NEWS FROM PEKIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 179, 30 July 1900, Page 5

NEWS FROM PEKIN.

MASSACRE OF CONVERTS.

SCENE IN THE GRAND COUNCIL

•PORT DARWIN, July 30.

A prominent member of the Reform Party, who fled from Pekin on June 26th," states that over 100,000 Boxers and Manchu troops were in the capital when he left, and their number was continually being augmented. The' Legations had been attacked persistently for ten days, and when he'quitted the city he believed one or two of the .Legations had been destroyed.

Over four thousand peaceable citizens, apart from two or three thousand native converts, had been slain in the streets.

The occupants of the Tartar city were afraid of being1 plundered when the Boxers got beyond control, but by diplomatic, means the cities were cleared of these dangerous fiends and a strong guard was posted to prevent their ingress. When Jung- Lv advocated the suppression of the Borers at the Grand Council a great clamour arose among1 the other Grand Councillors, headed by Prince Tuan and Kang Vi, who de-

nounced Jung Lv as a traitor, and overwhelmed hirfi by numbers. Finally, Prince Tuan and Kang Vi cried out that they would take all the responsibility of war against the foreigners, and rushed from the Chamber. All decorum and etiquette were then thrown aside. The Empress Dowager left the Chamber in despair. Neither she nor the Emperor had since been seen.

When this became known to the eunuchs and palace officials a cry was raised "Up with the Ming dynasty; down with foreigners," which waa taken up by the populace in the Tartar city. An hour later began the reign of Prince Tuan and his clique.