James D. Hague 



When Mr. Cutter read with 

 unspeakable indignation of these 

 distressful events he immediately 

 resolved to devote all his energies 

 and resources to the rescue of the 



treated like state criminals. They arrived in 

 Kan-suh in February, 1879, and were sent on 

 to the provincial capital to be tried and sen- 

 tenced by the Judicial Commissioner there 

 for the awful crime of being sons of their 

 father. In the course of time the Commis- 

 sioner made a report of the trial which he 

 concluded as follows: 



" ' In cases of sedition, where the law con- 

 demns the malefactors to death by the slow 

 and painful process, the children and grand- 

 children, if it be shown that they were not 

 privy to the treasonable designs of their par- 

 ents, shall be delivered, no matter whether 

 they have attained full age or not, into the 

 hands of the imperial household to be made 

 eunuchs of, and shall be forwarded to Turkis- 

 tan and given over as slaves to the soldiery. 

 If under the age of ten, they shall be con- 

 fined in prison until they have reached the 

 age of eleven, whereupon they shall be handed 

 over to the imperial household, to be dealt 

 51 



