Foreign Relations of the United States, 1901, Appendix, Affairs in China, Report of William W. Rockhill, Late Commissioner to China, with Accompanying Documents

Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay.

No. 527.

Legation of the United States,
Peking, China, February 7, 1901.

Sir: I have the honor to say that a meeting of the foreign representatives with the Chinese plenipotentiaries was held on the 5th instant to give the latter an opportunity to be heard on the question of punishments, as set forth in our demands.

In order that all might agree to what should be said a brief indictment in each case was prepared for the doyen to read, copy of which I inclose. As the meeting was only intended for a verbal conference a copy of the indictment was not delivered to the Chinese plenipotentiaries.

They said it would be impossible to execute Prince Tuan or Duke Lan, but they would agree to their banishment for life to Turkestan. They said Prince Chuang would be ordered to commit suicide; that Yü Hsien would be executed; that General Tung Fu-hsiang had already been degraded, and that when it could be accomplished he would be more severely punished; that he is very popular in Kansu, and that any attempt to deal harshly with him would cause an uprising among the people, etc. * * *

As to the others, they insisted that their crimes were not so great or so well proven as those mentioned above, and hence some lighter punishment should be inflicted. Reply was made that even the least of the criminals deserved death, and, as that was the severest punishment which could be inflicted, the death penalty was demanded for all. They averred that it would be most difficult for the court to comply with our demands, and it was placing them in a most trying position, and begged the ministers not to create unnecessary difficulties for them. They did not hesitate to fix the main responsibility for the crimes committed on the same persons that we had named, nor try to shield the Chinese Government from its responsibility.

We had added the names of Chi Hsiu, a member of the Tsung-li Yamen and President of the Board of Rites, and Hsü Cheng-yü, formerly junior Vice-President of the Censorate, for reasons set forth in the indictment. These two men are now held in confinement by the Japanese forces in this city.

Much desultory conversation was indulged in between the Chinese plenipotentiaries and some of the ministers, but of little importance and without utility. We all had the impression, however, that so far as possible our demands would be complied with.

In the afternoon of the same day the foreign ministers met, and, after much discussion and with the general opinion that we should not give way further to the Chinese, finally unanimously agreed upon the persons and punishment set forth in the note herewith inclosed and which was sent to the Chinese plenipotentiaries.

The English minister, and the German and some others following, has been insisting upon demanding the death penalty for Prince Tuan and Duke Lan, but finally he consented that if in any way capital sentence could be recorded against these men, even if immediately commuted, he would agree to it. A Chinese formula was found which seemed to fit the case and which, it was believed, would be accepted by the Court. Demand was made in accordance therewith. It was as follows, as will be seen by the note inclosed:

Prince Tuan and Duke Lan are sentenced to imprisonment awaiting decapitation, but if immediately after this sentence the Emperor desires as an act of grace to preserve their lives, they will be sent to Turkestan, to be there imprisoned for life, with no further commutation of punishment ever to be made in their favor.

For the present we accept the Imperial promise as to Tung Fu-hsiang. Prince Chuang’s suicide will be accepted. For Ying Men, Chao Shu-chiao, Yü Hsien, Chi Hsiu, and Hsü Cheng-yü the death penalty is demanded, and for Kang Yi, Li Ping-heng, and Hsü Tung, who are already dead, posthumous punishments. For the four members of the Tsung-li Yamen, Yuan Chang, Hsü Yung-i, Hsu Ching-cheng, and Lien Yuan, and Li Shan, formerly President of the Board of Revenue and Comptroller of Imperial Household, who were beheaded last summer because they actively opposed the criminal madness of the Government in its attack upon the foreigners, we demand posthumous honors, as per copy of note inclosed.

As soon as the French minister receives further information from the interior for which he is waiting we shall present another list of the provincial officials who were accomplices in or responsible for massacre or cruel treatment of missionaries and demand their punishment.

With reference to the demand for posthumous honors mentioned above, and as showing how eminently they are deserved, I inclose a translation of three memorials of Yuan Chang and Hsü Ching-cheng urging the Government to stop its efforts to exterminate foreigners, punish the responsible officials, and save the Empire. For this advice they were beheaded.

I have, etc.,

E. H. Conger.

[Inclosure 2.—Translation.]

M. de Cologan to the Chinese plenipotentiaries.

Peking, February 6, 1901.

Your Highness and Your Excellency: The foreign representatives have informed you of the names of the persons who are particularly responsible for the crimes committed at Peking and the punishments which they judge proportioned to their crimes. They have listened to and considered the remarks you have presented upon this point. The object of this dispatch is to inform you of the definite resolution which they have taken on the subject, and without prejudice to those cases which will be brought to your notice later and which are in regard to those officials who have committed crimes in the provinces.

Your proposition with reference to the order which will be given Prince Chuang to commit suicide is accepted.

In regard to Prince Tuan and Duke Lan the foreign representatives have adopted the following resolution:

“Prince Tuan and Duke Lan will be sentenced to be imprisoned awaiting their decapitation. If immediately after their condemnation the Emperor believes he ought to spare their lives, they will be transported to Turkestan in order to be imprisoned there for life, without any further commutation of punishment whatever being pronounced in their favor.”

Ying Nien will be condemned to death. If Kang Yi were living he would be condemned to death. Being dead all legal consequences of such punishment will be decreed against him.

