Early in June he sent a telegram to Sir Edward Seymour, Commander of the China Station, informing him the situation was perilous, and warning him that unless the Legations were soon relieved a general massacre would take place.
This was the signal for a general rising, and all the Legations in Pekin were besieged, the Imperial troops joining in the attack.
The attachés of the Russian Embassy, while the members of all the other Legations are either sleeping or feasting, are meekly kneeling before the throne of the Greek Patriarch, and humbly kissing the hand which extended to them!
Those who were on the march to the relief of the Peking Legations recall how the Germans were as ill at ease in that kind of work as the Americans and British were at home.
Bologna and Ferrara, legations appertaining to the Papal See, had been already occupied by French troops, and placed under the management of a committee of their citizens.
The French, German, and Belgian Legationslay to the right and rear of the Japanese; while the Russian and American stood between the British Legation and the wall.
The line runs through level, fertile country, where the crops stand higher than a mounted man; thus the actions on the way to the relief of the Legations were fought blindfold.
An entry effected, the Indian troops wandered through the maze of streets until met by a messenger sent out from the Legations to guide them.
All around the Legations lay acres of wrecked Chinese houses, torn by shells and blackened by fire—a grim memento of the outrage that had roused the civilised world to arms.
On the wreckage around notices were posted, showing the increased areas claimed for the various foreign Legations in the general scramble that ensued on the fall of Pekin.
After we had talked a very long time, Prince Tuan said that this must be done without delay, for the Boxers were getting ready to fire on the Legations and would do so the very next day.
I replied that she certainly did not belong to any of the Legations as I was acquainted with everybody there.
In all the Legations I found it was much the same thing--the men of the various detachments were brushing each other down and exchanging congratulations that they had been picked for Peking service.
Still in some Legations they ordered fifty carts at any price, with the most lavish promises of reward for those that could manage to secure them.
To provide conveyances for these fifteen miles of road, people would have to sally forth and help themselves; near the Legations there was absolutely nothing left.
As for the detachment officers, some of them are very good fellows and some of them are not; but already they have each of them instinctively adopted the old attitude of the Legations towards one another.
But some sharp-eyed men of the Legations have learned two things--that the Manchu Banners and Tung Fu-hsiang's Kansu soldiery now divide the honour of the attack.
It had been two whole days before troops were even sent there to see that all was well, and even these only went because a priest had been killed half way between the Legations and the Cathedral.
Squabbling and cantankerous, rather absurd and petty, the Legations are spinning their little threads, each one hedged in by high walls in its own compound and by the debatable question of the situation politique.
Protected on the east and south entirely by the other Legations and linked defences, it can run no risk from these quarters until the defenders of these lines are beaten back by superior weight of numbers.
Even in this matter of Chinese refugees the attitude of our foolish Legations is rather inexplicable.
Still one more edict was necessary to complete this remarkable list, and this was sent to thelegations on the 17th of November.
We have, however, the edicts issued to the foreign legations at Peking and with these at the present we must be content.
I give these incidents to show the temper that prevailed among the members of some of the legations at Peking at the time of this first audience.
It is to his credit moreover that the legations were preserved from the Boxers in the siege of 1900.
Schools were ordered in connection with all the Chinese legations in foreign countries for the benefit of the children of Chinese in those places.
Most of the legations are fairly well protected by their lofty park-walls, but how to keep an ordinary Peking house or hotel free of dust is as insoluble a problem as that which baffled Alice's Walrus and Carpenter.
They have had detailed accounts of how ruffianly hordes of cut-throats tried to exterminate the Europeans in the legations at Peking, and every now and then they hear of the brutal murder of a missionary and his family.
During the exciting days of August, 1914, I was calling at the belligerent embassies and legations in Washington.
There was no longer a hostile strip of land, stretching from sea to sea, which separated the kingdoms of Naples and Italy, for the three legations were occupied in December, 1807.
There were three large cisterns which furnished a water so pure that they sent all the way from the legations to get it.
A couple of the smaller Legations still clung to their ancient sites and the quarter boasted, besides, a score of ambitious European residences and a modern hotel.
It had been customary for the Legations only to drill their soldiers in daytime, and to inform the Government before they were taken out to public places.
