“The present war is due to bandits spreading slaughter and arson on the pretext of paying off a grudge against Christianity; thus we are face to face with a serious crisis. The Powers are uniting to send troops and squadrons to attack China on the plea of protecting their subjects and suppressing this rebellion. Our position is critical and the provinces are naturally bound to look now to their defences. I have already made the necessary preparations, so that if those hordes of foreigners do invade us, we shall resist them with all our might. I feel that our Sovereigns are displaying glorious virtue and that your Majesties are as bountiful as the Almighty. Your indulgence to the men from afar indicates the boundless magnanimity and good faith which animate all your actions.

“At present, the first essential is to make the Throne’s embarrassments, which have led up to the present situation, widely known, as well as the quality of consistent kindness with which you are imbued. By so doing, rebels will be deprived of any pretext for further rioting.

“At the beginning of the war, my colleagues and I issued a proclamation bidding the people go about their avocations as usual, and not to give heed to suspicious rumours. A petition has now reached me from Chinese residents abroad to urge effective protection for foreigners in China, so that there may be no risk of revenge being taken on themselves. The language used is very strong, and we have taken advantage of the visit of the foreign Consuls, who suggested certain measures for the protection of missionaries and merchants, to give orders to the Shanghai Taotai to come to an arrangement with them in regard to the preservation of peace in the Yangtsze valley, and at Soochow and Hangchow. This arrangement will hold good so long as they do not invade the region in question. The Consuls have telegraphed to their respective Governments, and I to our Ministers abroad, explaining fully this arrangement. The Germans, owing to the murder of their Minister, were disposed to oppose it, but finally, under compulsion from their colleagues, gave their consent also.

“I respectfully quote your Majesties’ decree of the 29th of the 5th Moon (June 25th): ‘The foreign Ministers are now in a desperately dangerous position; we are still doing our best to protect them.’ The decree proceeds to direct us to guard well our respective provinces and to take such steps as policy may dictate at this emergency. Again, on the 3rd of the 6th Moon (June 29th), your decree to our Ministers abroad states ‘We are now sending troops to protect the Legations, but we are weak and can only do our best. You are to carry on the business of your missions abroad as usual.’

“In other words, the Throne is inflicting stern and exemplary punishment on those foreigners in Tientsin who provoked hostilities, while doing its utmost to protect those innocent foreign officials, merchants and missionaries who were not responsible for those attacks. Your benevolence and the majesty of your wrath are displayed simultaneously, manifested as brightly as the sun and moon.

“We have again and again implored you to protect the foreign Ministers: this is the one all-important step which must on no account be deferred a day, not only because your Majesties’ own anxiety recognises its necessity, but because the crisis now forces it upon you.

“The Ministers abroad, Yang Ju and his colleagues, have telegraphed to the effect that our first duty is to protect the lives of the foreign Ministers and of all foreigners in China. I therefore humbly ask you to send competent troops to protect the Legations in Peking, and by so doing to protect the lives of your own Envoys abroad. I also urge you to instruct the provincial authorities to protect all foreigners within their respective jurisdictions, and thereby to protect our Chinese subjects residing in foreign lands. My anxiety is intense.”

“Your memorial has reached us. The Throne was reluctant lightly to enter upon hostilities, as we have already informed the several foreign Governments and the various provincial authorities. We have also issued several decrees ordering protection for the Ministers and foreign residents all over China. Hence our ideas seem to be identical with your own.[101] Happily all the Ministers, except Baron von Ketteler, are perfectly well and quite comfortable; only a day or two ago we sent them presents of fruits and viands, in order to show our commiseration. If the Powers now dare to invade your provinces, you must all protect your territories and resist with all your might. Even though at the moment peace may prevail, you must make most strenuous preparations against possible emergencies. In a word, we will not willingly be the aggressors. You are to inform our various Legations abroad of our calm and kindly feelings towards all foreigners, so that they may think out some plan of a peaceful settlement, in the general interest. It is highly desirable that you give no ready ear to vague rumours which are calculated only to lead to further lack of unity. This decree is to be conveyed by special courier, at six hundred li (two hundred miles) a day.”

