However, the attitude of the populace did not become any more friendly, and the soldiers who had been looked upon as possible protectors, now showed their true colours, by their bombastic and menacing demeanour. At length some Europeans were stoned, and threatened with weapons in broad daylight in the streets; and it was with feelings of relief that the foreign residents welcomed the guards, who to the number of 337, with several machine guns, arrived at the station at about 7 p.m. on May 31st.
Their arrival had an immediate effect, and for a day or two the situation became tolerably bearable.
Unfortunately their presence only intimidated the rowdies of Pekin and its nearest suburbs, and people kept flocking into the Legations from outlying districts, each with some tale more pitiable than the last.
On the 2nd of June news came of the desperate flight of the thirty-three Europeans from Pas-ting-fu, which resulted in the safe arrival of twenty-six of their number at Tientsin, and the still more desperate plight of Mr Norman, who, after the murder of his fellow missionary at Yung-Ching, had been taken prisoner to a village hard by, there to be dealt with by perhaps the most fiendishly cruel people on earth.
Everything that was possible under the circumstances was done to save the unfortunate Englishman, but we know that protests were of no avail, and that he was done to death in a manner only to be conjectured. On the 4th June the storm broke, and railway communication was again interrupted,—more stations were burnt, and the whole countryside was ablaze.
Another meeting was convened, and after the Russian Minister had explained that a party of Cossacks, which had been allowed to go out to meet the Pao-ting-fu refugees, had been repulsed, and compelled to retreat to Tientsin without meeting the fugitives, the step was taken which gave the name to this volume. The ministers decided to telegraph instructions to their several Admirals, and inform them what turn they thought the present crisis would assume, and also to ask them to take the necessary steps for the relief of the Europeans should all communication be stopped. On the 5th June Sir Claude Macdonald had an extraordinary interview with the Tsung-li-Yamen, and during the conversation one of the illustrious body fell asleep, while the Legation interpreter was explaining something to the minister. Nothing was to be got from such men as these, who, even though they were headed by no less a person than Prince Ching, were at this juncture unable to make headway against the mob, and who, in fact, no longer voiced public opinion. Contradictory rumours emanating from the summer palace, where the Empress was, concerning the whole question, were freely circulated, and the Empress herself sent General Nieh against the Boxers, and followed up her order with another one, telling him that on no account was he to allow the Imperial troops to fire on them. A member of the useless Tsung-li-Yamen went so far as to taunt the minister by saying that he expected all the army would be Boxers in a day or two. In view of what occurred so soon afterwards, it was a significant statement to make.
It was eventually decided to petition the Throne, but after considerable discussion, it was resolved to wait until the 9th of June, as it was deemed inadvisable to demand an audience until the ministers had received the necessary authority from the home governments, to insist upon compliance. On the 8th June there was no change for the better in the situation, and Sir Claude telegraphed to Admiral Seymour to ask him for a further detachment of seventy-five men. It was on this day that definite news was received that General Nieh had withdrawn his troops to Lu-Tai, where there were immense stores of rice, and that the Boxers, finding themselves unopposed, had reached Yangtsun, an important walled town on the river, about 30 miles from Tientsin. Here they burnt the bridges, and began to tear up the rails, and it was finally realised that all hope of further communication with Tientsin was delayed for weeks. On this same day a massacre of native Christians took place at Tung-Chow, and some students were attacked out by the racecourse.
In consequence of these acts, and sundry trustworthy rumours that Tung-fu-Hsiang, the general commanding the Kansu troops then in the district, had given out in public that he was only waiting for orders from his superiors—meaning the Empress,—on receipt of which he would proceed to treat the foreigners in the same fashion as he had treated the unfortunate Mohammedans some four years previously, the ministers immediately telegraphed to the Admiral, and informed him that the situation was extremely critical, and that unless reinforcements immediately advanced on Pekin, it was within the bounds of probability they might arrive too late to save the Europeans.
Even at this stage, the foreign ministers strove to put off the inevitable, and at a meeting that afternoon the majority of them supported the view that all available news pointed to a more favourable issue than Sir Claude Macdonald had been led at first to suppose. They agreed, however, to telegraph to their respective Admirals at 2 o’clock on the following afternoon, if no signs were forthcoming that the ferment was subsiding.
Sir Claude, on his part, telegraphed to Sir Edward Seymour to inform him of the decision of his colleagues; but so certain was he about the turn of events, that he sent another telegram at 8 p.m. to Mr Carles, the British consul at Tientsin, which informed him of the deadly peril of the situation, and begging him to urge the senior naval officer to make all arrangements for an immediate advance on Pekin.