World-crisis in China, 1900. A short account of the outbreak of the war with the "Boxers", and ensuing foreign complications

Front matter

BY ALLEN S.WILL

OF THE BALTIMORE SUN

[pA>

Contents

Chapter. page,

^ I.— Causes of the Crisis of 1900, /. . . 1

II.— Story of the Crisis in Detail, y . . 10

Preface

" What is the news fropj. China ? " is the question that everybody is asking. The newspapers are full of dispatches telling the story of a startling succession of events that seem destined to shake the world. Even the presidential campaign, now in progress, occupies a subordinate place in the estimation of the American public, whose interest is fixed on the extraordinary possibilities of the situation in the Flowery Kingdom.

'' But what does it all mean ? " asks the reader again. Here he cannot so readily find an answer. The newspapers faithfully tell the story of the developments in the situation as it rapidly unfolds itself, but the reader seeks something more than that. He wants to know how the present crisis was produced ; what tremendous forces are at work in this task of gripping by the throat a nation of 400,000,000 ; what are the possibilities and probabilities of the immediate future ; how far and for what reason the United States has been drawn into the vortex. In brief, he wants up-to-date information which will bring him in touch with the situation as it now exists. He seeks a special key to the events of the remote and immediate past which will give him a foundation for comprehending clearly and in their full significance the successive stages in the crisis as they are presented to him day by day.

vii

Vlll PREFACE.

Such being the case, no apology is needed for even the humblest endeavor to fill this want. The book is oflfered as a suppplement to the older histories of China, many of them admirable and thorough works but not approaching sufficiently close to the present. It aims to bring the recent changes and upheavals easily within the comprehension of those who may care to read it. An effort has been made to show what the political, social, educational and religious system of China is and how it has come in contact with the civilization of the western world; important epochs in the history of the empire itself, particularly those bearing on the present situation, are also described. Especial attention has been bestowed on the points of contact between China and the United States. In the hope that the book may play some part, however modest, as a clue to the coming century in China, which seems destined to be the most critical period in all her long history, it is herewith presented.

Allen S. Will.

Baltimore, July 26, 1900.

World-Crisis in China, 1900.

CHAPTEH I.

Causes of the Crisis of 1900.

FOR China it has been but a step from the seclusion of a hermit kingdom, ages old, to the centre of the world^s stage of diplomacy. Until the present century was well on its way, she had no regular official relations with any foreign country and wanted none. She was content to work out her own destiny in her own fashion. China was to be for the Chinese, and the rest of the world was to be as its peoples chose to make it.

But what a marvellous change is presented today ! Every chancellory in Europe has one of its star diplomats accredited to Pekin. The ambitious dreams of the world's great military and naval powers centre around the land of the Mongols. Fleets and armies are ready to meet in the clash of battle for the possession of the ancient empire's soil, and wait but the word to begin. Mutual jealousy has alone prevented an actual parcelling out of the country among aliens in race and religion. This element of restraint may reach the stage of insufficiency at any moment, and then — who can prophesy the result? A world- war greater than any in modern times is the imminent and awful possibility that looms up.

And why, asks the reader, this sudden rush of the nations toward China ? What is the prize that threatens to involve them in mutual slaughter on a tremendous scale? The answer is found in the vast riches of the empire developed by the toil of its people through centuries. The land is enormously fertile, and is blessed with a climate that makes it a bee-hive of the world^s production. It supports 400,000,000 people and can support more. Its teas, its rice, its silks, its cotton, its bamboo — these and a thousand other sources of wealth tempt ithe cupidity of the world. To control this trade is regarded as the international prize of the century. And to drill and arm those vast yellow hordes and turn them in the service of another power to conquer the world or at least to defy it — is the project not one to dazzle men trained to look at things through the spectacles of modern diplomacy ?

