Mr. Conger to
Mr. Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Pekin, China, November 20, 1900.
No. 454.]Sir: I have the honor to confirm, on the
overleaf, my telegram of the 19th instant,1 and also to inclose a copy
of the decree therein mentioned. The punishments are all grossly
inadequate, and by no means commensurate with the crimes. Prince
Tuan, the chief patron of the Boxers, and the responsible leader of
the movement, is only stripped of his titles and banished to
Moukden, the capital of Manchuria. The other princes are treated
still more leniently. The two members of the tsungli yamen, Ying
Nien and Chao Shu-chiao, who were also patrons of the Boxers and
directors of their movements, are simply
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degraded but remain in their high offices. Yu
Hsien is punished a little more severely, but since he himself is
responsible for the commencement of the Boxer movement in Shantung,
and later for the murder of our missionaries in Shansi, and of which
he, as governor of that province, boasts, nothing but death is a fit
punishment for him.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Translation of an Imperial
decree.
On the 13th of November the grand secretariet received the
following decree:
The present calamity is due to the ministers of state having
participated in and protected the Boxer banditti movement which
has embroiled us in trouble with friendly nations and caused
injury in our state.
We some time ago issued our decree ordering that various degrees
of punishment should be meted out to the guilty. At the present
time the Boxers have not been completely suppressed in the
vicinity of Pekin, and as a consequence the country is
oppressed, the people are in distress. On reflecting on this
condition of things we can not but express a feeling of bitter
hatred. If strenuous punishment is not inflicted on the guilty,
we will not be able to conciliate popular feeling and appease
the anger of friendly nations.
Let Prince Tuan (Tsai I) be deprived of his rank or title of
nobility, and together with Prince Chuang, already degraded, be
temporarily handed over to the Imperial clan court to be
imprisoned within high walls, and after military operations have
ceased they are to be transferred to Moukden to be imprisoned
for life.
The degraded Prince I (Pu Ching) and degraded prince of the
second order, Tsai Ying, are in like manner to be handed over to
the Imperial clan court to be imprisoned within high walls.
Prince Tsai Lien has already been deprived of his title of
nobility. Let him be kept within closed doors, so that he may
reflect on his misdeeds.
Let Duke Lan be deprived of his entire salary and emoluments of
office and degraded one step and transferred to another
post.
Let Ying Nien, president of the censorate, be degraded two steps
and transferred to another post.
Kang I, formerly assistant grand secretary and president of the
board of civil office, was deputed to investigate the matter of
the Boxer bandits, and on his return to Pekin memorialized us,
in which he said a great deal in favor of protecting and
screening the Boxers. He should be vigorously punished, but he
is dead and there is no need to further consider his case.
Chao Shu-chiao, president of the board of punishments, was sent
to investigate the matter of the Boxer bandits, but he returned
to Pekin the next day. He certainly performed the duty imposed
upon him in a careless manner. In his report, however, he did
not present a trumped-up story. Let him be deprived of his rank,
but allowed to retain office.
The degraded governor of Shansi—Yu Hsien—while holding office
tolerated and acted in an easy-going way toward the Boxer
bandits, resulting in the murder of missionaries, and the
circumstances attending his action are very serious. Let him be
deported to the frontier to do hard service and never allowed to
return.
We are thoroughly conversant with this matter from the very
beginning. Take, for instance, the cases of Prince I, Tsai Lien,
and Tsai Ying in the successive memorials from the various high
ministers in Pekin and the provinces denouncing certain
officials; their names were not mentioned. Further, the names of
these three princes were not even mentioned in the telegraphic
memorials from our ministers abroad; but, acting upon the real
facts, we, in like manner, punish them. Thus it may be perceived
that the punishment, light or heavy, we have inflicted on these
persons is perfectly just throughout, and not the least
partiality has been shown. We think the whole world will now
excuse us.
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[Inclosure 2.]
Translation of telegram from cabinet ministers to peace commissioners.
A decree was issued to-day inflicting rigorous punishment on the
high ministers who had been connected with the present calamity.
But in the case of Tung Fu-hsiang it is difficult to suddenly
deprive him of his military power and properly punish him. We
presume you have seen our last telegram about this. It should be
attended to later on. This may be frankly explained to the
foreign ministers to avoid misunderstanding and possible trouble
for the Government.
From Yung Lu, Wang Wen-shao, and Lu Ohuan-lin, 13th November.
[Inclosure 3.]
Decree issued to Prince Ching and Li Hung
Chang, and sent by telegraph.
We have inflicted severe punishment on the ministers of state who
have brought about the present calamity, by the issuance of our
edict to-day. It will be seen that we have not screened them,
but punished them as they deserve. Prince Ching and Li Hung
Chang are to at once explain this to the foreign ministers and
shortly commence negotiations. If there be any further delay
which will hinder this business the said prince and minister
will be held responsible.
