and comfort of their Majesties, but the Empress was overcome by grief
_en route_ at the death of Kang Yi, chief patron of the Boxers, and the
most bigoted and violent of all the reactionaries near the Throne. He
fell ill at a place called Hou Ma, and died in three days, although the
Vice-President of the Board of Censors, Ho Nai-ying, obtained leave to
remain behind and nurse him. The Old Buddha was most reluctant to leave
the invalid, and showed unusual emotion. After his death she took a
kindly interest in his son (who followed the Court to Hsi-an) and would
frequently speak to him of his father’s patriotism and loyalty.
At Hsi-an fu the Court occupied the Governor’s official residence, into
which Her Majesty removed after residing for a while in the buildings
formerly set apart for the temporary accommodation of the Viceroy of
Kansuh and Shensi on visits of inspection. Both Yamêns had been prepared
for Their Majesties’ use; the walls had been painted Imperial red,
and the outer Court surrounded with a palisade, beyond which were the
quarters of the Imperial Guards, and the makeshift lodgings of the
Metropolitan Boards and the officials of the nine Ministries on Palace
duty. The arrangements of the Court, though restricted in the matter
of space, were on much the same lines as in Peking. The main hall of
the “Travelling Palace” was left empty, the side halls being used as
ante-chambers for officials awaiting audience. Behind the main hall was
a room to which access was given by a door with six panels, two of which
were left open, showing the Throne in the centre of the room, upholstered
in yellow silk. It was here that Court ceremonies took place. On the
left of this room was the apartment where audiences were held daily,
and behind this again were the Empress Dowager’s bedroom and private
sitting-room. The Emperor and his Consort occupied a small apartment
communicating with the Old Buddha’s bedroom, and to the west of these
again were three small rooms, occupied by the Heir Apparent. The chief
eunuch occupied the room next to that of the Old Buddha on the east side.
The general arrangements for the comfort and convenience of the Court
were necessarily of a makeshift and provisional character and the Privy
Purse was for a time at a low ebb, so that Her Majesty was much exercised
over the receipt and safe custody of the tribute, in money and in kind,
which came flowing in from the provinces. So long as the administration
of her household was under the supervision of Governor Ts’en, the
strictest economy was practised; for instance, the amount allowed by him
for the upkeep of their Majesties’ table was two hundred taels (about
£25) per day, which, as the Old Buddha remarked on one occasion, was
about one-tenth of the ordinary expenditure under the same heading at
Peking. “We are living cheaply now,” she said; to which the Governor
replied, “The amount could still be reduced with advantage.”
Her Majesty’s custom, in selecting the menus for the day, was to have a
list of about one hundred dishes brought in every evening by the eunuch
on duty. After the privations of the flight from Peking, the liberal
supply of swallows’ nests and _bêche-de-mer_ which came in from the South
was very much appreciated, and her rough fare of chickens and eggs gave
way to recherché menus; but the Emperor, as usual, limited himself to
a diet of vegetables. She gave orders that no more than half a dozen
dishes should be served at one meal, and she took personal pains with the
supply of milk, of which she always consumed a considerable quantity. Six
cows were kept in the immediate vicinity of the Imperial apartments, for
the feeding of which Her Majesty was charged two hundred taels a month.
Her health was good on the whole, but she suffered from indigestion,
which she attributed to the change of climate and the fatigues of her
journey. For occasional attacks of insomnia she had recourse to massage,
in which several of the eunuchs were well-skilled. After the Court had
settled down at Hsi-an fu, Her Majesty was again persuaded to permit
the presentation of plays, which she seemed generally to enjoy as much
as those in Peking. But her mind was for ever filled with anxiety as
to the progress of the negotiations with the foreign Powers at the
Capital, and all telegrams received were brought to her at once. The
news of the desecration of her Summer Palace had filled her with wrath
and distress, especially when, in letters from the eunuch Sun (who had
remained in charge at Peking), she learned that her Throne had been
thrown into the lake, and that the soldiers had made “lewd and ribald
drawings and writings” even on the walls of her bedroom. It was with the
greatest relief that she heard of the settlement of the terms of peace,
subsequently recorded in the Protocol of 7th of September, and so soon
as these terms had been irrevocably arranged, she issued a Decree (June,
1901) fixing the date for the Court’s return in September. This Decree,
issued in the name of the Emperor, was as follows:
“Our Sacred Mother’s advanced age renders it necessary that we
should take the greatest care of her health, so that she may
attain to peaceful longevity; a long journey in the heat being
evidently undesirable, we have fixed on the 19th day of the 7th
Moon to commence our return journey, and are now preparing to
escort Her Majesty, viâ Honan.”
