The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-02-08

before the Emperor and Empress
nowagef won fcf u a standing and
respect which placed " on plane ~
its own and went far toward giving u
a free hand Tor lie operations"
Another very remarkable statement
~ sir Roberts relates 60 the appoint.
mcnt " Prince TWAIN to BE- n Minister
~ the THung lamen. The anti-fof.
eign tendencies OF the Prince Induced
foreigners Ia general To- disappruNc of
that appointment but Sir Robert Hart
took different view. The Empress
powager," he writes. had probably
said TO the Prince, You and your
party pull one way, Prince ching and
his. another--what am | to do between
your You, however, are the father OF
the future Emperor and have your
sons interests to take care OF, YOU are
also n head OF the Boxers and chief OF
the Peking Field Force and ought
therefore to know what can and what
cannot be done | therefore appoint
you 20 the Yamen. Do what you con-
slider most eXpedient and take care
that the throne OF your ancestors de-
scends untarnished to your son, and
their empire undiminishedl Yours IL
the power-yours the responsibility
and yours the chief interests l can
imagine the Empress Dowager taking
this line with the Prince, and, mas
much as various Ministers who had
been very anti-foreign before entering
the Yamen had turned round and be-
haved very sensibly afterward, l felt
sure that responsibility and actual
personal dealings with foreigners
would be a good experience and n
useful education for this Prince and
that he would eventually be one of the
sturdiest supporters of progress and
good relations. | therefore augured
the best from his appointment TO the
Yamen. But the demand for the sur
render of the Taku forts upset this
and all other calculations, and so far
although the Prince is doubtless in
creaslng his education and we have
been feeling his hostility-we have not
seen him, and his future influence will
be a questionable factor"
The very strange fact that despite
the immense disparity of force be-
tween the handful of foreigners guard
ing the legations and the host of Chi
nese attacking them, the former new
ertheless managed to hold their own,
ELECTS the following comments from
Sir Robert:
LAS to protecting-it is true we can
only explain our preservation by sup
posing that there must have been
some protection. but it was not the
Chinese Government that gave it. We
were under fire from the Goth to the
25th of June. from the 2Sth of June to
the 18th of July, and from the 4th to
the 18th of August. Night and day,
rifle bullets, cannon balls and krupp
shells had been poured into the vari-
Gus legations, from the gate in front
of the Palace itself, from the very wall
of the Imperial City, as well as from
numerous nearer points around us,
and the assailants on all sides were
Chinese soldiers. Whether the quiet
of the Goth and 9th of June, and the
10Th to 9th of July, was or was not
ordered by the Government, we can
not say, but the firing during the 9TH
er periods, close as we were to the I'm
perial City and within the sight and
hearing of the palace, must have been
by the orders of the Government, and
it cost our small number over sixty
killed and a hundred wounded. That
somebody interviewed for our semi
protection seems, however, probable.
Attacks were not made by such num-
bers as the Government had at its dis
posal; they were never pushed home,
but always ceased just when we fear
ed they would succeed, and, had the
force round us really attacked with
thoroughness and determination, we
could not have held out a week, per-
haps not even day; and so the eX-
PLANTATION that there was some kind of
protection-that somebody, probably a
ton of the legations would cost empire
and dynasty, interviewed between the
issue of the order for our destruction
and the execution of it, and so kept
the soldiery playing with us as cats
do with mice, the continued and SEEM
ingly heavy firing telling the Palace
how fercely we We're attacked and
how stubbornly we defended our
selves; while it's curiousiy half-hearted
character not only gave us the chance
to live through it, but also gave any
relief forces time to come and eXtri-
cate us, and thus avert the national
calamity which the Palace in it's pride
and conceit ignored, but which some
one, in authority, in his wisdom, fore
saw and in his discretion sought how
to push aside"
We cannot refrain from quoting, al
so, Sir Roberts tributes to the be-
haVior of the Japanese. He refers to
them three times in the course OF his
article:
THE Japanese contingent numbered
only twenty-five men, but the work
they subsequently did, and the way
they did it, won everybody's admira-
ton, and would have done honor to
five times their number. For
the safety of the British Legation In
particular it was equally indispensable
that the Soo-Wang- Foo, across the
tuIul, HOl ldll llllO SHlUtSt
hands, and it was held by Colonel
Shiba and the plucky Japanese with a
persistence, gallantry, skill and fore
thought that We're most admirable.
Another name was also con-
stantly heard. Colonel Shiba's. He
commanded the Japanese and had
charge of the line they were to hold,
which included more especially the
Soo-Wang- Foo, and his successful re-
tentiOn of the western line when driV-
en- back step by step from the eastern
one was as brilliant an achievement as
ever handful of men accomplished.
The safety of some 1000 Christian refu-
gees depended on this, as did also the
holding of the British Legation. Men
felt II was an honor to serve under
his orders. and his endurance, readi-
ness, GOODNESS. courage and courtesy
were the admiration of all who We're
near or under him"
sSS