Robert Coltman

“ The American marines also took part in the expedition to the Boxer rendezvous temple, north of the Austrian legation, in which fifty-six Boxers were cornered and killed. Their bravery and endurance has been noted by all. Their main task—that of holding the city wall—should render their fame immortal. True, they have been ably helped in this task from time to time by both Russian and British marines, but the post was theirs, and to them belongs preëminently the glory of holding the position that, like the Su Wang Fu, was a key to the place of last stand—the British legation. ”

“ The pessimist believes the powers are fighting among themselves to prevent relief until no one power has more troops in the relief than any other; scouts the idea of search-lights; says that the provisions are nearly exhausted; sees new barricades erected by the enemy every night; recounts the fatal casualties, increasing each day, and notes the diminishing strength of the remainder, and, moreover, fully believes and constantly asserts that we are only staving off for a little while an inevitable general massacre. ”

“ ONE OF the most noticeable effects of siege-life has been to bring out into prominence all the mean and selfish characteristics of the individual, as well as the heroic and self-sacrificing. People who in times of peace pass for very nice, sociable individuals, with no particularly mean tendencies, when subjected to deprivation in the food-supply, and their nerves become a bit shattered with the sound of whistling bullets, the shrieking of flying shells, or the dull thud followed by the crashing and grinding of solid shot, show up in their true bedrock character, and are meanness to the core. ”

“ And what about Yu Hsien, governor now of Shansi, who had all the foreigners in his province brought into his yamen and murdered before his eyes? Is he to live? No, never. If there exists in America to-day one individual who counsels the return of the troops until the atoning blood of all the leaders and instigators of this awful crime has been poured out, may he be cursed forever. ”

“ It is certainly marvelous that with the information so readily obtainable as to the Boxer movement, its aims and intentions, and after having it forced almost upon them, as the British, American and French ministers certainly have had by their missionaries and others, the diplomatic corps should have blindly allowed themselves to be penned up in Peking with only a handful of guards, to endure treatment as disgraceful as it has been unpleasant. ”

“ Baron von Radew, the captain in charge of the Russian marines, has been a most devoted officer, and every point of his defenses has had his constant personal supervision. He has never undressed to sleep in the last two months, but has taken the broken rest he has obtained lying in a steamer chair in one of his barricades. He has lost greatly in flesh, and is but a skeleton of his former self, but remains the same courteous officer and gentleman under circumstances that have altered the dispositions of not a few. ”

“ A Russian gentleman is a perfect gentleman, and uniformly a marvelous linguist.
I have several times been present in a room with a Frenchman, a German, and an Italian, with whom several Russians carried on animated conversations, addressing each man in his own language, and apparently with equal fluency.
From M. de Giers, down through his whole legation, the professors of Russian in the Imperial University and Tung Wen Kuan, the officers and clerks of the Russo-Chinese bank, one can find none who are not perfect gentlemen and most agreeable companions. ”

“ It is very gratifying to learn from you that the foreign community at Peking are holding on, and believe me it is the earnest and unanimous desire of the lieutenant-general and all of us to arrive at Peking as soon as possible, and deliver you from your perilous position. Unless some unforeseen event takes place, the allied forces will be at Hoshiwu on the 9th, Mat’ou on the 10th, Changchiawan on the 11th, Tungchow on the 12th and Peking on the 13th or 14th. ”

“ Before the siege began I heard the United States minister say that if the Boxers destroyed a single station on the Peking-Hankow railroad, known popularly as the Lu Han road, they would have a horde of Cossacks protecting the line within a fortnight. Yet of the 15,000 Russians reported to have been in Port Arthur, when the entire Lu Han line and the Peking-Tientsin railroad was destroyed, not a man has as yet (August 13th) reached Peking. The Boxers are still seen from our loopholes, and make our nights [147] hideous with their horn-blowing and incessant rifle-fire. ”

