CHINA. 



127 



acquired by the Belgian syndicate that had con- 

 structed part of the line, the American and other 

 concessionaires having sold their interest. 



After the British railroad administration had 

 resumed control of the northern railroad a seri- 

 ous quarrel arose respecting a part of the river 

 front in Tientsin where the railroad officials 

 wanted to build side-tracks. This same piece of 

 land was claimed by Russia as a concession 

 granted by Li-Hung-Chang as Viceroy of Pechili. 

 The Russians, who were in possession and had set 

 up boundary posts, stopped the railroad construc- 

 tion until a superior British force took possession 

 under instructions from Gen. Barrow to carry 

 on the siding by armed force if necessary. Gen. 

 Wogack protested, and both he and the British 

 general stationed troops on the disputed area and 

 appealed to the field-marshal, who said he could 

 only judge the military question, leaving the 

 question of ownership to be decided by the gov- 

 ernments concerned. Instructions came from 

 England to maintain the sentries, but not to use 

 force except to repel 'aggression. Count von Wal- 

 dersee had the military guards on both sides re- 

 duced to a small number, and sent "back the troops 

 that the British and Russian commanders had 

 ordered up. The sentry guards were left in their 

 respective stations on the disputed land until the 

 question of right could be determined diplomat- 

 ically. The railroad company claimed to have a 

 title to the part taken for a siding, and residents 

 of the British concession opposite set up titles to 

 other parcels of the alleged Russian concession. 

 For ten days in March British and Russian sen- 

 tries faced one another in hostile array. The 

 agreement closing the incident was reached by 

 direct negotiations between the British ambassa- 

 dor in St. Petersburg and the Russian Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs after the sentries on both sides 

 had on March 22 been removed by agreement be- 

 tAveen the two commanders. The determination 

 of the validity of the rival claims to the land was 

 reserved for future investigation and negotiation. 

 American residents were anxious that the United 

 States should resume the former American con- 

 cession at Tientsin. The title to this concession 

 was relinquished during the administration of 

 President Cleveland, and the land was incorpo- 

 rated in the British concession with the under- 

 standing that should it ever be needed it would, be 

 restored. Mr. Conger, after his return to China, 

 applied to the Chinese Government for a new 

 grant which would fix definitely the boundaries 

 of the American concession. Austria-Hungary, 

 which has had no settlement in China hitherto, 

 and a consulate only at Shanghai, obtained an 

 area in Tientsin. Italy has a settlement adjoin- 

 ing that of Austria. Belgium also determined to 

 establish settlements in China. France and Japan 

 extended the limits of their concessions. Germany 

 already possessed sufficient land at Tientsin. At 

 Canton land was selected for a German conces- 

 sion. 



Reform Edicts. The court at Singan-Fu was 

 not only humiliated by its banishment from the 

 capital, but the hardships suffered during its long 

 flight continued after its arrival at the ancient 

 seat of empire, for Shensi and the neighboring 

 province of Shansi were afflicted with one of the 

 severest famines known in the history of China, 

 having lost three successive crops. Two-thirds of 

 the population were without sufficient food, and 

 a large proportion lacked fuel and clothing to 

 keep them from freezing. The domestic animals 

 were sacrificed to allay hunger. Infanticide be- 

 came common; the poor sold their women and 

 children, and some resorted to cannibalism. The 



court ordered large quant ill' of i i ' to be dis- 

 tributed. When the minister- ! ,.; i| i;l t, native 

 Christians were discriminated a f jain>1 they pro- 

 tested, and in response to their re|,n 'dilations an 

 imperial edict was issued on .Ian. 2i 'inuring all 

 relief, officials and Chinese soldier.-, \ in at. na- 

 tive Christians in exactly the same v, ay as all 

 other Chinese throughout the empire. 



An imperial edict was issued on l''c\>. (\ sus- 

 pending for five years all official examination.-, in 

 districts where foreigners were killed, and one 

 forbidding the existence of antiforeign societies, 

 reciting the punishment of guilty persons, and 

 placing on local officials responsibility for the 

 maintenance of order, with the warning that they 

 would be dismissed permanently from the public 

 service if trouble occurred. These edicts complied 

 with conditions laid down in the note from the 

 powers. An imperial decree issued on Jan. 29 

 attributes the antiforeign outbreak to the old 

 system of government, condemns blind adherence 

 to precedents, and orders the substitution of for- 

 eign methods for Chinese errors, calling upon 

 viceroys, governors, officials of the Central Gov- 

 ernment, and ministers abroad to suggest reforms 

 for the court and Government, local administra- 

 tion, education, military affairs, and finance. The 

 old system of memorializing the Emperor was de- 

 clared to be useless, and for the future it was 

 forbidden. Corrupt and dishonest officials were 

 declared to be responsible for China's troubles, 

 and it was therefore of paramount importance 

 to employ only good men and to abolish or modify 

 ancient methods and customs. In an edict issued 

 in February the Emperor adopted the principles 

 that Chang-Chih-Tung and other viceroys had ad- 

 vanced in memorials to the throne. The inces- 

 sant efforts of officials to maintain a fair ex- 

 terior regardless of realities, their self-interest, 

 and their devotion to precedent, were declared to 

 be the bane of the land. Excessive reverence for 

 literary form had diverted the mind of the nation 

 from substantial progress, and even where China- 

 men have imitated Western metho'ds they have 

 copied what is superficial and immaterial, disre- 

 garding the fundamental elements in the strength 

 of Western nations, which are truth, justice, and 

 devotion to the common good. This significant 

 edict, while reproaching Kang-Yu-Wei, the found- 

 er of the revolutionary reformers, whose projects 

 were characterized as veiled rebellion, condemned 

 the officials and the literati, the system of literary 

 examinations, and the literary essay; declared 

 that military and financial helplessness had re- 

 sulted from adhering to obsolete methods; and 

 pointed to foreign methods as the only hope of 

 rescuing China from the disasters that had over- 

 taken her. The progressive Yuan-Shi-Kai, who 

 succeeded Yu-Hsien as Governor of Shantung, 

 even lauded missionaries, and publicly invited 

 them back to the province where Chinese pride 

 and exclusiveness had their deepest roots, prom- 

 ising assistance and protection to missionaries of 

 all churches, a promise that he kept faithfully. 

 By an edict published in the beginning of March 

 the Emperor declared that all decrees and reports 

 issued between June 20 and Aug. 14, 1900, were 

 annulled, and directed that they should be ex- 

 punged from the archives so that no trace of 

 them should be left in history. Some of the 

 viceroys and governors in a memorial suggested 

 that imperial princes and students of rank should 

 visit foreign countries, that the army should be 

 drilled entirely after Western methods, that the 

 colleges and schools should be extended, and that 

 a standard dollar currency should be adopted. 

 Progressive Chinamen, in consultation with 



