Fighting went on for some days, but at last all opposition ceased, and the Chinese soldiers either left the city altogether or, changing their clothes, appeared as peaceable citizens. Rex went round the town and was horrified at the destruction that everywhere met his eye. The portion of the town held by the Russians was infinitely the worst; there the looting had been universal, and the atrocities committed upon the unfortunate inhabitants beyond description. In that part of the city Rex scarcely saw a native in the streets. In the German quarter things were little better, and in the French quite as bad. In those portions of the city occupied by the British and the Americans many natives were moving about, and in many of the streets fruit and other things were exposed for sale on stalls. In the Japanese quarter all was order and regularity. Looting had been prohibited from the first, and stringent orders given for the good treatment of the inhabitants. This had such a good effect that shops were already opening, and stalls lined the streets, and indeed the greater portion of the inhabitants from the other quarters had migrated to this part, where alone they found they would be safe from pillage and outrage. It was a humiliating sight for an Englishman that these swarthy little soldiers, whom the Europeans regarded almost as barbarians, should be so infinitely in advance of the Western troops in discipline, order, and good conduct. [338]
The Americans, on the day following the relief of the Legations, fought their way to the entrance of the Forbidden City; but there they halted, as an agreement had been made that none should enter the Palace grounds until a formal entrance was made by the whole force. The jealousies and bickerings of the various generals had broken out afresh now that their purpose was achieved. The Russians, who had from the first signalized themselves by their brutal treatment of the natives, were now posing as their friends, and were already advocating a retirement. The French, owing perhaps to their supposed alliance with the Russians (though from the beginning they had been conspicuous for doing nothing), followed their lead in this as in all things. The Italians were inclined in the same direction; but the Japanese, British, and Americans were wholly against any movement of retirement until terms had been definitely settled.
After a fortnight?s consideration they decided to march through the Imperial Palace, and on the twenty–sixth the troops paraded, the arrangement being that ten per cent of each nationality should take part in the demonstration. They drew up outside the inner gateway. The Russians took up their position in the centre, close to the great stone bridge, the Japanese a little to the left, the British were to the right of the Russians, and the remainder behind them. They had but one band, a Russian one, but there were also some pipers belonging to one of the Indian Regiments. In all there were eight hundred Russians, eight hundred Japanese, four hundred British, four hundred Americans, two hundred French, two hundred Germans, and one hundred Italians and Austrians. Soon after eight o?clock a salute of twenty–one guns was fired by one of our field–artillery batteries, and then, led by the Russians, the force marched through the central archway of the Tien–An–Mên.
[339]
The Imperial Hall of Audience, or, as it was called, the Hall of Great Harmony, was a magnificent building. It was here that the Emperor sat enthroned, receiving the homage of his court, on any great occasion, notably New Year?s Day, his own birthday, and various other times prescribed by the rigid ceremony of the court. Here he conferred literary degrees and distributed robes of honour and promotions in rank. The hall was over two hundred feet long, one hundred feet wide, and the same height. It stood on a noble terrace of white stone, twenty feet above the level of the courtyard, and was reached by five flights of steps. These were flanked, and the terrace surrounded, by white marble balustrades, both steps and balustrades being excellently carved. A number of huge bronze urns of very handsome design, and two great bronze tortoises, added to the brilliancy of the approach.
Externally the hall was in fair repair, but the ornamentation under the eaves was dirty, and the pillars outside and the woodwork round the walls were sadly needing paint, so that in spite of the fine approach the general aspect was that of shabbiness. Why this should be so under the rule of an all–powerful Empress, with the whole resources of the Empire at her command, was quite unaccountable. One would have expected that everything within the walls of the palace, which is the centre of the Empire, would have been kept in the most perfect order. The same want of repair was evident in the Hall of Central Harmony, the Hall of Precious Harmony, and the various pavilions in the courtyards through which the troops marched. In fact the aspect of all the rooms, halls, and pavilions was disappointing in the extreme. The waiting–rooms were gloomy, and everything was covered with dust. Grass grew thickly in the courtyard, and indeed the whole place had an aspect of neglect and privation. In the Imperial apartment there were superb vases[340] and ornaments of all kinds, all bearing the same marks of neglect. The general feeling among the troops was one of disappointment. After a stay of an hour or two the troops marched out again. Some small articles were carried off, but there was nothing like general looting, and the mandarins who had remained behind in charge had no reason to complain of the conduct of the troops.
Rex accompanied the Japanese in their march, as being officially in their service, and, like all those who had formed the procession, was greatly disappointed.
“It is really a rotten old place,” he said to the girls on his turn. “It looks as if it hadn?t been inhabited for a hundred years. It is grimy, dusty, and dark. No doubt there were all sorts of good things in the way of vases, but even these were so dirty and dull that no one would think of looking at them if they were not in the palace. Certainly I did not see anything that I should have cared to carry off if I had been permitted to do so, except upon the supposition that, as they were in the palace they must be valuable. I have seen much better things in the loot taken in the city.”
“Well, I am glad to hear you say so, Rex,” Jenny said, “for it does seem rather hard that the women who have taken part in the siege should not have been allowed to go to look at all the wonders.”
“Well, you have lost nothing, I can assure you,” said Rex. “Some of those things I bought are certainly better worth looking at than anything in the palace, at least till it has been cleaned up a bit.”
