g the Italians were noisily
preparing, and as soon as their attack was delivered, it justified all
we had already thought about them. They issued from their lines with a
wild rush, but no sooner did the Chinese fire strike them than they
broke and fled, losing several killed and wounded, and fighting like
madmen to escape through a passageway which led back. P---- was very
severely wounded in the arm, and had to give up his command, and the
bodies of the Italians killed were never recovered. A section of the
British Legation students, who had gone forward with the Italians, had
a man badly wounded, and the sight of this young fellow staggering
back with his clothes literally dripping with blood gave the British
Legation inmates a start it took some time to recover from. Later, it
turned out that P----'s sortie plan was based on a faulty map; that
the whole command found itself being fired on from a dozen quarters
before fifty yards had been covered; and that there were nothing but
impossible walls and barricades. But still this does not excuse the
fact that while the Italians were behaving like madmen the young
students stood stock-still and awaited orders to retire. In truth, we
are being educated by events.

The loss of the Italian commander has made the Italian posts more
useless than ever. These men are now nervous, and have hardly a round
of ammunition left, although they were given some of the captured
Chinese Mausers and a fresh stock of cartridges three days ago. Every
shadow is fired at by them at night, and the vague uneasiness which
overcomes everyone when dozens of the enemy are moving in the inkly
black only a few feet off seems more than they can stand.

Meanwhile the French Legation, thanks to this gun-fire, is now but a
ruined mass of buildings, a portion of which has fallen into Chinese
hands. Alarmed at the progress which has been made everywhere, M----,
the British Minister, who is still the nominal commander-in-chief, has
for days been pestering the French commandant to send him men to
reinforce other points. The same stubborn answer has been sent back,
that not a sailor can be spared, and that none will be sent. This
curious contest between the commander of the French lines and the
British Minister has ended in a species of deadlock, which bodes ill
for us all. The Frenchman believes that the remains of the French
lines form a vital part in the defence; the British Minister, invested
with military