PART II—­THE SIEGE

     I chaos
    II the retreat and the return
   III fires and food
    IV the bonds tighten
     V the mysterious board of truce
    VI shells and sorties
   VII the hospital and the graveyard
  VIII the failure
    IX an interlude
     X the guns
    XI sniping
   XII the gallant French
  XIII the British legation base
   XIV the ever-growing casualty list
    XV the armistice
   XVI the resumption of A semi-diplomatic life
  XVII diplomacy continues
 XVIII the unrest grows and diplomacy continues
   XIX the first real news
    XX the third phase continues
   XXI more diplomacy
  XXII the world beyond our bricks
 XXIII trifles
  XXIV diplomatic confidences
   XXV the plot again thickens
  XXVI more messengers
 XXVII the attacks resumed
XXVIII the thirteenth
  XXIX the night of the thirteenth
   XXX how I saw the relief

PART III-THE SACK

     I the palace
    II the sack
   III the sack continues
    IV chaos
     V settling down
    VI the forbidden fruit
   VII the few remains
  VIII the palsy remains
    IX drifting
     X picking up threads
    XI the impossible
   XII suspense
  XIII still drifting
   XIV punitive expeditions
    XV the climax
   XVI the end

FOREWORD

The publication of these letters, dealing with the startling events which took place in Peking during the summer and autumn of 1900, at this late date may be justified on a number of counts.  In the first place, there can be but little doubt that an exact narrative from the pen of an eye-witness who saw everything, and knew exactly what was going on from day to day, and even from hour to hour, in the diplomatic world of the Chinese capital during the deplorable times when the dread Boxer movement overcast everything so much that even in England the South African War was temporarily forgotten, is of intense human interest, showing most clearly as it does, perhaps for the first time in realistic fashion, the extraordinary bouleversement which overcame everyone; the unpreparedness and the panic when there was really ample warning; the rivalry of the warring Legations even when they were almost in extremis, and the curious course of the whole seige itself owing to the division of counsels among the Chinese—­this last a state of affairs which alone saved everyone from a shameful death.  In the second place, this account may dispel many false ideas which still obtain in Europe and America regarding the position of various Powers in China—­ideas based on data which have long been declared of no value by those competent to judge.  In the third place, the vivid and terrible description of the sack of Peking by the soldiery of Europe, showing the demoralisation