On the other band, the "Boxers" clearly mean massacre, they
have the sympathy of the soldiers, and either favour or direct encouragement from the Palace. The Empress- Regent has strengthened the reactionary party in the Supreme Council; has appointed Prince Tuan, the father of the heir to the throne, who is decidedly anti-foreign, to pre.
side over the Administration; and has issued a decree which Chinese experts declare to be friendly to the "Boxers." The soldiers of her bodyguard have murdered the Chancellor of the Japanese Legation, and announce their intention of re- sisting the marines when they appear from Tientsin. Roughs of the worst character are crowding into the quarter occupied by the Embassies, the Pekin Club and race stands have been destroyed, " Boxers' swarm in the capital," while outside the walls no white man or Christian convert is safe. The American College at Tungchau, for instance, has been burned and forty converts killed. Dr. Edna Terry, a Metho- dist missionary, has also been murdered, and grave fears are entertained for all missionaries who have not been collected in Pekin. The "Boxers," in fact, are masters everywhere in out- lying districts of the Imperial province, and it remains to be seen whether, if the marines re-establish order in Pekin itself, the ruffians outside will obey orders and disperse, or will con- tinue their outrages, which only their own Government can check. Note that though easily beaten they fought the marines.
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