Pekin having been conquered, and the proof of conquest having been given to the Chinese by the march through the temple, the general topic of conversation was what was next to be done. The Empress was, it was known, making her way to Shansi, some hundreds of miles away, and all agreed[341] that it would be impossible to pursue her there, for even if the journey could be accomplished she would simply make another move, and so evade capture. It was considered probable that she would make an offer to treat, but no doubt a considerable time, weeks perhaps, or even months, would pass before she could bring herself to do so. It was considered certain that sooner or later she must take such a step, for, credulous as the Chinese are, it would be impossible to get them to believe that she was staying at Shansi from choice, and that Pekin was occupied by the allies by her gracious permission. The question was, what would be the end? As a matter of course a huge sum would have to be paid for the expenses of the war. On this point opinion was unanimous. The question on which there were strong differences of opinion was, what else would happen? Would each of the Powers demand a slice of Chinese territory, and undertake the civilization of the huge Empire? One objection to this was that it would sooner or later lead to a general outbreak of hostilities between the Powers. It was probable that the mere work of fixing the respective frontiers would bring matters to a crisis at once. Russia would assuredly demand a far greater share than the others, and, on condition that France would back her, would see that that country also benefited very largely. Austria and Italy would certainly be unable to manage a concession of any size, and, moreover, they had so little interest in the East that they would probably put in no claims. Germany, with her sudden greed for colonizing, would certainly expect a large slice. On the other hand, Japan, Great Britain, and America might be expected to oppose any steps in this direction. None of them had any wish to acquire territory. As traders they desired that all doors should be kept open, and that trade should be free to all. Their interest, therefore, was that[342] China should remain intact, and should be allowed to advance gradually in the path of reform.
The war with Japan had already given a vast impulse to her life in many respects. Short as the intervening time had been, she had accumulated great stores of modern weapons, and had made considerable progress in the work of turning peasantry into soldiers. It was probable that a second disastrous defeat would show her still more vividly the necessity for adopting European methods. It would assuredly strengthen enormously the hands of the progressive party. Prince Ching and others of the same views would gain power and influence, and obstinate and imperious as the Empress might be, the fact that she had been driven a fugitive from her capital, as the result of following the advice of the war party, could not but impress her strongly. Although all allowed that it would be some time before China recovered from the shock, most of those in the British Legation at any rate, were of opinion that it would finally be of immense benefit to her.
The arguments were sometimes quite heated, until some calm listener suggested that months might elapse before any preliminaries of peace were agreed upon, and it was scarcely worth while to get excited over a future which really no one at present could in the slightest degree foretell.
Before starting, Rex had been furnished by his father with a considerable amount of money.
“There is sure to be a great deal of looting,” Mr. Bateman said, “and, as is always the case in such circumstances, the soldiers are altogether ignorant of the value of the things they have picked up, and will be ready to sell them for a mere song. The two things to keep your eyes upon are really fine vases, old ones of course, and furs. The Chinese don?t mind what they give for good furs, so that their possessions in this[343] line are of immense value. There are also silks and things of that sort, but they are not so saleable as furs, and I should advise you to stick to these and cloisonné vases.”
All the time he was able to go about the city, Rex had carried out his father?s instructions. The Russian soldiers had pillaged every shop in their district, and among these, as at Tung–Chow, were enormous quantities of valuables of all kinds, many of which they had been ready to dispose of for a few dollars to the first comer. Rex was therefore able to procure a large quantity of valuable furs, fine vases, jade, and jewellery. In the British quarter all loot found was handed over to the military authorities, who sold it by auction every two or three days. Here the more valuable goods went for a song; fox–furs worth a couple of hundred pounds fetched only seven or eight, and vases were equally cheap, as the difficulty of carriage deterred most of the buyers from bidding at all. On the other hand, small articles which could be taken home as curios, and in memory of the siege, were eagerly bought up by soldiers and non–commissioned officers at prices far beyond their intrinsic value. The missionaries were very active in obtaining loot,—which they also sold for the most part by auction,—and justified their action by saying that the money would be used in rebuilding their ruined chapels and mission–houses. All this and much more that took place during the war was in direct defiance of the treaty to which China, as well as all the allied powers, was a party. This forbade the ill–treatment of private persons, the forcible entry into their houses, the taking of their goods; but the allies considered that the Chinese, by their massacre of thousands of Christians and of numbers of missionaries, together with their attack upon the settlements, had so broken the treaty as to put themselves quite out of court. It must be admitted, however, that the conduct of the troops,[344] especially of the Russians, Germans, and French, cannot but have greatly heightened the hatred felt by the Chinese for the “foreign devils.”
Rex had no difficulty in hiring coolies to bring home his purchases, and the girls were astonished at the mass of valuables he brought to the little room they now occupied. They were, of course, ignorant of the real worth of these things, but they could not but know that the silk and satin mantles, lined with lovely furs, must be of considerable value. “However are you going to get them all down, Rex?” asked Jenny.
“Well, I intend to buy a couple of carts, and of course I shall hire coolies to drive them. When we have got all the things stowed away in them we will cover them with some rough cloth, and then you can sit one in each; that will be much more comfortable for you than riding, for, as you have told me, you have never been on a horse?s back in your lives, and besides it would be next to impossible to buy decent horses here.”
“Yes, it would be a great deal better. When do you think we shall be able to leave?”
“I hear,” he said, “that the day after to–morrow a convoy is going down, and that all women who have not husbands here can accompany it. I think, therefore, that we may as well go. There is nothing whatever to keep us here, and as far as I can see nothing is likely to be done for a long time, perhaps months. The Empress is hundreds of miles away, and it is certain that it will take a long time indeed before the terms of any treaty can be settled. I shall make arrangements for our joining the convoy. We certainly cannot take much time to pack. Ah Lo and I have horses, and I will this afternoon try to pick up a couple of carts. There is no buying them here, but I will ride out with Ah Lo to some of the[345] villages round, where I have no doubt I shall be able to get what I want.
“There will, of course, be............