Part 29

“If foreign nations had gratuitously invaded our country, we should be the first to welcome as loyal patriots everyone who should take up arms and rush into the fray, however feeble his efforts. But to-day, when the Throne’s relations with foreign States were perfectly friendly, this sudden outcry of ‘Slay the foreigner’ is nothing but a wanton provocation of hostilities on all our frontiers. Foolishness of this kind is calculated to destroy our Empire like a child’s toy. Besides, when they talk of slaying the foreigner, do they mean only the foreigners in China, or the inhabitants of every State within the five Continents? The slaughter of Europeans in China would by no means prevent others taking their places. But if the meaning of this watchword is that they propose to make a clean sweep of every non-Chinese inhabitant on the face of the earth, any fool can see the utter impossibility of their programme. It seems almost incredible that Yü Hsien, Yü Lu and other Viceroys should not be capable of realising such simple facts as these. Yü Lu in particular has gathered around him the Boxer chiefs, and treats them as honoured guests. Thousands of the most notorious villains throng into his official residence, and are freely admitted on presenting a card bearing the title of ‘Boxer.’ These men sit by the side of the Viceroy on his judgment-seat, bringing the authority of the Throne into contempt, and insulting the intelligence of all educated men. Abominable scoundrels like the Boxer chiefs, Chang Te-ch’ang and Han Yi-li, men formerly infamous throughout their province, and now known in Peking itself as a scourge, have actually been recommended for official posts in a public Memorial to the Throne! Never has there been a case of a Viceroy so flagrantly hoodwinking his Sovereign.

“In regard to Yü Lu’s Memorials reporting his military success at Tientsin, we have caused careful inquiry to be made from many refugees, and they one and all deny the truth of these reports. On the contrary they unanimously assert that many thousands of our troops have been slain by the foreigners, and they even go so far as to say that the capture of the Taku Forts is entirely attributable to the fact that Yü Lu first permitted the Boxers to attack the foreign Settlements. Their indignation against Yü Lu may possibly lead them into some slight exaggeration in these statements, but, in our opinion, the Viceroy’s bombastic reports are of a piece with Tung Fu-hsiang’s braggart lies, when he tells your Majesties that he has destroyed the Legations and annihilated their defenders. Tung Fu-hsiang is nothing but a Kansuh robber, who, after surrendering to the Imperial forces and obtaining some credit in their ranks, attained his present position by the exceptional favours of the Throne. He should have requited your Majesty’s bounty better than by associating himself with treasonable rogues and behaving like a common footpad. His present actions may very well foreshadow some dastardly design hidden in his wolf-heart.

“Yü Lu is one of the highest officials in the Empire, and very different from military men of the Tung Fu-hsiang type. It is hard to explain his blear-eyed stupidity. No doubt he has been led astray by the deceitful representations of your Majesty’s Ministers, who have even led the Throne to depart from the path of wisdom formerly followed. It is these Ministers who are entirely to blame.

“The Grand Secretary, Hsü T’ung, was born stupid; he knows nothing of the needs and dangers of our times. Grand Councillor Kang Yi, an obstinate bigot, herds with traitors and fawns on rebels; Ch’i Hsiu is arrogant and obstinate; while Chao Shu-ch’iao, the President of the Board of Punishments, is crafty-hearted and a master of sycophancy.

“After the first entry of the Boxers into Peking, your Majesties held a special audience, at which all the Princes and Ministers were present, and our advice was asked in regard to the adoption of a policy of encouragement or repression. Your Memorialists replied that the Boxers were anything but patriots and were of no use against foreigners; at the same time we earnestly begged that war should not be lightly declared against the whole world. It was on this occasion that Hsü Tung, Kang Yi, and the rest of them actually dared to rebuke us in the presence of the Throne. Now, if it were a fact that a hundred thousand newly sharpened swords might suffice to overcome our enemies, we, your Memorialists, by no means devoid of natural feelings of patriotism, would welcome the day when these foreigners might once for all be smitten hip and thigh. But if such a result can by no means be achieved under existing conditions, then it is not we who deserve the name of traitors, but those Ministers who, by their errors, have led the State to the brink of disaster.

“When, in the 5th Moon, your Majesties ordered Kang Yi and Chao Shu-ch’iao to proceed to Cho Chou and order the Boxers to disperse, the latter forced these Ministers to go down upon their knees and burn incense before their altar while they chanted their nonsensical incantations. Chao Shu-ch’iao knew perfectly well the degrading folly of this performance, and openly lamented his part in it; but he had not courage sufficient to contradict Kang Yi, who believed in the Boxers’ magic, so that, upon his returning, he joined Kang Yi in reporting to the Throne that the Boxers had all dispersed. But if they have been dispersed, how comes it now that their numbers have been so greatly increased? And how does the Throne propose to deal with Ministers who dare to memorialise in this haphazard manner?

