200 seded by a system based upon the more relevant requirements of the West. Το enable candidates in preparing for these examinations there were to be established not only common and higher schools, but colleges, and at Peking a university. Some of these institutions were established, including the university, which practically was founded by Li Hung Chang, and to the presidency of which Dr. W. A. P. Martin (q.v.) was appointed. The emperor, moreover, abolished various sinecures of the mandarins and established several governmental bureaus, including departments of commerce, mining, and agriculture; and he decreed such a freedom of speech that even subordinate officials were allowed to address the throne. It appears that this last provision in the emperor's scheme of reform was the young man's undoing, and precipitated the coup d'état. A junior official formulated plan for further government reforms, but the higher officials refused to transmit the memorial to the emperor, who, upon learning of the matter, deprived them of their official honors. They appealed to the empress dowager, representing to her the "horrors perpetrated in the Schools of Western Knowledge," setting forth the inexpediency of the emperor's policy, and asserting that he "was driving the chariot of state so furiously that there was danger of his setting the world on fire." Thereupon, in September, 1898, the empress dowager practically compelled Kwang Hsu to abdicate. She forced him to issue a statement over his signature, relinquishing to her the reins of government. On coming again into power the old empress stated that she was not opposed to "rational progress; but she immediately surrounded herself with Manchu officials who favored reaction, or, as some one has properly said, stagnation. Reactionary Manchus were also appointed to high posts in the provincial administrations. Many of the Chinese people had welcomed the reform policy of the emperor, but most of these were easily placated by the new government, which had only to emphasize the real purpose of the palace revolution—namely, opposition to the foreigner. For was it not the foreigner who was desecrating the tombs of their ancestors, who was putting to shame their time-honored religion, who was not only exploiting, but acquiring, their country for his own pecuniary benefit? The empress cancelled the administrative and educational reforms instituted by Kwang Hsu (saving alone the new university at Peking), and within three months the government began on a large scale to improve its armaments and increase the imperial army. The entire movement was confessedly anti-foreign, but the Western Powers seemed blind to the situation, fearing little, or not at all, that the Chinese soldiers, drilled by European officers and armed with European guns, would use that training and those arms against the foreigner. And yet it was at that very time that Tung Fu-hsiang, the favorite general of the empress, who in the summer of 1900 led the imperial troops against the allied forces between Tientsin and Peking, said that the preparations were being made "to drive all foreigners into the Yellow Sea." These preparations continued for about a year. By March, 1899, it seems, they had progressed sufficiently to warrant the government in making its haughty, but by no means unreasonable, refusal to the demands of Italy for San Mun Bay. The first decree of the empress dowager, promulgated on November 21, 1899, was a threatening refusal of further concessions to foreigners, and it authorized the provincial authorities to resist with armed force any pressure brought to effect such concessions. The inflammatory character of this document may be seen in its concluding paragraph, which was published in the North China Herald of December 27, 1899: "Never should the word 'peace' fall from the mouths of our high officials, nor should they even allow it to rest for a moment within their breasts. With such a country as ours, with her vast area, stretching out several tens of thousands of li, her immense natural resources and her hundreds of millions of inhabitants, if only each and all of you would prove his loyalty to his emperor and his love of country, what, indeed, is there to fear from any invader? Let no one think of making peace, but let each try to preserve from destruction and spoliation his ancestral home and graves from the ruthless hands of the invader. Let these our words be made known to each and all within our domains." This edict and a similar one were read by the literati to the people throughout the country, and imperial officials were sent to the provinces of the coast and the Yangtse Valley to ascertain what ability the provincial governments had for carrying out, if necessary, the new defensive policy. The result was the great encouragement of the Boxer Society, whose principal purposes were to exterminate the native Christians and drive the foreigners from China. The Boxer movement will be treated with more detail in a succeeding paragraph. Some attempts, it appears, had been made to restrain the society; but as its purposes really harmonized with those of the government of the dowager empress, its growth and increasing power were winked at by the Peking authorities, and by the end of 1899 it was practically uncontrolled in northern China. For more than a year before the outbreaks in the summer of 1900 the Boxer menace was recognized and discussed in the treaty ports, but the diplomatic representatives of the foreign Powers took so little heed that those outbreaks came as a frightful