Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/230

196 treacherously taken while under a flag of truce. The bodies of two of these victims of treachery, Mr. De Norman and Mr. Bowlby, were buried with solemn services in the Russian cemetery at Pekin on the day before the destruction of Yuen-Min-Yuen. Before the capture of the city the emperor fled to Mongolia, and left his brother, Prince Kung, to make terms with the invaders. The prince was very reluctant to accept the terms offered by the ambassadors, and only yielded when they threatened to destroy the city. One gate was placed in the possession of the English, and another in the hands of the French, and the prince was plainly told that he must come to a decision at once. Under this pressure he ratified the treaty of Tien-Tsin, which had been extorted two years before at the muzzle of the allied cannon, and signed a new treaty, in which there were additional humiliations for his country. The emperor expressed his regret at the occurrence at the Peiho forts; the right of England to keep a resident minister at Pekin was acknowledged; the Chinese paid an indemnity of $15,000,000, and promised to keep the peace faithfully in the future; Tien-Tsin was opened to trade; Chinese were allowed freely to emigrate to the British colonies; Kowloon, opposite Hong Kong, was ceded to the British; and the immediate operation of the treaty and convention was provided for. Since March, 1861, Pekin has been the residence of the foreign ministers; embassies have been sent to foreign powers; and the empire so long secluded from the rest of the world has been open to the visits of foreigners whether in prosecution of commercial enterprises or in search of health or pleasure. China has adopted many foreign inventions and adapted them to her own use, and though still conservative she is no longer isolated. The end of her isolation may be fairly dated from the passage of the Peiho forts in 1858 and the capture of Pekin two years later.