Part 28

“Last year, in the 11th Moon, 13th day, your Majesties granted me audience, and I reported the above facts, adding that the alleged anti-Christian propaganda of these Boxers was merely a pretext, and that their treasonable aims justified their immediate extermination. Subsequently Yüan Shih-k’ai, then newly appointed Governor, did his duty in suppressing the movement, so that several Boxer societies were broken up or destroyed. Once more peace reigned, so that the gentry and _literati_ of the province, who for a time had believed in the Boxers and had accused the Governor of ruthless methods, were forced to admit that he had acted rightly and that they had been misled. Who could have supposed that the suppression of the movement in Shantung would be followed by its spreading and increasing in Chihli? The Viceroy (Yü Lu) must undoubtedly be blamed for this; he has allowed the canker to grow without check, playing the part of an indifferent spectator. Latterly, after these Boxers had murdered the Magistrate of Lai Shui, the Viceroy appeared to realise, for the first time, that their professed campaign against the Christians was merely a cloak for rebellion. He telegraphed, therefore, recommending their suppression. But there were differences of opinion at Court, and nothing was decided. Other districts became speedily affected with the evil, and for no other reason than that the rebels of Lai Shui had escaped without punishment. They grew bolder and bolder, until finally they tore up the railway lines and destroyed the telegraphs throughout the province, although both are Government property, upon which vast sums of the public money have been spent. Deplorable, indeed, that one morning’s work of rebels should witness the loss of millions of taels! They have also destroyed many Christian churches, for which the State will have to pay heavily hereafter.

“I humbly submit that this fierce outbreak of the Boxers against Christians is a matter of deadly peril to the Empire. By our laws, Magistrates are expected to administer justice without fear or favour; there is no distinction to be made between Christians and non-Christians, and it should certainly not be permitted that evil-doers should pursue their ends on any plea of religious zeal. And now, within the last few days, these rebels have even dared to invade our Capital, and their armed mob profanes the very chariot wheels of the Throne. Arson and murder are their work; they have burned the churches and attacked the Legations. Your Majesties’ Palace is shaking to its foundations, as by an earthquake. For such deeds there is no penalty but death; clemency in such a case were folly.

“On the 20th day of this Moon they set fire to more than a thousand shops outside the Main Gate, so that the wealthiest quarter of the city is now a hideous desert. Nine out of every ten inhabitants are fleeing from the city, and hardly a shop remains open. There is no money forthcoming from the provinces wherewith to pay our troops. Words cannot describe the utter desolation prevailing on all sides. In allowing these rioters to stalk through the land, breathing slaughter and plunder, we were making ourselves a byeword and an object of derision throughout the civilised world. The ministers of the foreign Powers, alarmed by the Boxers’ wild threats, have been compelled, by the necessities of their situation, to bring up Legation guards, but these only amount to four hundred and ten men altogether, and the object of their coming is clearly not offensive, but defensive only.

“On the 16th day (June 12th) Ch’i Hsiu and other members of the Grand Council were instructed by your Majesty (the Empress Dowager) to have compliments and expressions of sympathy sent to the foreign Ministers and their wives. This act of benevolent courtesy was gratefully recognised. They were fully alive to the bountiful measure of protection thus extended to them in your Majesty’s clemency; it penetrated to their very marrow. The Ministers then informed your Majesty that their Legation guards have been brought up solely as a precaution, and they have no thought of interfering in the domestic affairs of our country. They give the most solemn assurances, invoking the sun as witness and pointing to heaven, that, so soon as these disturbances are at an end, their troops will immediately be withdrawn. There is no reason to suspect them of any treachery or evil purpose. It should be our immediate aim to rid the Tartar city of the presence of these rebels, in order not only to reassure the minds of our own people, but to relieve the anxiety of the foreigners. If we do this, there will be no further talk of the foreign Powers sending more troops; if we crush the rebellion ourselves, there would be no need of foreign co-operation to that end. Surely the wisdom of this course is self-evident.” (_Here follow certain suggestions for Police and military measures._)

