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Rh been established with Hankow in the south, and, viâ the Northern (Tientsin) Railway, with Mukden and the Trans-Siberian line in the north. The line to Hankow is being extended to Canton and Kowloon (Hongkong).

The allusions already made to the Boxers may be supplemented by a short sketch of the rising in so far as it actually affected the capital. Trouble began on June 13, 1900, when the I-ho-Chuan, or Boxers, inaugurated their campaign of murder and destruction. Foreigners, and Chinese suspected of being in any way connected with foreigners, were persecuted, and practically all foreign buildings not actually within the Legation cordon were destroyed. Suspicions of the complicity of the Chinese Government in the rising, created by the terms in which imperial edicts dealt with the reactionary party, were confirmed by the murder of Baron von Ketteler, the German minister, who was shot by imperial soldiery while on his way to the Yamen to interview the Chinese ministers. On June 20th both Imperialists and Boxers opened fire on the Legations. There were altogether nearly 1,000 foreigners inside the lines, including about 500 Marine Guards, who, with two or three machine guns, had been sent up to the city just before the outbreak of hostilities in consequence of the threatening aspect of affairs. The British Legation was at once the main shelter of the besieged and the goal of the attacking hordes. Fortunately, all attempts to set fire to it were frustrated, though the Austrian and Italian Legations, the Customs premises, Hanlin College with its valuable library, and numerous other buildings, were destroyed by the incendiaries. The siege lasted until August 14th, when a column of the Allied Forces, 20,000 strong—which had left Tientsin at the beginning of the month, and had defeated the rebels, in two pitched battles, at Pei-t'sang and Yang-tsun—arrived at Peking and found little difficulty in accomplishing the relief of their beleaguered fellow countrymen. Sorely tried as were the foreigners in the Legations, however, their dangers and privations were not nearly so great as those endured by the Catholic fathers and some 3,000 native Christians, who had taken refuge in the northern Roman Catholic Cathedral and there maintained a successful resistance with the aid of 50 French and Italian marines. Owing to lack of ammunition the fathers were obliged to manufacture their own gunpowder and bullets, while towards the close of the siege the supply of food fell so low that the daily allowance of rice was reduced first to four and later to two ounces. The relief of this little stronghold, in which the rate of mortality among the children and the aged was terribly high, was effected by French and Japanese troops on the day following the relief of the Legations. The Imperial Family fled from Peking with the Court to Shansi Province, by way of the northern passes, and did not return until October of the following year; and the Allied Forces, entering the Forbidden City, were given modified opportunities for looting the treasures stored in the imperial palaces. The cleansing of Peking by the foreign Powers has made the city far more habitable, besides throwing open to the student of "things Chinese" many places of unique historic and artistic interest.



THE BRITISH MINISTER.

, who has been in charge of British interests in China since 1906, was born on September 5, 1852, in Balloo, County Down, and was educated first at the Belfast Academical Institution and afterwards at Queen's College, Belfast, where he graduated with first-class honours. He was appointed a Student Interpreter in China in 1876, and his whole life since has been spent in the consular service, either within the boundaries of China itself or in the neighbouring country of Korea. He was appointed Assistant Chinese Secretary to Her Britannic Majesty's Legation in Peking in 1889, and was promoted Secretary in 1891. After remaining in this position for five years he was transferred to Korea, where he served his king and country in a variety of capacities until called upon to undertake the duties of his present high office. He was Consul-General in Korea for two years; Chargé d'affaires from 1898 to 1901; Minister resident at the Court of Seoul from 1901 to 1906, in which year the Japanese Protectorate was proclaimed. In recognition of his distinguished services he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1897, and advanced to a knighthood in 1904. He was the recipient of the Jubilee medal in 1897, and of the Coronation medal in 1902. His publications include translations of the Peking Gazette, and his favourite recreation is riding. In 1885 he married Annie Howe, daughter of Dr. Cromie, Clough, County Down, by whom he has three sons and one daughter. His address is His Britannic Majesty's Embassy, Peking.