One General indeed did attack and defeat the Boxers, but he was sent for to Pekin, and was lucky to only lose his rank.
A very common question is “who were the Boxers?” and the answer is almost invariably, “Oh, some society or other which was formed for the expulsion of foreigners.” This may be all right as far as it goes, but they were more than that. At the beginning of June they were about 90 per cent of the male population in the affected provinces, between the ages of fourteen and sixty. They were fanatics of an extraordinary type, and declared that by virtue of certain drills, which they assiduously practised, they were immune from harm at the hands of their enemies.
In this belief they were in no wise shaken by their first defeats, for they said that those who fell had not been sufficiently attentive to their ritual, and they exhorted each other to further efforts, lest a like fate should overtake others. It is only half right to say that they were formed for the expulsion of foreigners, for the movement was quite semi-religious, and their doctrine violently anti-Christian in the first place,—ergo, anti-foreign in the second.
There is no doubt that considerable numbers of Chinese may be among the long roll of martyrs which China gave for the Christian faith, a short eighteen months ago; and doubtless their only half-human captors would serve up something quite devilishly exquisite by way of torture to those native converts who fell into their hands.
The headquarters of the society was in Shantung, but thanks to an enlightened and powerful Viceroy, in the person of Yuan-Shi-Kai, they had to move from his province, and so became the more numerous and powerful in the neighbouring province of Chihli, in which is situated the capital.
They soon succeeded in completely terrorising all the inhabitants who did not join their standard of their own free will, or rather of the madness born of mob violence. Here let it be understood that no one is more addicted to secret societies, or less addicted to mob violence, than a Chinaman. This sounds anomalous, but is nevertheless true. But once let loose a Chinese mob on the object of their hatred, and they compare very favourably with an Abu Klea Dervish, that is to say, that it is necessary to have “Maxims” to stop them. Again, a Chinaman would much rather argue any contested point out to a finish, knowing his own ability to “save face”; but once let him get pig-headed or obstinate in an unobtrusive sort of way, and it is well to go for a poleaxe.
The over-running of Chihli province brings the time of year up to the end of May, and it was not till then that the ministers of the Powers realised what a formidable movement was on foot. As a matter of fact, the ministers met on the 28th of May to consider the necessity of taking steps for their own safety, also for the protection of all Europeans, Americans, Japanese, and native Christians who were then in Pekin.
The outlook was far from reassuring. Fengtai, a station on the Pekin-Tientsin line, in close proximity to the capital, was in flames, railway communications with Tientsin had ceased, and it was believed that Boxers were even then employed in tearing up the rails.
The ministers decided to inform the Tsung-li-Yamen that they were asking their respective naval and military chiefs for Legation guards, and to beg them to afford the means of transport. The Tsung-li-Yamen, as usual, attempted to gain time by lies and procrastination; but in view of the uncompromising attitude of the British minister, they gave their grudging assent on the morning of the 31st May.
On the 29th May the general feeling of suspense was somewhat alleviated by the discovery that the line itself had not yet been damaged, and a train arrived from Tientsin with some officials who insisted on the resumption of traffic.