Imperial Government would be a satisfactory demonstration of its friendliness and desire to attain these ends."

Li Hung Chang, August 20, asked the United States and the Powers that as Peking had been captured and the legations were safe, hostilities should cease and that envoys be appointed for negotiations for permanent peace, supplementing this request the following day with another for the prompt withdrawal of Li Hung Chang Asks troops from the capital. In reply the United States exfor Peace. pressed its anxiety to appoint a representative to join with representatives of similarly interested Powers to attain the ends declared in the circular of July 3, as soon as the responsible Government of China afforded security in Peking and throughout China.

The State Department, August 29, communicated to the Powers the following memorandum delivered the preceding day to the Russian Chargé at Washington:

"The Government of the United States received with much satisfaction the reiterated statement that Russia has no designs of territorial acquisition in China, and that, equally with the other Powers now operating in China, Russia has sought the safety of her legation in Peking and to help the Chinese Government to repress the existing troubles. The same purposes have moved and will continue to control the Government of the United States, and the frank declarations of Russia in this regard are in accord with those made to the United States by the other Powers. All the Powers, therefore, having disclaimed any purpose to acquire any part of China, and now that adherence thereto has been renewed since relief has reached Peking, it ought not to be difficult by concurrent action through negotiations to reach an amicable settlement with China, by which the treaty rights of all the Powers will be secured for the future, the open door assured, the interests and property of foreign citizens conserved, and full reparation made for wrongs and injuries suffered by them.

This

"So far as we are advised, the greater part of China is at peace and earnestly desires to protect the life and property of all foreigners, and in several of the provinces active and successful efforts to suppress the Boxers have been taken by the Viceroys, to whom we have extended encouragement through our consuls and naval officers. present good relation should be promoted for the peace of China. While we agree that the immediate object for which the military forces of the Powers have been co-operating, viz, the relief of the Ministers at Peking, has beer accomplished, there still remain the other purposes which, all the Powers have in common, which are referred to in the communication of the Russian Chargé, and which were specifically enumerated in our note to the Powers of July 3.

"These are: To afford all possible protection everywhere in China to foreign life and property; to guard and protect all legitimate foreign interests; to aid in preventing the spread of the disorders to other provinces of the Empire and a recurrence of such disorders, and to seek a solution which may bring about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed by treaty and international law to friendly Powers, and safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.

"In our opinion these purposes could best pe attained by the joint occupation of Peking under a definite understanding between the Powers until the Chinese Government shall have been re-established and shall be in a position to enter into new treaties with adequate provisions for reparation and guarantees of future protection. With the establishment and recognition of such authority the United States would wish to withdraw its military forces from Peking and remit to the processes of peaceful negotiation our just demands.

"We consider, however, that a continued occupation of Peking would be ineffective to produce the desired result, unless all the Powers unite therein with entire harmony of purpose. Any Power which determines to withdraw its troops from Peking will necessarily proceed thereafter to protect its interests in China by its own method, and we think that this would make a general withdrawal expedient. As to the time and manner of withdrawal, we think that, in view of the imperfect knowledge of the military situation resulting from the interruptions of telegraphic communication, the several military commanders at Peking should be instructed to confer and agree together upon the withdrawal as a concerted movement as they agreed upon the advance.

"The result of these considerations is that, unless there is such a general expression by the Powers in favor of continued occupation as to modify the views expressed by the Government of Russia and lead to a general agreement for continued occupation, we shall give instructions to the commander of the American forces in China to withdraw our troops from Peking after due conference with the other commanders as to the time and manner of withdrawal.

"The Government of the United States is much gratified by the assurance given by Russia that the occupation of New-Chwang is for military purposes incidental to the military steps for the security of the Russian border provinces menaced by the Chinese, and that as soon as order shall be re-established Russia will retire her troops from those places if the action of the other Powers be not an obstacle thereto. No obstacle in this regard can arise through any action of the United States, whose policy is fixed and has been repeatedly proclaimed. ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary."