The heads of the Consulates and Legations called and paid their respects to the King, the Japanese Minister being the last to do so.
Such was the report which the English legations made of what they had seen and suffered in Russia; and their evidence was confirmed by the appearance which the Russian legations made in England.
The drama of the Legations interested the public much as though it were a novel of Alexandre Dumas, but the bearing of the drama on future history offered an interest vastly greater.
John Hay passed through London in order to bury himself in second-rate Legations for years, before he drifted home again to join Whitelaw Reid and George Smalley on the Tribune.
No doubt, the Legation itself was still as weakly manned and had as poor an outfit as the Legations of Guatemala or Portugal.
Now I find that the Legations are so surrounded, and attacked so fiercely, that it is impossible for them to save my comrades.
The Legations cover a big extent of ground, and what with the Boxers, the lower classes of the city, and the Chinese army, there will be a tremendous pressure upon them.
Later in the siege, however, they rendered invaluable service, and it was to their zealous labour that the safety of the Legations was finally due.
The British and French Legations and the Fu were all subject to this attack.
You see, Father, if I take part in the defence of the Pekin Legations it will be something to talk about all my life.
It was the first positive information that was received in Tientsin that the Legations still held out.
Many rumours to this effect had indeed been received, and Rex found his assertions that the Legations were well able to hold out received with absolute incredulity.
We know that the Legationsare attacked, not seriously perhaps at present, but they may be so any day.
The next day letters were received from Ching urging that the Europeans should all leave the Legations and go to the yamen.
As they neared the Legations they could hear occasional firing.
Sentries were thrown out well along these, and within that range a few of the European shops kept their doors open, and officers and servants of the Legations went out and bought provisions.
The chiefs of two or three other Legations were present, and all expressed great surprise that a mere lad should have carried out so desperate an undertaking.
The legations were postponed from the 1st of February to the 13th.
He resigned the legationsof Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna, and the port of Ancona; agreed to pay about a million and a half sterling, and to execute to the utmost the provisions of Bologna with respect to works of art.
Buonaparte occupied immediately his legations of Bologna and Ferrara, making prisoners in the latter of these towns four hundred of the papal troops, and a cardinal, under whose orders they were.
I know, for I was one of the few who helped my masters, the English, when the legations at Pekin were besieged during the revolt of the Boxers.
Even Chu-Li admitted that the defence of the legations at Pekin was hardly equal to that last attack.
I had to admit that with us the surveillance service abroad was, in times of peace, not directly in the hands of the General Staff, as our legations had no Military Attachés.
The Italian colony and thelegations of Italy, France, and Servia are embarked on the ships Sardegna and Misurata.
He was the one person with whom the Foreign Powers would be most likely to treat, as it was to his influence, rumour said, that the Legations owed the merciful truce during the Siege.
The Legations were luckily provided with guards, whose officers, acting in concert, agreed to hold a square that included the whole quarter and the Customs property as well.
But if you harm theLegations you will violate the most sacred international obligations and create an impossible situation.
One stating that the Legations had reached Tientsin in safety was a most unfortunate falsehood and prejudiced the world against him, more's the pity, as he had hitherto been considered able and powerful abroad.
Just before starting he said to the Chinese, "You will soon be establishing Legations abroad.
In those days the Legations watched his movements very closely; he wished them to hear that his little expedition was purely a pleasurable one.
Not until those predatory bands had entered the metropolitan province, with the avowed object of pushing their way to Peking[*] did the legations take steps to strengthen their guards.
The City Wall near the legations is held by our men, but the Chinese are forcing them back and driving in our outposts.
Passing from the Chinese city through the Great Central Gate we enter Legation Street, so called because most of the legations are situated on or near it.
Patachu, in the adjacent hills, used to be a favourite [Page 35] summer resort for the legations and other foreigners before the seaside became accessible by rail.
They promised to do what they could for the protection of the foreign representatives; but their measures necessarily consisted in making the legations a kind of prison where the occupants were confined and protected.
He will realize also how almost impossible it was for the diplomatic representatives of the western powers to comprehend the difficulties of the situation or know how to conduct the affairs of their legations with justice and consideration.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "legations" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
