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.