The humanitarian will probably argue that the Chinese have a right to their own country ; that their trade, if exploited at all by foreigners, should be exploited under the laws and authority of the Chinese government itself; that the customs and prejudices of the people should be respected as far as possible and that whatever the foreign governments seek to accomplish within the realm should be striven for with the weapons of peace and justice^ not with those of war and deceit. ;

But modern diplomacy works by its own processes. To paraphrase a much-quoted saying, the decalogue has no place in diplomacy — or very little place, at any rate. While the individuaPs standard of morals in these days is that of Christian civilization, the code of the world^s diplomats is still that of the stone age. ^^An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ^^ is the stern rule of Mosaic justice. But the powers of Europe have sought to take from China a city for an eye and a province for a tooth.

Trade and territory — these are the shibboleths of our modern chancellories. Land is wanted but riches are wanted more. This never-satisfied grasp for trade is a natural result of overcrowded populations and it is leading to some astonishing results. In ancient times it was the glory of conquest that tempted the Alexanders and Caesars. Now it is the spoil of war that lures them on. The knight does the work of the merchant — not the merchant that of the knight.

China has her faults and many of them — what nation has not? And a bitter penalty, it appears, she must pay. If events move in the same procession in the next few years as in the last few

4 THE CEISIS OF 1900.

the partition of Poland is to be repeated in the ancient empire on the eastern shores of Asia.

And now to the immediate causes which have led up to the crisis of 1900. It has been the Chinaman's greatest misfortune that he does not like foreigners. His natural and deep-rooted aversion to them, born of 4500 years of seclusion in his own land, has not been reduced by the effects of the foreign influx as he has seen them. \ The character of the foreigners who have gone to China, has not, in many cases, been such as to convey a normally good impression of the great world beyond. The sailor class, with its vices, has thronged the seaports to bear away the wealth of Cathay. Holders of foreign concessions have often been arbitrary, overbearing and avaricious. The motives and methods of the Christian nations as illustrated by their diplomatic intercourse with Pekin, have often been at variance with the sublime precepts of the Bible which missionaries have preached as the supreme law. All this has tended to confirm the Chinaman in his previous opinion that foreigners are at best but '^ foreign devils." He has veered to extremes in his hatred of them and their works. -

But this feeling against foreigners did not reach uncontrollable limits until, following the Chinese- Japanese war of 1894-95, Russia, under the guise of a lease, acquired possession of the enormously strong fortress of Port Arthur, and the splendid seaport of Talienwan. Russia also acquired railway franchises in Manchuria, the great northern province of China, from which the ruling dynasty of the empire comes. It was but a sh'ght stretch for Russia to string her columns of troops all over Manchuria, and lap them over into the neighboring province of Mongolia, taking virtual possession of important strategic positions everywhere she went. Thus all of Northern China, a region reaching from the Siberian border almost to Pekin, was practically acquired by Russia with no more foundation of title than a lease of two ports and a few railway concessions.

England, anxious to keep pace with her colossal rival, followed in kind. Port Arthur and Talienwan are on the northern side of the Gulf of Pechili, which is the sea gateway to Pekin. England demanded and secured the fortress of Wei Hai Wei, on the southern side of the gulf, and which, when a large fleet is stationed there, commands the gulf^s entrance. Imagine a semicircle with its open side to the east. This may be taken to represent the Gulf of Pechili. Equidistant from its two ends, and at its western extremity, is Taku, the entrance to the Peiho river, leading to Pekin, 120 miles from the mouth of the river. On the northern segment of the semicircle are Port Arthur and Talienwan, and on the southern segment is Wei Hai Wei. Besides seizing Wei Hai Wei, England secured an extension of her territory at Hong Kong. The city of Hong Kong is on an island, and the extension obtained was on the mainland adjacent, in the district of Kowlun. The foreign settlements at Shanghai, controlled by Americans, British and French, were also extended.

Germany was not slow to take the cue. For the murder of two German missionaries in the province of Shantung, which stretches south from the shore of the Gulf of Pechili, Emperor William demanded possession of the seaport and fortress of Kiaochau, on the eastern border of Shantung, and of preferential rights for Germans in the whole province. This was soon in a fair way of being made equivalent to absolute German authority in Shantung.

