Thither  he  was  followed  by  Ministers  who,  feeling
themselves  physically  safe  up  there,  breathed  fire
against  the  foreigners  and  urged  the  Emperor  to  re-
fuse any  terms  with  them,  facing  the  consequences
at  any  cost.  At  a  council  held  there  the  death  of
Loch  and  Parkes  was  decreed,  and  their  death-war-
rant was  signed.  Happily  intimation  was  sent  to
Prince  Kung  at  Peking,  just  one  quarter  of  an  hour
before  the  arrival  of  the  Imperial  Messenger  with  the
warrant.  He  instantly  released  the  distinguished
prisoners,  and  it  was  only  by  this  narrow  margin  of
time  that  their  fate  was  averted.  Meanwhile  the
British  had  virtually  got  command  of  Peking,  and
Prince  Kung  accepted  on  behalf  of  his  brother  a
Convention  of  Peace,  which  generally  confirmed  the
Treaty  of  Tientsin  already  mentioned,  and  which
regulates  the  relations  between  Britain  and  China
to  this  day.  The  two  documents  were  to  be  read  to-
gether, and  all  this  being  ratified,  the  wretched
j  Emperor  was  compelled  to  issue  an  edict  notifying
'the  Treaty  throughout  the  Empire,  so  that  all  the
Chinese  should  know  what  had  actually  been  done.
The  British  were  so  indignant  at  the  astounding
25


386    PROGRESS  OF  INDIA,  JAPAN  AND  CHINA.
treachery  with  which  their  countrymen  had  been
made  prisoners,  and  the  brutality  with  which  all  had
been  treated  and  under  which  some  of  them  had
succumbed,  that  Lord  Elgin  felt  himself  obliged  to
leave  a  signal  mark,  not  on  the  city  of  Peking  where
the  people  had  not  offended,  but  on  the  residence  of
the  guilty  Emperor.  So  the  famous  Summer  Palace
was  formally  and  deliberately  destroyed.  Then  the
Allies,  Ministers,  troops  and  ships  left  northern
China  as  the  autumn  was  advancing.
