at six o’clock and was washing my face in the small inner room,
when Huo Kuei, the gatekeeper, came in with the card of Kang Yi, the
Grand Secretary, and a present of ten pounds of pork, with seasonable
greetings. I was not aware that he had already returned from his journey
to Chu Chou, whither he had gone with Chao Shu-ch’iao to examine and
report on the doings of the “patriotic train bands” (_i.e._ Boxers). He
sends word by the messenger that he will call upon me this morning.
My sons En Ch’u and En Shun are going to-day to a theatrical performance
at Chi Shou-ch’eng’s residence. My youngest son, En Ming, is on duty at
the Summer Palace, where, for the next four days, the Old Buddha will be
having theatricals. I am surprised that Kang Yi is not out there also. No
doubt he only returned to Peking last night, and so does not resume his
place on the Council till to-morrow morning.
_The Hour of the Monkey_ (3 P.M.).—Kang Yi has been here and I persuaded
him to stay for the mid-day meal. He is a worthy brother-in-law, and,
though twenty years younger than I am, as wise and discreet a man as any
on the Grand Council. He tells me that several hundred foreign devil
troops entered the City yesterday evening. He and Chao Shu-ch’iao arrived
at Peking at 4.30 P.M., and immediately set to composing their memorial
to the Empress Dowager about the heaven-sent Boxers, for presentation
to-morrow morning. Prince Tuan has five days’ leave of absence: Kang
Yi went to see him yesterday evening. While they were discussing the
situation, at the Prince’s own house, there came a Captain of Prince
Ch’ing’s bodyguard with a message. Saluting Prince Tuan, he announced
that about 300 foreign soldiers had left Tientsin in the afternoon as
reinforcement for the Legation Guards. Prince Ch’ing implored Prince Tuan
not to oppose their entry, on the ground that a few hundred foreigners,
more or less, could make no difference. He trusted that Prince Tuan
would give orders to his Corps (the “Celestial Tigers” Force) not
to oppose the foreign devils. It was the wish of the Old Buddha that
they should be permitted to guard the Legations. Prince Tuan asked for
further details, and the Captain said that Prince Ch’ing had received a
telegram from the Governor-General of Chihli (Yü Lu) to the effect that
the detachment carried no guns. At this Prince Tuan laughed scornfully
and said “How can the few resist the many? What indeed will a hundred
puny hobgoblins, more or less, matter?” Kang Yi, on the contrary, tells
me that he strongly urged Prince Tuan to issue orders to Chung Li, the
Commandant of the city, to oppose the entry of the foreign troops, but
it appears that Jung Lu had already ordered their admission. Kang Yi is
much incensed with Jung Lu about this, and cannot understand his motives.
It seems that towards the close of last year Prince Tuan and Jung Lu had
agreed to depose the Emperor and to put the Heir Apparent on the Throne,
and Tuan confesses that, were it not for Jung Lu’s great influence with
the Old Buddha she would never have agreed to select his son as Heir
Apparent. But now Jung Lu is for ever denouncing the Boxers and warning
the Empress against encouraging and countenancing them. Prince Tuan and
Kang Yi despair of ever being able to induce her to support the Boxers
whole-heartedly so long as Jung Lu is against them. As an example of her
present attitude, Prince Tuan told Kang Yi one day lately that his son,
the Ta-a-ko, had dressed himself up as a Boxer and was going through
their drill in the Summer Palace grounds with some eunuchs. The Old
Buddha saw him and promptly gave orders that he be confined to his rooms.
She also reprimanded the Grand Secretary, Hsü Tung, for not keeping a
better watch on his pupil and for permitting such unseemly behaviour, as
she called it.
[Illustration: H.M. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER AND LADIES OF HER COURT (1903).
Daughters of H. E. Yü Keng.
Second wife of H.M. Tzŭ Hsi. Wife of H. E. Yü Keng,
late Emperor. ex-Minister to Paris.
Empress Consort of Kuang-Hsü,
now Empress Dowager.]
After leaving Prince Tuan’s house, Kang Yi had gone out of the city
by the Ch’ien Men and had seen the foreign troops pass in. The people
muttered curses, he says, but no one molested them. What does it matter?