Chao Shu-chiao will be condemned to death. The foreign representatives agree with you as to the decapitation of Yü Hsien.

In regard to Tung Fu-hsiang the foreign representatives note the assurances which you have given them on the subject of the punishment to be inflicted upon him later. They express the opinion that in view of the execution of this penalty he ought to be deprived of his command as soon as possible.

If Li Ping-heng and Hsü Tung were living they should be condemned to death. As they are dead, all legal consequences of such punishment will be decreed against them.

Hsü Cheng-yü. and Chi Hsiu will be condemned to death.

The foreign representatives are of the opinion that the decrees promulgating these resolutions should be issued immediately. As to the executions, which should follow with the least possible delay, they expressly reserve to themselves the verification by delegates whom they will direct to be present at Peking or in the provinces.

You will appreciate the moderation of these demands, which show to what extent your observations have been taken into account. For the punishment of the murder of a minister, of a chancelor of legation, an attack of two months directed by the Imperial troops against the foreign settlements, the religious missions, and the representatives of the powers, the premeditated attempt to ambuscade all the foreigners on the road from Peking to Tientsin in order to massacre them, the execution of those high officials who have protested against the outrageous violations of international law in their memorials to the Throne, the criminal acts which have resulted in the death of numerous victims, the punishments demanded are a trifle.

In the name of all my colleagues I beg still further to again call your attention to the final clause of the note which has been delivered to you and the allusion to it in my dispatch which was given to you January 26, 1901.

It is indispensable that China grant immediately these first atonements if she desires that the foreign representatives be in a position to examine the military questions to which you have called their attention in your memorandum of January 16.

I avail myself, etc.,

B. J. de Cologan.

[Inclosure 3.—Translation.]

M. de Cologan to the Chinese plenipotentiaries.

Peking, February 6, 1901.

Your Highness and Your Excellency: I have already informed you of the resolutions adopted by the foreign representatives with reference to the persons more particularly responsible for the crimes which have been committed at Peking and the punishments which ought to be inflicted.

In the note which I sent you on that subject reference is made to the high officials of state who have been executed for having memorialized the Throne protesting against the outrageous violations of international law which have taken place in China during the past year.

I have to advise you that since an act of reparation and justice can only be made effective by the expressed assent of the Chinese Government, the foreign representatives have decided that Hsü Yung-yi, Hsü Ching-cheng, Yuan Chang, Lien Yuan, and Li Shan should be immediately restored to their former honors. You will be notified later on if there are any provincial officials who have been executed under the same conditions which, were the cause of the adoption to-day of the resolutions which have been brought to your notice.

The foreign representatives therefore request that you will memorialize the Throne for a decree restoring the names of the five high officials which I have just given you at the same time as the decree for the punishments demanded by my note of to-day.

[Inclosure 4.—Translation.]

Indictment of certain guilty officials. Read by M. de Cologan to Chinese plenipotentiaries.

Highness, Excellency: I am about to have the honor to make known to you the decisions which the foreign plenipotentiaries have reached concerning the carrying out of paragraph a of Article II of the note accepted by a decree of His Majesty the Emperor of China.

These decisions apply to the culprits who I am about to enumerate, adding to the name of each one of them an abstract of the responsibilities which they have incurred.

Prince Chuang has been officially commander in chief of the Boxers; has performed from the 21st of June the duties of prefect of police; has consequently the principal share of responsibility in the publication of the notice bearing the seal of the prefecture which promises rewards therein of between 30 to 50 taels to Chinese who shall capture foreigners alive (men, women, and children), and which punishes with death whoever shall protect foreigners. He has furnished their headquarters in his own palace, in which native Christians have been executed.

Prince Tuan has been the principal instigator of the Boxer movement, into which he has dragged the Chinese Government, persuading it that it was the best means of delivering China of all foreigners. He was appointed president of the tsungli yamen after having given this advice to the Chinese Government, and he is in particular responsible for the edicts which were made against foreigners between the 20th of June and the 10th of August, 1900. Among these decrees figures that of the 2d of July, the carrying out of which had for a consequence the massacres in the provinces, and especially in Shansi. He ordered his troops concurrently with those of General Tung Fu-hsiang to attack the legations.

He always opposed the advice given by various members of the tsungli yamen and by high mandarins looking to a cessation of hostilities.

He directed the party which secured the execution of four members of the tsungli yamen, of a minister, and of several other mandarins accused of being favorable to foreigners.

He is universally recognized as the author of the ultimatum sent on the 19th of June to the members of the diplomatic corps to convey to them the order to leave Peking in twenty-four hours.

He is also recognized as having ordered, even before the expiration of this delay, the firing on every foreigner in the streets of the capital.

He may be considered under this point of view as the principal author of the assassination of Baron von Ketteler.

Duke Lan was one of the official chiefs of the Boxers, in whose name he made several proclamations, exercised the functions of the vice-president of police, and took part in that capacity in the publication of a decree promising rewards to Chinese who should capture foreigners alive, (men, women, and children), and which punished with death whoever should protect foreigners. He is also considered as having been one of the first to open the gates of the city to the Boxers, whom he went out to meet.

Ying Nien. He was, like Chuang and Lan, one of the official chiefs of the Boxers, and signed in that capacity their principal notices. He as vice-president of police rendered himself accomplice of the criminal machinations of this administration, and took considerable part in the antiforeign movement.