Prince Ching and Li Hung Chang having announced their appointment as plenipotentiaries, the United States, September 21, accepted them as the immediate representatives of the Chinese Emperor for preliminary negotiations looking to the resumption Negotiations for a Settlement.

of Imperial authority at Peking and toward the negotiation of a complete settlement, and on the same day, in reply to a proposal from Germany, made the following declaration: "The Government of the United States has from the outset proclaimed its purpose to hold to the uttermost accountability the responsible

authors of any wrongs done in China to citizens of the United States and their interests, as was stated in the Government's circular communication to the Powers of July 3 last. These wrongs have been committed not alone in Peking, but in many parts of the Empire, and their punishment is believed to be an essential element of any effective settlement which shall prevent a recurrence of such outrages and bring about permanent safety and peace in China.

"It is thought, however, that no punitive measures can be so effective by way of reparation for wrongs suffered and as deterrent examples for the future as the degradation and punishment of the responsible authors by the supreme Imperial authority itself, and it seems only just to China that she should be afforded in the first instance an opportunity to do this and thus rehabilitate herself before the world.

"Believing thus, and without abating in anywise its deliberate purpose to exact the fullest accountability from the responsible authors of the wrongs we have suffered in China, the Government of the United States is not disposed, as a preliminary condition to entering into diplomatic negotiations with the Chinese Government, to join in a demand that said Government surrender to the Powers such persons as, according to the determination of the Powers themselves, may be held to be the first and real perpetrators of those wrongs.

"On the other hand, this Government is disposed to hold that the punishment of the high responsible authors of these wrongs, not only in Peking, but throughout China, is essentially a condition to be embraced and provided for in the negotiations for a final settlement. It is the purpose of this Government, at the earliest practicable moment, to name its plenipotentiaries for negotiating a settlement with China, and in the mean time to authorize its Minister in Peking to enter forthwith into conference with the duly authorized representatives of the Chinese Government, with a view of bringing about a preliminary agreement whereby the full exercise of the Imperial power for the preservation of order and the protection of foreign life and property throughout China, pending final negotiations with, the Powers, shall be assured."

An Imperial edict dated September 25, deprived Princes Chwang, Yih, Tsai Lien and Tsai Ying of all rank and offices, Prince Tuan of office and pay and turned him over to the Imperial Clan Court to decide upon a severe penalty, and ordered that Kang Yi, Assistant Grand Secretary, and Chao Shu Chiao, president of the Board of Punishments, be handed over to the Board of Censors, all on account of responsibility for the attacks on foreigners.

The Emperor, October 14, thanked President McKinley for taking the initiative in using his good offices between China and the Powers. Great Britain and Germany on October 16 made the following agreement at London:

"Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Imperial German Government, being desirous to maintain their interests in China and their rights under existing treaties, have agreed to observe the following principles in regard to their mutual policy in

China:

"I. It is a matter of joint and permanent international interest that the ports on the rivers and littoral of China should remain free and open to trade and to every other legitimate form of economic activity for the nationals of all countries without distinction, and the two governments agree on their part to uphold the same for all Chinese territory so far as they can exercise influence.

2. Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Imperial German Government will not on their part make use of the present complication to obtain for themselves any territorial advantages in Chinese dominions and will direct their policy toward maintaining undiminished the territorial conditions of the Chinese Empire.

3. In case of another Power making use of the complications in China in order to obtain under any form whatever such territorial advantages, the two contracting parties reserve to themselves to come to a preliminary understanding as to the eventual steps to be taken for the protection of their own interests in China.

4. The two governments will communicate this agreement to the other Powers interested, and especially to Austro-Hungary, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States of America, and will invite them to accept the principles recorded in the agreement."

The Peace Commission first met in Peking October 20, when the Chinese plenipotentiaries proposed an indemnity of $230,000,000, to be paid in 60 instalments, all customs and similar taxes in the mean time being placed under foreign control.

