TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, WHERE THE EMPEROR PRAYED
One of the most imposing temples of China; perhaps the most important, since it was the Emperor’s place of worship before he abandoned the capital.
“Moreover, our ancestors and the gods have answered our prayer, so that there has never been as at present such a universal manifestation of loyalty and patriotism.
“We have, with tears, announced a war in our ancestral shrine, because we feel it is better to commence a struggle than to seek further means of self-protection, involving as it does eternal disgrace.
“All our officials, high and low, are of the same mind, and there have assembled without our call several hundred thousand patriotic militia [Boxers], with many who are yet but children, glad to carry a spear in defense of their country [young ruffians who looted and murdered all the respectable native residents as well as officials who did not fly from Peking before the Boxers entered in any numbers].
Taouist Temple of ten thousand gods in Nanking
“The foreigners rely upon crafty schemes, but our trust is in heaven’s justice. They depend on violence, we on humanity [such as killing women and children by the hundreds at the south cathedral], not to speak of the righteousness of our cause.