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 rank by his colleagues, instead of examining the entire area of the defence carefully with his own eyes and seeing exactly whether this is so or not, never ventures beyond the limits of the British Legation.  At least, no one has ever seen him.  Even the so-called chief of the staff, who is the commander of the British marines, does not regularly visit the French lines.  Practically, it may be said that while there is death and murder outside there is only armed neutrality within.  It is an extraordinary position.