After a whole month spent in daily conferences, the Ministers of the Powers at Peking agreed, subject to the approval of their governments, upon a joint preliminary demand on China which, in general terms, embraced the following items: China shall inflict the death penalty on eleven guilty high officials and princes where the outrages occurred. The Taku forts and other forts on the coast of Chi-Li shall be razed, and the importation of arms and war material prohibited. Permanent legation guards shall be maintained, and also guards of communication between Peking and the sea. Imperial proclamations shall be posted for two years throughout the Empire suppressing Boxers. The Tsung-Li-Yamen as at present constituted shall be abolished, and its functions_vested in a foreign minister, and rational intercourse shall be permitted with the Emperor as in civilized countries. Provincial examinations shall be suspended for five years, and in future all officials who have not made due effort to prevent outrages on foreigners within their jurisdiction shall be immediately removed from office and punished. The indemnity shall include compensation for the Chinese who suffered through being employed by foreigners. China shall erect a monument to Baron von Ketteler at the site of the murder and shall send an Imperial prince to Germany to convey an apology.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.

The war in South Africa followed protracted controversies and negotiations between the Transvaal Government and the British Colonial Office. On the Dutch side it has been claimed that the Transvaal was not coveted by the English until the gold deposits of the Rand were discovered; that the Jameson raid was a warning that the territories of the South African Republic would be seized forcibly; that the negotiations with the Colonial Office disclosed a menace of intervention in violation of the Convention of 1884, and that President Krüger's ultimatum was not delivered until the British reserves had been called out and the Dutch republics compelled to take up arms in defence of their liberties and independence. On the English side it has been asserted that the Boers were dealt with justly and magnanimously at the close of their first war of independence; that the Jameson raid was condemned by the British Government, and that the military leaders of the movement were tried, convicted and punished with imprisonment; that the object of the negotiations was to secure in the Transvaal the same equality of political rights which the English and the Dutch enjoyed in Cape Colony and Natal; that there was an armed conspiracy against British interests in South Africa, and that President Krüger's ultimatum rendered a battle for empire inevitable. The equities of these claims are not easily balanced, but the chief cause of the war may be stated without prejudice as an irreconcilable feud between two white races in a country containing the richest gold fields in the world. The Orange Free State had no grievances of its own, but was drawn into the war by sympathy with the South African Republic, which considered its independence involved in the questions of franchise and suzerainty raised by the British Government in the protracted negotiations. The two republics began to mobilize their forces after British reinforcements had been ordered to Natal and the Colonial Office had warned President Krüger (September 12, 1899) of the danger of further delay in dealing with the franchise. The British reserves were called out (October 7) and two days later the Transvaal Government presented an ultimatum requiring within forty-eight hours the withdrawal of British troops from the frontiers and the return of all reinforcements ordered to South Africa since June. On October 12 the Boer troops crossed the Natal frontier, and in the west, by the derailment of an armored train at Kraai Pan, isolated Mafeking, while further south Kimberley was invested. The Boers struck the first blows, but in doing so scattered their forces instead of concentrating them against Ladysmith and overrunning Natal before British reinforcements could arrive. Kimberley, where Colonel Kekewich with 4,200 regulars and irregulars was in command, was under siege from the middle of October; Mafeking, where Colonel BadenPowell had organized a force of 1,000 volunteers, was closely invested on October 17; Griqualand West and Southern Bechuanaland were invaded, and on November 1 the Orange River was crossed and Aliwal North, Stormberg, Colesberg and other towns in Cape Colony were occupied. This diversion of forces impaired the advantage of superiority of military resources and deprived the Boers of the opportunity of delivering a deadly blow in Natal.

Strength of the
Boer Forces.

