On 9 June, the Boxers launched their first attack against foreign property in Peking by burning down the racecourse. Sir Claude MacDonald, the British ambassador in Peking, responded promptly, and wired for a relief force to be sent from the port of Taku. This publication offers diplomatic papers relating to the events during that turbulent period. In the centre of the story is the diary kept by Sir Claude MacDonald. The text contains despatches that describe how the largest international force fought its way out from Taku to Peking in order to rescue the hundreds of diplomats and their families who were stranded the Legation buildings.