States to-day sent to the Foreign Office an identical note demanding the publication of a strong Imperial decree without delay. If Chinese Government absolutely refuse and the situation does not materially improve, I advise that a naval demonstration by war vessels of each Government should be made in north Chinese waters. My colleagues have telegraphed their Governments similarly.

On May 26th Mr. Conger asked permission to request a guard of marines for his legation from Admiral Kempff, and the request was granted on consideration that the safety of the legation required it. On May 29th the Government received from Mr. Conger the following:

Boxers increasing. Nine Methodist converts brutally murdered at Pachow. The movement has developed into open rebellion. Chinese Government is trying, but apparently is unable to suppress it. Many soldiers disloyal. Several railroad bridges and stations near Peking burned. Legations have ordered guards.

The situation continued to grow more serious, and communication with the legations ceased entirely. On the 17th of June the German Minister was assassinated in the streets of Peking, and an armed attack was made on the legations. To the Viceroys of Nanking and Hu Nan, who represented to the Government that they were able and determined to preserve order and prevent outrages upon foreigners in their respective provinces, Secretary Hay replied, on June 22d:

The Government of the United States has no disposition to send either military or naval forces into any Chinese provinces where the Government shows its ability and its determination to preserve order and to protect foreigners in their lives and their rights.

The situation, however, was becoming desperate, and troops were sent from Manila and further preparations made for the protection of American life and property. On July 3d Secretary Hay sent to our representatives abroad the following:

Department of STATE, WASHINGTON, July 3, 1900.

In this critical posture of affairs in China, it is deemed appropriate to define the attitude of the United States as far as present circum

The Boxer Uprising.

383

stances permit this to be done. We adhere to the policy initiated by us in 1857 of peace with the Chinese nation, of furtherance of lawful commerce and of protection of lives and property of our citizens by all means guaranteed under extra-territorial treaty rights and by the law of nations. If wrong be done to our citizens we propose to hold the responsible authors to the uttermost accountability.

We regard the situation at Peking as one of virtual anarchy, whereby power and responsibility are practically devolved upon the local provincial authorities. So long as they are not in overt collusion with rebellion and use their power to protect foreign life and property we regard them as representing the Chinese people, with whom we seek to remain in peace and friendship. The purpose of the President is, as it has been heretofore, to act concurrently with the other Powers, first, in opening up communication with Peking, and rescuing the American officials, missionaries, and other Americans who are in danger; second, in affording all possible protection everywhere in China to American life and property; third, in guarding and protecting all legitimate American interests, and fourth, in aiding to prevent a spread of the disorders to the other provinces of the Empire and a recurrence of such disasters.

It is, of course, too early to forecast the means of attaining this last result, but the policy of the Government of the United States is to seek a solution which may bring about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed to friendly Powers by treaty and international law, and safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.

You will communicate the purport of this instruction to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

With this definition of purpose and policy the great Powers unanimously agreed.

An attempt was then made through the Chinese Minister, Wu, to obtain information concerning our Minister and, if possible, communication with him. On July 30th Secretary Hay, replying to a suggestion of Li Hung Chang that the ministers might be sent safely to Tientsin, if the powers would agree not to march on Peking, sent the following:

The Government will not enter into any arrangement regarding disposition or treatment of legations without first having free communication with Minister Conger. Responsibility for their protection rests upon Chinese Government. Power to deliver at Tientsin presupposes power to protect and to open communication. This is insisted on.

Upon delivery of this message to Li Hung Chang he asked whether "if free communication were established between ministers and their governments, it could be arranged that the Powers should not advance on Peking pending negotiations." To this inquiry Secretary Hay sent the following reply on the 1st of August:

GOODNOW, Consul General Shanghai.

I do not think it expedient to submit the proposition of Earl Li to the other Powers. Free communication with our representatives in Peking is demanded as a matter of absolute right, and not as a favor. Since the Chinese Government admits that it possesses the power to give communication, it puts itself in an unfriendly attitude by denying it. No negotiations seem advisable until the Chinese Government shall have put the diplomatic representatives of the Powers in full and free communication with their respective governments and removed all danger to their lives and liberty. We would urge Earl Li earnestly to advise the Imperial authorities of China to place themselves in friendly communication and co-operation with the relief expedition. They are assuming heavy responsibility in acting otherwise.

On August 7th the following was received from Minister Conger:

Still besieged. Situation more precarious. Chinese Government insisting upon our leaving Peking which would be certain death. Rifle firing upon us daily by Imperial troops. Have abundant courage but little ammunition or provisions. Two progressive Yamen Ministers beheaded. All connected with Legation of the United States well at the present moment.

American Diplomacy.

385

Mr. Adee, the acting Secretary of State, on the following day sent a telegram to the Chinese Government advising it to enter into communication with the relief expedition for the purpose of securing co-operation for the liberation of the legations, the protection of foreigners, and the restoration of order. A move was made upon Tientsin by the allied forces, which they took on the morning of July 14th.

Owing, however, to the difficulty of moving troops and transporting supplies in the rainy season, the advance on Peking was not begun until August 4th. On August 17th entrance was made into the city, and, to the relief of all throughout the world, the members of the various legations were found to be alive, although in desperate straits. Negotiations followed between the Powers and the Chinese Government, in which the United States took the foremost part, with the result that on December 22d a joint note was signed, and the demands therein made were accepted by the Chinese Government. It was largely due to the diplomacy of President McKinley and Secretary Hay that the affair was terminated without impairing the integrity of the Chinese Empire, without a declaration of war, and with the safety of the legation, not only of our own country, but of the other countries, and a final satisfactory arrangement securing harmony of action and making to the honor and highest interest of all involved.

VOL. II.-25

CHAPTER XV.

CONVENTIONS AND CAMPAIGN OF 1900— MCKINLEY AGAIN TRIUMPHS OVER BRYAN.

TH

HE Twelfth National Republican Convention was called to order in the city of Philadelphia, Tuesday, June 19, 1900, by Senator M. A. Hanna, chairman of the Republican National Committee. The city chosen as the meetingplace for the last Republican convention of its first half-century of existence was the same as that chosen for its first national convention in 1856. After prayer was offered, Mr. Hanna concluded his address to the convention as follows:

Delegates, I greet you on the anniversary in Philadelphia of the birthday of our party. I need not remind you that your duty here is one of deliberate judgment, one for which you will be held responsible not only by your party, but by the country. We are called together once more upon the eve of another great struggle. We are now beginning to form our battalions under the leadership of our great statesman-general, William McKinley. I was about to give the order for those battalions to move, but you interrupted me. It needs no order to Republicans when they scent from afar the smoke of battle. It is unnecessary to tell the men who sit in front of me what their duty is.

Before I lay aside my gavel and retire from the position I have held for four years as chairman of the Republican National Committee, I desire in this presence, in the most public manner, to return my sincere thanks to every member of this splendid Committee who stood by me in the struggle of 1896, and especially to that coterie who gathered at the headquarters in New York and Chicago and worked from early morn till late at night for the principles of the