The Boer forces had been estimated in advance by the Intelligence Department of the British War Office at 54,000 men, and these figures were subsequently raised to 64,000 by 5,000 recruits from Cape Colony and 5,000 foreigners and mercenaries. These estimates were exaggerated without doubt. There were 16,000 prisoners at the close of the war and not more than 7,000 in service for guerilla operations. Probably the Boer forces never exceeded 36,000 at the strongest, and many experts have placed the figures as low as 25,000. It was a mounted army of trained riflemen, expert in taking cover, exceptionally mobile, unencumbered with baggage and well armed and provided with effective artillery. The details of military armament are uncertain, but the Boers certainly had as many as 100 guns of all classes, including a few fortress guns sufficiently mobile to be carried about by the commandoes among the mountains. The discipline of this army was indifferent from lack of cohesion, but the fighting unit was a good shot, with all the craft of a hunter. For defensive purposes the world has perhaps never seen anything better than the Boer commandoes, and they had the advantage of interior lines of communication, perfect knowledge of the country and a neutral base of supplies at Delagoa Bay. They were weakest in attack, and their victories could not be pressed home because their operations were not directed by a single mind, but by military councils.

At the outbreak of the war the British had about 19,000 troops, including the irregulars at Mafeking and Kimberley, and bout 54 serviceable guns. While the situation had been saved by the arrival of 9,000 troops from India and England early in October, there was an interval of six weeks before the army corps mobilized in the United Kingdom could be available for active operations. The garrisons of Kimberley and Mafeking were left dependent upon their own resources, and there were only a few thin battalions to guard railway junctions so important as De Aar and Naauwpoort. In Northern Natal there was a British force of 12,000 men, afterward increased to 15,000, but instead of being massed at Ladysmith and Colenso it was divided between Ladysmith and Glencoe from political considerations. The defensive arrangements on the British side could hardly have been worse. Not even Ladysmith was naturally defensible, for the town lay in a bowl among hills and was surrounded by mountains, and while there were large depots of miscellaneous military supplies, there were_no guns of position, and both food and ammunition were inadequate for a long siege. The British commander, Sir George White, had arrived only five days before the outbreak

of war. There had been no systematic preparations for the defence of the British possessions, since the Government in London had not expected war and had been taken by surprise.

The opening operations in Natal were well planned on the Bcer side, but not skilfully executed. Three columns under Joubert, Viljoen and Meyer made a concerted advance upon Glencoe for the purpose of isolating and crushing the detached brigade under General Symons, but the movements were not accurately timed and the Biggarsberg passes were not seized. General Meyer's force occupied Talana Hill and bombarded the British camp. General Symons carried the hill by assault (October 20), falling mortally wounded, but his cavalry following retreating Boers encountered a reserved force and was roughly handled. On the same day General French attacked and routed a Boer force near Elandslaagte, between Ladysmith and Glencoe. These two British victories did not repair original error of the separation of the two armies, and General Yule was compelled to conduct a perilous retreat from Glencoe, abandoning his wounded men. This retreat was covered by another action at Rietfontein, which was brought on by Si George White. When the junction of the two British forces was effected after these three victories, with casualty lists exceeding 900, Ladysmith was exposed to an enveloping movement by a superior force. Sir George White planned a counter stroke (October 30) by sending a column of 1,200 men to seize Nicholson's Nek on the extreme left while he attacked the Boer centre. This battle ended disastrously, the fighting in the centre being indecisive, while the column at Nicholson's Nek was surrounded and compelled to surrender. The only compensating advantage was that time was gained for allowing a naval brigade with five guns of long range to reinforce the garrison before the investment of Ladysmith, was completed (November 2).

Sir Redvers Buller, who assumed command of the British forces in South Africa only a few days before Ladysmith was cut off from Lower Natal, had expected to mass an army corps of three divisions for a direct march through the Free State to

General Buller's

Plan of Campaign.

