H.M.S. “Barfleur.”
[page 307.
Railway crossing great wall at Shan-Hai-Kwan.
[page 306.
I have heard, but refuse to be responsible for the statement, that both the French and German admirals were asked if they would care for the task, but declined on various grounds, and that then Sir Edward Seymour was requested to deal with it, and at once accepted the responsibility. What credence can be placed in the former part of this I do not know, but the latter part of it is undoubtedly true, and the British Commander-in-Chief took the work of organisation in hand forthwith. As far as the arrangements became public, it was believed that Admiral Seymour intended to employ none but armoured ships for the bombardment, and the fleet would probably consist of H.M.S. “Centurion,” “Barfleur,” and either “Aurora” or “Orlando,” the first two being battleships and the others armoured cruisers; “Navarin” and “Sissoi Veliky,” (Russian battleships), two German, one French, “D’Entre Casteaux” one Japanese “Tokiwa” (armoured cruiser), one Austrian battleship, and one Italian armoured cruiser, being a total of, roughly speaking, a dozen heavily armed ships. Before sailing, however, the “Pigmy,” a small gunboat, was sent on ahead, with a political officer on board, who was told to endeavour to parley with the Chinese commanding officer. So the little ship stood right in under the forts and lowered a boat, when to the captain’s surprise the Chinese were seen to be streaming out at the back of the forts, and running up to the hills. He immediately grasped the situation, and sent one officer and seventeen men ashore to garrison the five big forts, and to hold them against all comers. He then went back to Taku as fast as possible, and told the Admiral what had happened. Was there ever such a ridiculous situation? The forts had been taken by that powerful and important ship H.M.S. “Pigmy,” and were at that moment held by the overpowering force of one Naval officer and seventeen bluejackets; whilst at Taku were waiting a dozen or so leviathans, with 7000 men at least on board, who as yet were not aware that they had been baulked of their prey by the aforesaid gunboat of considerably under 1000 tons! However, the news had not to be told just yet, and in an hour’s time the “Pigmy” was hurrying back for all she was worth, packed with Marines to assist the so-called Garrison. At last she disappeared over the horizon, and then the secret was let out. Sparks and clouds of smoke were soon issuing from the funnels of the Fleet’s cruisers, and one by one, as they raised enough steam to move, they got under weigh for Shan-Hai-Kwan to see what had really happened. What had happened was as equally ridiculous as the rest of the farce, for during the night much tramping was heard around No. 1 Fort, as if an army had come down to retake the place. And, as a matter of fact, this is more or less what the noise represented; for the force turned out to be 4000 Russians, who in their guileless way, had turned up from goodness knows where, to surprise and capture the forts, without a word to any of her very good Allies! “Halt! who goes there?” and the column halted out of sheer surprise. “Who are you,” from the other party. “The officer commanding the British garrison of Shan-Hai-Kwan forts,” and so on, till at last the Russian colonel, smelling a rat, asked to go in. “Very sorry, strictly against my orders, you’d better encamp in the open to-night.” Sounds of much discontent from outside, and then, still being dissatisfied about the bona-fides of the occupation, the column began to solemnly march round each fort, only to be challenged time after time by the active sentries, who, by dint of hard running, passed and re-passed each other, with the effect that the forts appeared to be strongly held. The Russian column, therefore, retired to the railway station, where they encamped until authority arrived to give the forts up to the Allies. This was done, the British laughing heartily for some days to come, at the “capture of the Shan-Hai-Kwan forts”.
Now, it may be gathered from the recent half-hearted operations, that the enemy had had more than enough of the struggle, and indeed, from this time to the conclusion of hostilities, the campaign degenerated into the hunting down of robber bands, the destruction of Boxer strongholds, and the almost vain endeavour to prevent actual collision between the Powers. Tientsin seemed to be the chief place for the important affrays, which might have led to more serious consequences had it not been for the prompt measures taken for their repression. A drunken Russian officer was shot dead by a German patrol, English officers were pulled out of their Jinrickshaws, two Russians were shot by an American sentry, a British patrol was attacked by 250 French and Germans, every member of it was hurt, but seven killed and eleven wounded was the bill on the other side. Without American assistance, it is extremely doubtful whether it would have won its way back to barracks. A mad Sepoy killed a comrade, and then rushed to the Russian barracks, where he killed a warrant officer, and wounded three men. This led to an affray between some of his own comrades, who were chasing him, and the Russians, who imagined that they were being attacked, which only resulted in further loss.
And so on, and so on; with incidents like the Tientsin railway siding, to set the world’s Press on the jabber about War. It appears that some dispute arose over the piece of ground in question, which ended in Russia placing double sentries on it. The British immediately did likewise, to prevent any advance from the further side. Matters stood like that, until the Russians put half a company there, when half a company of Indian troops immediately faced them. This was really rather critical, as but four or five yards separated the two bodies, who stood, with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets, eyeing each other with the greatest suspicion. At this time, the French soldiers off duty used to come up in considerable numbers and make use of the most filthy expressions anent our Indian troops, calling them coolies, and worse. This so enraged the men, who throughout the latter part of the campaign had affected to utterly despise the French, that it was evident that white soldiers would have to be employed, and, no others being available, a detachment of Royal Marine Artillery, than whom no finer body of men exist, was brought from the forts at Taku. The changing of the guard was effected by night, and when the French arrived next morning, they were much astonished to find themselves faced by a body of men who, even on the colour question, could hardly be called coolies. This little incident, together with the efficient police work afterwards carried out by the Australian sailors, completed the work of the Naval Brigade, and except to the officers and men who took part in the operations, the China Campaign means but little.