One of the most notorious Boxer leaders, namely, Duke Kung, the younger
brother of Prince Chuang, had accompanied the Court, with his family, to
Hsi-an. The Old Buddha, realising that his presence would undoubtedly
compromise her, now decided to send him away. His family fell from one
state of misery to another; no assistance was rendered to them by any
officials on the journey, and eventually, after much wandering, the
Duke was compelled to earn a bare living by serving as a subordinate in
a small Yamên, while his wife, who was young and comely, was sold into
slavery. It was clear that the Old Buddha had now realised the error
of her ways and the folly that had been committed in encouraging the
Boxers. After the executions and suicides of the proscribed leaders of
the movement she was heard on one occasion to remark: “These Princes and
Ministers were wont to bluster and boast, relying upon their near kinship
to ourselves, and we foolishly believed them when they assured us that
the foreign devils would never get the better of China. In their folly
they came within an ace of overthrowing our Dynasty. The only one whose
fate I regret is Chao Shu-ch’iao. For him I am truly sorry.”
The fate of Prince Chuang’s brother showed clearly that both officials
and people had realised the genuine change in the Empress Dowager’s
feelings towards the Boxers, for there was none so poor to do him honour.
Both on the journey to Hsi-an fu and on the return to the Capital, Her
Majesty displayed the greatest interest in the lives of the peasantry and
the condition of the people generally. She subscribed liberally to the
famine fund in Shansi, professing the greatest sympathy for the stricken
people. She told the Emperor that she had never appreciated their
sufferings in the seclusion of her Palace.
During the Court’s stay at Hsi-an fu the Emperor came to take more
interest in State affairs than he had done at any time since the _coup
d’état_, but although the Old Buddha discussed matters with him freely,
and took his opinion, he had no real voice in the decision of any
important matter. His temper continued to be uncertain and occasionally
violent, so that many high officials of the Court preferred always to
take their business to the Empress Dowager. One important appointment was
made at this time by the Old Buddha at the Emperor’s personal request,
viz., that of Sun Chia-nai (ex-Imperial tutor) to the Grand Secretariat.
This official had resigned office in January 1900 upon the selection of
the Heir Apparent, which he regarded as equivalent to the deposition of
the Emperor.[108] Subsequently, throughout the Boxer troubles, he had
remained in his house at Peking, which was plundered, and he himself
would undoubtedly have been killed, but for the protection given him by
Jung Lu. At this time also, Lu Ch’uan-lin joined the Grand Council. When
the siege of the Legations began, he had left his post as Governor of
Kiangsu, and marched north with some three thousand men to defend Peking
against the foreigners. Before he reached the Capital, however, it had
fallen, so that, after disbanding his troops, he went for a few weeks
to his native place in Chihli, and thence proceeded to join the Court
at T’ai-yüan fu, where the Old Buddha received him most cordially. His
case is particularly interesting in that he was until his death a member
of the Grand Council,[109] and that, like many other high officials at
Peking, his ideas of the art of government and the relative position
of China in the world, remained exactly as they were before the Boxer
movement. His action in proceeding to Peking with his troops from his
post in the south is also interesting, as showing the semi-independent
position of provincial officials, and the free hand which any man of
strong views may claim and enjoy. The Viceroys of Nanking and Wuch’ang
might dare to oppose the wishes of the Empress Dowager, and to exercise
their own judgment as regards declaring war upon foreigners, but it was
equally open to any of their subordinates to differ from them, and to
take such steps as they might personally consider proper, even to the
movement of troops.