France, which claims a sphere of influence in Southern China, extending north from Tonkin to the British sphere in the valley of the Yangtzekiang, advanced her posts northward and demanded and received new concessions for railways and canals.

Italy demanded a lease of San Muu Bay on the eastern coast of the empire south of Kiaochau. Here, for once China showed backbone. She felt that she could afford to deny Italy's demand and she did so. Italy has not withdrawn the claim but has taken no positive steps to enforce it.

China and the Chinese were alarmed at these extraordinary developments — all within the space of four years, from 1895 to 1899. It came to be accepted as a fact among them that the foreign powers were bent upon a partition of China and that this partition was an early and sudden probability. They looked back upon the work of centuries in despair that it seemed about to be undone. Their despair quickly turned to rage, and the flame of anti-foreign feeling was fanned to white heat.)

Tt was the native converts to Christianity who first felt the scorch of this flame. This may seem strange at first but a brief analysis of the situation as it existed will show that it was a natural direction for the anti-foreign feeling to take. The pagan Chinamen regarded the native converts as traitors and renegades to their cause who were more to be despised than the active and avowed missionaries themselves. Then, too, there was a fear of attacking the missionaries directly, for this would arouse the wrath of the foreign powers and afford the very pretext which was so eagerly sought — a pretext to divide China. So long as only native Christians were murdered, the Pekin government could hold that it was purely an internal affair, and that it could deal in its own way with the murder of its own subjects by fellow subjects. The seizure of Kiaochau by Germany as indemnity for the murder of two missionaries served in marked degree to inflame the Chinese against the Christian proselyters. They regarded the loss of one of their richest provinces as directly due to these missionaries of an alien religion. It is in Shantung that the present outbreak has attained its most acute development.

Then^ too, the Chinese present other grievances against the missionaries — grievances which are declared by the missionaries themselves to be largely without foundation. They allege that the missionaries, through the representatives of their countries at Pekin, secure undue political advantages for the converted Chinamen over the unconverted. For instance, it is charged that native Christians have made a practice of complaining to the missionaries that their taxes were too high ; that the missionaries have in many cases, through the ministers at Pekin, obtained a lowering of these taxes, to the injustice of the pagan Chinaman, who has thus been compelled to bear an unjust share of the government^'s burdens. It is alleged that many native converts to Christianity have been actuated by no more worthy motive than the securing of lower taxes and other official favors. The missionaries have also been charged with arrogance and greed. To assume that the whole body of devoted servants of the Christian mission cause has been guilty of these faults would be a gross calumny. It would be equally absurd to assume that isolated instances of this character have not occurred. The Chinaman has been too prone to ignore the virtues of the many and magnify the sins of the few. And thus he has come, in some sections of China, to regard all missionaries with distrust.

"A number of popular errors regarding missionaries have gained wide credence. For instance, there is a belief among Chinese that the missionaries cut out the eyes of young children for use in their rites and in medicine. Thus the orphanages attached to the missions have been the victims of deep and unjustified distrust.

Still another grievance against the foreigners was the manner of introducing railroads. It was charged that these lines were surveyed and in some cases actually constructed through cemeteries over the graves of Chinamen's ancestors. In the eyes of the Chinese there could be no greater outrage than this. Ancestor-worship is one of the primary elements of their religion^ and to have the bones of their forefathers thus defiled was more than they could stand. It was also charged that the rightof-way for these roads was acquired by summary and unjust methods, which worked great hardship on hundreds of natives.

We have thus sketched in brief the leading causes which prepared China for an anti-foreign upheaval of vast proportions. The form which this upheaval took constituted a crime against humanity and was totally without excuse. It has tended to alienate from the Chinese all the sympathy which some of their admitted wrongs had created in their favor. We will consider this subject in our next chapter.