“If it be objected that the destruction of so vast a number of Boxers is impracticable, I venture to reply that the present situation has been entirely brought about by a few ringleaders, and that the majority of the Boxers are simply ignorant peasantry. If, on the other hand, it be maintained that these rebels are in possession of magical secrets which confer upon them supernatural powers, I would venture to remind your Majesties of Chang Chio’s ‘Yellow Turban’ sect, which flourished towards the end of the Han Dynasty, and of the historic case of P’an Kuang, the ‘head-breaker’ of the Yuan Dynasty; both of these men, though possessing supernatural powers, nevertheless lost their heads. One of the principal reasons for the alleged invulnerability of these Boxer bandits is that in the day time they lie low; it is at night that they display activity, and call upon their deities to succour them. All the magical arts which they profess—their incantations, charms, invocations of spirits, table-turning, and the ‘five demon’ trick—are merely cheap devices of useless sorcery. Let them encounter any lethal weapon, let them be struck by cannon or rifle bullet, and they fall dead upon the spot. Can it be seriously maintained that they are really safe from bullets when it is notorious that a large number of them were shot by the foreign troops on the 17th day of this Moon (June 13th), when they began their attack upon the Legations? Only yesterday over forty Boxers were shot dead in Shuai Fu lane,[99] and their altar was destroyed.

“The population of Peking numbers close upon a million, and, with the exception of these wretched mobs or Boxers, they are all loyal to the Throne and law-abiding. The capture and execution of these Boxers would vindicate the majesty of the law, and tranquillise the minds of the people; the courage of the rebels would wane as that of the respectable community increased. Once rid Peking of the Boxers, and the Legations will gratefully recognise the efficacy of your Majesty’s divine protection, and their feelings towards you will be as towards a second Creator. The reinforcements of the foreign guards could then reasonably be stopped, or withdrawn, at an early date, there being clearly no further necessity for their presence.

“In conclusion it is written in the Book of Ceremonies of the Chou Dynasty ‘that the existence of anarchy in a State necessitates the adoption of the death penalty’; also in the Canon of History it is written ‘that there is a time when the infliction of capital punishment becomes a sacred duty.’ It would therefore appear to be clearly proved that these Boxers should properly be exterminated, and that any further continuance of procrastination or of evasive measures, such as their enrolment in the army, will be utterly unavailing. The foreign Powers are strong, and their indignation has reached extreme limits. Should they now unite in measures of retaliation, indescribable disasters await us. Instead of allowing the foreigners to suppress the Boxers, which would mean much fighting and bloodshed in and around Peking, the slaughter of many innocent persons (‘jade and common stone perishing together in one catastrophe’), let us rather suppress the movement ourselves, and thus close the mouths of our detractors and those who criticise our Empire. Thus only will the ancestral shrines escape desecration, and the people enjoy untold benefits.

“The Grand Secretary, Jung Lu, is patriotic and loyal. If your Majesties will but grant him full powers, success will speedily be attained. Diplomatic difficulties can easily be overcome by careful attention to the exigencies of the moment. Urging upon your Majesties the essential fact that in undivided control of authority lies our only safeguard against dire catastrophe, I now beg humbly to submit this my Memorial, laying bare my innermost feelings, and ask that your Majesties’ divine wisdom may consider and decide the matter.”

_The Second Memorial of Yüan Ch’ang and Hsü Ching-ch’eng, July 8th._

“Ever since, on the 24th day of last Moon, the German Minister von Ketteler was killed by the Boxers, the latter have been besieging the Legations, and the Kansuh troops under Tung Fu-hsiang have been their willing accomplices in perpetrating every kind of evil. Countless is the number of our people, residing near the Legations, who have suffered death at their hands. Practically every house in the eastern quarter of the city, whether public or private property, has been mercilessly plundered.

“The Boxers originally proclaimed that their mission was to pay off old scores against the Christians; they then proceeded to include the Legations in their attacks. From the Legations they have extended their sphere of activity, directing their operations against our officials and the common people. That a mutinous soldiery and mobs of rebels should be permitted to run riot over our Capital, and work their evil will upon the people, is indeed a circumstance unparalleled in our history.

“When the siege began it was their boast that, within twenty-four hours, not a single Legation would remain standing, nay more, Tung Fu-hsiang has repeatedly boasted that they are already nothing more than a heap of ashes. As a matter of fact, however, nearly a month has passed, and whereas scarcely a foreign soldier has been killed, the entire Legation quarter lies strewn with the corpses of these Boxers. Where now the proud boast, with which they deluded simple folk, that their magic arts rendered them immune from bullet wounds? If, after a month’s effort, fifty thousand bandits are unable to capture a few Legations garrisoned by less than four hundred foreigners, we can form a fairly accurate estimate of their value and prowess. Who would ever dream of using the services of such heroes to check foreign aggression?

“It may perhaps be suggested that genuine Boxers would show very different results in their country’s service, and that those who have been guilty of murder and arson are not really Boxers at all, but outsiders and charlatans, having no legitimate connection with the cult. But we submit that if the society has been so disorganised as to be divided into real and counterfeit members, and if the latter are permitted with the tacit consent of the former, to commit every kind of atrocity, it seems clear that the genuine Boxer himself is a thoroughly disreputable person.

