China under the Empress Dowager

by J. O. P. Bland; Sir E. Backhouse

“In conclusion it is written in the Book of Ceremonies of the Chou Dynasty ‘that the existence of anarchy in a State necessitates the adoption of the death penalty’; also in the Canon of History it is written ‘that there is a time when the infliction of capital punishment becomes a sacred duty.’ It would therefore appear to be clearly proved that these Boxers should properly be exterminated, and that any further continuance of procrastination or of evasive measures, such as their enrolment in the army, will be utterly unavailing. The foreign Powers are strong, and their indignation has reached extreme limits. Should they now unite in measures of retaliation, indescribable disasters await us. Instead of allowing the foreigners to suppress the Boxers, which would mean much fighting and bloodshed in and around Peking, the slaughter of many innocent persons (‘jade and common stone perishing together in one catastrophe’), let us rather suppress the movement ourselves, and thus close the mouths of our detractors and those who criticise our Empire. Thus only will the ancestral shrines escape desecration, and the people enjoy untold benefits.

“The Grand Secretary, Jung Lu, is patriotic and loyal. If your Majesties will but grant him full powers, success will speedily be attained. Diplomatic difficulties can easily be overcome by careful attention to the exigencies of the moment. Urging upon your Majesties the essential fact that in undivided control of authority lies our only safeguard against dire catastrophe, I now beg humbly to submit this my Memorial, laying bare my innermost feelings, and ask that your Majesties’ divine wisdom may consider and decide the matter.”

The Second Memorial of Yüan Ch’ang and Hsü Ching-ch’eng, July 8th.

“Ever since, on the 24th day of last Moon, the German Minister von Ketteler was killed by the Boxers, the latter have been besieging the Legations, and the Kansuh troops under Tung Fu-hsiang have been their willing accomplices in perpetrating every kind of evil. Countless is the number of our people, residing near the Legations, who have suffered death at their hands. Practically every house in the eastern quarter of the city, whether public or private property, has been mercilessly plundered.

“The Boxers originally proclaimed that their mission was to pay off old scores against the Christians; they then proceeded to include the Legations in their attacks. From the Legations they have extended their sphere of activity, directing their operations against our officials and the common people. That a mutinous soldiery and mobs of rebels should be permitted to run riot over our Capital, and work their evil will upon the people, is indeed a circumstance unparalleled in our history.

“When the siege began it was their boast that, within twenty-four hours, not a single Legation would remain standing, nay more, Tung Fu-hsiang has repeatedly boasted that they are already nothing more than a heap of ashes. As a matter of fact, however, nearly a month has passed, and whereas scarcely a foreign soldier has been killed, the entire Legation quarter lies strewn with the corpses of these Boxers. Where now the proud boast, with which they deluded simple folk, that their magic arts rendered them immune from bullet wounds? If, after a month’s effort, fifty thousand bandits are unable to capture a few Legations garrisoned by less than four hundred foreigners, we can form a fairly accurate estimate of their value and prowess. Who would ever dream of using the services of such heroes to check foreign aggression?

“It may perhaps be suggested that genuine Boxers would show very different results in their country’s service, and that those who have been guilty of murder and arson are not really Boxers at all, but outsiders and charlatans, having no legitimate connection with the cult. But we submit that if the society has been so disorganised as to be divided into real and counterfeit members, and if the latter are permitted with the tacit consent of the former, to commit every kind of atrocity, it seems clear that the genuine Boxer himself is a thoroughly disreputable person.

“Moreover, the Throne has expressly forbidden them to take up arms and to continue their devastation with fire and sword; they have been ordered to disband and leave Peking. Nevertheless, they ignore these orders and continue in their wicked ways. Whether genuine or counterfeit, these Boxers vie with one another in flouting the law of the land. Their incorrigible wickedness renders them one and all deserving of death; the leniency shown them has but increased their arrogance, and the number of these evil-doers has grown by reason of the tolerance extended to them.

“In a previous Memorial we urged that the Grand Secretary Jung 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?