surprise to both the governments and the peoples of the Western countries. In August, 1899, the danger was pointed 201 Chinese Empire. out by the North China Herald; and on February 14, 1900, after urging the arrest of the Boxer leaders, it said: "We cannot too strongly insist that, unless this is The whole country from the Yellow done, it is morally certain that the opening spring will witness a rising such as foreigners in China have never seen before. River to the Great Wall and beyond will be a blaze of insurrection, which will not only annihilate every foreign interest of every sort in the interior, but will drive every foreigner out of Peking and Tientsin under conditions which it is not difficult to foresee. There has been more or less of such an uprising for a long time. Unless strong and united efforts are now put forth, it is as certain to take place as any The journal just future event can well be. Those who are interested in preventing it will act accordingly." But, unhappily, those who were interested in preventing it did not act "accordingly;" the apathy of the Powers seems strange indeed. quoted said on March 28, 1900: "Those who hold the reins of power now in Peking are, with their imperial mistress herself, ignorant enough of the outside world to And on May 9, almost, as it were, on believe that, if they choose, they are strong enough now to defy Great Britain and to expel all foreigners from North China.' the eve of the catastrophe, it said: "With the northern provinces overrun by the Boxers, the Yangtse Valley distinctly dissatisfied with the present position of affairs, and the southern provinces arming, a word in season cannot be missaid. It may be added that Chinese in Peking who study the undercurrents, and who write to their friends in Shanghai things which they find it prudent not to utter in the capital, are more and more convinced that the Manchus in power are preparing for a bold attempt to expel the foreigner altogether from North China." But from the Chinese standpoint their grievances are long-standing. They claim that from 1842, when Great Britain at the point of the sword forced the opium curse upon the Chinese people, to 1897-99, when in particular Germany practically robbed the Chinese Empire of a valuable part of one of its most important provinces, the exploitation of the country has been first and last for the benefit of the foreigner and The coasting only incidentally for the good of the natives. The sacred ancestral tombs have been disturbed by the railway, which in itself the Chinese regarded as an evil, for, as they urge, does it not deprive the native carriers of their employment? trade was encroached upon by the foreigner, who subsequently demanded that merchant vessels under his flag ply the inland waters of the country. Chinese law was regarded as being of little worth; and, accordingly, missionaries, merchants, and other foreigners, by virtue of forced treaty stipulations, were granted the status of It seems also that the Chinese people were angered by the extraterritoriality. hypothecation of the likin tax when the indemnity loan was negotiated after the war with Japan. To similar liens on the foreign customs revenue the people had given little heed; but the likin tax, drawn from their own pockets and used chiefly in payment of provincial expenses, they regarded as a matter of more personal concern. And, strangely enough, their indignation was directed not so much against the government that granted as against the foreigner that obtained the hypothecation. During a part of 1900 much blame for the outbreak was laid upon the missionaries. It appears, however, that this censure was misdirected, so far, at least, as it concerned the inculcation of a new faith. True. trouble follows the missionary-for is not his attitude a constant insult to the self-satisfied native moralist?-but this usually arises from the machinations of the so-called converts and the intervention of the priests with the officials on behalf of native Christians. Such troubles before the summer of 1900 had become serious in many localities, especially in Shantung, the native province of Confucius. Ordinarily, the Chinese are simply indifferent to the spiritual aspects of Christianity. (See MISSIONS, PROTESTANT FOREIGN, paragraph Missionary Responsibility.) Sir Robert Hart, the imperial commissioner of maritime customs, has quoted the remark of Prince Kung: "Take away your missionaries and your opium, and you will be welcome!" and of the well-known Wen Hsiang: "Do away with your extraterritoriality clause, and your missionaries and merchants may go where they please; if your missionaries can make our people better, that will be our gain; if your merchants can make money, ours will share in the advantage!" The real objection of both these men, said Sir Robert Hart, was neither Christianity nor commerce, but class exemption and the imperium in imperio. The Boxers.-Prominent in fostering the anti-foreign feeling has been a secret society, commonly called the Boxers, but known also as the Sword Society and, from its motto, the "Righteousness, Harmony, Fists" Society. Contrary to a popular Little was heard of it by belief, this society was not organized to oppose Christian missions. It is known to have troubled the Chinese government more than a century ago, and in 1803 was formally included among the forbidden associations. Westerners from that time until recently. During the last two or three years, it seems, the society rapidly gained recruits, spreading through Shantung. Chili, and other provinces of northern China; and by the summer of 1900 its members and those in sympathy with its principles were estimated to number several millions. 