There was plenty of evidence to prove that anarchy had reigned supreme for the last day or two; many houses had been forcibly entered, and their less valuable contents strewn about the streets; and the severed heads of several Boxers were to be seen hanging to poles by their pigtails, which showed dissension had been rife between the Regulars and their fanatical Auxiliaries. All sanitary arrangements had been disregarded, and a most unpleasant reek of decomposing garbage offended the senses at every turn.
The fire brigade, if such a thing existed, had naturally decamped on the fall of the south gate, and the Allies found the town on fire in a dozen places, notably in the N.W. and S.E. quarters. The reason that these two quarters suffered most heavily in this respect, while the N.E. and S.W. quarters enjoyed comparative immunity, is easily explained, when it is understood that the majority of the Allies’ guns were facing the N.W. to S.E. diagonal, so that should a shell just top the wall, it perhaps created a fire in the S.E. corner, whereas, if elevated for another three or four hundred yards, it had a similar chance of doing so in the N.E. corner.
There was a good deal to be done, one of the most important things being the barring of ingress to any one but Europeans. To ensure this, all the gates were guarded, and all outgoing Chinamen were searched, and permitted to go, while all candidates for admission were searched and turned back.
A rather grim incident occurred during the police work at the north gate. The Japanese were guarding the bridge outside the walls when two Chinamen came along, dressed like coolies, and begged for admission. This was at once refused; whereupon the two men tried to shove past the guard. Of course such temerity was fatal; they were leapt upon and thrown to the earth, after which they were searched; on each were found arms and ammunition, and both were immediately “despatched,” and their bodies hurled into the river. Some one near by, expressed the opinion that it was rather an arbitrary method of dealing with them; but by every rule of war their fate was deserved. They were spies with arms concealed on them, and by their eagerness to get inside the gates, it may be supposed that some plan was to be carried through to the detriment of the troops in possession, which was only frustrated by their timely end. It was, however, noticeable that later candidates carried themselves with more submission than the two whose fate had been just witnessed.
The first thing that the British did, when the city had been cleared, was to seize a number of the junks which crowded the river along the northern wall, as well as two steamers, one a convenient little launch, the other a paddle steamer which, though tried for some time, eventually proved useless. The junks were expected to be of great assistance in the forthcoming advance on Pekin, and although some were too big for the higher reaches of the river, yet many proved of inestimable value in conjunction with the transport arrangements for the above named expedition. Guards were placed on every gate, and by two o’clock it was possible to withdraw some of the troops to the settlement. No sooner was personal safety assured than the city became full of people, all bent on plunder,—in fact the looting of Tientsin had begun. Loot, a word which had seemed to have died a natural death in favour of “commandeer,” is only a polite way of talking about the act of transferring some one else’s property to one’s own pocket, or as it happened in this case, to one’s own rickshaw. It was now the one topic of conversation, the one aim of every one able to roam the streets of Tientsin, unfettered by orders or scruples; and it is safe to say that every one, except the British soldiers and sailors, and other troops on duty, indulged in this pursuit at the earliest opportunity and to the fullest extent. This is not meant to mislead people into thinking that the British did no looting, but merely to point out that at first it was the intention of the British authorities not to allow it, a moral desire which was at last overcome by the example set by every one else, including civilians, who had taken no share in the fighting, but who saw a chance to recompense themselves for any loss they had sustained by Chinese shells. When the British forces did start, however, nearly everything of any value had been taken; and as only two days were allowed, there was no time to search under floors, and in hollow walls, which were the hiding places for the bulk of the hidden bullion. Be this as it may, it can safely be said that there were but few in the brigade who had not the word “loot” lightly engraved on their hearts by the 15th, by which time it was proposed to divide the city into spheres of influence under military command. The word “lightly” is used advisedly, for their looting was of the gentlemanly order, and not accompanied by threats, outrage, and even murder, which was unfortunately the case with at least two of the other European contingents. It was extraordinary to see the trust reposed in the Japanese, British, and Americans. The house-holders would ask for flags, and a guard to protect them from some of the others; and hundreds of little home-made flags fluttered from the doorways and windows in every direction. One writer on the subject remarks with surprise, on the number of Japanese and French flags that were shown. A little thought would have shown him that they are in the first place ridiculously easy to imitate, the first one needing but a red blob on a white ground, and the second a little red ink, a clear white stripe, and a stripe of the ordinary blue ink, make a very fair tricolor. The first were also shown with the earnest desire to propitiate, the second because, not being able to make British or American ensigns, they thought that any protector was perhaps better than none. Now so much has been said and written on the great evils of looting, and especially on the looting of Tientsin, that a summing up of the case by one who was to a certain extent “in the know” can hardly be inappropriate or uninteresting. To begin with, the evidence of many of those who have written articles to the papers in denunciation of the authorities, or of the allied troops, is worth but little, as it is more than probable that, by infringing some of the rules, they lost what they themselves had looted, and their bitter feelings may be accounted for by the fact that although it is occasionally “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” it is certainly not better to have looted and forfeited, than never to have looted at all. Thus a proportion must be deducted from the ranks of “conscientious objectors” whose argument is that the transferment of some one else’s property to oneself is never permissible, except it take the form of an exchange, a sale, or a gift; also that the recognised law in civilised warfare is that looters will be shot.