“Owing to a succession of most unfortunate circumstances, rapidly and confusedly following each other, we are utterly at a loss to account for the situation which has brought about hostilities between China and the Powers. Our representatives abroad are separated from us by wide seas, and besides have no special knowledge of the facts, and they are therefore unable to explain to the respective Foreign Offices the real state of the Chinese Government’s feelings. We therefore desire now to place before you the following detailed statement of the facts.

“In the Provinces of Chihli and Shantung there has arisen a certain class of disorderly characters who, in their respective villages, have been wont to practise the use of the quarter-staff and pugilism, combining these exercises with certain magic arts and incantations. Owing to the failure of the local Magistrates to detect and stop these proceedings, the result has been that gradually a state of unrest has shown itself throughout that region until, all of a sudden, the Boxer movement assumed serious proportions. They spread even to Peking, where they were regarded as possessed of supernatural powers, so that they gained vast numbers of followers and universal sympathy. Following in their train the disorderly people of the lower sort raised a cry of ‘Death to the Christians!’ following upon which, in the middle of the 5th Moon, they proceeded to carry their words into deeds, and to slaughter the converts. The churches were burned, the whole city was in an uproar, and the population passed completely out of our control.

“When the first rumours of the coming disaster were noised abroad, the Legations asked our consent to bring up special guards, which consent, in view of the special necessities of the case, was readily given. In all some five hundred foreign troops came to Peking, which in itself shows plainly the friendly disposition of the Throne towards all foreign nations. Under ordinary circumstances the foreign Legations and their guards do not come in contact with the local Chinese authorities, and have no relations with them, friendly or otherwise; but since the arrival of these troops, the soldiers have not confined themselves to the duty of protecting the Legations, but have gone upon the city walls and have even patrolled the outlying parts of the capital, with the result that shots have been exchanged and blood has been shed. Indeed, so great are the liberties which they have taken in the course of their walks abroad, that on one occasion they actually endeavoured to force their way into the Forbidden City, which, however, they failed to do. For these reasons great and widespread indignation has been excited against them, and evil-doers have seized the opportunity to commit deeds of slaughter and arson, waxing daily bolder. At this stage the Powers endeavoured to bring up[102] reinforcements from Tientsin, but these were cut to pieces on their journey from the sea, and the attempt was perforce abandoned. By this time the rebels in the two provinces had become so intermingled with the people that it was impossible to identify them. The Throne was by no means averse to give orders for their suppression, but had we acted with undue haste, the result might have been a general conflagration, and our efforts to protect the Legations might have ended in a dire calamity. If we had proceeded to destroy the rebels in the two provinces, no single missionary or native Christian would have been left alive in either, so that we had to proceed cautiously in this dilemma.

“Under these circumstances we were compelled to suggest the temporary withdrawal of the Legations to Tientsin, and we were proceeding to make the necessary arrangements to this end when the German Minister was unfortunately murdered one morning on his way to the Tsungli Yamên. This incident placed the rebel leaders in a desperate position, like that of the man who rides a tiger and who hesitates whether it be more dangerous for him to continue his ride or to jump off. It became then inexpedient that the proposed withdrawal of the Legations to Tientsin should proceed. All we could do we did, which was to enforce urgent measures for the due protection of the Legations in every emergency. To our dismay, on the 16th ultimo, certain foreign naval officers from the squadron outside Taku had an interview with the Commandant of the forts, demanding their surrender, and adding that, if their demand were refused, they would take them by force on the following day. The Commandant was naturally unable to betray the trust confided to him, and the foreigners accordingly bombarded the forts and captured them after a vigorous resistance. A state of war has thus been created, but it is none of our doing; besides, how could China be so utterly foolish, conscious as she is of her weakness, as to declare war on the whole world at once? How could she hope to succeed by using the services of untrained bandits for any such a purpose? This must be obvious to the Powers.

“The above is an accurate statement of our situation, explaining the measures unavoidably forced upon China to meet the situation. Our representatives abroad must carefully explain the tenor of this decree to the Governments to which they are accredited. We are still instructing our military Commanders to protect the Legations, and can only do our best. In the meantime you, our Ministers, must carry on your duties as usual, and not pose as disinterested spectators.”