“ ENTRANCE TO THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF PEKING
Among the notable buildings that were destroyed by the Boxers was the Imperial University of Peking. To the noble work performed within its walls can be attributed much of the rapid rise of the “progressive” or “New China” party, with whom the Emperor seemed to be so thoroughly in accord until his power was subordinated to that of the Empress.
“Good citizens most of all desire to stimulate patriotism, and one would like to know when in the history of the world has there ever been a strong nation made so by condoning anarchy [225] among the people. ”

“ Mears, whom all of the customs volunteers will ever remember for their constant, untiring efforts to render palatable the daily ration of horse-meat and rice which has constituted their principal food.
Sir Robert Hart, the I. G., as he is generally spoken of by his staff, as well as many outsiders, has endeared himself to all his young soldiers by his sharing with them without complaint and unvarying cheerfulness the meager diet of the mess. He has never allowed any delicacy supplied to him that the others did not partake of, but has acted on the principle of share and share alike throughout. ”

“ The foreign powers should all prepare for war at once, or entrust the work to those powers nearest and best fitted to successfully undertake it. The sooner this is done the less will be the loss of life and property. The tsung-li-yamen yesterday promised Sir Claude MacDonald, through the secretary of Prince Ching, that if the foreign ministers would not press for a personal audience with the Empress, as they intended doing, Prince Ching would guarantee the restoration of the interrupted railway in two days, and a general amelioration of the condition of affairs. ”

“ Lately a telegram arrived saying warships of all nations had arrived, opened war, captured the Taku forts, and Tientsin was in extreme peril. The Boxers are responsible for all this trouble. The whole world has witnessed our sorrowful condition, [244] troubles alike within and without. The hundreds of millions of taels of silver gathered from three provinces to erect the railroads have been wiped out completely in the destruction of the road by the Boxers in the twinkling of an eye. Who is responsible for the Boxers? ”

“ The marines of the Newark and Oregon, of which we have fifty, that compose the entire American force, are a sturdy lot of courageous, devoted men. Sober, intelligent, cheerful, enduring, all of them are as brave as lions. Sergeant Walker alone, at the South cathedral, killed seven of the Boxers.
The district held by us is about a half-mile east and west on Legation street, and is guarded by blocking the streets at the Italian legation on the east and the Russian legation on the west. At each barricade there is placed a machine gun. ”

“ No news of Peking had reached that place since about the end of June.
We look for the troops about the 30th inst., if they have no fighting to do on the way. This explains why the government is so anxious to have peace in the capital at present. They are awaiting the issue of a contest between the relief force and the Chinese troops between here and Tientsin.
If our troops are victorious, as of course they will be, unless outnumbered overwhelmingly, the government will say they have done all in their power to stop the fighting, but have not been able to control their troops until now. ”

“ He gave it to be understood that they would, in time, be able to exterminate foreigners; but they must patiently drill and practice gymnastics until such time as he considered that they had reached perfection, and must not on any account injure a foreigner too early, as it would bring [35] down trouble before the government was prepared to meet it. At the same time he allowed them to pillage and murder the native Christians freely, well knowing this would please the Court, and would not be actively taken up by the foreign powers as an infringement of treaty-rights, which it certainly was. ”

“ It is hard to know that within half a mile of us in any direction there is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, and yet, owing to the closeness of our investment by the hostile troops, we cannot obtain a cent’s worth.
On August 5th, while I was standing talking with a Japanese sentry, on an outpost barricade of the Su Wang Fu, a Chinese soldier in full uniform walked quickly up the narrow lane our barricade commanded toward us. I called on the Japanese to fire on him, but he remarked: “Let him come on; he has no gun, and may want to sell something.” ”

“ The fatigue endured by the United States marines in their constant service on the city wall and in their barricade under the wall, as well as the barricade at the western end of the compound in Legation street, was simply killing. That the men did not succumb is a marvel. ”