Pretoria. With Ladysmith beleaguered and inadequately supplied with ammunition, and with only two battalions available for the defence of Lower Natal, he did not venture to carry out this plan of campaign. The first battalions of reinforcements were dispatched to Natal, where they began to disembark on November 12. An armored train was derailed near Chieveley and a British detachment captured by the Boers, and the invasion of Lower Natal, tardily begun, was pressed with vigor from Colenso as far south as Nottingham Road. General Hildyard attacked this raiding force (November 23), which finally retired to Colenso. Two of the three divisions of reinforcements were diverted to Natal, and General Buller himself took command of the bulk of his army. The third division, under Lord Methuen, was sent north from De Aar for the relief of Kimberley, which was besieged by the Boers under General Cronje. General French, with a small cavalry force was stationed at Naauwpoort to operate against Colesberg, and General Gatacre with a feeble body of infantry was placed on guard against a superior Boer force at Stormberg. The troops mobilized in England at the outbreak of the war did not exceed 50,000 men, with 114 guns, and the strength of the mounted force was 3,800. it was utterly inadequate, as the sequel proved. The British army, including colonial contingents and Natal and Cape Colony volunteers, exceeded 250,000 men before the close of operations.

General Buller could not have set the army corps in motion from the Orange River to Bloemfontein without abandoning Ladysmith to its fate and exposing Lower Natal to invasion. He could not have massed the army corps in Natal without disheartening the garrisons of Mafeking and Kimberley and instigating a general rebellion in the Dutch districts of Cape Colony. He adopted a compromise course and brought on the most serious reverses which England had known since Yorktown. General Gatacre planned a night attack upon Stormberg, but his feeble force was caught in an ambuscade by the Boers (December 10) and narrowly escaped annihilation, 632 men being taken prisoners. Lord Methuen, advancing (November 21) to the relief of Kimberley with 7,500 infantry and 500 mounted men, delivered frontal attacks upon an inferior force, strongly entrenched at Belmont and Enslin, and fought a fierce engagement at Modder River (November 28) with a Boer force of 7,000 burghers, compelling it to retreat after nightfall when General Pole-Carew with a few battalions had turned the position. The British casualties were over 800 in these battles, and a halt was required until the strength of the column could be raised to 13,000 men. On December 11 a frontal attack was made at daybreak upon the centre of the Boer position at Magersfontein and the Highland Brigade was repulsed, General Wauchope being killed, and the British army retired to Modder River after losing 970 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. In Natal an even greater disaster was in reserve. General Buller delivered a frontal attack upon the Boer position at Colenso, and returned to camp after losing ten guns and putting 1,125 men out of action. Colonel Long was responsible for the loss of the guns, but the battle was badly planned, not more than one-half of the force being engaged and no attempt having been made to clear the south bank of the river before forcing its passage. The Boer losses in all these battles were trivial.

The army corps had been divided and three sections of it defeated. General French alone had been conspicuously successful in handling his troops, and even in front of Colenso there had been a reverse, for the Suffolk regiment failed in a night attack, with a stampede after heavy losses. Mafeking and KimLord Roberts Placed berley were making a most gallant defence and General in Command. White had ordered two successful sorties from Ladysmith; but the relief of the three beleaguered post garrisons was apparently remote. The main British columns had been held up and the campaign

completely blocked by Boer farmers unskilled in strategy and the science of war. 1 was a crisis in the fortunes of the British Empire, but it was met with courage an determination by the Salisbury Government. Lord Roberts was ordered to Sout Africa as commander-in-chief, with Lord Kitchener at his right hand; the Sixth Seventh and Eighth divisions were mobilized; battalions of militia were sent out wit a picked body of volunteers and yeomanry; the artillery service was strengthened an a large mounted force recruited, and every offer of assistance from the Colonies, espe cially Canada, Australia and New-Zealand, was accepted. Before the close of the wa Canada had provided 4,000 and Australia 8,000 troops, and Natal and Cape Colony ove 20,000 volunteers.

Before the campaign could be reorganized a second attempt was made for th relief of Ladysmith. General Buller ordered the Fifth Division, under General Warrer into Natal, and made preparations for a turning movement on the Upper Tugel River. Before the column was in motion the Boers delivered a desperate assault upo Ladysmith (January 6), but vere repulsed after capturing three times the Britis rifle pits. General White's losses in this battle were 500, and the victory was won b soldiers on short rations and enfeebled by disease. General Buller's army crossed th Tugela (January 16 and 17) and after a futile attempt to turn the Boer position mad a deliberate frontal attack upon it by slow approaches. The crest of Spion Kop wa captured by a storming party (January 23), but the Boers under General Louis Both attacked the position with great determination. After nightfall Colonel Thorneycrof ordered a retreat, although his command had been reinforced to 5,000, and Genera Buller's army retired across the Tugela after 1,733 men had been put out of action The British defeat at Spion Kop was due to defective signalling and to misunder standings and jealousies of the generals, and Lord Roberts, after censuring Colone Thorneycroft and General Buller, transferred General Warren to a command in Cap Colony.