An official, one of the many provincial deputies charged with the
carrying of tribute to the Court at Hsi-an, returning thence to his
post at Soochow, sent to a friend at Peking a detailed description of
the life of the Court in exile, from which the following extracts are
taken. The document, being at that time confidential and not intended
for publication, throws some light on the Court and its doings which is
lacking in official documents:—
“The Empress Dowager is still in sole charge of affairs, and
controls everything in and around the Court; those who exercise
the most influence with her are Jung Lu and Lu Ch’uan-lin.
Governor Ts’en, has fallen into disfavour of late. His
Majesty’s advisers are most anxious that she should return to
Peking. She looks very young and well; one would not put her
age at more than forty, whereas she is really sixty-four. The
Emperor appears to be generally depressed, but he has been
putting on flesh lately. The Heir Apparent is fifteen years
of age; fat, coarse-featured, and of rude manners. He favours
military habits of deportment and dress, and to see him when
he goes to the play, wearing a felt cap with gold braid, a
leather jerkin, and a red military overcoat, one would take him
for a prize-fighter. He knows all the young actors and rowdies,
and associates generally with the very lowest classes. He is
a good rider, however, and a very fair musician. If, at the
play-houses, the music goes wrong, he will frequently get up
in his place and rebuke the performer, and at times he even
jumps on to the stage, possesses himself of the instrument, and
plays the piece himself. All this brings the boy into disrepute
with respectable people, and some of his pranks have come to
the ears of the Old Buddha, who they say has had him severely
whipped. His last offence was to commence an intrigue with one
of the ladies-in-waiting on Her Majesty, for which he got into
serious trouble. He is much in the company of Li Lien-ying (the
chief eunuch), who leads him into the wildest dissipation.[110]
My friend Kao, speaking of him the other day, wittily said,
that ‘from being an expectant Emperor, he would soon become
a deposed Heir Apparent’; which is quite true, for he never
reads, all his tastes are vicious, and his manners rude and
overbearing. To give you an instance of his doings: on the 18th
of the 10th Moon, accompanied by his brother and by his uncle,
the Boxer Duke Lan, and followed by a crowd of eunuchs, he got
mixed up in a fight with some Kansu braves at a theatre in the
temple of the City God. The eunuchs got the worst of it, and
some minor officials who were in the audience were mauled by
the crowd. The trouble arose, in the first instance, because of
the eunuchs attempting to claim the best seats in the house,
and the sequel shows to what lengths of villainy these fellows
will descend, and how great is their influence with the highest
officials. The eunuchs were afraid to seek revenge on the Kansu
troops direct, but they attained their end by denouncing the
manager of the theatre to Governor Ts’en, and by inducing him
to close every theatre in Hsi-an. Besides which, the theatre
manager was put in a wooden collar, and thus ignominiously
paraded through the streets of the city. The Governor was
induced to take this action on the ground that Her Majesty,
sore distressed at the famine in Shansi and the calamities
which have overtaken China, was offended at these exhibitions
of unseemly gaiety; and the proclamation which closed the
play-houses, ordered also that restaurants and other places of
public entertainment should suspend business. Everybody in the
city knew that this was the work of the eunuchs. Eventually Chi
Lu, Chamberlain of the Household, was able to induce the chief
eunuch to ask the Old Buddha to give orders that the theatres
be reopened. This was accordingly done, but of course the real
reason was not given, and the Proclamation stated that, since
the recent fall of snow justified hopes of a prosperous year
and good harvests, as a mark of the people’s gratitude to
Providence, the theatres would be reopened as usual, ‘but no
more disturbances must occur.’
“The chief eunuch does not seem to be abusing his authority as
much as usual at Hsi-an, most of his time and attention being
given to the collection and safe keeping of tribute. If the
quality and quantity received is not up to his expectations, he
will decline to accept it, and thus infinite trouble is caused
to the officials of the province concerned.