CHAPTER II. Story of the Crisis in Detail

( TN the spring of 1900 one of the numerous anti- 1 foreign societies that had sprung up in China began to commit acts of atrocity on a wide scale. This is the society of " Boxers/^ as they are popularly called. The name of the organization is I-ho-chu-an, meaning League of United Patriots. The last word of this title is pronounced in some parts of China the same as the Chinese word for fists, though the characters denoting it are different. Hence it is easy by a slight pun to translate the title as '' League of United Fists.^^ One of the mottoes of the society may be translated as ^' patriotism, righteousness, fists/^ — an idea corresponding to the English one of militant patriotism in a good cause. Besides, one of the rules of the society enjoins the practice of athletic sports, including boxing, by its members. Hence it is not difficult to account for the popular term '' Boxers,^^ now exclusively applied to this society by English-speaking people.

A number of other secret organizations have made common cause with the Boxers, notably the Society of the Great Knife, which has wide influence in China. The one name, however^ is now used to denote all who are engaged in the outbreak. 10

THE CEISIS IN BETArL. 11

The Boxers are a secret and oath-bound organization. Their avowed object is the extermination of the foreigners who they believe are about to despoil and divide the land of their ancestors. Their operations began in October^ 1899, when they began openly drilling in the streets of the principal cities of North China, and committed occasional acts of lawlessness against native Christians. These disorders were considered local at first and the secret character of the Boxers^ organization prevented a thorough and prompt comprehension of the grave character of their movement. Secret societies are common in China and are usually within the control of the Pekin government, provided it is disposed to act vigorously.

The Boxers continued to receive large accessions to their ranks, and in the early spring of 1900 they had grown to an estimated numerical strength of 3,000,000. Emboldened by the popularity of their cause, they began to commit acts of bloody lawlessness on a large scale. A reign of terror was inaugurated at every city, town and village in North China where the missionaries were established. Hundreds of native Christians were massacred, often with appalling tortures. Missionary property was burned and the missionaries were compelled to flee to the coast cities, where they sought protection under the formidable guns of foreign warships. The local Chinese troops appeared unable or unwilling to check the outrages. They were in active sympathy with the Boxers in many cases, and deserted by wholesale to the ranks of the outlaws, carrying with them their rifles and their ideas of foreign military drill learned from Russian, German and Japanese instructors. These accessions made the Boxers vastly more powerful. At first they had been insufficiently armed, many being provided only with steel pikes, axes, or sharpened poles of bamboo. Now they began to get rifles, and quickly learned how to use them. From a rabble they became an army. The taste of blood made them mad for more. No mercy was shown, and the native Christians, the principal objects of their wrath, fled in droves to escape the awful storm.

The Boxers adhered in a general way to the policy of confining their operations to the native Christians. A number of foreign missionaries were reported murdered, but the fact of murder has been confirmed in the cases of but two — Rev. H. V. Norman and Rev. C. Robertson, both English. Many of the missionaries were in great danger, but their hasty exodus to the coast cities saved the great majority of them.

As previously intimated, the form which the anti-foreign outbreak took was wholly to be condemned. The horrible murders perpetrated by the boxers caused the world to shudder. It w^as a war of private vengeance on private individuals, for which not even the shadow of excuse could be found. The Chinese were correct in supposing that the powers of Europe contemplated the division and exploitation of their country. The official acts of the powers proved this beyond all doubt. The proper course would have been for China to arm and prepare to defend herself against the aggressions of Europe — to maintain the integrity of China, if necessary, by a defensive war waged by the government and army, acting within the rules of humane warfare as far as any warfare can be humane. For a secret society, a band of private individuals, to appropriate and administer the vengeance which belonged to the government, if to anybody, was going at the problem not only in a wrong way, but an atrocious way.