“Tientsin has already fallen, and the foreign troops draw nearer every day. So far, no magical arts of the Boxers have availed us anything, and it is our deliberate opinion that, within a month, the enemy will be knocking at the gates of our Capital. We ask your Majesties to consider the dire consequences of the situation, and the possibility of the desecration of the shrines of your sacred ancestors. Our minds are filled with horror at the thought of what may occur. But in the meantime Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the rest of them laugh and talk together. The ship is sinking, but they remain splendidly unconcerned, just as if they believed in the Boxers as a tower of refuge. From such men, the State can no more derive council than from idiots and drunkards. Even some of the highest in the land, your Majesty’s own Ministers and members of the Grand Council, have bowed the knee before the Boxers. Many a Prince’s palace and a ducal mansion has been converted into a shrine for the Boxer cult. These Boxers are fools, but they have been clever enough all the same to befool Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and their followers. Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the rest of them are fools, but they in their turn have contrived to befool the Princes and Nobles of the Imperial clan. All our calamities may be directly traced to these Ministers, to Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the rest of them, and unless your Majesties will order their immediate decapitation, thereby vindicating the majesty of the law, it is inevitable that every official in and near the Court must accept the Boxer heresies, and other Provincial Governors, following the lead of Yü Lu and Yü Hsien, will adopt and spread them.

“And not only on Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and their followers should the Imperial wrath fall, but also upon those in high places whose midsummer madness has led them to protect and encourage the Boxers. Their close relationship to your Majesties, or their position as Imperial clansmen, should in no wise protect them from the penalty of their guilt. Thus only can the foreigners be led to recognise that this Boxer madness, this challenge to the world in arms, was the work of a few misguided officials, and in no sense an expression of the intentions or wishes of the Throne. War will then immediately give way to peace, and the altars of our gods will remain inviolate. And when these things have come to pass, may your Majesties be pleased to order the execution of your Memorialists, so that the spirits of Hsü Tung, Kang Yi, and their associates may be appeased. Smilingly should we go to our death, and enter the realms of Hades. In a spirit of uncontrollable indignation and alarm, we present this Memorial with tears, and beg that your Majesties may deign to peruse it.”

XIX

SIDELIGHTS ON TZŬ HSI’S STATECRAFT

Yüan Chang and Hsü Ch’ing-ch’eng were not alone in warning Her Majesty of the danger and folly of her Boxer proclivities. At the beginning of the crisis Liu K’un-yi, the aged Viceroy of Nanking, sorely distressed at the suicidal policy into which she had been led, wrote and despatched, by telegram and swift couriers, a Memorial, in which he implored her to put a stop to the attacks on the Legations. Tzŭ Hsi’s reply to this document clearly reveals the indecision which characterised her at this period, her hopes of revenge on the hated foreigner struggling ever with her fears of impending disaster. The diary of Ching Shan has shown us the woman under the fierce stress of her conflicting emotions and swiftly-changing impulses, of those moods which found their alternating expression in the ebb and flow of the struggle around the Legations for more than a month after she had received and answered the southern Viceroy’s Memorial. Of his unswerving loyalty she had no more doubt than of that of Jung Lu, and his ripe wisdom had stood her in good stead these many years. Nevertheless, his advice could not turn her from the path of revenge, from her dreams of power unrestrained. All it could effect, aided, no doubt, by the tidings of the Allies’ capture of the Taku Forts, was to cause her to prepare possible by-paths and bolt-holes of escape and exoneration. To this end she addressed direct appeals, a tissue of artless fabrications, to the Sovereigns and chief rulers of the Great Powers, and proceeded next to display her sympathy with the besieged Ministers in the Legations by presents of fruits and vegetables, to which she subsequently referred with pride as convincing proof of her good faith and goodwill. Her Majesty, in fact, was induced to hedge, while never abandoning hope that Prince Tuan and his Boxers would make good their boast and drive the barbarians into the sea.

The Viceroy’s Memorial is chiefly interesting as an example of that chief and unalterable sentiment which actuates the Chinese _literati_ and has been one of the strongest pillars of Manchu rule, namely, that the Emperor is infallible, a sentiment based on the fact that complete and unquestioning loyalty to the Throne is the essential cornerstone of the whole fabric of Confucian morality, filial piety, and ancestral worship. While deprecating the Imperial folly, the Viceroy is therefore compelled to ascribe it to everyone but Her Majesty, and to praise the Imperial wisdom and benevolence.