Kang Yi. He was one of the instigators and counselors of the Boxers, whom he always protected at court, and to whom he was particularly instrumental in securing complete liberty of action. He showed himself to be one of the officials the most hostile to any understanding and to the reestablishment of peaceful relations with foreigners. Sent at the commencement of the month of June to meet the Boxers, under pretext of deterring them from entering the city, he, on the contrary, encouraged them to follow up their work of destruction, and became, like Duke Lan, Prince Tuan, and Ying Men, one of their official chiefs. He signed in this capacity their principal notices. He prepared a plan of expulsion and annihilation of foreigners in the provinces of the Empire.

Chao Shu-chiao was, as member of the Grand Council and minister of justice, and as a result of the considerable influence which he wielded in the councils of the Throne, one of the leaders of the undertaking against the foreigners. He urged the Chinese Government to leave perfect freedom of action to the Boxers and to furnish them means of action. He has special responsibility for the execution of the officials killed during the siege for having tried to stop the attacks against the legations. He went at the beginning of June to meet the Boxers, to whom he promised his help, freely tendering them his encouragement.

Yü Hsien brought to life again and reorganized the society of Boxers; is the author of the massacres in Shansi, assassinated with his own hand foreign missionaries, made himself noticed by his cruelty, and vaunted himself of his crimes, which stained with blood the whole province of which he was governor-general.

Tung Fu-hsiang prepared with Prince Tuan and carried out at Peking the plan for the annihilation of the foreigners in China, commanded the attacks which his troops, united with the Boxers, made against the legations. His soldiers assassinated the chancellor of the legation of Japan.

Li Ping-heng used his influence to have the Boxers recognized as a loyal and patriotic sect, and led the Government to use them with the object of exterminating all foreigners.

Intrusted with a special mission in the valley of the Yangtze, where he had been sent as an Imperial commissioner, he appears to have prepared a plan for the annihilation of foreigners in that region.

He besieged from the 27th of July the legations with the troops which he had brought from Kiang-su, and later on he fought against the allied armies marching on Peking.

Hsü tung has always been one of the officials the most hostile against the foreigners, of whom he advised the extermination. He associated himself with all measures destined to attain this end. He praised the Boxers, of whom he never ceased to be the accomplice, and whom he supported with all his influence as a high personage of the Empire and tutor of the heir presumptive.

Hsü Cheng-yu has the same responsibility as his father, in whose counsels and acts he constantly participated; furthermore, he is the principal author of the execution of the officials who had endeavored to stop the attacks against the legations.

Chi Hsiu was one of the officials the most hostile to foreigners, and used all his influence as member of the Tsung-li Yamen and as minister of rites in the service of the Boxers. He associated himself with those of his colleagues who used bloody reprisals against the party which disapproved the attack of the legations.

The foreign plenipotentiaries have decided, in accordance with the terms of the note which they handed your highness and your excellency, that they would ask for all the personages whose responsibility I have briefly stated “the severest penalty in conformity with their crimes.”

You will understand after the explanations which have just been given you that these personages deserve death.

When this question shall have been settled, the foreign plenipotentiaries will have to indicate to your highness and your excellency the names of the officials who, to their knowledge, have committed crimes in the provinces, and the punishments which shall be inflicted on them.

I must, furthermore, at the present stage, beg your highness and your excellency to please communicate to us before its publication, and to prevent all misunderstanding, the text of the edict referred to in article 10 of the collective note, and which are to be promulgated to prevent or repress antiforeign manifestations in the Empire.

[Inclosure 5.]

First memorial. Secret memorial by Yuan-ch’ang denouncing the Boxers, date probably between June 16 and 20, 1900.

Memorialist begins by stating that since the Boxer outbreak inside the city on June 13 daily audiences have been summoned of the advisers of the Throne, and the Empress Dowager, in anxiety for the welfare of the State, has addressed questions to them, to which this memorial is Yuan-ch’ang’s answer.

He traces the origin of the “I-ho-ch’uan” to a society of the same name composed of Shantung and Honan brigands which was suppressed by Imperial orders in the reign of Chia-ching (1808), together with the Eight Diagrams’ Society, both offshoots of the White Lily Society. The governor of Shantung, Yuan Shih-k’ai, in a statement prepared last month in obedience to Imperial instructions, said that there could be no question of encouraging the Boxers or of utilizing their services as soldiers. The seditious nature of this organization and the falsehood of their pretensions to invulnerability is demonstrated by the Ping-yuan Hsien case in Shantung some years ago, where an alleged descendant of the Ming dynasty and professor of magic arts was executed by Yü Hsien for stirring up excitement; by the test to which certain Boxers near Peking were put in 1894 when they offered their services to the Imperial troops as invulnerable men, and by their more recent disorderly proceedings and insurrectionary designs.

Memorialist refers to an audience he had of the Throne in December last, when the Boxers were creating disturbances in Shantung, on the pretext of their hatred of Christianity, on which occasion he denounced them as a heterodox and troublesome sect, and advocated their immediate suppression. Shortly after this Yuan Shih-k’ai took the matter vigorously in hand and restored order in Shantung, his forcible action making him the object of much abuse at first on the part of the ignorant literati of Shantung, who afterwards came to believe in him and approved his proceedings. The Tsungli Yamen had proposed to memorialize the Throne for instructions to Yuan Shih-k’ai, but finding that he had the work of suppression well in hand, they dropped the matter and did not present the memorial.