“Moreover, the Throne has expressly forbidden them to take up arms and to continue their devastation with fire and sword; they have been ordered to disband and leave Peking. Nevertheless, they ignore these orders and continue in their wicked ways. Whether genuine or counterfeit, these Boxers vie with one another in flouting the law of the land. Their incorrigible wickedness renders them one and all deserving of death; the leniency shown them has but increased their arrogance, and the number of these evil-doers has grown by reason of the tolerance extended to them.

“In a previous Memorial we urged that the Grand Secretary Jung Lu should be given full powers, with instructions to adopt such severe measures as might be necessary for the suppression of this movement, but your Majesties declined to follow our advice. To-day the danger has grown infinitely greater, and we feel it therefore our bounden duty to lay before your Sacred intelligence our crude and humble views even though, in doing so, we incur the risk of death for our temerity. We bear in mind the words of the Spring and Autumn classic, ‘in time of war the persons of Envoys are inviolate.’ By the international law of European countries, foreign Ambassadors are regarded as semi-sacred personages: whosoever treats them wrongfully commits a wrong against the State which they represent. If these Boxer bandits be permitted to destroy the Legations and to slay the foreign Ministers, the Powers will undoubtedly consider this a monstrous outrage, and will unitedly make any sacrifice in order to avenge it. The foreign troops at present in Peking are but few in number, but there are great armies to take their place. That China should attempt to fight the entire world means, in our humble opinion, not the defeat only, but the complete annihilation of the Empire. For the past sixty years China has made treaties with Foreign Powers, and has permitted European missionaries to come amongst us for the propagation of their religion. It is true that their converts take advantage of their position to act unjustly to their fellow-countrymen and to insult them. It is true that they frequently rely upon missionary protection to secure their evil ends, but it is also true that our local officials often treat these matters with apathy and injustice. The non-Christians are therefore filled with resentment and indignation against the Christians, a result very largely due to lack of ability and energy on the part of the Government officials. This is the case at present; we are but reaping the harvest of past faults. Your Memorialists do not venture to suggest that the cause of this ill-feeling against the Christians lies chiefly with the common people, but it cannot be denied that China loses dignity in the eyes of the world while our Government remains indifferent to these continual feuds between Christians and non-Christians. It is inadmissible that the local officials should excuse themselves for inaction on the plea that they cannot maintain order. For example, if two neighbours in a village are on bad terms, and a clan fight takes place between their respective families and followers, and if, as the result, property is destroyed and lives lost in the fray, reparation will be claimed by the aggrieved party, not from the actual fighters, but from the heads of the other clan, with whom rests the responsibility for law and order. In matters of State the same principle holds good.

“The religions of Europe may be divided into Catholic and Protestant; the priests of the former sect are known as “spiritual fathers” while the latter are called “pastors.” These Boxer brigands class all foreign religions alike, making no difference between sect and sect; but the Russians are of the Greek church, while the Japanese are Buddhists. Neither of these nations has hitherto sent missions to the interior of China, a fact which these Boxers completely ignore. To them, the mere sight of a foreign costume, or the hearing of words in a foreign tongue, immediately evokes their war cry of “hairy devils,” who must be exterminated. It is clear that all right principles of conduct render such an attitude unjust, while our weakness as a nation renders it inexpedient; and we would ask your Majesties to remember that China has also sent its Envoys on foreign missions. If the Powers, enraged by the massacre of their Envoys, should retaliate by killing ours, will it not be said that China has dealt the fatal blow to her own Ministers by the hand of another? Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, has just sent presents to the foreign Legations—fruit, vegetable, flour and rice—in order to ‘display your beneficence to the strangers from afar.’[100] Nevertheless these Boxer brigands, trusting in their arrogant Commander (Tung Fu-hsiang) as a tower of strength, continue their attacks upon the Legations. If the foreigners come to suspect the Throne of hypocritical displays of friendliness while secretly encouraging this bombardment, who will hereafter believe any statement that may be put forward as to your innocence and disapproval of all this carnival of slaughter, however earnestly you may proclaim it to a doubting world?

