“Captain Reilly’s Battery—only about 200 horses and six guns—closed the United States column. Poor Reilly! He fell while directing his men before the walls of the Sacred City at Peking, and died like the hero he was. There was no attempt at show when Reilly’s battery passed the spot where we were standing—none of the ‘pomp and circumstance of glorious war’—and Reilly himself, a little bald, gray man, a sort of Joe Wheeler. But Reilly is the fashion here to-day and everybody wants to see him.”
Thoroughly illustrative of President McKinley’s attitude in that war, and characteristic of him and his administration, is the following correspondence between him and the Emperor of China:
On July 19th the Emperor of China appealed to President McKinley to intercede with the powers to bring about peace. It reached Washington July 23rd. The following is the Emperor’s appeal:
“The Emperor of China. To his Excellency the President of the United States, Greeting:—China has long maintained friendly relations with the United States, and is deeply conscious that the object of the United States is international commerce. Neither country entertains the least suspicion or distrust toward the other. Recent outbreaks of mutual antipathy between the people and Christian missions caused the foreign powers to view with suspicion the position of the imperial government as favorable to the people and prejudicial to the missions, with the result that the Taku forts were attacked and captured. Consequently, there has been clashing of forces with calamitous consequences. The situation has become more and more serious and critical.
“We have just received a telegraphic memorial from our envoy, Wu Ting Fang, and it is highly gratifying to us to learn that the United States government, having in view the friendly relations between the two countries, has taken a deep interest in the present situation. Now China, driven by the irresistible course of events, has unfortunately incurred well-nigh universal indignation. For settling the present difficulty, China places special reliance in the United States. We address this message to your excellency in all sincerity and candidness with the hope that your excellency will devise measures and take the initiative in bringing about a concert of the powers for the restoration of order and peace. The favor of a kind reply is earnestly requested, and awaited with the greatest anxiety.
“KWANG-HSU, 26th year, 6th Moon, 23rd day (July 19).”
President McKinley at once replied as follows:
“The President of the United States, to the Emperor of China, Greeting:—I have received your majesty’s message of the 19th of July, and am glad to know that your majesty recognizes the fact that the government and people of the United States desire of China nothing but what is just and equitable. The purpose for which we landed troops in China was the rescue of our legation from grave danger and the protection of the lives and property of Americans who were sojourning in China in the enjoyment of rights guaranteed them by treaty and by international law. The same purposes are publicly declared by all the powers which have landed military forces in your majesty’s empire.
“I am to infer from your majesty’s letter that the malefactors who have disturbed the peace of China, who have murdered the Minister of Germany and a member of the Japanese legation, and who now hold besieged in Peking those foreign diplomatists who still survive, have not only not received any favor or encouragement from your majesty, but are actually in rebellion against the imperial authority. If this be the case, I most solemnly urge upon your majesty’s government to give public assurance whether the foreign Ministers are alive, and, if so, in what condition.
“2. To put the diplomatic representatives of the powers in immediate and free communication with their respective governments and to remove all danger to their lives and liberty.