Indiscreet Letters From Peking

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Indiscreet Letters From Peking

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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)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 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 of war may reconsider their words, and remember that sacking, with all the accompanying excesses, is still regarded as the divine right of soldiery unless the provost-marshal's gallows stand ready. In the fourth place,