“To the Emperor of Russia:—Greeting to your Majesty! For over two hundred and fifty years our neighbouring Empires have enjoyed unbroken relations of friendship, more cordial than those existing between any other Powers.

“Recent ill-feeling created between converts to Christianity and the rest of our people have afforded an opportunity to evil-disposed persons and rebels to create disturbances, and the result has been that the foreign Powers have been led to believe that the Throne itself is a party to their proceedings and is hostile to Christianity. Your Majesty’s representative at my Court (M. de Giers) has actually requested our Foreign Office to suppress the rebellion and thus to allay the suspicions of the Powers. But at the time that he made this request, Peking was thoroughly infested with rebels, who had stirred up the people and gained for themselves no small prestige. Not only our soldiery but the mass of the people were burning for revenge against those who practised the foreign religion, and even certain Princes of our Imperial Clan joined in the movement, declaring that there was no room in the Celestial Kingdom for Christianity and the ancient religions of the soil. My chief anxiety has been lest any precipitate action on the part of the Government might lead to some dire catastrophe (i.e., the destruction of the Legations), and I feared, too, that the anti-foreign movement might break out simultaneously at the Treaty Ports in the South, which would have made the position hopeless. I was doing my utmost to find a way out of the dilemma when the foreign Powers, evidently failing to realise the difficulties of our situation, precipitated matters by the bombardment and capture of the Taku Forts: now we are confronted with all the dire calamities of war, and the confusion in our Empire is greater than ever before. Amongst all the Powers, none has enjoyed such friendly relations with China as Russia. On a former occasion I deputed Li Hung-chang to proceed to your Majesty’s capital as my special Envoy; he drew up on our behalf and concluded with your country a secret Treaty of Alliance, which is duly recorded in the Imperial Archives.

“And now that China has incurred the enmity of the civilised world by stress of circumstances beyond our power to control, I must perforce rely upon your country to act as intermediary and peacemaker on our behalf. I now make this earnest and sincere appeal to your Majesty, begging that you may be pleased to come forward as arbitrator, and thus to relieve the difficulties of our situation. We await with anxiety your gracious reply.”

“To your Majesty, greeting!—In all the dealings of England with the Empire of China, since first relations were established between us, there has never been any idea of territorial aggrandisement on the part of Great Britain, but only a keen desire to promote the interests of her trade. Reflecting on the fact that our country is now plunged into a dreadful condition of warfare, we bear in mind that a large proportion of China’s trade, seventy or eighty per cent., is done with England: moreover, your Customs duties are the lightest in the world, and few restrictions are made at your sea-ports in the matter of foreign importations; for these reasons our amicable relations with British merchants at our Treaty Ports have continued unbroken for the last half century, to our mutual benefit.

“But a sudden change has now occurred and general suspicion has been created against us. We would therefore ask you now to consider that if, by any conceivable combination of circumstances, the independence of our Empire should be lost, and the Powers unite to carry out their long plotted schemes to possess themselves of our territory, the results to your country’s interests would be disastrous and fatal to your trade. At this moment our Empire is striving to the utmost to raise an army and funds sufficient for its protection; in the meanwhile we rely upon your good services to act as mediator, and now anxiously await your decision.”

“To your Majesty, greeting!—The Empires of China and Japan hang together, even as the lips and the teeth, and the relations existing between them have always been sympathetic. Last month we were plunged in deep grief when we learned of the murder of the Chancellor of your Legation in Peking; we were about to arrest and punish the culprits when the Powers, unnecessarily suspicious of our motives, seized the Taku Forts, and we found ourselves involved in all the horrors of war. In face of the existing situation, it appears to us that at the present time the Continents of Europe and Asia are opposed to each other, marshalling their forces for a conflict of irreconcilable ambitions; everything therefore depends upon our two Asiatic Empires standing firm together at this juncture. The earth-hungry Powers of the West, whose tigerish eyes of greed are fixed in our direction, will certainly not confine their attention to China. In the event of our Empire being broken up, Japan in her turn will assuredly be hard pressed to maintain her independence. The community of our interests renders it clearly imperative that at this crisis we should disregard all trifling causes of discord, and consider only the requirements of the situation, as comrade nations. We rely upon your Majesty to come forward as arbitrator, and anxiously await your gracious reply to this appeal.”