THE WARNING
I FRAGMENTS II MUTTERINGS III OVERCAST SKIES IV OUR
GUARDS ARRIVE V THE PLOT THICKENS VI THE LICKING
FLAMES APPROACH VII THE CITY OF PEKING AND ALL ITS

GLORIES VIII SOME INCIDENTS AND THE ONE MAN IX THE
COMING OF THE BOXERS X BARRICADES AND RELIEFS XI
SOME MEN AND THINGS XII HELL HOUNDS XIII A FEW
CRUMBS XIV THE ULTIMATUM XV THE DEBACLE BEGINS

PART II--THE SIEGE
I CHAOS II THE RETREAT AND THE RETURN III FIRES AND
FOOD IV THE BONDS TIGHTEN V THE MYSTERIOUS BOARD
OF TRUCE VI SHELLS AND SORTIES VII THE HOSPITAL AND
THE GRAVEYARD VIII THE FAILURE IX AN INTERLUDE X
THE GUNS XI SNIPING XII THE GALLANT FRENCH XIII THE
BRITISH LEGATION BASE XIV THE EVER-GROWING
CASUALTY LIST XV THE ARMISTICE XVI THE RESUMPTION
OF A SEMI-DIPLOMATIC LIFE XVII DIPLOMACY CONTINUES
XVIII THE UNREST GROWS AND DIPLOMACY CONTINUES
XIX THE FIRST REAL NEWS XX THE THIRD PHASE
CONTINUES XXI MORE DIPLOMACY XXII THE WORLD
BEYOND OUR BRICKS XXIII TRIFLES XXIV DIPLOMATIC
CONFIDENCES XXV THE PLOT AGAIN THICKENS XXVI
MORE MESSENGERS XXVII THE ATTACKS RESUMED XXVIII
THE THIRTEENTH XXIX THE NIGHT OF THE THIRTEENTH
XXX HOW I SAW THE RELIEF

PART III-THE SACK
I THE PALACE II THE SACK III THE SACK CONTINUES IV
CHAOS V SETTLING DOWN VI THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT VII
THE FEW REMAINS VIII THE PALSY REMAINS IX DRIFTING X
PICKING UP THREADS XI THE IMPOSSIBLE XII SUSPENSE XIII
STILL DRIFTING XIV PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS XV THE
CLIMAX XVI THE END

FOREWORD
The publication of these letters, dealing with the startling events which
took place in Peking during the summer and autumn of 1900, at this
late date may be justified on a number of counts. In the first place, there
can be but little doubt that an exact narrative from the pen of an
eye-witness who saw everything, and knew exactly what was going on
from day to day, and even from hour to hour, in the diplomatic world of
the Chinese capital during the deplorable times when the dread Boxer
movement overcast everything so much that even in England the South
African War was temporarily forgotten, is of intense human interest,
showing most clearly as it does, perhaps for the first time in realistic
fashion, the extraordinary bouleversement which overcame everyone;
the unpreparedness and the panic when there was really ample warning;
the rivalry of the warring Legations even when they were almost in
extremis, and the curious course of the whole seige itself owing to the
division of counsels among the Chinese--this last a state of affairs
which alone saved everyone from a shameful death. In the second place,
this account may dispel many false ideas which still obtain in Europe
and America regarding the position of various Powers in China--ideas
based on data which have long been declared of no value by those
competent to judge. In the third place, the vivid and terrible description
of the sack of Peking by the soldiery of Europe, showing the
demoralisation into which all troops fall as soon as the iron hand of
discipline is relaxed, may set finally at rest the mutual recriminations
which have since been levelled publicly and privately. Everybody was
tarred with the same brush. Those arm-chair critics who have been too
prone to state that brutalities no longer mark the course