In North China and Manchuria, to say nothing of isolated instances south of the Yangtze, over two hundred missionaries, Protestant and Roman Catholic, were massacred, while several thousands of Chinese Christians followed their foreign pastors to the death. The events that led to the collapse of the movement need but a passing mention. They are matters of history but recently in the minds of all. The Taku forts capitulated to the little foreign gunboats, the army of the allies captured Tientsin, and a composite force, fifteen thousand strong, marched on Peking. In less than a fortnight the work was successfully accomplished; and on the 14th of August the foreigners, with their Legations, which had been besieged by a savage horde of Boxers and Imperial troops since the 20th of June, were relieved. Peking was taken by assault, and China's Imperial Court fled by the "Victory" Gate in three common mulecarts for Sianfu, in far-away Shansi. The movement ended in a failure as lamentable as its inception had been a mistake. It was conceived in no spirit of mere thirst for blood. People and Court believed that the foreign Powers were "swallowing up" China, and in a moment of mad frenzy believed that the only way of escape for themselves and salvation for their country lay along the line of utter extermination of the foreigner and all that belonged to him. This rapid survey--touching upon the salient features of each of these great heart-throbs of the nation--shows us the main contributory factors of the People's Revolution of 1911-12. [Illustration: THE CHILD-EMPEROR OF CHINA. Last of the Manchu Dynasty, that was overthrown by the Revolution.] {273}