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

Mr. Rockhill to Mr. Hay.

No. 54.]

Commissioner of the United States to China,
Peking, China, April 2, 1901.

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the list of punishments to be inflicted on officials and other persons in the provinces guilty of active participation in the murder and cruel treatment of foreigners during the antiforeign movement of last year was sent to the Chinese plenipotentiaries yesterday. I inclose herewith a translation of the joint note, signed by all the representatives except the Russian, accompanying the list. A second list of persons whose guilt should be inquired into by the Chinese Government was also forwarded with the note.

The four demands for capital punishment were necessitated by the following facts:

1. Pai Ch’ang, district magistrate of Yang-elm Hsien in Shan-hsi, was the chief instrument of Yü Hsien in carrying out the treacherous murder of over 40 foreigners—men, women, and children—at T’ai-yuan Fu on or about the 9th of July, 1900.

2. Cheng Wen-ch’i, acting taotai of Kuei-hua Ch’eng in Shan-hsi; guilty of the murder of Capt. Watts Jones, Bishop Hamer, and other missionaries.

3. Chou Chih-te, captain of the city guard at Ch’ü Chou in Chekiang. He took a leading part in the massacre of foreigners there on the 21st, 22d, and 23d of July, 1900. Not only did he plan the attack on the missionaries, but he led the murderers in person.

4. Wen Hsing, district magistrate of Luan-ping Hsien in Chih-li. He ordered his soldiers to bury alive a Roman Catholic priest. The body was afterwards dug up and thrown into the river by his orders. Later it was recovered by the converts and buried, but he had it exhumed and again thrown into the river.

The other punishments demanded are:

Sentence of death, to be commuted to perpetual exile	11
Exile for life	13
Imprisonment for life	4
Imprisonment for a term of years	2
Cashiered for life	58
Censure	2
Posthumous degradation	2

The total number of punishments demanded amounts to 96.¹

I have the honor, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure with dispatch No. 54.—Translation.]

Peking, March 28, 1901.

Your Highness and Your Excellency: You have been informed on several occasions, and particularly at the meeting which you had on the 5th of February with the representatives of the powers, that the names of the officials guilty of crimes committed in the provinces would be transmitted to you, together with the punishments which it would be proper to inflict on these officials, in accordance with article 2 of the Joint Note.

The undersigned plenipotentiaries have therefore the honor to communicate to you herewith, firstly, a list of the officials whose guiltiness they consider established and for whom they designate the punishments to be inflicted; secondly, a list of the officials who have been reported to them as seriously implicated, but concerning whom they do not possess sufficient information, and on whose cases they ask that the Chinese Government shall make an inquest.

The undersigned plenipotentiaries expect that you will request without delay, of the Throne, to terminate finally this affair, decrees in conformity with the demands which they address you. They think that without waiting for results of the inquest, which the Chinese Government should institute as rapidly as possible it would be proper to have posted throughout the Empire, in conformity with the terms of Article X of the Joint Note, edicts stating the punishments which have been inflicted. This will assist in giving more prompt satisfaction to the requests made by your highness and your excellency, the examination into which has been adjourned until Articles II and X of the above-mentioned note have been complied with.

(Signed by all the plenipotentiaries, with the exception of the Russian.)

1. See Mr. Rockhill to Mr. Hay, No. 107, of. June 5, 1901, p. 192 et seq.