“A few days before the Old Buddha’s sixty-fifth birthday in
the 10th Moon, Governor Ts’en proposed that the city should
be decorated, and the usual costly gifts should be presented
to Her Majesty, but to this proposal Prince P’u Tung took the
strongest exception; ‘China is in desperate straits,’ he said,
‘and even the ancestral shrines and birthplaces of the Dynasty
are in the hands of foreign troops. How then could the Old
Buddha possibly desire to celebrate her birthday? The thing is
impossible.’ The matter was therefore allowed to drop. But the
Governor is certainly most anxious to make a name for himself,
and, in spite of his blustering professions of an independent
attitude, he does not disdain to curry favour with the chief
eunuch and others who can serve him. They say that he has
recently sworn ‘blood brotherhood’ with Hsin, the eunuch whose
duty it is to announce officials at audiences. No doubt it is
due to this distinguished connection that he has recently been
raised to the rank of a Board President, and therefore entitled
to ride in a sedan chair within the precincts of the Court,
which, no doubt, he considers more dignified than riding in a
cart.[111]
“Tung Fu-hsiang has returned to his home in Kansu, but his
troops remain still at Hsi-an under the command of General
Teng, who so greatly distinguished himself in the Mahomedan
rebellion.
“It would seem that the Old Buddha still cherishes hopes of
defeating the foreigners, for she is particularly delighted by
a Memorial which has been sent in lately by Hsia Chen-wu, in
which he recommends a certain aboriginal tribesman (‘Man-tzu’)
as a man of remarkable strategic ability. He offers to lose his
own head and those of all his family, should this Heaven-sent
warrior fail to defeat all the troops of the Allies in one
final engagement, and he begs that the Emperor may permit this
man to display his powers and thus save the Empire.”
XXI
HOW THE BOXER LEADERS DIED
China’s officials may be said to be a class of individualists, incapable,
as a rule, of collective heroism or any sustained effort of organised
patriotism; but it is one of the remarkable features and results of her
system of philosophy that the mandarins, even those who have been known
publicly to display physical cowardice at critical moments, will usually
accept sentence of death at the hands of their Sovereign with perfect
equanimity, and meet it with calm philosophic resignation. The manner in
which the Boxer leaders died, who were proscribed in the course of the
negotiations for the peace Protocol at Peking, affords an interesting
illustration of this fact; incidentally it throws light also on a trait
in the Chinese character, which to some extent explains the solidity and
permanence of its system of government, based as it is on the principle
of absolute obedience and loyalty to the head of the State as one of the
cardinal Confucian virtues.
Despite the repeated and unswerving demands of the foreign Powers
that the death penalty should be inflicted upon the chief leaders
and supporters of the Boxers, the Empress Dowager was naturally loth
to yield, inasmuch as she herself had been in full sympathy with the
movement. It was only after many and prolonged meetings with her chief
advisers, and when she realised that in this course lay her only hope
of obtaining satisfactory terms of peace, that she finally and most
reluctantly consented, in February 1901, to the issue of a Decree
(drafted by Jung Lu) in which she abandoned to their fate those who,
with her full knowledge and approval, had led the rising which was to
drive all foreigners into the sea. With the knowledge in our possession
as to Her Majesty’s complicity, and in some cases her initiative, in
the anti-foreign movement, it is impossible to read this Decree without
realising something of the ruthlessness of the woman and her cynical
disregard of everything except her own safety and authority. Even so,
however, Tzŭ Hsi could not bring herself at first to comply with all
the demands of the Powers, evidently hoping by compromise and further
negotiations to save the lives of her favourites, Prince Tuan, Duke Lan
and Chao Shu-ch’iao. The Decree, issued in the Emperor’s name, was as
follows:—
“In the summer of last year, the Boxer Rebellion arose, which
brought in its train hostilities with friendly Powers. Prince
Ch’ing and Li Hung-chang have now definitely settled the
preliminary conditions of the Peace Protocol. Reflecting on the
causes of this disaster, we cannot escape the conclusion that
it was due to the ignorance and arrogance of certain of our
Princes and Ministers of State who, foolishly believing in the
alleged supernatural power of the Boxers, were led to disobey
the Throne and to disregard our express commands that these
rebels should be exterminated. Not only did they not do this,
but they encouraged and assisted them to such an extent that
the movement gained hosts of followers. The latter committed
acts of unprovoked hostility, so that matters reached a pass
where a general cataclysm became inevitable. It was by reason
of the folly of these men that General Tung, that obstinate
braggart, dared to bombard the Legations, thus bringing our
Dynasty to the brink of the greatest peril, throwing the State
into a general convulsion of disorder, and plunging our people
into uttermost misery. The dangers which have been incurred
by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, and myself are simply
indescribable, and our hearts are sore, aching with unappeased
wrath at the remembrance of our sufferings. Let those who
brought about these calamities ask themselves what punishment
can suffice to atone for them?
