THE CHINESE "BOXERS" 285 



from holding any office. This decree was simpl}' two big handfuls of 

 dust, for in a short time this same Li Ping Heng was appointed to an 

 office of great importance in the north, and it is reported that he is 

 now one'of the Empress Dowager's chief anti-foreign advisers. 



In dealing with the " Boxers " the authorities of China have but 

 continued these methods. The anti-foreign party has beyond ques- 

 tion hoped for opportunity to rise against all foreigners and " drive 

 them into the sea." Li Ping Heng petitioned the Empress Dowager 

 to be allowed to resist the Germans at Kiao-chau by force of arms- 

 Again, something over a 3^ ear ago, it was commonly reported and be- 

 lieved that General Tung Fu Hsiang, during audience with the Em- 

 press Dowager, requested permission to use his soldiers, who were 

 like himself bitterlj^ anti-foreign, to attack the foreign legations in 

 Pekin, and that he pledged himself to make short work of the min- 

 isters. It is said that the Empress showed signs of pleasure at his 

 " loyalty " and of regret that she feared to follow his suggestions. It 

 was under a governor of similar spirit that the " Boxers " began 

 operations in Shan-tung last fall. In response to the representations 

 of the missionaries, whose converts were being looted, he refused to 

 admit the existence of any organized society, and it was not until 

 two or. three counties were in a state of practical anarchy that soldiers 

 were sent from the capital. The avowed purpose of these troops was 

 to protect the Christian Chinese from robbery and to catch and i)unish 

 the outlaws. The real animus of the governor was shown when he 

 recalled and degraded the officers who had ])unished the " Boxers " 

 in a severe fight. The "Boxers" openly claimed to have the gov- 

 ernor's sympath}', and after this battle the depredations were unre- 

 stricted. The Chinese soldiers had evidently l:»een given orders not 

 to harm the insurgents ; for they refused to interfere, though called 

 upon, even when the outbreak occurred within two or three miles 

 of their camp. The recent action of the Empress Dowager in repri- 

 manding General Nieh for attacking the " Boxers," who were destroy- 

 ing the railway from Tientsin to Pekin, is but a re})etition on a larger 

 scale of what the governor of Shan-tung did at the beginning of tlie 

 troubles. In Shan-tung one county magistrate is said to liave sent 

 word to the rebels : " Save my face, and don't enter this city (county- 

 seat) : no Christians live inside the city." The magistrate of Po-i)ing 

 county said : " Our own })eople we will })rotect, l)Ut not the converts 

 of tlie foreigners." 



It is the theory of the Chinese government that the people are nat- 