On the other side of the argument are to be found of course all the participators, and a multitude of people who envy the latter their good fortune, but whose envy does not go far enough to cause them to act protector of the down-trodden, through the medium of the press. These very rightly say, that in the first place the Tientsin looting was not an incident in civilised warfare at all; “devilishly cruel” has been already applied to the Chinese in this book, but the superlative has not yet been coined which would adequately describe the treatment of women and the wounded who fell into their hands. Then again the power to “save face” is so highly thought of in China, that had Tientsin not been looted, and had it not been decided to alter the face of the city in other ways as well, it is probable that one of the most valuable lessons of the whole war would have remained untaught. Another excellent excuse was the fact that quite a third of the city was in flames, in which case, had no looting taken place, thousands of valuables would now be no more, whereas they have gone to gladden the hearts of the womenfolk, and to brighten the rooms of every nation of any importance from Japan westward to America.
After all, there is precedent without end, for in nearly every instance where a city has fallen by direct assault, and where there has been only flight, not surrender, on the part of the defenders, the town has been sacked. The force of example need hardly be quoted as an excuse, because it amounts to an admittance of moral weakness, and in no case do two wrongs make a right. But War itself is hardly an ideal state of affairs, and it is harsh to blame a little easing up of discipline within strict limits, after a bloody and bitter conflict, brought to a successful issue solely by the discipline and devotion of the troops engaged. If further argument is necessary, it remains to be said that by far the greatest thieves were the Chinese themselves, who as soon as they found they were not noticed in the general scramble, were untiring in their endeavours to make their fortune at the expense of others; and these men, not even excepting the civilians from the settlement, were undoubtedly those whose measure of success was greatest. As a proof of how partial the sack of the city really was, a well-known Chinese Tientsin banker remarked quite recently, that of thirty-eight banks of importance, and the treasury, only the latter and one of the former had been touched, thanks to the innate “wile” of the owners, who invariably take the greatest pains to put their wealth out of sight. Given the desire and power to loot, it only remains to be told the method employed by the various nations, and for the loot to be described, to gather a fairly accurate idea of the scene. The arrangement at first had been to allow looting to be proceeded with until noon on the 15th, when it would be suppressed; and all loot found in the possession of people who had broken the rule would be forfeited to a common fund to go to the troops who had done the fighting.
To begin with the British: there were bluejackets, marines, infantrymen, engineers, Indians, and the Chinese regiment, most of whom were working in parties, which in many cases had officers with them. In this they differed from any other nation, and it was a wise step to take. It at least ensured the absence of the slightest brutality, and it minimised the risk of collision with other troops, which was always to be reckoned with, in the then state of men’s minds. A dispute at that time over a pawnshop, a fur cloak, or an ornament, must have had very serious consequences, as the men were all fully armed, and each nationality was as suspicious and jealous as possible of the others. As a matter of fact the British troops proved comparatively unsuccessful as looters. They started late, behaved so quietly, and seemed to have no idea of the value of anything, except actual money or sycee, which latter it may be explained was bar silver moulded into 4lb. ingots worth about £7, 10s. each. Then again, although either the treasury or the salt commissioners’ Yamen might have fallen into their hands, they allowed themselves to be passed by the Japanese and Americans respectively. The British civilians, however, supplied all deficiencies and made most successful hauls. In order not to hurt innocent and “conscientious objectors’” feelings, it must be mentioned that only those who looted are spoken of, and not all and sundry, as might have been assumed from the foregoing sentence. They, of course, knew the very houses to go to, they knew the value of every article, they had their own servants, and in some cases their own conveyances to carry their gear from the spot where it was found to their residences, in fact for them not to have made the best of it would have shown a lack of grasp of the situation to be wondered at.
The Japanese were stern but humane looters; they saw what they wanted, took it and went, and unless molested or baulked they hurt no one. The Americans were also a free-and-easy lot of fellows; they too demanded, not asked, and they too were harmless if not crossed. It may be said that the same humane line of action that was followed by these three nations during the whole campaign was carried out to the letter in the demoralising times during the looting of Tientsin. It is not proposed to discuss the ways of the other nations; not that it is to be supposed for one instant that they are all tarred with one brush. For instance, the Russians and Germans did not participate in the looting of Tientsin proper, and the Austrians and Italians were so small in numbers, that their looting power suffered in comparison to the troops of other countries; while to enlarge on the undoubted prowess possessed by l’infanterie de la marine, although it would only be to endorse what has already been said, would probably raise a storm of indignation and gesticulation to which the author has neither time nor inclination to reply. The supply of loot itself was nearly if not quite equal to the demand. Sycee abounded, furs and silks were so common that anything except sable and mink were trodden underfoot, and none but the most beautiful embroideries were thought worth the space they occupied. Rolls of the most beautiful silk, worth pounds, were treated as if they had been calico; astrakhan, squirrel, and fox skins were left to the Chinese who had been too tired to run away. Silver watches simply bored one, and on asking the time from a stranger he would probably give you a couple of this type of timepiece. Gold and enamel watches were there also; watches set with pearls, and eighty-guinea gold repeaters, were all to be got; but these mostly came out of houses, not from the shops. Of silver articles of jewellery there were literally sacksful, but only the lucky few managed to get hold of gold rings with jewels in them, of which there was a more limited supply. In real Jade bracelets and ornaments there were several fortunes, but the ignorance of the men for the most part was responsible for these being either thrown down, or left to fall into the hands of some lucky officer. Even the looting had to end, and by noon on June 15th there were pickets out guarding the approaches to the British concession, with orders to allow no one to retain any plunder except French subjects, whose consul or commander had not fallen in with the general plan. Many curious things happened, some folk coming in with dignity, striving for a place; on their features could be seen “Avarice satisfied” as plainly as possible. Others, in ignorance of the law, came and conversed with the officer of the picket, and assured him that there was plenty left, and if only they had a hay-cart instead of a broken rickshaw, the former would have been just as full as the latter.