China under the Empress Dowager

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

“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.