None of them will ever leave the city. Kang Yi’s journey to Chu-chou
has convinced him that the whole province stands together as one man;
even boys in their teens are drilling. Not a doubt of it; the foreigner
will be wiped out this time! At Chu-chou the Departmental Magistrate,
a man named Kung, had arrested several Boxer leaders, but Kang Yi and
Chao Shu-ch’iao ordered them to be released and made them go through
their mystic evolutions and drill. It was a wonderful sight, scarcely
to be believed; several of them were shot, some more than once, yet
rose uninjured from the ground. This exhibition took place in the main
courtyard of the Magistrate’s Yamên, in the presence of an enormous
crowd, tight pressed, as compact as a wall. Chao Shu-ch’iao remembers
having seen many years ago, in his native province of Shensi, a similar
performance, and it is on record that similar marvels were seen at the
close of the Han Dynasty, when Chang Chio headed the Yellow Turban
insurrection against the Government and took many great cities with half
a million of followers. They were said to be under the protection of the
Jade Emperor[72] and quite impervious to sword-thrusts. Kang Yi and Chao
Shu-Ch’iao will memorialise the Empress to-morrow, giving the results of
their journey and begging her to recognise the “patriotic train-bands” as
a branch of the army. But they should be placed under the supreme command
of Prince Tuan and Kang Yi, as Jung Lu, the Commander-in-Chief of the
Northern army, is so incredulous as to their efficacy against foreign
troops.
Although Major Domo Li Lien-ying is a warm supporter of the Boxers, and
never wearies of describing their feats to the Old Buddha, feats which
he himself has witnessed, it is by no means certain that the “kindly
Mother” will heed him so long as Jung Lu is opposed to any official
encouragement of the movement. And, besides, the nature of the Empress
is peace-loving; she has seen many springs and autumns. I myself know
well her refined and gentle tastes, her love of painting, poetry, and
the theatre. When in a good mood she is the most amiable and tractable
of women, but at times her rage is awful to witness. My father was
Comptroller-General of the Imperial Household, and it was his lot on one
occasion to experience her anger. This was in the sixth year of T’ung
Chih (1868), when she learned that the chief eunuch, “Hsiao An’rh,”[73]
had been decapitated in Shantung by the orders of the Co-Regent, the
late “Empress Dowager of the East.” She accused the Comptrollers of
the Household of being leagued together in treachery against her, as
they had not told her of what was going on she declared that Prince
Kung was plotting against her life, and that all her attendants were
associated in his treason. It was years before she forgave him. All An’s
fellow-eunuchs were examined under torture by the Department responsible
for the management and discipline of the Household. When the chief
eunuch’s betrayer was discovered by this means, he was flogged to death
by her orders in the Palace. But nowadays the Old Buddha’s heart has
softened, even towards foreigners, and she will not allow any of them to
be done away with. One word from her would be sufficient to bring about
their immediate and complete destruction, so that neither dog nor fowl
be left alive, and no trace be left of all their foreign buildings. Kang
Yi stayed with me about two hours and left to go and see Prince Tuan,
who was expecting Major Domo Li Lien-ying to come into the city this
afternoon.
K’un Hsiu, Vice-President of the Board of Works, called to see me. He
tells me that Prince Ch’ing habitually ridicules the Boxers in private
conversation, declaring them to be utterly useless, and unworthy of even
a smile from a wise man. In public, however, he is most cautious—last
week when the Old Buddha asked his opinion of them he replied by vaguely
referring to the possible value of train-bands for protection of the
Empire.
9 P.M.—My son En Ch’u has returned from Chi Shou-ch’eng’s theatricals;
everyone was talking, he says, of Jung Lu’s folly in allowing the foreign
troops to enter the city yesterday. Chi’s father-in-law, Yü Hsien, has
written to him from Shansi saying that for the present there are but few
Boxers enrolled in that province, but he is doing his best to further
the movement, so that Shansi may unite with the other provinces of the
north “to destroy those who have aroused the Emperor’s wrath.” By common
report, Yüan Shih-k’ai has now become a convert to Christianity: if he
too were to suppress the movement in Shantung, not death itself could
expiate his guilt.
En Chu’s wife is most undutiful; this evening she has had a quarrel
with my senior concubine, and the two women almost came to blows. Women
are indeed difficult to manage; as Confucius has said, “Keep them at a
distance, they resent it; treat them familiarly, and they do not respect
you.” I am seventy-eight years of age and sore troubled by my family;
their misconduct is hard for an old man to bear.
