China and the Powers

:PS77/ OlarneU Utttocrattg ffitbrarg Stifam, êxa fneb CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Library Cornell University DS 771.T48 ,,;a,narra^^^^^^^ China andjhe.powers 786 3 1924 023 150 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023150786 CHINA AND THE POWERS CHINA AND THE POWERS A NARRATIVE OF THE OUTBREAK OF 1900 BY H. C. THOMSON AUTHOR OF 'THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN' ETC. WITH THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS AND TWO MAPS LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 9 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1902 [All rights reserved] NAJ-^SX^^ PEEFAOE This brief account of the outbreak in Northern China is based for the most part upon letters, written at the time and afterwards, to the 'Manchester Guardian,' ' and upon articles in the Contemporary ' and in the 'Monthly Eeview,' which I have been kindly permitted to use. I have not attempted any account of the Siege of Peking, and I have only given a mere epitome of the Seymour Expedition, inasmuch as there have already been full narratives of both ; but I have described at considerable length the investment and bombardment of the foreign settlements at Tientsin, and the assault and capture of the Tientsin native city, as they were of great interest ; nor, so far as I know, has there as yet been any detailed description of them, Eor the sake of clearness I have arranged what I have written under three heads : an account of the actual miUtary operations; a discussion of the policies adopted by the various Powers ; and a con- sideration of the position and rights of the Christian vi CHINA AND THE POWEES missionaries in China, whose future status is one of the urgent questions with which the Powers have yet to deal ; the claim of the Chinese Government to have it regarded from theii- point of view, as well as from that of the missionaries, having acquired additional force from the recent refusal of the British Government to admit missionaries into the Sudan, and from the action of the French Govern- ment towards various religious orders in France. I have tried throughout to present the Chinese view of the different matters in dispute equally with that of the Powers, it being impossible not to feel that the responsibility for the. terrible tragedy of last year does not by any means rest wholly upon China. For my illustrations I am chiefly indebted to Mr. Hamilton Bernees and Mr. L. Foster, two young Englishmen who were travelling at the time in the East, and who managed to get up to Peking within a few days of the relief of the Legations. The two Chinese pictures were taken from a Chinaman who was- apprehended and punished for distributing inflammatory placards in Shanghai. They were kindly given to me by Mr. Hewett, a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council. CONTENTS CHAPTEB I ChineBe Aversion to Foreigners—Grounds for National Irrita- tion—Formation of the Boxer Association—Murder of Mr. Brooks—Pao-ting-fn and Lang-fang Massacres—Seymour Expedition CHAPTEE II Necessity for the Seymour Expedition—Effect upon it of the Capture of the Taku Forts—Âdmiral Eempff's Action- Instructions of the Chinese Government—Effect of taking the Forts upon subsequent Chinese Action . -19 CHAPTEE III Capture of the Taku Forts—Siege of Tientsin—Gallant Conduct of Mr. "Watts and Mr. Seeberg—Tong-Shan Befu- gees—Narrow Escape of Mr. Hughes—Predicament of Chinese Mine Manager 31 CHAPTEE IV Siege of Tientsin Settlements 43 CHAPTEE V Assault of Tientsin City 61 — viii • CHINA AKD THE POWEES CHAPTEE VI PACE The Advance to Peking—British and American Action—Battle of Peitsang—and of Yangtsun-March to Ho-hsi-wu . 83 CHAPTEE VII The Advance to Tung-Chow 95 CHAPTEE VIII Incidents of the March—Characteristics of the various Troops And of the Chinese 108 CHAPTEE IX Inhuman Treatment of the Chinese—^Value of the Indian Army as an Imperial Factor—Contrast with South Africa . .124 CHAPTEE X Eesults of the Sack of Tientsin—Policy and Position of the different Powers 134 CHAPTEE XI The Indemnities to be paid hy China 152 CHAPTEE XII The Policy of the Powers in China 179 CHAPTEE XIII Character of Boxer Movement—^Boxer Proclamation—Âttitude of Yangtse Viceroys and of Yuan-Shih-Kai—Cordial Feeling entertained to China by Foreigners in Chinese Service Imperial Decree—Danger run by Friendly Chinese—^Viceroys' Decree providing for Safety of their respective Provinces Action of Mr. Pelham Warren 202 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER XIV PAGE Stm-Yat-Sun and the Bebellion in the South—Kang-Yu-Wei and his Beform Proposals—Chinese Aspirations—Lord Elgin's Despatch with regard to Executions—Position of the Yangtse Viceroys—Demands of the Ministers—Result of Policy pur- sued by the Powers—General Outlook in China—Likelihood of further