A GOVERNMENT GONE MAD.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 14

A GOVERNMENT GONE MAD.

„ ;7L " ■/: : cy/r. SIR CLAUD MACDONALD EXPLAINS THE PEKIN OUTBREAK. . / '/The Foreign Office on December 9 is-> ©lied the official despatches of Sir Claud MacDonald, the_ late British Minister at Pekin) on recent events ih the -Chin?-. ese capital. /■■?. ; ■" -V' f 1 r ; They contain much new light, rV of course, oh the Boxer outbreak and its, consequences, but supply less actual criticism, perhaps, than might ‘Rave ~ been, r expected. As a study in . the shifty , ways of Chinese //diplomacy' the ,: despatches are invaluable. / ; - Sir Claude conclusively proves th© tefi- . iency of the Ohinese official decrees ostensibly directed against the Boxers, and asserts they will have td be taken into account in formulating demands for reparation. There was also ample ground .for believing the complicity of- the Court in the Boxer movement, which carried ite anti-foreign-propaganda out even to the minutest detail. Sir Claud admits that “what no European had' foreseen, certainly none in Pe-

kin, was that the Chinese Government would be so influenced by the pretensions of the Boxers to supernatural Powers as t-o believe that they could safely

defy the rest of the world. . . . No one realised the possibility, that the Government would in fact go mad, and do what it would never have dreamed of doing while it remained sane.”

THE FIRST ACT OF MADNESS. The ultimatum to the foreigners to leave was the first act of madness. This was followed by the murder of Baron von Ketteler, the German Minister; but then the Yamen stated they considered it unsafe for the Ministers to leave, and had no objections to an extension of the term.

“It was hardly possible to place on this despatch any other construction than that the German Minister’s death had startled and alarmed the Chinese Government, and caused its policy to swerve in the direction of peace. But in drawing this inference sufficient allowance was not made for the existence of a powerful party determined on war at all hazards. The Yamen, as I_had' recognised early in June, had ceased to represent the Government vis-a-vis foreeign Powers, and their communications only showed, at th© most, the attitude of the moderate or peace party. ‘Thus, in spite of the formal withdrawal- of the ultimatum, the Chinese troops opened fire punctually at four o’clock on June 20, a&d a siege Began, which lasted just eight weeks. Its history up to July 14 is almost purely military.” .

Sir Claude relates the events of the siege, varied all the time by eommnnicaticns with the Chinese. “It was never certainly known who was addressing us.” - :

“With the same object of procuring a postponement or relaxation of the attack, we allowed the Chinese to indulge the belief that there was a chance of our placing ourselves at their mercy by proceeding under Chinese escort to Tientsin. They bad failed to crush us by direct assault, and .would, it was felt, be more inclined to desist from further attacks, involving heavy loss to. their own troops, if they, thought they could persuade us into becoming an easy prey. We might have strengthened this hope by a definite statement that we would accept their proposal if certain Conditions were satisfied, hut that we did not feel justified in doing. What we did was neither to accept nor reject it in principle, but to gain time by asking for more details as a preliminary tc our final decision.

“I am bound, however, to admit that; so far as I can judge, there was never any possibility after the siege begun of our accepting the Chinese suggestion.” UNDER GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

Sir Claude positively asserts the Chinese attacking troops were completely under control of the Government, and he is inclined, having no other reason.' to explain the peculiar truce in the latter half of July by the fact that; the Chinese employed the time to treacherously undermine the Legation works. ■ Among the curious incidents mentioned are the following: A mad Swed missionary escaped, to the Chinese' and gave them a great deal of valttable information; a wounded Chinese, trusting in European humanity, actuallycame to the British to be attended to; • the scanty supplies of food sent on by, the Chinese were not poisoned ; there were 527 Europeans and 356 Chinese in all in the British Legation ; the used to make the siege of the Leegation a subject of jest; not one of the 217 womeen and children in the Legation were f touched. U; -

/Captain HMliday, R.M.LvI. / is strongly- reeommendißd by Sir Claude to official .notice:

T “A Hole wias ioade in/ the-Legation., " wall7aiid''Gap , tairt Hallicfay, in command /of twenty marihes/ led; the- way into, the buildings and almost immediately engaged a party the -enemy-, r Before he coul.d us© . his revolver,)/however): he was shotthrough the left shoulder at' point'-blaiik' range, the' biillef fracturing the shoulder 'and 5 • harrying away; part r of the 1 tremely severe / natur e r of /toe wound, Oaptoin Halliday killed -three of his assailants,: and, Yelling his jneri to carry bn and v not mind him,'’ walked back unaided to the hospitalv refusing ; escort and/ aid, so as; not to diniinisli the number of men- engaged in the; sortie':” ... _. / / U Finally Sir. Claude very warmly opmr / mends . those who took part in toe' defence of the Legations, bpto British and others., .Many are mentioned by name.