Repeated appeals were made by the foreign ministers at Pekin to the Tsung-li-yamen (Chinese foreign office), but no effective steps to stop the outrages were taken. It began to appear that if the Christians were to be protected and the uprising suppressed, the foreign governments themselves would have to act. On May 19 Bishop Favier, head of the Roman Catholic Missionaries in China, wrote as follows to M. Pechon, French minister at Pekin :

^^Mr. Minister : From day to day the situation becomes more serious and threatening. In the prefecture of Poating more tlian seventy Christians have been massacred ; near Echao-Icheou only three days ago three neophytes have been cut in pieces. Many villages have been pillaged and burned ; a great many others have been completely abandoned. More than two thousand Christians are fleeing, without bread, without clothing, without shelter. At Pekin alone about four hundred refugees, men, Tvomen and children, are already lodged at our house and that of the Sisters ; within a week we will probably have many thousands. We will have to dismiss the schools and the colleges ; also use all the hospitals to make room for these unfortunate persons. Upon the east of us pillage and incendiarism are imminent ; we are hourly receiving the most alarming news. Pekin is surrounded on all sides. The Boxers are daily coming nearer the capital, delayed only by the destruction which they are making of Christians. Believe me, I pray you, Mr. Minister, that I am well informed and say nothing lightly. Religious persecution is only one object. The real purpose is the extermination of Europeans, a purpose which is clearly set forth and written upon the banners of the Boxers, Their associates await them at Pekin, where they will begin by attacking the churches and finish with the legations. For us here at the Paitang the day is practically ended. All the city knows it; everybody is speaking of it, and a popular outbreak is manifest. Yesterday evening 43 poor women and their children, flying from the massacre, arrived at the house of the Sisters. More than five hundred persons accompanied them, saying to them that if they had escaped this once they would soon die with the others. Mr. Minister, I do not speak to you of placards without number which are posted in the city against Europeans in general. Each day new ones appear, more explicit than the others. Those who 30 years ago were present at the Tientsin massacre are struck with the resemblance of the situation then to that of to-day — the same placards, the same threats, the same warnings and the same blindness. Under these circumstances, Mr. Minister, I believe it my duty to ask you to kindly send us at least forty or fifty marines to protect our persons and our property. This has been done under circumstances much less critical, and I hope you will take into consideration our humble prayer.'^

About the same time Rev. Charles A. Killie, an American missionary in Pekin, wrote a letter to

THE CBISIS IN DETAIL. 15

Hon. Edwin H. Conger^ the United States minister, setting forth in detail the recent operations of the Boxers and giving a list of villages near the capital in which the organization was flourishing. An appeal was made for immediate action.

These reminders and the critical seriousness of the situation as observed by the ministers themselves led to a meeting of the diplomatic body at Pekin on May 20. The meeting drew up the following note, which was sent to the Tsung-li-yamen :

" The Prince and Ministers : I have the honor to commnnicate to you the text of a resolution prepared by the representatives of the foreign powers accredited to Pekin. The diplomatic body, relying upon the Imperial decrees already published which have ordered the dissolution of the Boxers, demands :

"First — The arrest of all persons practising the drills of that association, provoking disturbances upon the public highway, posting, printing or distributing placards which may contain threats against foreigners.

^' Second — The arrest of owners or guardians of temples or other places where the Boxers assemble and the treatment of these accomplices and criminal abettors as Boxers themselves.

"Third — The chastisement of the public officials who may render themselves culpable by neglecting to suppress any disorder, or who may connive with the rioters.

" Fourth — The execution of the authors of outrages against persons or property.

" Fifth — The execution of persons Vv'ho are supporting and directing the Boxers in the present disturbances.

" Sixth— The publication in Pekin, in Pechili and the other northern provinces of proclamations bringing these measures to the knowledge of the people.

"I am, besides, charged by the diplomatic corps to inform you that it expects a satisfactory reply to this demand without unnecessary delay.

"I improve the occasion to reiterate the assurance of my highest consideration/'

The note was signed by B. Cologan, the Spanish minister, as dean of the diplomatic corps.