_12th Day of the 5th Moon_ (June 8th, 1900).—My son, En Ming, came in
this morning about midday; as Officer of the Bodyguard he had been in
attendance on the Empress coming in from the Summer Palace. Jung Lu
had been there yesterday morning and had had a long audience with Her
Majesty. He gave her details of the burning of the railway by the Boxers.
She was seriously alarmed and decided to return at once to the Winter
Palace on the Southern Lake. It seems she cannot make up her mind as to
the Boxers’ invulnerability. Jung Lu has again applied for leave. When he
is absent from the Grand Council, Kang Yi and Ch’i Hsiu have the greatest
influence with her. En Ming says that on the way to the city she kept
urging the chair-bearers to hurry, and seemed out of sorts—nervously
fanning herself all the time. At the Ying Hsiu gate of the Winter
Palace the Emperor and the Heir Apparent were kneeling to receive her.
No sooner had she reached the Palace than she summoned Prince Tuan to
audience, which lasted a long time. It is a pity that the Old Buddha
will not decide and act more promptly. The Emperor never speaks at
audience nowadays, although Her Majesty often asks him for his opinion.
Tung Fu-hsiang accompanied the Court into Peking; he denounced Jung Lu
at audience to-day, telling the Empress that if only the Legations were
attacked, he would undertake to demolish them in five days; but that Jung
Lu, by failing to support the Boxers, was a traitor to the Dynasty. The
Empire, said he, would be endangered unless the present opportunity were
seized to wipe off old scores against the foreigner. Tung is a coarse,
foul-spoken fellow, most violent in his manner towards us Manchus. Kang
Yi hates him, but for the present is only too willing to make use of him.
_14th day of the 5th Moon_ (June 10th).—Grand Councillor Ch’i Hsiu called
to-day—he showed me the draft of a Decree breaking off all relations with
foreigners, which he had prepared for the Empress’s signature; so far,
however, she has given no indication of agreeing to make war against
them. In the afternoon I went to Duke Lan’s residence—to-day being his
wife’s birthday. There are more than a hundred Boxers living in his outer
courtyard, most of them country-folk, under the command of a Banner
Captain named Wen Shun. Among them are five or six lads of thirteen or
fourteen who will fall into a trance, foam at the mouth, then rise up
and grasp wildly at anything that comes within their reach, uttering
the while strange uncouth noises. Duke Lan believes that by their magic
arts they will be able to guide him, when the time comes, to the houses
of Christian converts (_lit._ Secondary Devils). He says that his wife
goes often to the Palace and that she has told the Old Buddha of these
things. The “Ta Kung Chu” (Princess Imperial and adopted daughter of the
Empress Dowager) has over two hundred and fifty Boxers quartered at the
Palace outside the Hou Men, but she has not dared to tell the Empress
Dowager. Her brother, the “Prince” Tsai Ying, is also learning this
drill. Truly it is a splendid society! The Kansuh braves are now entering
the Chinese city, and thousands of people are preparing to leave Peking.
_16th day of the 5th Moon_ (June 12th).—Jung Lu attended the Grand
Council this morning. Prince Li, the Senior Councillor, did not dare to
tell the Empress that a foreign devil[74] had been killed yesterday by
the Kansuh braves just outside the Yung-Ting Gate. Jung Lu was called to
the audience chamber after Prince Li had retired, and Kang Yi believes
that he urged her to order Tung Fu-hsiang to leave the city with his
troops and at the same time to issue an Edict, bestowing posthumous
honours on the murdered foreigner. None of the other Grand Councillors
were summoned to audience; when Jung Lu left the presence, he returned
straightway to his own house and spake no word to any of his colleagues.
It is rumoured that more foreign troops are coming to Peking, and that
the Empress Dowager will not permit them to enter the city. In this Jung
Lu agrees with her. He has advised that all foreigners shall be allowed
to leave Peking, but that it is contrary to the law of nations to attack
the accredited representatives of foreign Powers.
