he
British Minister became thereafter very red--_il est devenu
soudainement tres rouge_, for what reason is unknown. S----, who did
the minutes afterwards, said that the French Minister volunteered to
go with the others if they would proceed in a body, and became very
pale at the idea, that he confessed himself. Here we have, then, a
red Minister and a white Minister, and if we add those who were most
certainly blue and green, the national flags of the entire assembly
could be fitly made up. The French Minister, although simply a
_citoyen_ sent by the Republic to intrigue in times of peace, and aid
his Russian colleague to the best of his ability, is a man withal,
although quite unfitted _de carriere_ for wars and sieges. In the
French Legation he has been receiving such tearful instructions from
his wife during the past three weeks that it is a wonder he has any
backbone at all....

The meeting became stormier and stormier as it went on, S---- says,
until old C---- argued that the only way to decide was to put
everything to the vote. Every vote put was promptly lost, and after an
hour's haggling they had got no farther than at the beginning!

The dramatic moment came when Baron Von K---- got up and stated shortly
that as he had a previous appointment with the Tsung-li Yamen at
eleven o'clock, in spite of the ultimatum and a possible state of
war--in fact, in spite of everything--it was his intention to keep his
appointment, cost what it might. The others urged him not to go, for
they must have been feeling rather ashamed of themselves and their
overvalued lives. But K---- insisted he would go; he had said so once,
and did not intend to allow the Chinese Government to say he broke an
appointment through fear.

S----, who told me the whole story a few hours afterwards, said that
he added that as soon as his own personal business was finished, he
would attend to the general question of the Legations' departure from
Peking, if the diplomatic corps would give him authority. As time was
pressing they gave it to him promptly enough. I remember everything
that happened afterwards with a very extraordinary accuracy of detail,
because I had just walked past the Spanish Legation when the
Ministerial meeting broke up, and I had determined to follow any move
in person so as to know what our fate was to be.

The German Minister turned into his Legation, and after a time he
reappeared in his green and red official chair, with C-