Imperial Decree from the _Pekin Gazette_, June 6--Western Churches
and men of evil character--Boxers the patriots and champions
of peace--The children of the throne--Official neglect of
duties--Riots--Disbandment of societies--The Generalissimo Jung-lu to
pursue and punish the rebels--Secret investigations--No mercy.
IMPERIAL DECREE.
(From the _Pekin Gazette, June 6_.)
The Western religion has existed and been disseminated throughout
China for many years, while those who disseminated it have done
nothing except to exhort people to do good. Moreover, converts to
the religion have never, under the protection of religion, raised
up disturbances; hence converts and the people at large have always
remained at peace with one another, each going his own way without
let or hindrance. Of late years, however, with the constant increase
of Western churches throughout the country and the consequent
overwhelming numbers of converts joining them, men of evil character
have stealthily gained a footing in their ranks, making it difficult,
in the circumstances, for missionaries to distinguish the good from
the bad amongst the converts. Taking advantage of this, these evil
characters have accordingly, under the guise of being Christians,
harassed the common people and bullied the country-side. We are of
opinion, however, that perhaps such a condition of affairs cannot
have been viewed with favour by the missionaries themselves. As to
the Ih-hwo-Ch’uan (Patriots and Champions of Peace) Society, this
organisation was first prohibited during the reign of the Emperor
Chia Ch’ing (1795-1820). Owing, however, to the fact that of late the
members of this society simply trained themselves for purposes of
self-protection and to defend their homes and villages from attack,
and, moreover, because they had abstained from creating trouble,
we did not issue our ban of prohibition according to precedent,
but merely sent repeated instructions to the local authorities
concerned to keep a proper restraint on the movements of the society.
We pointed out to the said authorities that the present was not a
question of whether these people were society men or not, but that
the point was whether, being banded together, their object was to
create trouble in the country or not. If, then, the society men
should indeed rise up and break the peace, it should be the duty of
the authorities to make a strict search for the law-breakers and
punish them according to law. Whoever these parties may be, whether
Christians or society men, the Throne makes no difference in its
treatment of them, for they are all the subjects (children) of the
Empire. Moreover, even in cases of litigation between Christians
and the common people, our instructions have ever been that the
authorities should settle them according to the rights of the matter,
no favour being allowed to be shown to either party. It transpires,
however, that our commands have of late years never been obeyed. The
officials of the various prefectures, sub-prefectures, departments,
and districts have been proved to have neglected their duties. They
have neither acted in friendly conjunction with the missionaries,
sympathised with the people under them in their difficulties, nor
settled litigation in the spirit of impartiality, and the consequence
has been that those concerned began to hate one another, the enmity
becoming deeper and deeper as occasions for ill-will multiplied.
On account of this, therefore, we now find the members of the
Ih-hwo-Ch’uan Society banding themselves together as village militia
and declaring war against the Christians. In the meantime, we find
discontented spirits, in conjunction with lawless ruffians, joining
in the movement for their own ends.
[Sidenote: OPPOSED TO GOVERNMENT]
Riots are the order of the day, railways are destroyed, and churches
are burnt down. Now, the railways were constructed by, and are the
property of, the Government, whilst churches were built by the
missionaries and their converts for their own occupation.
Do these society men and others, then, think that they will be
allowed to destroy and burn at their own sweet will? In thus running
riot these people are simply opposing themselves to the Government.
This is really beyond reason. We therefore appointed Chao Shu-ch’iao,
Grand Councillor and Governor Adjunct of Pekin, to proceed yesterday
as our Imperial Commissioner to restore peace, and to call upon the
people and society men immediately to disband and return each man to
his own avocations and daily work. Should traitors and revolutionary
society men try to stir up the people to rise up and pillage and
destroy the country-side, we hereby call upon the Ih-hwo-Ch’uan
people to hand over to the authorities the ringleaders for punishment
according to the laws of the land. Should any be so misguided as to
persist in disobeying these our commands, they shall be treated as
rebels, and we hereby warn them that when the grand army arrives
their fathers, mothers, wives and children will be separated
from one another and scattered, their homes destroyed, and they
themselves slain. They will also bring upon themselves the stigma of
disloyalty and of being false to their country; for it will then be
too late to repent. Our heart is filled with pity when we think of
the retribution that will then overwhelm our people. We therefore
hereby declare that if, after this warning, there should still be
any who refuse to obey our commands, we will immediately order the
Generalissimo, Jung Lu, to send Generals Tung-Fu-Hsiang (Kansu
corps), Sang Ch’ing and Ma Yu-k’un (Szech’uan corps), with their
commands, to punish these rebels and to disperse them. Finally, in
sending out troops the primary purpose is to protect the law-abiding
people; but we now hear that those sent out by the Chili provincial
authorities have not only failed in affording such protection and
restraining evil characters, but, on the contrary, have themselves
been guilty of preying upon the country-side. We now hereby command
Yu Lu, viceroy of Chili, to investigate this matter at once, and
also to send trusty deputies to make secret investigations. If it
be found that these military officials have indeed been guilty of
encouraging their men to loot and pillage, such guilty officers are
to be summarily executed. There must be no leniency or mercy shown to
such.
Let this our decree be copied out on yellow paper and posted
throughout the country as a warning to people and army, and that all
may know our commands.[4]
[4] Translation, _North China Daily News_.