New-York tribune., 1907-06-29
TIE SIEGE At PEKING.
4 Curious Sheaf of Letters By an
Eye7citness.

INDIscREET LETTERS FROM PEKING, Being
the Notes Of an Eyewitness Which Set Forth
IN Some Detail. from Day to Day, the Real
STORY of the Siege and Sack of Distressed
Capital in 19o0-the Year Of Great Tribulation
Edited by B, l. Putnam Weale SVo. PIP. vii
446 Dodd. Mead & co.
Mr. Wcale has written such readable books
about 'he problems confronting the Western
powers in connection with China that it is diff
cult to understand how he can have been will
ing 10 put his name editor on the title page
OF the present volume. That it is what it pro-
fesSeS To be, namely, the notes of cyeWit-
ness cf the siege Of the legations in the Chinese
capital, is clearly apparent. Mr. Weale leaves
us in doubt to the identity of the author; but
from the writer's own admissions, he would ap-
pear to have been student interpreter Of one
of the legations who, after. according 10 his adj
mission, participating in the looting and other
offences which he denounces in others, was
finally dismissed by his chief and turned out of
the service of the government to which he be-
longed. Judging from the frequent and spite
fuI allusons to Sir Claude Macdonald, who is
always referred TO by his initials in the letters
the author was member of the English Mis-
sion, and there many other earmarks in the
book which tend to confirm this belief. one of
the purposes of the letters seems to have been,
indeed. To hold up Sir Claude Macdonald to pub
lie contempt and ridicule, with a view to getting
revenge for the writer's dismissal from the gov
eGnmen. service But his sueers at the expense of
Sir Claude fal! flat III spite of his manifest ami
mus against tha English envoy. he is unable
prod.,c any biz OF evidence calculated TO impair
in the slightest degree the fame won by that gal
liant soldier diplomat commander of the de-
fence of the legation during the memorable siege.
That siege is one Of the most famous in mod
ern Jnes Tt lasted from the end of May until
the middle Of August il the face of the most
tremendous odds and under the most frightfu
conditions 1t q siege in which the defenders
not only held out until relief came. thereby pre-
venting the hundreds of white women and chill
dren from falling a prey to the savage hOrdes of
Boxers under Prince Tuan. but also inflicted
we're defeats upon their assailants repelling the
-latter'S attacks. 1t a defence which was as
successful as it brave. which earned for those
who directed it the admiration of the entire
civilized world and the recognition and graft
tude of all the governments whose representa-
tives had been saved thereby from massacre. 1t
has been described, according to DIR. Morrison.
the eminent correspondent of The London
Times" at Peiing, and in no less than forty
nine other books, all of which bear tribute TO
the valor and efficiency of Sir Claude Macdonald
and of those associated with him in the COM
mand. Under the circumstances it needs some-
thing more than the anonymous ISLANDERS Of a
dismissed minor employee to besmircl the reputa-
uon of an envoy who has been rewarded by his
sovereign not merely with orders of knighthOod
and increase in military rank but likewise with
the promotion to the rank of Ambassador in what
is from an English point of view to-day one
of the most important capitals IN the world.
namely Toxic.
Boxer outbreak IS nothing new and it is ridicu-
lOus TO blame Sir Claude Macdonald or any other
Of the foreign ministers at Peking for having
been taken unawares. Sir Robert Hart, who
has spent nearly half century in China (more
than forty years thereof in the service of the
imperial governmenD, and is universally recog-
nized as the greatest living authority on every
thing relating TO China, was unprepared for
the rising any else at Peking, and is
never tired of explaining that the longer man
lives in China and the more intimately he be-
comes acquainted with the Chinese the more he
realizes the extent OF his inability to comprehend
the Chinese character and the Chinese train of
thought Indeed. every day spent in China
serves. according to Sir Robert Hart, to extend
the vista Of ones ignorance Of everything re-
lating TO the huge empire. Small blame there
fore, TO the foreign ENJOYS at Peking for being
taken unawares by the Boxer insurrection If old
Sir Robert Hart and the late Bishop Faver were
obliged TO confess themselves wholly surprised
The one clever thing in the "Indtscreet Letters
from Pekng" is the pen picture il contains OF
the looting of the imperial palace and Forbidden
City. 1t is vivid description. Everybody
knows by this time that the relieving forces on
reaching Pekng got out OF hand. and that the
sacking of the Chinese capital like thai of Tien-
Tsin some weeks earlier. was q disgraceful epi-
sode. but due 10 the difficulty of maintaining
discipline among a body of troops composed of
so many different and in some cases. rival ma
tionalites 1t is not pleasant story but one
which the healthy minded reader would prefer
to forget as discreditable to his race, and he will
lay down the "Indscreet Letters from Peking"
with a sentiment of irritation against the writer
for thus stirring II up afresh.
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