With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations

by G. A. Henty

In the Fu they had hit on a happy expedient. They got a huge supply of empty petroleum–tins, and when the Chinese attack was at its hottest, they set the Christian Chinese to hammer on them with sticks. The din was something tremendous, and the Italians added to it with wild shouts. Astounded at this terrible uproar, and ignorant of what new weapon of destruction was being brought against them, the Chinese fire dropped at once, and did not reopen for some time.

In the Mongol Market five Customs volunteers stood behind their loopholes, close up to the Chinese position, and as they watched the Chinese officers trying in vain to urge their men forward, they chaffed them with invitations to come in and see the place, and then, when they did not come, advised them to go home and nurse the babies. Nevertheless, fighting with the enemy both in the Fu and in the Mongol Market was a matter of grim earnest. If the barricades there had been carried, those positions must also have been abandoned, and all communication between the British and Russian Legations would have been cut off.

The morning after the troops entered, two mines heavily charged were fired. If the troops had been one day later, there is no saying what the consequences might have been. All with whom Rex had chatted were of opinion that the Chinese were deterred from attacking, not by our rifle fire, but by a superstitious fear that we were keeping some secret means of destruction in reserve. Whether it was that we had mined the ground everywhere, and would blow them all into the air as soon as they crossed our barricades, or whether they feared some unknown, but even more terrible form of death, could not be said, but the men who were ready to endure the deadly fire of our rifles could not be got to make a rush against a position where only some fifteen or twenty men faced them. The Chinese kept up their straggling fire all day, and among others one English lady was hit in the arm, this being the first time that a woman had been struck since the siege began. Rex learned that out of a total strength of nineteen officers and three hundred and eighty–eight men, including volunteers, thirteen officers were killed and wounded, and sixty–seven men killed and a hundred and sixty–seven wounded. Fighting still went on, but great surprise was expressed that the French did not make any attempt to go to the relief of their countrymen in the North Cathedral.

In the evening, Rex went into the Fu, where the Japanese were for the most part quartered, and enquired of General Fukushima if there was anything that he could do.

“No, I do not think there is anything at present. When we once get out into the city I shall be very glad of your services again. You can, if you like, go with a force I am sending out in the morning to relieve the French missionaries. We know they must be in extreme danger, and it would be a scandal if we allowed them to be massacred after we have entered the city.”

Accordingly the next morning Rex started with the Japanese. They made a long detour and approached the cathedral from the other side. They attacked and drove off the Chinese on that side and really raised the siege, but at the same time they heard heavy firing on the other side, and found that the French and Russians had arrived there. Fukushima therefore halted his men, being willing to give the French the opportunity of being the first to relieve their countrymen.

The garrison had had indeed a terrible time, and in spite of the entry of the allied force, the attack had been maintained up to the very moment of their relief. The Japanese had met with resistance on coming through the gate that separated the cathedral quarter from the palace of the Empress. Here they came upon a number of Boxers, who were so occupied by their attack upon the cathedral that they had scarcely noticed the arrival of the relieving force. Taken by surprise, a good many of them were hemmed in, and a machine–gun was trained upon them with terrible effect. Fighting was kept up through the various streets, and continued until they reached the cathedral. The garrison at first refused to admit this unknown band of swarthy warriors, and some explanations had to be exchanged before they could be brought to understand that they had been relieved.

The Catholics would never have remained in possession of the cathedral had not the Chinese municipal officers assured them that they would be altogether undisturbed. When the Boxers first appeared near the cathedral, the governor asserted that he had special orders to protect the cathedral. The regular troops there consisted only of thirty French and twelve Italian marines, who at the last moment, when the danger of the situation could no longer be winked at, had been spared from the slender garrison of the Legations to aid in the defence. This was the force that was called upon to defend the circuit of the walls of the great French establishment, whose circumference amounted to nearly a mile. Within this circle there were no fewer than three thousand five hundred people, the larger portion of whom consisted of children from the orphanages. The adults were formed by the fathers into a body, and armed with spears made by fastening knives to the ends of long poles. The eight muskets, which were all the firearms they had, were distributed among the different sections.

The Chinese authorities threw off the mask on the 10th of June, and on that day the Chinese regulars and Boxers surrounded the place, cut the telegraph wires, and completely isolated it.

At the head of the defence was Mgr. Favier, the heroic bishop, who by his courage, self–devotion, and zeal, kept up the spirits of the defenders through the darkest days of the siege. He was the soul of the resistance. Under him were six priests, who organized the work of defence and set a noble example to the others. The converts were set to work with pick and spade to assist in the defence, and the whole defensible area was quickly surrounded with trenches and barricades. Ammunition was unfortunately very short, but the priests set some of the converts to manufacture powder and bullets. The shot was not difficult to make, as lead and pewter could be obtained from the roofs and vessels, but both sulphur and charcoal were very scarce. After many failures, however, some thousands of rounds were manufactured. These would have been of no use for distant fighting, but they were sufficient for what at times was almost hand–to–hand work.