“Our former Decrees on this subject have been far too lenient,
and we must therefore now award further punishments to the
guilty. Prince Chuang, already cashiered, led the Boxers in
their attack upon the French Cathedral and the Legations,
besides which, it was he who issued a Proclamation in violation
of all our Treaties. (This refers to the rewards offered
for the heads of foreigners.) He too it was who, acting as
the leader of the savage Boxers, put to death many innocent
persons. As a mark of clemency unmerited by these crimes, we
grant him permission to commit suicide, and hereby order that
Ko Pao-hua shall supervise the execution of these our commands.
“Prince Tuan, already cashiered, was the leader and spokesman
of the Imperial Clan, to whom was due the declaration of war
against foreigners; he trusted implicitly in Boxer magic, and
thus inexcusably brought about hostilities. Duke Lan, who
assisted Prince Chuang in drawing up the proclamation which set
a price on the head of every foreigner, deserves also that he
be stripped of all his dignities and titles. But remembering
that both these Princes are our near kinsmen, we mitigate
their sentence to exile to Turkestan, where they will be kept
in perpetual confinement. The Governor of Shensi, Yü Hsien,
already cashiered, believed in the Boxers at the time when he
held the Governorship of Shantung; when he subsequently came
to Peking, he sang their praises at our Court, with the result
that many Princes and Ministers were led astray by his words.
As Governor of Shansi he had put to death many missionaries and
native converts, proving himself to be an utterly misguided and
bloodthirsty man. He was undoubtedly one of the prime causes
of all our troubles. We have already decreed his banishment
to Turkestan, and by this time he should already have reached
Kansu. Orders are now to be transmitted for his immediate
decapitation, which will be superintended by the Provincial
Treasurer.
“As to the late Grand Secretary, Kang Yi, he also believed in
the Boxers, and went so far as to set a price on the lives
of foreigners so that, had he lived, he too would have been
sentenced to death, but as matters stand, we order that he be
posthumously deprived of his rank and summarily cashiered.
“We have already cashiered Tung Fu-hsiang. While permitted to
retain his rank as a military official, he cannot escape a
certain share of responsibility for the siege of the Legations,
although his orders emanated from Princes and Ministers of
State; and because of his ignorance of foreign affairs, slack
discipline, and general stupidity, he certainly deserves severe
punishment. But we cannot overlook the services he has rendered
in the Kansu rebellion, and the good name which he bears
amongst our Chinese and Mahomedan subjects in that province, so
that, as a mark of our favour and leniency, we merely remove
him from his post.[112]
“Ying Nien, Vice-President of the Censorate, was opposed
to the issue of the proclamation which offered rewards for
foreigners’ heads, and for this he deserves lenient treatment,
but he failed to insist strongly in his objections, and we are
therefore compelled to punish him. He is hereby sentenced to be
cashiered and imprisoned pending decapitation.[113]
“As regards the Grand Councillor Chao Shu-ch’iao, he had never,
to our knowledge, shown any hostility to foreigners, and when
we despatched him on a special mission to confer with the
Boxers, the report which he submitted on his return showed no
signs of sympathy with their proceedings.[114] Nevertheless,
he was undoubtedly careless, and we therefore, acting in
leniency, decree that he be cashiered and imprisoned pending
decapitation.[115]
“The Grand Secretary Hsü T’ung and Li Ping-heng, our Assistant
Commander-in-Chief, have both committed suicide, but as their
behaviour has been very severely criticised, we order that they
be deprived of their ranks; and all posthumous honours granted
to them are hereby cancelled.
“The Ministers of the friendly Powers can no longer fail to
recognise that the Boxer Rebellion was indeed the work of these
guilty officials, and that it was in no way due to any action
or wishes on the part of the Throne. In the punishment of these
offenders we have displayed no leniency, from which all our
subjects may learn how grave has been the recent crisis.”