The morning following Captain Strouts’ death the Ministers and guard-captains unanimously voted Mr. Squiers to be Sir Claude’s Chief of Staff, the position having been unfilled since Captain Strouts’ death. The atmosphere of the besieged in Peking is not one of peace, but of bitterest feeling, especially strong against the British, and for no other reason than that the other nations begrudge the strategical superiority of the English position. Everyone hopes, with Mr. Squiers in this rôle, that things will run smoothly, and that perhaps Sir Claude’s orders, when delivered to the different “guards” by an American Chief of Staff, and talked over with them in their own mother-tongues (for Mr. Squiers is a linguist), may be oil on the troubled waters. Let us hope so, for, should national feeling ever reach the top notch, this besieged area will separate—the Continentals on one side and the English and Americans on the other—and Heaven only knows how soon the end would come for everybody should this horror of military separation take place. The strong feelings of friendship, that are perhaps due to the propinquity of our lines, have made the Russians our good friends and comrades, leading them to express to us freely their intense dislike of the British in violent phrases: “Ces chiens d’Anglais! Comment supportez-vous leurs arrogances et leurs manières de cochons?” And later on an Englishman would drop into our mess for a moment and admonish us with the words: “You Americans are the devil. You are on good terms with every d——d dago in the place; and as for the Russians, you love them as though they were your long-lost brothers!” It is unique, this feeling of ours of amity and good-will towards almost everybody here, and I am confident it is greatly due to the strong personality of Mr. Squiers that, as a Legation, we hold this extraordinary balance of things in Peking, which places the Americans in the lead on this diplomatic chess-board. _July 31._