His Memorial is as follows:—

“The present war is due to bandits spreading slaughter and arson on the pretext of paying off a grudge against Christianity; thus we are face to face with a serious crisis. The Powers are uniting to send troops and squadrons to attack China on the plea of protecting their subjects and suppressing this rebellion. Our position is critical and the provinces are naturally bound to look now to their defences. I have already made the necessary preparations, so that if those hordes of foreigners do invade us, we shall resist them with all our might. I feel that our Sovereigns are displaying glorious virtue and that your Majesties are as bountiful as the Almighty. Your indulgence to the men from afar indicates the boundless magnanimity and good faith which animate all your actions.

“At present, the first essential is to make the Throne’s embarrassments, which have led up to the present situation, widely known, as well as the quality of consistent kindness with which you are imbued. By so doing, rebels will be deprived of any pretext for further rioting.

“At the beginning of the war, my colleagues and I issued a proclamation bidding the people go about their avocations as usual, and not to give heed to suspicious rumours. A petition has now reached me from Chinese residents abroad to urge effective protection for foreigners in China, so that there may be no risk of revenge being taken on themselves. The language used is very strong, and we have taken advantage of the visit of the foreign Consuls, who suggested certain measures for the protection of missionaries and merchants, to give orders to the Shanghai Taotai to come to an arrangement with them in regard to the preservation of peace in the Yangtsze valley, and at Soochow and Hangchow. This arrangement will hold good so long as they do not invade the region in question. The Consuls have telegraphed to their respective Governments, and I to our Ministers abroad, explaining fully this arrangement. The Germans, owing to the murder of their Minister, were disposed to oppose it, but finally, under compulsion from their colleagues, gave their consent also.

“I respectfully quote your Majesties’ decree of the 29th of the 5th Moon (June 25th): ‘The foreign Ministers are now in a desperately dangerous position; we are still doing our best to protect them.’ The decree proceeds to direct us to guard well our respective provinces and to take such steps as policy may dictate at this emergency. Again, on the 3rd of the 6th Moon (June 29th), your decree to our Ministers abroad states ‘We are now sending troops to protect the Legations, but we are weak and can only do our best. You are to carry on the business of your missions abroad as usual.’

“In other words, the Throne is inflicting stern and exemplary punishment on those foreigners in Tientsin who provoked hostilities, while doing its utmost to protect those innocent foreign officials, merchants and missionaries who were not responsible for those attacks. Your benevolence and the majesty of your wrath are displayed simultaneously, manifested as brightly as the sun and moon.

“We have again and again implored you to protect the foreign Ministers: this is the one all-important step which must on no account be deferred a day, not only because your Majesties’ own anxiety recognises its necessity, but because the crisis now forces it upon you.

“The Ministers abroad, Yang Ju and his colleagues, have telegraphed to the effect that our first duty is to protect the lives of the foreign Ministers and of all foreigners in China. I therefore humbly ask you to send competent troops to protect the Legations in Peking, and by so doing to protect the lives of your own Envoys abroad. I also urge you to instruct the provincial authorities to protect all foreigners within their respective jurisdictions, and thereby to protect our Chinese subjects residing in foreign lands. My anxiety is intense.”

To this memorial Tzŭ Hsi replied, by express courier and telegram, as follows:

“Your memorial has reached us. The Throne was reluctant lightly to enter upon hostilities, as we have already informed the several foreign Governments and the various provincial authorities. We have also issued several decrees ordering protection for the Ministers and foreign residents all over China. Hence our ideas seem to be identical with your own.[101] Happily all the Ministers, except Baron von Ketteler, are perfectly well and quite comfortable; only a day or two ago we sent them presents of fruits and viands, in order to show our commiseration. If the Powers now dare to invade your provinces, you must all protect your territories and resist with all your might. Even though at the moment peace may prevail, you must make most strenuous preparations against possible emergencies. In a word, we will not willingly be the aggressors. You are to inform our various Legations abroad of our calm and kindly feelings towards all foreigners, so that they may think out some plan of a peaceful settlement, in the general interest. It is highly desirable that you give no ready ear to vague rumours which are calculated only to lead to further lack of unity. This decree is to be conveyed by special courier, at six hundred _li_ (two hundred miles) a day.”

