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.
“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.”