Disturbance—Probable Future of Trade . .214 CHAPTER XV The Missionary in China 242 CHAPTER XVI The Missionary in China 266 Ijjdbx 287 ILLUSTEATIONS OFFICERS AND MEN OP 1st BENGAL LANCEES . FrOTlUspiece WATCH-TOWER ON WAIL OF CHINESE CITY, PEKING . to fO/Od p. lO TUNG-PIEN GATE, PEKING lO FORT AT TAKH, IN BRITISH OCCUPATION , 34 STREET BARRICADE, TIENTSIN 34 RUINS OF FRENCH SETTLEMENT, TIENTSIN . „ 44 RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, TIENTSIN, SHOWING EFFECT OF SHELL FIRE „ 44 RECEPTION OF VICTORIOUS GENERALS, BRINGING WITH THEM HEADS OF THE DEFEATED ENEMY . „ $4 (Beproduction from coloured print taken from a Chmcmum punished m Shanghai for distributing inflammatory placards.) INTERNATIONAL CHINESE POLICE IN TIENTSIN CITY, UNDER COMMAND OF CAPTAIN MOCKLER; DRILLED BY 1st LANCE-CORPORAL, MADRAS PIONEERS , 82 MEMORIAL ARCH, PEKING „ 82 CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, IN GROUNDS OF THE TEMPLE OP HEAVEN, PEKING „ ZOO WATER-GATE UNDER WALL OF TARTAR CITY, PEEING, BY WHICH GENERAL GASELEE ENTERED , lOO I ST BENGAL LANCERS LEAVING PEKING . „ I CO TOMBS OF THE ANCESTORS, PEKING . „ I06 GATE OP BRITISH LEGATION, PEKING I06 BRITISH JUNKS BEING TOWED UP THE PEIHO . „ 112 8 xii CHINA AND THE POWEES PA-LI-CHOU BRIDGE, TWO MILES FROM TUNG-CHOW, WHERE THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT, IN I860, FROM WHICH GENERAL MONTAUBAN TOOK HIS TITLE . to foCe Jf, 112 PRINCE TUAN SITTING IN JUDGMENT ON RUSSIAN AND JAPANESE SOLDIERS, WHOSE EXECUTION IS DEPICTED IN THE OPPOSITE CORNER , 122 (TieproSjUction from, colowred print.) OBSERVATORY INSTRUMENTS, PEKING , 1 58 TOWER ON WALL OF FORBIDDEN CITY, PEKING . „ 164 TOWER IN CENTRE OF TUNG-CHOW . „ 164 BRITISH NAVAL GUNS ON MARCH TO PEKING I94 GERMAN GUNS ON MARCH , I94 SAND-BAG BARRICADE IN BRITISH LEGATION, PEKING . „ 308 OLD CHINESE GUN IN BRITISH LEGATION, PEKING . „ 2o8 GATE OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY, PEKING . „ 226 THE CHIEN MEN, ONE OF THE GATES OF THE TARTAR CITY, PEKING „ 226 TUNG-CHOW PAGODA , 25O TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, PEKING „ 25O MAPS MAP OF PROVINCE OF CHIH-LI, SHOWING DISTRICT IN WHICH THE CAMPAIGN TOOK PLACE , 1 MAP SHOWING THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY IN COM- PARISON WITH OTHER ROUTES TO THE EAST . „ I42 CHINA AND THE POWERS CHAPTEE I Chinese Aversion to Foreigners—Grounds for Nationai. Irri- tation—Formation of the Boxer Association—Murder of Me. Brooks—Pao-ting-fu and Lang-fang Massacres—Seymour " Expedition. ' ? Do you think this trouble is over now ' I asked a Chinaman of high position last October in Tientsin. He had been educated abroad, and spoke English ' perfectly. Over,' he said, ' over ! Why, I think this has only been a big preface. It may seem very dreadful to you Europeans, all this frightful devas- tation and slaughter, but I cannot help thinking that for China it has been really a blessing in disguise. We are accustomed to slaughter, and it has been much worse in our own internal revolutions—in the Tai-ping EebeUion, for instance—than it has been now. What was needed was some terrible national humiliation, such as the sack of Peking, to awaken China from her long sleep, and I hope and beheve that she really is awakening at last, that her suffer- ings now wiU prove to be the agony of a new birth.' He was a Cantonese, and the Cantonese are the most progressive of all Chinamen ; but that such ideas > B — 2 CHINA AND THE POWEES should be entertained by any Chinaman at all is significant of the change that is taking place ; and it may indeed be that China is preparing herself for a period of national regeneration such as Japan has undergone. That is what makes the recent revolt so interesting in character ; it was essentially a national uprising, an endeavour to obtain freedom from a foreign interference which to the bulk of the people has always been utterly hateful. The bitterness of their aversion has only been intensified by all that has taken place, and unless some means can be found to convince them that the foreigners are not the barbarians they think them to be—that they are not actuated solely by a desire to plunder China the prospects of peace and of resultant security and prosperity are gloomy in the extreme ; nor wiU they ever improve until the grievances have been righted which have aroused in the Chinese so keen a resent- ment. It was these grievances that led to the formation of the so-called Boxer Association, which origi- nated two years ago in the province of Shantung. Both that province and the metropolitan province of Chih-U, in which are the cities of Peking and Tientsin, are comparatively poor, and the bad harvests of the last few years had given rise to a great deal of distress, which became very acute in the winter and spring of 1 900.

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