Transcriber’s Note. The original spelling, hyphenation and punctuation has been retained. An exception is the change of “shell‐fire” to “shell fire” in Contents, Chapter II. THE LAND OF THE BOXERS [Illustration: CAPT. PELL CAPT. PHILLIPS COL. O’SULLIVAN LIEUT. STEEL GEN. BARROW GEN. SIR A. GASELEE, K.C.B. COMMANDER‐IN‐CHIEF AND STAFF OF THE BRITISH FORCES IN NORTH CHINA] THE LAND OF THE BOXERS OR CHINA UNDER THE ALLIES BY CAPTAIN GORDON CASSERLY INDIAN ARMY WITH 15 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A PLAN LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1903 _All rights reserved_ TO THE OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES IN CHINA PREFACE Written many thousand miles from the ever‐troubled land of China, with no opportunity for reference, this book doubtless contains many errors, for which the reader’s indulgence is asked. The criticisms of the various armies are not the result of my own unaided impressions, but a _résumé_ of the opinions of the many officers of the different contingents with whom I conversed on the subject. My thanks are due to Sir Richard Harrison, K.C.B., Inspector‐General of Fortifications, who served with the Allied Army which captured Pekin in 1860, for his courtesy in permitting me to use some of the excellent photographs taken by the Photo Section, Royal Engineers. THE AUTHOR LONDON, 1903 CONTENTS CHAPTER I FROM WEI‐HAI‐WEI TO TIENTSIN Our transport—An Irish _padré_—Wei‐hai‐wei harbour by night—The island by day—The mainland—On to Taku—Taku at last—The allied fleet—The famous forts—The Peiho River—The Allies at Tong‐ku—The British at Hsin‐ho—The train to Tientsin—A motley crowd of passengers—The country _en route_—A historic railway station _pages_ 1–16 CHAPTER II TIENTSIN The foreign settlement—The Chinese city—The linguists in the Anglo‐Indian army—The Tientsin Club—A polyglot crowd round the bar—The English Concession—The famous Gordon Hall—The brawls in Taku Road—Dissensions among the Allied troops—The attack on the Royal Welch Fusiliers’ patrol—The siege of Tientsin—Scene of the fighting—Accuracy of the Chinese shell fire—Soldier life in the streets of Tientsin—Tommy Atkins—Peace and War—The revenge of Christianity—The “railway siding incident” _pages_ 17–33 CHAPTER III THE ALLIED ARMIES IN CHINA