China would or would not pay, but what
she would pay with. Tariff Revision was suggested as one method, the
taxation of native opium as another. Speaking of the latter, the I.G.
one day remarked to Prince Ching, "I lost all my memoranda about it
when the Inspectorate was burned down." "But you have your wonderful
memory," the Prince replied, "and you must carry it through. I count
upon you, remember."

On Christmas Eve (1900) a great meeting was held at the Spanish
Legation--the Spanish Minister was doyen of the Diplomatic Corps at
the time. All the Ministers then assembled to meet Prince Ching and
Li and to hand over the final demands they had formulated. They were
signed in French that same day, and the next telegraphed in Chinese
word for word to the Court at Si-an.

Strange to say the I.G. was not present at the meeting, and therefore
reaped none of the kudos for his hard work. It was not for lack of
invitation, however. The Chinese certainly urged him to come. Li Hung
Chang, for instance, spoke continually of what he had done, and not an
official but was sincerely grateful and would gladly have pushed him
forward. A vainer man, a lighter character, must have yielded to the
temptation to satisfy his vanity, but he had the strength to refuse,
saying, "Being a foreigner, my presence would only complicate
matters."

The Court, however, did not allow his efforts to go unrewarded.
They telegraphed another high if queer-sounding honour from Si-an.
Thenceforth he was to be addressed as _Kung-pao_, or Guardian of the
Heir-Apparent,--who, by the way, does not exist; not that in
China this trifling fact makes his guardians any less important
or honourable. The Empress-Dowager herself was well aware that the
importance of these Peace Negotiations could not be overestimated. She
knew that his promptness in urging the return of Prince Ching probably
saved the dynasty--that had Count Waldersee arrived before any Chinese
officials had taken action, it is impossible to say what might not
have happened; and to further show her Imperial approbation she
summoned him to a private audience on her return to Peking and said
so.

[Illustration: PEKING PEACE PROTOCOL, 1901.

Left to right (seated) Secretary of Japanese Legation Baron
d'Anthouard, Secretary of French Legation Baron (now Count) Komura,
Japanese Minister M. Knotel, Minister for the Netherlands Marquis
Salvago-Raggi, Minister for Italy M de Giers, Minister for Russia M.