Unfortunately, however, as Shantung became quiet, the movement spread into Chihli, where the supineness and procrastination of the Viceroy Yu Lu developed it into a great calamity. It is impossible for Yu Lu to escape a heavy responsibility for his want of foresight at the beginning. When Imperial officers were killed at Lai-shui, Yu Lu saw that the Boxers were using the anti-Christian feeling as a cloak for rebellious actions, and telegraphed a memorial strongly urging that they should be dealt with by force of arms; but opinions at court were divided and no decision was taken. The impunity accorded to them emboldened the Boxers, and they seized Cho Chou, Yungching, and Pachou in succession; they destroyed the railways and telegraphs which are the property of the State and worth millions of money; and they burned hundreds of missions and massacred the converts, rendering the Government liable for huge indemnities.

As regards the accumulated feelings of hatred which exists between the converts and the people, the local authorities, in obedience to the laws of the realm ought, as a matter of course, to be impartial in their decisions, looking only to the merits of the case and not making distinctions between ordinary people and converts. They should on no account allow ruffians to take the law into their own hands and redress their own grievances. As it is, these rebels have had the audacity to invade the capital, and there they are burning missions, attacking the legations, destroying everything they please, shooting people, and alarming the palace. On the 16th instant they destroyed by fire houses of over a thousand families outside the Ch’ien Men, burning and pillaging completely the most wealthy and prosperous quarter of Pekin. Nine out of ten families have had to quit their houses and flee; all shops are closed; there is no money to pay the army; and everywhere is decay and ruin; and China is a laughing stock to other nations.

Memorialist next refers to the legation guards, only some 400 in number, which he declares were brought up for self-protection on account of genuine apprehension of violence from the anti-Christian Boxers. On the 12th instant the privy councillor, Ch’i Hsiu and other ministers of the yamen went by command of the Empress Dowager to convey a reassuring message to the legations and to inquire for the wives of the ministers. The ministers, accepting with gratitude the gracious greetings of the Throne, declared that the bringing up of the foreign troops was for the protection of their lives, and had absolutely no political bearing; and they solemnly swore that as soon as the trouble was over the troops would be withdrawn. Memorialist submits that the only way to prevent reenforcements from coming up is to clear the Tartar City of Boxers, and thus restore peace to the people and confidence to the foreigners, China must kill these rebels herself if she does not want foreign troops to assist her to kill them.

Memorialist proceeds to develop the remedy he proposes. The present failure to deal with the situation is due to a want of concentration in the command and the shirking of responsibility from one authority to another. He begs that the Grand Secretary Jung Lu may be invested with full discretionary powers to restore order. Proclamations should be issued that all rioters wearing red sashes and turbans, or carrying weapons, setting fire to houses, or killing people may be put to death if they offer resistance. Heavy rewards should be offered for the capture of Boxer chiefs or others, dead or alive. Jung Lu should direct operations from a central position and should have officers appointed to carry out his orders in detail. For this purpose memorialist recommends:

Fan Tseng-hsiang, Kuei-Ch’un, Wang T’ing-hsiang, Huang Kwei-chun, and Ch’en K’uei-lun, acting governor of Peking, all of whom he speaks in high terms.

Selected officers and soldiers from the Wu-wei army should be divided into companies of 200 or 300 each for the work of restoring order. The three south gates of the Tartar City should be closed to incomers and the streets and temples cleared of Boxers. Intelligent officers should be selected by the gendarmerie and the board of punishments to take evidence shortly in cases of arrests, whereupon ringleaders should be executed upon the spot and followers deported. When order is restored Jung Lu should send in a memorial reporting the number of Boxers put to death.

Dealing with the objection that the Boxers are too numerous to be exterminated, memorialist remarks that if only the leaders are caught and decapitated the courage of their followers will immediately evaporate. He ridicules their alleged possession of magic arts and invulnerability, referring to rebels with similar pretensions in the Han and Mongol dynasties who were eventually beheaded; also to the number of Boxers killed by the foreign soldiers on the evening of the 13th, and to the 40 Boxers killed in the Shuai-fu lane. (Allusion is to the joint British-American and Japanese raid on a Boxer temple on June 16.)

In conclusion memorialist again lays stress upon the absolute necessity of drastic measures in dealing with the Boxers. The power of foreign nations is great, their resentment will be deep, and the vengeance they will exact will bring about an inexpressible calamity. Unless China takes the work of extermination in hand herself foreign troops will do it for her, which would lead to a great bloodshed in the capital, and eventually to the indiscriminate slaughter of good citizens and irremediable ruin. The Grand Secretary Jung Lu is a loyal and patriotic statesman, and if he is invested with the requisite authority he will soon succeed in solving the present difficulties in international relations.

Second joint memorial of Hsü Ching-ch’eng and Yuan Ch’ang.

Memoralists venture to submit for the perusal of the Throne the following secret memorial setting forth without reserve their humble views on the present dissensions at home, aggressions from abroad, and daily increasing anarchy, and urging the policy of protecting the legations as the only means of preserving the Commonwealth.

