than fifty men in all for
these long Japanese lines, and if we take more from elsewhere it will
be merely creating fresh gaps.... Decidedly it is not enticing. The
whole line from the north right round to the south, where the
Japanese, French, Austrians, Italians and Germans are distributed,
ending on the Tartar Wall itself, is terribly weak. And as I began to
understand this, an hour after this afternoon adventure I became quite
gloomy at the outlook.

Everything, indeed, was upside down. Matters in the British Legation
were not improving, and the fighting air which exists elsewhere is not
to be found here. Men, women and children; ponies, mules and
packing-cases; sandbags and Ministers Plenipotentiary--are still all
engaged in attempting to sort themselves out and keep distinct from
one another. Already the British Legation has surrendered itself, not
to the enemy, but to committees. There are general committees, food
committees, fortifications committees, and what other committees I do
not know, except that American missionaries, who appear at least to
have more energy than any one else, are practically ruling them. This
is all very well in its way, but it is curious to see that dozens of
able bodied men, armed with rifles, are hiding away in corners so that
they shall not be drafted away to the outer defences. Everywhere a
contemptible spirit is being displayed, because a feeling prevails
that there are no responsible chiefs in whom absolute trust can be
placed. A pleasant mess in all truth. It is now everyone for himself
and nobody looking after the others....

Some of the people, however, have begun dividing themselves up, and
now are billeted, nationality by nationality, in separate quarters.
But many persons seem lost and distraught. H----, the great director
of Chinese affairs, was siting on an old mattress looking quite
paralysed; P----, his counterpart in the Russian bank, was striding
about excitedly and muttering to himself. The Belgian Legation has
disappeared entirely; whether they have run away or been lost in the
confusion I could not for the life of me tell. What a position, what a
condition! Already it is a great feat to be on speaking terms with a
dozen people, and if we could only instill some of the savageness we
all feel towards one another into our defence, it would become so
vigorous and unconquerable that not all the legions of the Boxer
Empire, massed in serried ranks, could break in on us.