THE CHINESE "BOXERS" 287 



ing more Ihnn a temporal-}' yielding to foreign demands while Avail- 

 ing for the proi)er moment for the present outbreak. 



The anti-foreign outbreak ha3 grown from what at first seemed but 

 a })lnndering attack upon a -few poor Chinese Christians in north- 

 western Shan-tung to propoitions Avhich necessitate international 

 action and which threaten the very existence of foreigners and of 

 foreign interests iu China. It will not [)rove sufficient to quiet 

 Pekin. With diplomatic'relations restored, the Empress can, l)y re- 

 taining in the Foreign Office the anti-foreign ministers, wage a war- 

 fare of extermination on business and missionary interests tlirough- 

 out the provinces. The provincial officials would but carry out the 

 secret edicts, while a corresponding series of pro-foreign edicts would 

 tie the hands of consuls and foreign ministers. 



I concur in the ideas expressed by Weng Tung Ho, tutor of the 

 Emperor Kwang Hsu, and see but little hope of a satisfactory set- 

 tlement of tlie present most deplorable situation outside some ar- 

 rangement sin)ilar to that suggested. Weng says: "His INTajesty is 

 convinced, through amply trustworthy sources, that the loyal sup- 

 port of many scores of millions of Chinese will be accorded to his 

 proposals for putting an end to the state of anarch}^ brought about 

 by the action of the Empress Tsi An. 



"The government of China, being virtually non-existent, the Em- 

 peror proposes that the foreign powers, whose troops dominate the 

 capital, shall remove his imperial person from the [)alace in which 

 His Majesty is confined a prisoner, shall declare Empress Tsi An and 

 her present ministers to l)e usurpers, and shall bring Emperor Kwang 

 Hsu to Nanking, Wuchang, or Shanghai, whichever the said foreign 

 powers deem to be the most suitable situation for the new capital of 

 the Chinese Empire under the new conditions. It is proposed by His 

 Majesty and his advisers that the foreign jiowers should declare a 

 joint protectorate and undertake tlie task of governing the country 

 through His Majesty. 



" China is ripe for the change of tide which the reactionaries vainly 

 seek to stem. If it should l)e, on the other hand, that the foreign 

 powers seriously contemplate the dismeml)erment of the Chinese Em- 

 pire, they have Ijefore them the huge task of facing dense millions, 

 who, although lacking training and making but contemptil)le sol- 

 diers, possess boundless powers of passive resistance, and would ))e 

 able to wear out the patience of any Eur()i)ean rulers seeking to 

 govern them without regard to tlieir ])r('judices." 



