cannot but be a failure except in those things which
immediately concern the welfare of the committees themselves. The
feeble authority of headquarters, now that puny diplomacy has been so
busy, has become more feeble than it was in the first days, and, like
the Chinese Government, we, too, shall soon fall to pieces by an
ungumming process. Native children are now dying rapidly, and two
weeks more will see a veritable famine. The trees are even now all
stripped of their leaves; cats and dogs are hunted down and rudely
beaten to death with stones, so that their carcases may be devoured.
Many of the men and women cling to life with a desperation which seems
wonderful, for some are getting hardly any food at all, and their ribs
are cracking through their skin. There is something wrong somewhere,
for while so many are half starving, the crowds of able-bodied
converts used in the fortification work are fairly well fed. Nobody
seems to wish to pay much attention to the question, although many
reports have been sent in. Perhaps, from one point of view, it is
without significance whether these useless people die or not. Hardly
any of the many non-combatant Europeans stir beyond the limits of the
British Legation, even with this lull. All sit there talking--talking
eternally and praying for relief, calculating our chances of holding
out for another two or three weeks, but never acting. A roll, indeed,
has been made at last, with every able-bodied man's name set down, and
a distribution table drawn up. But beyond that no action has been
taken, and the hundred and more men who might be added to our active
forces are allowed to do nothing.

This might be all right were there not certain ominous signs around
us, which show that a change must soon come. For the enemy has planted
new banners on all sides of us, bearing the names of new Chinese
generals unknown to us. Audaciously driven into the ground but twenty
or thirty feet from our outposts, these gaudy flags of black and
yellow, and many other colours, flaunt us and mock us with the
protection assured by the Tsung-li Yamen. Still, those despatches
continue to come in, but the first interpreter of the French
Legation, who sees some of them in the original, says that their tone
is becoming more surly and imperative.

It is ominous, too, that the Chinese commands, which have been so
reinforced and are now of great strength, are so close to our outer
line that they heave over heavy