The hopes of the British Empire now centred upon Lord Roberts. He had arrive at Cape Town on January 10 and had not interfered with General Buller's operation on the Tugela, but had busied himself in encouraging volunteering in Cope Colony an in making radical changes in the transport service and in preparing for his own pla of campaign. He adroitly created the impression that a direct advance would be mad from the Orange River upon Bloemfontein after General Gatacre had captured Storm berg and General French had occupied Colesberg. General French's army was rein forced, and in consequence of his brilliant manoeuvres around Colesberg the Boer diverted several commandoes from Magersfontein to the Orange River. In order t conceal his real purposes Lord Roberts also directed General Buller to make a thir demonstration for the relief of Ladysmith. This was hardly more than a fein General Coke conducting a reconnoissance against the eastern spurs of Spion Kop an General Lyttelton crossing the Tugela and attacking Vaal Krantz. The army retire to camp (February 8) with 370 casualties, after preventing a movement of the Boe forces eastward to Lord Roberts's real theatre of operations, which was Modder Rive where Lord Methuen's army had remained idle since Magersfontein. Even there false impression had been produced by an apparently aimless advance of the Highlan Brigade to Koodoosberg (February 5).

Lord Roberts arrived at Modder River (February 9) after having secretly with drawn General French with a large cavalry force from Colesberg, and having masse the Sixth and Seventh divisions for a wide turning movement for encircling Genera Cronje's army at Magersfontein and relieving Kimberley A Series of British The advance began February 11, Lord Roberts having a Victories. army of 35,000 men with 150 guns, about 7,000 troops bein mounted. There was a skirmish at the Riet River an another at Jacobsdal; the two divisions wheeled around Magersfontein as a pivot, an General French's cavalry rode into Kimberley, where the garrison had been reduced t great straits from lack of food. A portion of the Boer force retreated northward an the remainder, under General Cronje, evacuated Magersfontein and marched rapidl along the Modder River eastward, with Lord Kitchener and the Sixth Division in ho pursuit. Undeterred by the loss of an immense convoy which was captured at th Riet, Lord Roberts dispatched General French's cavalry and three infantry division to Koodoosrand and enveloped General Cronje's force, which was entrenched at th bottom of the river. The first attempt to carry the position (February 18), for whic Lord Kitchener was responsible, failed, the British casualties being very heavy. Th Boer camp was gradually approached and steadily bombarded; General De We and General Botha were beaten back when they attempted to relieve General Cronje and after the Canadian infantry had gallantly pushed forward their trenches th entire force of 4,100 burghers, with six guns, was compelled to surrender on the anni versary of Majuba (February 27). The British casualties during the fortnight were 1,534 The relief of Ladysmith occurred almost simultaneously with Lord Roberts's vic tories. General Buller began by clearing the south bank opposite Colenso, capturin in turn Cingolo, Monte Cristo and Hlangwane, and finally crossing the Tugela (Febru ary 21). Fighting continued for several days on the slope Ladysmith Relieved. of Grobler's Kloof and south of Pieters, and when fronta attacks had failed there was a turning movement eastward the river being twice crossed, and the Boer positions were carried. Ladysmith, i terrible extremity, was relieved after a siege of 118 days, when the garrison had los 247 men in battle and 600 from disease and 636 men had been wounded. Genera Buller's casualties in the final movement were 1,895. The Boers retired with thei guns to the Biggarsberg, and active operations in Upper Natal were suspended unti May. Meanwhile, Lord Roberts, hampered by loss of horses and failure of transport