Dr. Morrison praisethighly the cool courage of the British,
the Americans (one of whom, the Rev. Mr. Gamewell, a mis- sionary, was the Vauban of the defence), the Germans, and the Japanese, and rather specially the French, with the exception apparently of clever M. Pichon. A Swiss gentleman, M. Chamot, a hotel-keeper, and his wife are almost the hero and heroine of the story. M. Chamot, who should have the Victoria Cross, went on cooking for the garrison calmly but energetically under a storm of shells which lasted weeks, and pulverised his kitchen. The Italians, though good at a charge, lacked the Northern patience to sit still under fire from an invisible foe, and it seems to be hinted that the "Austrians" behaved badly. The word " Austrian " covers many nationalities, but want of courage has never been imputed to any of them, and we suspect that this is not Dr. Morrison's real meaning. He certainly wants to blame them, and especially their chief. Captain Thomann, for something, but it may be thick- headedness. It is most characteristic of Asia that the Chinese servants and native Christian refugees, though they suffered cruelly from hunger, did all work required of them obediently without minding the shells. Even Dr. Morrison does not solve the great mystery of the defence. Who dis- trusted the Chinese sufficiently to store enough food in the Legation to keep two thousand five hundred persons alive for two months ?
