CHINA. 



107 



Copyright, 1901, by J. C. 1 

 HON. EDWIN H. CONGER, UNITED STATES MINISTER, AND HIS FAMILY. 



viceroy's warning, neither would they permit 

 Chinese gunboats to ascend the river. Troops were 

 sent to be landed at Shanghai, with the explana- 

 tion that British ships and forces were to be used 

 to assist the viceroys in preserving order. The 

 consuls of other powers declared that if the Brit- 

 ish Government landed troops, their governments 

 would also. The two viceroys and Li-Hung-Chang 

 requested the United States Government to use 

 its influence to prevent the landing of foreign 

 troops, which would only provoke disorders. On 

 learning that Great Britain intended to land a 

 force at Shanghai, the French Government or- 

 dered a detachment to be sent from Tonquin. The 

 Viceroy Liu requested that no troops be landed, 

 and the British troop ship sailed away. Eventually 

 it was so arranged that equal forces both of British 

 and of French troops were landed. An agreement 

 entered into between the viceroys and the foreign 

 consuls, whereby Liu ceased mounting guns in 

 the Yangtse forts and stopped other war prepara- 

 tions in consideration of his being left to preserve 

 the peace, was accepted by the United States Gov- 

 ernment, which promised to take no action so 

 long as the viceroys maintained order. When the 

 order came from Pekin to expel foreigners be- 

 cause their governments were making war on 

 China, the great viceroys paid no attention to it, 

 nor did the Governor of Shantung nor the Man- 

 chu Governor of Szechuen. The Governor of Cheh- 

 kiang promulgated the edict, and the Governors 

 of Hupeh, Hunan, and Honan were inclined to dis- 

 regard the instructions of Chang-Chih-Tung, and 

 allowed massacres of native Christians and the 

 destruction of churches to take place. The new 

 Governor of Yunnan ordered all foreigners to 

 leave, upon which he received a warning from the 

 French Government that he would be held per- 

 anally responsible for any injury to Frenchmen 

 their property. The Governor of Shansi, Yu- 



Hsien, who was the original patron of the Boxers, 

 is believed to have ordered the extermination of 

 missionaries and Christians in his province, where 

 frightful massacres occurred. The missionaries 

 were driven out of Shensi and Kiangsu. In Can 

 ton an agitation was started bv the secret societies 

 against both the foreigners and the dynasty. After 

 the fall of Pekin an abortive rebellion was set on 

 foot in the south of China by revolutionary re- 

 formers imbued with Western ideas. Funds were 

 contributed by Chinese who have lived in America, 

 Australia, and Singapore. Before the rising many 

 arrests were made in different cities. The revolu- 

 tionary movement extended over wide regions in 

 the Yangtse valley, and had for its object the 

 restoration of the Emperor Kwangsu to power and 

 the reform of the administration. When the ad- 

 vance of the allied troops began, the viceroys of 

 the central and southern provinces joined with Li- 

 Hung-Chang in a series of appeals to the powers, 

 asking them to send no more troops, to stay the 

 advance, and to formulate the terms of a settle- 

 ment. Troops were sent up to aid in the defense 

 of Pekin. When the foreign troops entered IVkin 

 the Nankin and Wuchang viceroys declared that 

 if proper consideration and respect were not shown 

 to the Empress they could not answer for the con- 

 sequences, as it was a matter of the highest im- 

 portance in the eves of the Chinese nation. 



Siege of the Legations. For months before 

 the destruction of the railroad and telegraph con- 

 vinced the ministers at Pekin of the serious char- 

 acter of the anti-foreign movement, the mission- 

 aries in Shantung and Chi -Li endeavored to im- 

 press this upon them : French. Italian, and German 

 missionaries appealing to their representatives on 

 behalf of the Catholic missions, while the Protes- 

 tants addressed the British and American min- 

 isters. The Boxers confined their operations to 

 pillaging converts or destroying their houses if 