Ever since the 24th of last moon (June 20), the day when the German minister, von Ketteler, was shot by Boxers who met him on the street, these brigands have been attacking the foreign legations. The Kansu army, under the command of General Tung Fu-hsiang, has lent the Boxers its support and has joined forces with them in a conspiracy of outrage. Innumerable inhabitants of the district round the legations have been involved in disaster on account of their proximity to the latter, and in the East City the private houses of officers have been plundered and almost entirely destroyed. Thus these brigands, as they made their hatred of Christianity a pretext for extending their depredations to the legations, so they have now made their attacks on the legations a basis for extending them to officials and people. It is certainly an unparalleled event in ancient or in modern times that a riotous army and a riotous mob should be let loose to wanton in the very capital of the country.

At the time when the brigands began their attacks on the legations everyone said that the latter would be razed to the ground in a day, and Tung Fu-hsiang several times reported that the legations had been totally destroyed. Now, after more than twenty days, only a paltry few of the foreign soldiers have been killed, while the bones and corpses of the brigands are lying scattered all along Legation street. They used to beguile people with incantations, boasting of magic arts which secured them against rifle and artillery fire. Where are these arts now? Several tens of thousand brigands have been attacking legations defended by about 400 foreign soldiers, and after over twenty days have not succeeded in breaking in. This is an exhibition of their skill forsooth. Are we now to rely on their valor as men of mere flesh and blood to secure protection against aggression?

But it may be said that the true I-ho-ch’uan (Boxers) are really able to render good service to their country, whereas the Boxers who quarrel, burn, and kill are all false Boxers who have joined the former. Then, since the union of the true and false members of this organization has resulted in such extreme disorder, and since the false members who have been allowed to join have committed every kind of outrage, it is evident that the true Boxers themselves are essentially a bad community.

Moreover, successive Imperial decrees have been issued strictly forbidding the prosecution of feuds by armed violence, arson, destruction, and pillage; and orders have been given to disperse the Boxers and expel them from the city. But these brigands treat such commands as idle words and continue to riot at their pleasure as before. True and false alike show contempt for the laws of their sovereign; all are senseless beasts, and their crime is unpardonable. The more they are conciliated the more numerous they become; the more influence is shown them, the greater grows their arrogance.

Memorialists requested in a former memorial that the Grand Secretary Jung Lu should be especially intrusted with the duty of employing methods of violence or of moral suasion as required, but their request was not granted. Now, however, that the disorders have reached so critical a pitch, they are bound at the risk of their lives again to set forth in trembling their humble opinions for the information of the Throne. They submit that according to the principles laid down in the “Spring and Autumn Annals” (Confucius), when two nations are at war, the envoy is not killed. By the international law of western powers a still greater importance attaches to envoys as the representatives of their nations. A slight to the envoy is a slight to his nation. If the Boxers are now allowed to attack and destroy the legations, and to succeed in killing the foreign ministers, the foreign powers will regard it as a gross insult, will unite their forces, and will fight to the death to obtain reparation. Though the number of foreign troops in Peking is limited, there is no limit to the number of reenforcements that can be sent. For one nation to oppose all the nations is in the humble opinion of memoralists a matter not merely of victory or defeat, but of the existence or annihilation of the nation.

The Government of China has now been in relations with foreign powers for nearly sixty years, during which time the latter have been allowed to propagate their religions throughout the country. The converts have been in the habit of relying on the influence and support of the foreign missionaries to oppress their fellow-citizens, and it has been inevitable that there should be some officials who have put pressure on the ordinary people in the hope of avoiding trouble, with the result that the people in their resentment have become at enmity with the converts. But all this is due to faulty administration on the part of memorialists and other servants of the Crown, faults which have led to the present disaster. The guilt they have incurred is indeed serious. How can memorialists venture to allege that the enmity between Christians and non-Christians is entirely the fault of the people? To allow both sides to take into their own hands the redressal of their grievances is to impair the prerogatives of the State. Suppose, for instance, that in a village there was a quarrel between two families, and the juniors and servants in fighting out their dispute set fire to a neighbor’s house and killed his gatekeeper, the heads of the families being unable to restrain them. In such a case the neighbor would certainly not address his compliments to the juniors and servants, but to the heads of the families. How could the latter reply that the matter did not concern them because the juniors and servants were beyond their control? This is taking a small matter to illustrate a great, but the principle involved in both is the same.

Another consideration is this: Among the religious systems of the Western nations one consists in the worship of “the Lord of Heaven” (Roman Catholicism) and one in the worship of “Jesus” (Protestantism). The Roman Catholic missionaries are called shen-fu (spiritual fathers) and the Protestant missionaries are called mu-shih (pastors). The Boxers make no distinctions between the religions, but call them both alike “the foreign religions.” Again, Russia follows the religion of the Greek Church and Japan follows Buddhism. Neither of these nations has ever propagated their religions in the interior of China, but the Boxers are entirely ignorant as to which nation has missionaries and which has not, and speak of all who wear strange clothes and speak a strange language as mao-tzu (“red-heads”). They take pleasure in hunting them all down without discrimination, no matter what considerations of policy make it inexpedient, what considerations of right and wrong make it unlawful.

Consider, moreover, the position of the Chinese ministers abroad. They are all stationed at their posts in pursuance of Imperial commands. If the powers in uncontrollable anger on account of our killing their ministers were to begin killing our ministers in revenge, this would be nothing better than an exchange of swords for the slaughter of each other’s representatives.