_18th Day of the 5th Moon_ (June 14th).—Yesterday, just before nightfall,
En Ch’u came in to tell me that several hundred Boxers had entered the
Ha-Ta Gate. I was sorry that my lameness prevented me from going out to
see them, but I sent Hao Ching-ting to report. Well indeed, is it, that
I have lived to see this day; almost every foreign building except the
Legations had been burnt to the ground. Throughout the night flames burst
forth in every quarter of the city; a grand sight! Kang Yi has sent me a
message to say that he and Duke Lan went to the Shun Chih (S.W.) Gate at
about the third watch to encourage and direct the Boxers who were burning
the French Church. Hundreds of converts were burnt to death, men, women
and children, and so great was the stench of burning flesh that Duke Lan
and Kang Yi were compelled to hold their noses. At dawn Kang Yi went to
the Palace to attend the Grand Council. Major Domo Li Lien-ying told
him that the Old Buddha had watched the conflagrations from the hillock
to the west of the Southern Lake, and had plainly seen the destruction
of the French Church at the Shun-Chih Men. Li Lien-ying had told her
that the foreigners had first fired on the crowd inside the Ha-Ta Gate,
and that this had enraged the patriotic braves who had retaliated by
slaughtering the converts. It seems that Hsü T’ung is unable to get out
of his house because the foreign devils have barricaded the street; the
Old Buddha is anxious about him and has commanded Prince Ch’ing to ask
the foreign Legations to let him pass out. She is amazed at the Boxers’
courage, and Kang Yi believes that she is about to give her consent to
a general attack upon the Legations. Nevertheless, Li Lien-ying has
warned him that exaggerated praise of the Boxers arouses her suspicions,
and that, with the exception of Jung Lu, all the Grand Councillors are
afraid to advise her. Her Majesty is moving into the Palace of Peaceful
Longevity in the Forbidden City, as all these alarms and excursions
disturb her sleep at the Lake Palace.
_21st Day of the 5th Moon_ (June 17th).—A great fire has been raging all
to-day in the southern city. Those reckless Boxers set fire to a foreign
medicine store in the Ta Sha-lan’rh, and from this the flames spread
rapidly, destroying the shops of the wealthy goldsmiths and assayers.
Rightly says the Canon of History, “When fire rages on the Kun Lun
ridge, common pebble and precious jade will be consumed together.” The
Boxers themselves are worthy men, but there are among them many evil
doers whose only desire is plunder; these men, wearing the Boxer uniform,
bring discredit upon the real “patriotic braves.” The outer tower of the
Ch’ien Men having caught fire, the Empress ordered Jung Lu to send Banner
troops on to the wall so as to prevent any ruffians entering the Tartar
City by the Ta Ch’ing Gate.
In the afternoon my married niece came over to see her aunt: she has been
greatly alarmed by the uproar and fighting near her home, so they are
moving to her father-in-law’s house in the northern city.
I hear that Prince Tuan has now persuaded the Old Buddha to appoint
him President of the Tsung Li Yamên; also that she has authorised
him to require all foreigners to leave Peking, but they are to be
protected against any attacks by the Boxers. My old friend, Ch’i Hsiu,
has been made a Minister of the Tsung Li Yamên, also Na T’ung, the
Sub-Chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. The latter memorialised lately
advising the Throne to declare war before the foreign Powers could send
reinforcements; the Old Buddha has placed him in the Tsung Li Yamên
to assist Prince Tuan and Chi Hsiu in arranging for the foreigners’
departure from the city. Prince Ch’ing still says nothing for or against
the Boxers. Jung Lu has offered to escort the foreign Ministers half-way
to Tientsin, but he stipulates that the Viceroyalty of Chihli must be
taken from Yü Lu. My wife was taken seriously ill this evening; she kept
on muttering incoherently and rolling about on the k’ang as if in great
pain. We sent for Dr. Yung, who applied acupuncture.