The attitude of the Tsung-li-yamen, in response to this demand, was far from satisfactory to the ministers. It was clearly set forth in the following letter from Minister Conger to Secretary Hay under date of May 21:

"/SVr; In response to the request of the French Minister the dean called a meeting of the diplomatic corps yesterday, and, upon information furnished in a letter from the Catholic bishop in Pekin and verbal reports by the other Ministers, the situation was considered so grave that the corps unanimously instructed the dean to present it to the Chinese Foreign Office and demand immediate and effective measures. The note was presented today. I also enclose copies of the bishop^s letter and one from Rev. Mr. Killie, an American missionary who lives in Pekin, but travels a circuit to the north and east. On the 18th instant in the course of an extended personal interview with the Chinese Foreign Office, I called its attention to the fact that, notwithstanding constant warnings from this and other legations, the Boxers had continually increased and spread, until now they are boldly organizing inside the wall of Pekin. The existence of thousands is known in the villages around Pekin. Christian converts are being persecuted and threatened everywhere. Many are forced to recant their religious professions, and some have been compelled to abandon their chapels and come to Pekin for safety.

"I said: *At a London mission near Chochau, 40 miles west of Pekin, two native Christians have been killed and their chapels destroyed. Near Paoting a Catholic village has been destroyed and 61 Christians murdered, some of them being burned alive. The foreign governments cannot longer sit idly by and witness this persecution and murder. I can only speak for my own Government, but it is becoming very impatient over China's continued treaty violation. It always has been and still is the good friend of China and only wishes it prosperity, but is now more than ever determined to sustain the treaty rights of all American citizens and of the Christian converts. It will hold the Chinese Government to the strictest responsibility for every treaty infraction in this regard. It will do this not only for the benefit of its own citizens, but in the interest of China herself, whose Government is now sadly threatened by these lawless organizations. At present it is true they seem to have no capable leader, but should one arise and the populace become really inflamed the overthrow of the present dynasty is most likely to follow and possibly the destruction of the Empire.'

" They assured me that suflScient troops had been sent to the disturbed districts to restore order and afibrd protection.

" I again told them that restored order would be the only possible proof. I also said that unless the situation was relieved and the threatening danger from mobs averted I should be compelled to ask for a sufficient guard of American marines to insure the safety of the legation.

"They said: * Oh, don't do that. It is unnecessary.' And again promising energetic action, the interview closed.

" Unless some energetic action is taken the situation will become fraught with great danger to all foreigners, not from any intelligent or organized attacks, but from ignorant and inflamed mob violence. I believe, as I said in my telegram, that the Government is itself alarmed at the situation and will take more energetic action, but no one can be certain of this until it is done."

The diplomatic body at Pekin began to hold almost daily meetings and repeatedly represented to 2 the Tsung-li-yamen the inadequacy of the measures which were being taken. It was also forcibly represented that as the disorders were spreading to Pekin itself, the ministers were beginning to fear for the safety of the legations, and proposed to send for marine guards from the foreign warships at Taku for protection. The Tsung-li-yamen protested that there was no necessity to send for marines, and declared that it would not consent to the landing of any foreign troops in China.

On May 30 the ministers sent an ultimatum to the Tsung-li-yamen demanding that the marines be allowed to land, and threatening that if consent were longer refused they would urge their governments to land men by force. The yamen was given until 6 A. M., on the following day, to reply. A midnight session was held at the palace, and at 2.30 A. M., May 31, the ministers were notified that the Chinese government consented to the landing of marines.

Prompt notice was sent to the foreign fleet gathered at Taku, which by this time numbered twenty-three vessels, including nine Russian, three British, three German, three French, two American, two Italian and one Japanese. The American ships were the cruiser Newark, with Rear-Admiral KempflP on board, and the gunboat Monocacy. On the day when the Chinese government yielded to the ultimatum of the ministers, marines landed from these ships and proceeded to Tientsin, going thence by rail to the Chinese capital. From Taku to Tientsin the journey is 40 miles up the shallow Peiho river, and from Tientsin there is a railway, 78 miles long, leading to Pekin. The marines went in launches from Taku to Tientsin and made the rest of the trip by rail.