The Throne has just displayed its kindly feelings by sending vegetables, rice, and flour to the envoys. But the aforesaid brigands, relying on the support of their braggart general, continue their lawless attacks, and foreigners are led to suspect that the court is making a show of treating the legations with civility, while secretly screening their assailants. If it is said that the latter are not acting under orders, but are indulging in an orgy of cruelty of their own account, who will believe this?

Now, if the legations do not come to harm, when friendly relations are eventually resumed with the powers, the foreign ministers, having accepted the gracious kindness of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, will not fail to give expression to their natural feelings of gratitude, and will explain that the trouble was suddenly started by the Boxer brigands before precautions could be taken, and was not due to any leniency on the part of the Throne. In this way they will be able to succeed in dispelling the suspicious fears of their governments; the difficulty being halved, the good results will be doubled, and it will be comparatively easy to restore the situation.

But if the legations fall and the envoys are killed, how will the outer world ever learn of the kindness and consideration displayed at this time by their Majesties the Empress Dowager and the Emperor? If we seek to explain matters ourselves to the powers, though we should speak with a hundred voices we should not succeed in excusing ourselves to their satisfaction.

At the present time the powers are massing their troops on the pretext of acting for China in the suppression of the brigands. The suspicious say that they are surreptitiously taking advantage of this opportunity to aim at usurpation, while those who believe them declare that they have no ulterior motives. Memorialists do not profess to have sufficient ability to fathom their intentions. But as for the Boxers, they are a lawless crew in every respect. They ought long ago to have been exterminated without waiting for the repeated requests of the foreigners, and still more without waiting for the foreigners to suppress them for us.

The humble requests of memorialists then are as follows:

Complete protection should be afforded to the foreign legations in order to facilitate the future restoration of the status quo ante.

Also, stringent commands should be given to General Tung Fu-hsiang to withdraw the whole of his Kansu army outside the city, and to forbid his troops again approaching Legation street, or joining with their friends, the brigands, in attacks upon the legations, on pain of immediate execution. If once the soldiers and the brigands were separated, the power of the latter would be reduced and the task of suppressing them rendered comparatively easy.

Also, memorialists have again to beg that Grand Secretary Jung Lu be intrusted with the task of expelling all Boxers from the city within a prescribed limit of time in order to rescue the country from an imminent peril, and that he should adopt measures for their complete extermination in order to prevent future calamities.

Memorialists are well aware that, the heavens being now darkened by a flight of locusts, disaster to themselves will follow their words; but they are filled with the thought of the crisis of life or death to the nation which is momentarily impending. Their own opinions are simple and insignificant. They can not bear to speak, and yet they can not bear not to speak. They therefore, regardless of their own lives, humbly submit this memorial for the perusal of their Majesties the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. (Undated. Evidently written between July 20 and 24, 1900.)

Third memorial by Hsü Ching-ch’eng and Yuan Ch’ang.

Memorial submitting to the Throne a secret statement of how certain high officials, by encouraging magic arts, have injured the country and brought calamity upon the people, and requesting that severe punishment may be inflicted upon the instigators of the trouble, in order to check the evil at its source and avert an impending peril.

It is now just over one month since the Boxer brigands started the disturbances. The capital is shaken by earthquake and the four seas echo to the shock. Armies have collected; disaster is ripening; the whole world has been dragged into the strife; events of a nature unparalleled in history have inevitably brought about a calamity equally without parallel.

In the reign of Hsien Feng (1851–1862) the Fa Fei (long-haired rebels) and the Men Fei (mounted banditti in the north) fought desperately for over ten years and overran more than 10 provinces. Still longer ago, in the reign of Chia-Ch’ing (1796–1821), the Chiao Fei (White Lily Society) seized three or four provinces and usurped control for three or four years, and reference to the military archives shows that at the time all the military forces of the Empire had to be exerted to the utmost before conquest could be effected.

But if we compare the troubles of the present day we see that all the former ones were diseases of the extremities, and not like the Boxer brigands, a disease that saps the very vitals. For in the case of the Fa Fei, the Men Fei, and the Chiao Fei, everyone, from the Throne to the hamlet, knew that they were rebels; but in the case of the Ch’uan Fei (Boxers) of to-day, even high officials are deceived into looking upon them as patriotic subjects and refuse to call them rebels; or there are some who know they are rebels, but dare not treat them as rebels. Their folly is such that they have excited not only the enmity, but the derision of foreign nations.

When the Boxer brigands first set up their standard they had not the resources of guns and rifles, or of training in military operations. All they could do was to use the motto to “Support the dynasty; exterminate foreigners,” as a rallying cry for hordes of worthless vagabonds, and to set disturbances on foot. Had there been a single magistrate or military officer of ability available, they might have been suppressed with the utmost ease. But first the evil was fostered by Yü Hsien, ex-governor of Shantung, and afterwards it was encouraged by Yu Lu, governor-general of Chihli, who supplied the Boxers with arms, thus as it were giving wings to a tiger.

What is the explanation of the motto “Support the dynasty; exterminate foreigners?” If it means that men’s minds are imbued with a sense of the abundant favors that have been showered upon them by our Government for over two hundred years, and that therefore all who eat the produce or tread the soil of China are bent on exerting their energies and making speed to show their gratitude for the Imperial blessing, then the expression may pass. But if it means that at this juncture, when the state is troubled, when the times are critical and full of difficulties, the uncultured masses have the power to give support in danger and to restore order, then we must remember that to support is the opposite of to upset, and that the power to support involves the power to upset. Thus the intention implied is only too evident, and the expression of it still more deserves the punishment of death.