“If, on the other hand, the Legations successfully maintain their resistance until peace is eventually restored, then the foreign Envoys, who have received your Majesty’s bounty, will naturally feel bound, in common gratitude, to advise their Governments that the Boxers alone were responsible for the siege, which no foresight could have prevented, and that your Majesties are to be acquitted of all blame for the growth of this movement. By a wise course of action at this juncture, the suspicions of foreign Powers may be lulled, and a very great advantage gained at very little trouble to ourselves. It will thus be easy to restore harmonious relations. But if the Legations are utterly destroyed and every foreign Minister put to the sword, by what means can the outside world ever learn of your Majesty’s present thoughtful generosity? It will be quite vain to hope that, without supporting evidence, the Throne will ever be able to persuade the foreign Powers of its innocence. They are now pouring in troops on the plea of suppressing the rebellion on behalf of China. There are many who believe that this is merely an excuse for obtaining a permanent foothold on Chinese territory; only the most credulous persons believe in the sincerity of the professed motives of foreigners. We, your Memorialists, have not wisdom sufficient to fathom their real object, but we maintain that these lawless Boxer mobs should long since have been wiped out of existence. Why should it be necessary to wait until foreign Powers demand their extermination, and, above all, why wait until those Powers take in hand themselves a matter with which we should have dealt?

“Thoroughly convinced that China’s only hope of preserving her integrity lies in the preservation of the Legations, we now ask that a strong Decree be issued, censuring Tung Fu-hsiang and commanding the withdrawal of his troops from Peking; he should under no circumstances be permitted to approach the Legation quarter any more. It should be clearly laid down that any of these Boxers or of their followers who may continue the attack on the Legations will at once be executed. By withdrawing the support of the Government troops from the Boxers, the destruction of the latter will be greatly facilitated. At the same time we earnestly request that Jung Lu be authorised to expel every Boxer from Peking within a given limit of time, so as to save the State from a danger which is ‘scorching its very eyebrows,’ and to prevent any recurrence of these troubles.

“We are aware that the clear light of Heaven is temporarily obscured by this very plague of locusts, and that our plain speaking may very well be our own undoing. But since, in all humility, we realise that China is like a sick man whose every breath may be his last, our fear in speaking weighs less heavily with us than our sense of duty. Therefore, knowing that we face death in so doing, we submit this our Memorial, and humbly beg that your Majesties may honour us by perusing it.”

_Extract from the third and last of the three Memorials by Yüan Ch’ang and Hsü Ching-Ch’eng, 23rd July, 1900._

“We, your Memorialists, now humbly desire to point out that it is more than a month since our sacred Capital was given over to anarchy, a state of affairs which has reacted throughout the entire Empire. We now stand confronted by the prospect of a war with the whole civilised world, the conclusion of which can only be an unparalleled catastrophe.

“In the reign of Hsien-Feng the Taiping and Mahomedan rebels devastated more than ten provinces, and the uprising was not quelled until ten years had passed. In the reign of Chia-Ch’ing the rebellion of the ‘White Lily’ sect laid waste three or four provinces. It is recorded in the history of these wars that, only after the most heroic efforts, and with the greatest difficulty, the Imperial armies succeeded in restoring order. But these rebellions, in comparison with the present Boxer rising, were mere trifling ailments: the State to-day stands threatened with mortal sickness. For on the former occasions everyone, from the Throne downwards to the lowest of the people, was fully aware that the Taipings were rebels; but to-day some of the highest in the land look upon the Boxers as patriots, so that even those who know them to be rebels are afraid to confess the truth. Our folly is bringing down upon us the ridicule and hatred of every foreign country. When this movement began, these men were ignorant peasants, unversed in military matters; they drew after them large numbers of criminals by proclaiming as their watchword ‘Prop up the Dynasty and slay the foreigner.’ But what is the rational interpretation of this watchword? If we are to take it as meaning that every native of China who treads the soil of our country and lives on its fruits should be imbued with feelings of deep gratitude for the benevolent and virtuous rule which the present Dynasty has maintained for over two centuries, and would gladly repay the bounty of the Throne by fighting for its protection, we heartily endorse the sentiment. But if it means that, at a great crisis in our national history, it is the mob alone that has power sufficient to ‘prop up’ our tottering fortunes and restore tranquillity, should we not remember that he who can ‘prop up’ can also throw down, and that the power which ‘props up’ the Dynasty may overthrow it to-morrow? What is this then but treasonable language, and who so greatly daring as to utter sentiments of this kind?

“We, your Memorialists, unworthy as we are, fully realise that the foreigners, who make their nests in the body of our State, constitute a real danger. But the way to deal with the situation is to reform the administration in the first place, and in the meanwhile to deal most cautiously with all questions of foreign policy. We must bide our time and select a weak opponent; by this means our strength might in due course be displayed, and old scores paid off.