202 "The doctrine to which it owes its existence," says Dr. W. A. P. Martin, "is not orthodox Confucianism, Buddhism, or Taoism, but a superstition based on hypnotism, mesmerism, or spiritualism, as it is variously called;" and its avowed purpose, recently, at least, has been to kill all the native Christians and drive all the foreigners out of the country. Of the Boxer movement, Sir Robert Hart says that "statesmen have, perhaps, never had a more involved question to deal with as regards its origin" or more far-reaching consequences to foresee, take advantage of, and provide against." The members of the society perform certain mystical rites, which include bowing to the southeast, repeating mysterious verbal forms, wielding swords and spears in a strange and unusual manner, and practising various gymnastic feats. The "semi-initiated" are supposed to be impervious to the cut or thrust of the sword, while the "fully initiated" are regarded as invulnerable to shell or rifle ball; and all profess to have supernatural strength. As some members were exhibited before Prince Tuan and the emperor and empress dowager, the society gained a certain legalized standing that to some extent allowed its later development. Many of the members in Shantung were supplied with arms by the Manchu governor of that province, who recognized in them an auxiliary force; and they were encouraged, it is said, by the empress dowager to proceed to Peking. At this time-in the spring of 1900-missionaries sent warnings to the foreign representatives in the capital, to whose questions the Tsung-li Yamen, or Chinese foreign office, replied that the Boxers "practised an innocent kind of gymnastics; and if they did sometimes show themselves turbulent and disposed to quarrel with native Christians, it was not without cause." Various outrages ensued, and the empress dowager ordered that the Boxers return to their homes; but the decrees, according to no less an authority than Dr. Martin, were accompanied by secret instructions not to obey them. On May 21 the members of the diplomatic corps in Peking made a formal demand upon the Chinese government for the suppression of the Boxers, and on the following day imperial troops were sent out ostensibly with that purpose. A few half-hearted engagements took place, and on June 9 the troops were withdrawn. Many of the troops went over to the Boxer cause. But by this time many native converts had been massacred, chapels had been destroyed, and the railway and telegraph stations between Pao-ting-fu and Peking had been wrecked or seriously damaged. On May 19 the Christian village of Lai-Shun, seventy miles from Peking, was destroyed and seventy-three native converts massacred. So intense was the feeling against everything foreign that the Boxers killed not only Chinese men, women, and children who had embraced the Christian faith, but those who had had intercourse with foreigners or had bought or sold foreign commodities. In June began the siege of Peking. Before considering that and the engagements at Taku and Tientsin it is necessary to review the conditions existing in the imperial household and government from the beginning of 1900. Governmental Changes.-On January 24, 1900, an edict was signed by the Emperor Kwang Hsu, at the instance of the empress dowager, that removed him further from power than had the coup d'état of 1898. The attributed cause was the emperor's continued ill-health which, it was alleged, rendered him incapable of attending to state business. The same edict appointed a child of about nine years, the son of the reactionary Prince Tuan, as heir, not to Kwang Hsu, but to his predecessor, Tung-chi; and the empress dowager became regent in fact. The empress dowager dismissed Lung Lu, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, appointing in his stead Prince Tuan, and on February 7 ordered a cessation of the study of the "new, depraved, and erroneous subjects of the Western schools," and threatened punishment to all who continued to teach them. The action of the empress_caused some trouble and rioting in China, and gave not a little uneasiness to foreign Powers, especially Japan, who_apprehended the dominance of Russian influence with the Manchu authorities. For some time there were rumors, which it was subsequently learned were untrue, that the emperor had been assassinated or forced to commit suicide. On June 11 he appealed to the Powers for the deposition of the empress dowager and the establishment of a protectorate. On the same day the reactionary Prince Tuan was appointed president of the Tsung-li Yamen (foreign office), to succeed Prince Ching, who was regarded as being in some degree pro-foreign in sympathy. Action of the Powers.-Toward the latter part of May the Boxer movement had become so serious and was of such menacing portent to all foreigners, including the diplomatic representatives, while the imperial government seemed unable or unwilling to check the outrages, that the Powers ordered the despatch of many warships to Taku. This town is at the mouth of the Pei River, its neighboring village, Tong-ku, being twenty-seven miles by rail from Tientsin. On May 30 Rear-Admiral Louis Kempff (q.v.), commanding the United States cruiser Newark, landed over 60 marines, under Captain McCalla (q.v.), who were sent to Tientsin en route to Peking, which is eighty miles northwest of the latter city. The foreign warships |