Your memorialists, unworthy servants though they are, are well aware that the intrusion of foreigners into the interior is certainly not for the benefit of China. But it behooves us to reform the internal administration of the country and to attend to the consolidation of external relations; to see that we have a cause of quarrel before taking action; and to choose among the nations one which it is within our power to oppose, when at one stroke we can with dignity and composure avenge our accumulated wrongs.

If when a foreign oppressor was invading us there arise any who are able to display enthusiastic patriotism and insist upon the necessity of resisting to the death, no matter what the measure of their ability might be, memorialists could not venture to do aught but applaud their spirit. But at a time like the present, when the nation is actually in the enjoyment of friendly relations with the powers, to suddenly begin to speak of “exterminating foreigners” is to provoke a quarrel upon a false issue, and to become the laughing stock of the world.

Moreover, does the expression “exterminate foreigners” apply to the foreigners who are in China, or does it include the foreigners of every nation in the five continents? If it is only the foreigners in China who are to be exterminated, it is impossible to prevent others from coming in their place. And if it is all the nations of-the world that are to be exterminated, then the foreigners are more than ten times as numerous as the Chinese, and it does not require much wisdom to know whether or not their extermination is possible.

Nevertheless, the wisdom of Yü Hsien and Yu Lu, both high provincial officers, did not reach as far as this. Yu Lu even invited the leaders of the Boxer brigands and treated them as honored guests. A rabble of hundreds of village ruffians and vagabonds had only to give themselves the style of I-ho-t’uan (the militia of patriotic union) to be immediately allowed to come in person into his yamen and to be treated by the governor-general with every mark of consideration. Was not this a slight to the throne and an insult to all the scholars of the Empire?

Chang Te-ch’eng, Tsao Fu-t’ien, and Han I-li, Boxers of Ching-hai Hsien, Wang Te-ch’eng, and others of Wen-an and Pa-chou, were all common local bullies, ruffians who defied authority and banded themselves together to make riots the plague of their districts. These men had been notorious for a long time; there was not a man in the country side who did not know their names, not even a resident in Peking who did not know them. The aforesaid governor-general brought them all to the notice of the throne in a public memorial, speaking of them in laudatory terms and recommending them for employment. Never was there so flagrant a case of deceiving the Sovereign.

Again, Yu Lu stated in a memorial that on the 20th day of the 5th moon (June 16) about 7 o’clock in the evening the foreigners demanded the surrender of the Taku forts; that the general, Lo Jung-kuang, stoutly refused to comply; that both sides remained firm until about midnight, when the foreigners opened the attack with artillery fire; that the general offered valiant resistance and succeeded in sinking two of the foreign ships at anchor; that on the 22d (June 18) the foreign soldiers in the Tientsin settlement advanced in different directions and offered battle; that the Chinese forces opposed them in every direction and supported by detachments of the I-ho-t’uan (Boxers) attacked them with the utmost vigor and burned a large number of houses in the settlement. Now the memorialists have made inquiries of refugees who have arrived at Peking from Tientsin, and these all declare that the sinking of foreign ships and the burning of foreign houses actually never occurred, but that the Chinese troops and Boxers were killed by the artillery of the foreign powers to the number of not less than several tens of thousands. Different voices all speak in the same sense; it is certainly not a mere lying rumor.

There are even some who say that the attack of the Taku forts by the foreign forces on the 16th of June was subsequent to the opening of hostilities by Yu Lu, who gave orders to the Boxers to attack the Tientsin settlement. This statement, however, may be merely the result of Yu Lu’s unpopularity and can not be trusted implicitly.

At all events Yu Lu’s lying report of military operations is exactly on a par with General Tung Fu-hsiang’s false statement that the legations had been destroyed and the foreigners in them utterly wiped out.

Now Tung Fu-hsiang was originally a local robber of Kansu, who was forced by the pressure of poverty to offer his allegiance, and having rendered a certain amount of good service in his military career, was promoted from the ranks by the Throne and thus attained his present position. With what self-restraint and self-respect ought he to humbly seek to requite such generous and gracious kindness. Instead of which this bandit and traitor consorts with, thieves and robbers, and continues to pursue his course of rebellious conduct. Not only does he show ingratitude’ for the Imperial favors, but his savage, wolf-like disposition gives cause to fear that he may bring about still further calamity.

Yu Lu has held several high territorial commands, and is not to be compared with a military officer like Tung Fu-hsiang. But nevertheless his folly and ignorance have reached a pitch which surpasses all expectation.

The truth is that both tried to fall in with the wild views of the officials at the court, which they wrongly considered to be inspired by their Majesties the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, and they were thus induced to turn round and relapse into sedition recklessly and unscrupulously. They were brought over, in fact, by the glozing deceits and hoodwinking devices of the present court officials.

The grand secretary, Hsü-T’ung, is by nature a fool, and has no knowledge of good and evil.

The privy councilor and assistant grand secretary, Kang Yi, associates with traitors and encourages rebels. He follows blindly and obstinately his natural disposition.

The privy councilor and president of the board of ceremonies, Ch’i Hsiu, is obstinate and self-opinionated, ignorant and yet fond of using his own judgment.