“ Yuan is one of the shrewdest and most unscrupulous men of China, and the Empress, in rewarding him by this appointment for his service to her in making known the Emperor’s purpose to send her into captivity, gave power to a man who would desert her, when it suited him, as quickly as he had the weak, but well-meaning, Emperor. ”

“ When a foreign war is inevitable, even in a civilized country, it is a necessity for non-combatants to leave. In a barbarous country it means murder, often with torture, to remain; yet our missionaries in Paotingfu and places inland were not warned that their district troubles were not local, but general, and that they should hasten to the coast, to be nearer protection. ”

“ Once off the wall, the legations will lie at the mercy of the Chinese, and we, with all the women and children, will be butchered. This is our opportunity. I expect every man to do his duty. We cannot stop to pick up any who may be wounded, but must press on and accomplish the work, leaving the wounded until we return. If I fall, Sergeant Murphy of the British marines succeeds to command; if he falls Corporal Hunt of the American marines succeeds him. Now, when I give command, spring over the barricade, and follow me. ”

“ Many Boxers are still in the city. Their principal patron is Prince Tuan. In his palace they are registered, fed, and paid.
These Boxers are ridiculed by the soldiers because they dare not go under fire at the front, in spite of their pretensions to be bullet-proof.
General Tung’s troops are facing us on the wall and along our lines on the south. Jung Lu’s troops are behind the French legation. Several of them are killed or wounded every day. The prisoner declares that he was one of several coolies (hired at twenty-five cents a body) to carry off and bury the dead. ”

“ Nearly all of the riots in China have come from attempts to force the Chinese officials to stamp deeds conveying property to missionaries for residences or chapels. The animosity incurred in forcing a missionary establishment upon an interior city, town, or village is not obliterated in a lifetime. It may be barely tolerated in time of peace, only to be demolished when the country is disturbed. This applies to the China that has been—barbarian, uncivilized China. ”

“ Few people are aware that when all the troops had left their outposts and retired into the British legation, owing to a mistaken order, four Russian sailors still remained alone at a barricade commanding the Mongol market, and by keeping the Chinese soldiers from being aware of the general retreat into the legation, made it possible for the guards to return to the American, French, and German legations and the wall, which otherwise could only have been done at a frightful cost of lives. ”

“ A large part of the defense of the southern half of the Hanlin Yuan has been performed by the customs volunteers, and there has been no more trying military service in the siege than at that place. We early took possession of the southern end, and built a barricade of bricks and sand-bags running completely across the compound.
Our barricade and the Chinese barricades are so close that often the Chinese have thrown half bricks over at us, as their rifle-bullets cannot penetrate the barricade. Several of our men have been injured by stones and bricks in this way. ”

“ The Boxers are principally of two sorts: the ignorant villager and the city loafer or vagabond. The first easily becomes a fanatical enthusiast; the latter has joined simply to obtain loot. When [40] it became an assured fact that the Empress sanctioned the movement the ranks were rapidly filled, because rewards and preferment were held out as inducements to serve, and the majority of China’s population, being poverty-stricken in the extreme, would join any movement that promised an increased income. The Boxer headquarters was the palace of Prince Tuan in Peking. ”

“ Squiers formed the plan to have ten [155] coolies, under a foreigner, go quietly at night through the alley-ways and court-yards that had been cut through to communicate with the American legation, to the moat directly under the Chinese on the wall. From thence we were to crawl forward toward the barricade, where our men were warned not to fire upon us, tie a rope around a mule, slip back toward the moat, and drag the mule after us, and down into the moat, where it could subsequently be covered with kerosene oil and burned. ”

“ When obliged by the Chinese ultimatum to leave Peking or, as we decided after Baron von Ketteler’s murder, to take refuge in the British legation and await reinforcements, it was too late to visit my home outside of the foreign lines and remove anything from my storeroom.
Fortunately for my little family, Mr. H. G. Squiers, as I have mentioned, had laid in an abundant supply of rice, flour, and other stores, and he offered, if I would undertake to move all his stores safely to the British legation, to contribute to my needs. ”