_24th Day of the 5th Moon_ (June 20th).—Yesterday, at mid-day, Yü Lu’s
memorial reached the Throne. He says that the foreign devils have
actually demanded the surrender of the Taku forts, and he begs the
Empress Dowager to declare war on them forthwith, to make them atone for
their insolence and treachery. A special meeting of the Grand Council
was immediately called. The Old Buddha was very wroth, but said she would
postpone her decision until to-day, when all the Princes, Presidents and
Vice-Presidents of the Boards and Ministries, and the Lieutenant-Generals
of Banners, would meet in special audience. Prince Tuan, Ch’i Hsiu and Na
T’ung showed her a despatch from the foreign Ministers couched in most
insolent language demanding her immediate abdication, the degradation of
the Heir Apparent, and the restoration of the Emperor.[75] The Ministers
also asked that the Emperor should allow 10,000 foreign troops to enter
Peking to restore order. Kang Yi came to tell me that never had he seen
the Old Buddha so angry, not even when she learned of K’ang Yu-wei’s
treason. “How dare they question my authority!” she exclaimed. “If I can
bear this, what must not be borne? The insults of these foreigners pass
all bounds. Let us exterminate them before we eat our morning meal.”[76]
The wrath of the Old Buddha is indeed beyond control; neither Jung Lu,
nor any other can stop her now. She has told Jung Lu that if he wishes,
he may still offer to escort the foreign Ministers to Tientsin, but she
will give no guarantee for their safety on the journey because of their
monstrous suggestion that she should abdicate. She does not absolutely
desire their death, but says that the consideration she showed them in
allowing the Legation guards to enter the city, and her solicitude in
restraining the Boxers, have been ill-requited. “It were better,” says
she, “to go down in one desperate encounter than to surrender our just
rights at the bidding of the foreigner.”
Though only a woman, Her Majesty Tzŭ Hsi has all the courage of a man,
and more than the ordinary man’s intelligence.
_24th Day of the 5th Moon_: _The Hour of the Cock_, 5-7 P.M. (20th
June).—I have just returned from visiting my brother-in-law, the Grand
Secretary Kang Yi; he told me all about this morning’s audience. At the
hour of the Tiger (3-5 A.M.) the Grand Council assembled in the Palace
by the Lake, and were received by the Old Buddha in the Pavilion of the
Ceremonial Phœnix. All were there, Prince Li, Jung Lu, Kang Yi, Wang
Wen-shao, Ch’i Hsiu, and Chao Shu-ch’iao, but the Emperor was absent.
This was a special audience, preparatory to the general audience of all
the Princes and Ministers, and its object was to give the Grand Council
an opportunity of laying before Her Majesty any new facts or opinions
bearing upon the situation.
With tears in his eyes, Jung Lu knelt before Her Majesty; he confessed
that the foreigners had only themselves to blame if China declared
war upon them, but he urged her to bear in mind that an attack on the
Legations, as recommended by Prince Tuan and the rest of the Council,
might entail the ruin of the ancestral shrines of the Dynasty, as well as
the altars of the local and tutelary Gods. What good purpose, he asked,
would be served by the besieging nay, even by the destruction, of this
isolated handful of Europeans? What lustre could it add to the Imperial
arms? Obviously, it must be waste of energy and misdirected purpose.
The Old Buddha replied that if these were his views, he had better
persuade the foreigners to leave the city before the attack began; she
could no longer restrain the patriotic movement, even if she wished. If
therefore, he had no better advice than this to offer, he might consider
himself excused from further attendance at the Council.
Jung Lu thereupon kowtowed thrice and left the audience hall to return
to his own house. Upon his departure, Ch’i Hsiu drew from his boot the
draft of the Decree which was to declare war. Her Majesty read it and
exclaimed, “Admirable, admirable! These are exactly my views.” She
asked each Grand Councillor in turn for his opinion, and they declared
unanimously in favour of hostilities. It was now the hour appointed for
the general audience and Li-Lien-ying came in to conduct her Majesty to
her own apartments to take tea before proceeding to the “Hall of Diligent
Government.”
All the leading members of the Imperial Clan were kneeling at the
entrance to the Hall, awaiting their Majesties’ arrival: the Princes
Kung, Ch’un and Tuan; the “Beilehs” Tsai Lien and Tsai Ying; Duke
Lan and his brother the “Beitzu” Ying; Prince Ch’ing and the five
Grand Councillors; the Princes Chuang, Su and Yi; the Presidents,
Chinese and Manchu, of the six Boards and the nine Ministries; the
Lieutenants-General of the twenty-four Banner divisions; and the
Comptrollers of the Imperial Household. Their Majesties arrived together
in chairs, borne by four bearers. The Emperor alighted first, and knelt
as the “benign mother” left her palanquin and entered the Hall, supported
by the Chief Eunuch Li Lien-ying, and by his immediate subordinate, T’sui
Chin. The Emperor was ghastly pale, and it was observed that he trembled
as he took his seat on the Lower Throne by the Empress Dowager’s side.