The privy councilor and president of the board of war, Chao Shu-ch’iao, is bent on cunning and deceit, and skillful in playing the sycophant.

At the time when the Boxers were entering the city, the princess, dukes, and other metropolitan and prominent officials were summoned to the Imperial presence and asked to pronounce for the policy of violent methods or of conciliation. Memorialists thereupon replied to the effect that the Boxers were not patriotic subjects, and could not be relied upon to defend their country; and that hostilities could not be lightly entered upon with foreign powers without due cause. Hsu-T’ung, Kang Yi, and others had the audacity, in the presence of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, to stigmatize this language as seditious. Ah, if China’s 10,000 well-sharpened blades were but equal to the task of conquering her enemies, would not memorialists’ life-long desire be to have the whole of the latter collected in one place and to give the signal for their destruction? But if they are not, if these critics are but deceiving themselves and thus deceiving the country, the “seditious language,” it is to be feared, is not on the part of your memorialists.

In the month of June, Kang Yi and Chao Shu-ch’iao received Imperial orders to proceed to Cho-chou and disperse the Boxers. The latter forced them to kneel, and offer incense, and used language full of slanders and falsehood. Chao Shu-ch’iao well knew that they were lying, but he only muttered his disgust to the members of his staff, and afterwards, finding that Kang Yi believed the Boxers to be possessed of supernatural powers, he did not dare to disagree. All they did was to issue a few hundred proclamations by way of fulfilling their mission, whereupon they reported to the throne that the Boxers had been dispersed. But if that was so, how is it that the Boxer brigands are now so numberless that they can not be exterminated? Why does the throne not hold these ministers responsible for the reckless falsehood of this memorial?

At the present moment Tientsin has fallen; and the foreign troops are gaining one position after another. So far the Boxers have not succeeded in preventing their advance by magic arts, and there is every reason to fear that within a fortnight they will be actually striking at the capital. If by any chance the Imperial temples should be alarmed by the shock or the people reduced to misery, what a terrible prospect. At the very thought of it the hearts of your memorialists are filled with distress; but Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the others talk and laugh on the sinking ship, and possess their souls in peace as if they still relied on the ability of the Boxers to form a wall of defense. The whole court has been in a state of bewilderment, like drunken men or fools. Members of the Imperial clan—the Emperor’s kinsmen and scions of noble families; men of high position—Imperial guardians and preceptors and privy councilors, almost all have worshiped the Boxers as supernatural beings. Even in the palaces of princes and dukes Boxer altars are said to have been erected.

The folly of the Boxers infected Hsü T’ung and Kang Yi with folly, and the folly of Hsü T’ung and Kang Yi spread to the princes and dukes. Thus Hsü T’ung and Kang Yi are the pivots on which the whole of the present extremity turns. If the Empress Dowager and the Emperor do not put the laws of the realm in force and publicly denounce and punish the high officials who were the ringleaders in encouraging the Boxers, it is to be feared that the whole of the court will be led astray on account of the Boxers, and all the high provincial officials who think to conform to the views of the court—not Yü Hsien and Yu Lu alone—will be befooled along with the court.

Alas! The ancestral altars which have blessed our land for three hundred years are to be staked on a single throw by mistaken statesmen in reckless belief in the Boxer cult. How shall the Emperor answer for it to the spirits of his sainted ancestors?

Your memorialists submit that the crisis is at hand; not a moment is to be lost. If the Boxers are not immediately exterminated, there is no excuse whereby to stop the foreign troops. And if the leaders who screen the Boxers are not put to death, it will not be possible to exterminate the Boxers.

At the time when the Boxers began their operations they did not dare to disobey the commands of the throne to insult officials, to destroy Government property, to carry arms, and bring fire and slaughter on peaceful citizens. But when Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the others called them patriotic subjects the prestige of the Boxers increased, the common people were led still further astray, and the assemblies of worthless vagabonds became more numerous.

If Yü Hsien last year had immediately suppressed these brigands, they would never have been able to spread into Chihli. If Yu Lu this spring had done his duty in checking them, the Boxers would never have been able to invade the capital. If Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the others had not encouraged them with the title of patriotic subjects, these brigands would never have dared to commit such wanton excesses in the way of arson, pillage, and murder. Thus, if the calamity is traced to its source, it becomes clear upon whose shoulders the responsibility must fall.

It is the duty therefore of memorialists to ask for a decree in the first place sentencing to severe punishment Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, Chi Hsiu, Chao Shu-ch’iao, Yu Lu, Yü Hsien, and Tung Fu-hsiang. The other high officials guilty of screening the Boxers, who held equally mistaken views with those of Hsü T’ung and Kang Yi, should all be punished as their guilt deserves, and the customary slight remission in deference to considerations of rank or of relationship should not be granted.

If this is done the Boxers, learning thus that the former latitude given to the Boxers in open hostilities was due to the error of these high officials and was not the policy of the Government, may, it is hoped, lay aside the quarrel and resume friendly relations, and the ancestral altars may escape disaster.

After this your memorialists beg that they may themselves be put to death, in order to appease the spirits of Hsü T’ung, Kang Yi, and the other high officers. So your memorialists will go joyfully to their doom.

This memorial is written with reluctance and many tears under the stress of an indignation and consternation which can not be contained. It is hereby humbly submitted for the perusal of Their Majesties the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

July 24, 1900.