WRITTEN many thousand miles from the ever-troubled land of China, with no opportunity for reference, this book doubtless contains many errors, for which the reader’s indulgence is asked. The criticisms of the various armies are not the result of my own unaided impressions, but a rÉsumÉ of the opinions of the many officers of the different contingents with whom I conversed on the subject.

My thanks are due to Sir Richard Harrison, k.c.b., Inspector-General of Fortifications, who served with the Allied Army which captured Pekin in 1860, for his courtesy in permitting me to use some of the excellent photographs taken by the Photo Section, Royal Engineers.

THE AUTHOR

London, 1903