A few days before this Decree, _i.e._, on the 1st of July, Her Majesty had drafted with her own pen an explanatory decree for the edification of the foreign Powers, recounting how the Throne had been led into its present unpleasant situation. It is interesting to note that, ten days before, she had offered rewards for the heads of foreigners in Peking and had sent orders to Yü Hsien to kill every foreigner in Shansi, which he did. But Tzŭ Hsi had studied her classics and knew from her own experience how easily dissension and jealousies could be created among the barbarians.

“Owing to a succession of most unfortunate circumstances, rapidly and confusedly following each other, we are utterly at a loss to account for the situation which has brought about hostilities between China and the Powers. Our representatives abroad are separated from us by wide seas, and besides have no special knowledge of the facts, and they are therefore unable to explain to the respective Foreign Offices the real state of the Chinese Government’s feelings. We therefore desire now to place before you the following detailed statement of the facts.

“In the Provinces of Chihli and Shantung there has arisen a certain class of disorderly characters who, in their respective villages, have been wont to practise the use of the quarter-staff and pugilism, combining these exercises with certain magic arts and incantations. Owing to the failure of the local Magistrates to detect and stop these proceedings, the result has been that gradually a state of unrest has shown itself throughout that region until, all of a sudden, the Boxer movement assumed serious proportions. They spread even to Peking, where they were regarded as possessed of supernatural powers, so that they gained vast numbers of followers and universal sympathy. Following in their train the disorderly people of the lower sort raised a cry of ‘Death to the Christians!’ following upon which, in the middle of the 5th Moon, they proceeded to carry their words into deeds, and to slaughter the converts. The churches were burned, the whole city was in an uproar, and the population passed completely out of our control.

“When the first rumours of the coming disaster were noised abroad, the Legations asked our consent to bring up special guards, which consent, in view of the special necessities of the case, was readily given. In all some five hundred foreign troops came to Peking, which in itself shows plainly the friendly disposition of the Throne towards all foreign nations. Under ordinary circumstances the foreign Legations and their guards do not come in contact with the local Chinese authorities, and have no relations with them, friendly or otherwise; but since the arrival of these troops, the soldiers have not confined themselves to the duty of protecting the Legations, but have gone upon the city walls and have even patrolled the outlying parts of the capital, with the result that shots have been exchanged and blood has been shed. Indeed, so great are the liberties which they have taken in the course of their walks abroad, that on one occasion they actually endeavoured to force their way into the Forbidden City, which, however, they failed to do. For these reasons great and widespread indignation has been excited against them, and evil-doers have seized the opportunity to commit deeds of slaughter and arson, waxing daily bolder. At this stage the Powers endeavoured to bring up[102] reinforcements from Tientsin, but these were cut to pieces on their journey from the sea, and the attempt was perforce abandoned. By this time the rebels in the two provinces had become so intermingled with the people that it was impossible to identify them. The Throne was by no means averse to give orders for their suppression, but had we acted with undue haste, the result might have been a general conflagration, and our efforts to protect the Legations might have ended in a dire calamity. If we had proceeded to destroy the rebels in the two provinces, no single missionary or native Christian would have been left alive in either, so that we had to proceed cautiously in this dilemma.

“Under these circumstances we were compelled to suggest the temporary withdrawal of the Legations to Tientsin, and we were proceeding to make the necessary arrangements to this end when the German Minister was unfortunately murdered one morning on his way to the Tsungli Yamên. This incident placed the rebel leaders in a desperate position, like that of the man who rides a tiger and who hesitates whether it be more dangerous for him to continue his ride or to jump off. It became then inexpedient that the proposed withdrawal of the Legations to Tientsin should proceed. All we could do we did, which was to enforce urgent measures for the due protection of the Legations in every emergency. To our dismay, on the 16th ultimo, certain foreign naval officers from the squadron outside Taku had an interview with the Commandant of the forts, demanding their surrender, and adding that, if their demand were refused, they would take them by force on the following day. The Commandant was naturally unable to betray the trust confided to him, and the foreigners accordingly bombarded the forts and captured them after a vigorous resistance. A state of war has thus been created, but it is none of our doing; besides, how could China be so utterly foolish, conscious as she is of her weakness, as to declare war on the whole world at once? How could she hope to succeed by using the services of untrained bandits for any such a purpose? This must be obvious to the Powers.

“The above is an accurate statement of our situation, explaining the measures unavoidably forced upon China to meet the situation. Our representatives abroad must carefully explain the tenor of this decree to the Governments to which they are accredited. We are still instructing our military Commanders to protect the Legations, and can only do our best. In the meantime you, our Ministers, must carry on your duties as usual, and not pose as disinterested spectators.”