Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1870

No. 229.

Mr. F. F. Low to Mr. Fish.

No. 25.]

Legation of the United States, Pekin, August 24, 1870. (Received October 24.)

Sir: Since the late riot at Tien-tsin much speculation has been indulged in as to the causes, and much pains have been taken to ascertain the fact whether it was local in its origin or whether it was a part of a wide-spread conspiracy.

Most foreigners at the ports were quite willing to accept the latter view, and the newspapers, so far as I have seen, adopted the same theory. The columns of the press during the past two months have teemed with editorials and correspondence which, if true, would justify every foreigner in departing the country instanter, without standing upon the order of his going.

The measures of redress advocated by the people and the press have been extravagant, unreasonable, and in most cases impracticable. All sorts of measures of retaliation have been proposed; scarcely any proposing anything less than the opening up, by force, of the whole empire to foreign intercourse; and from that up to the decapitation of all the government officials, the overthrow of the present government, and placing the country under a foreign protectorate.

My opinion from the first has been that the disturbance was local, confined to Tien-tsin and its vicinity. I do not believe there was any knowledge of the intended riot among the natives in this city, eighty miles distant. All the testimony that comes to me from reliable sources only confirms the opinion I had formed. The danger that I apprehended was the effect the news of the riot would have upon the inhabitants at points distant from the scene of the disaster. It seemed altogether likely that the Chinese would, as a matter of course, believe the tales of their own countrymen as to the moving causes, and justify the retribution which had befallen the Catholics for their alleged evil practices. To counteract the effect elsewhere it seemed to me important that an official denial, emanating from the highest authority, should be given to the truth of the stories that had been circulated in regard to kidnapping and its attendant cruelties, and that the authors of, and the aiders and abettors in, the riots should be promptly and severely punished.

I have received very interesting and instructive letters from the vice-consul at Swatow, bearing upon this subject, a copy of which I beg to inclose, (inclosure A.) From this statement it is apparent that nothing was known there of the riot prior toits occurrence. A similar statement comes to me from the consul at Neuchwang, a port much nearer to Tien-tsin than Swatow. In both places, however, the effect of the news was to create excitement among the people. Full faith and credit were given to the reports of kidnapping, and but little disguise was apparent among the people generally, in expressing their approval of the retaliatory measures.

The consul at Swatow, you will observe, expresses the opinion that punishment of the guilty, without an official denial of the truth of the reports that incited the mob, would be of little avail in quieting the people. Unless this was done the people would still believe that punishment had been inflicted in obedience to the demands of foreigners, and not to satisfy offended justice. The language of the Chinaman, “It will be hard to be right and have to suffer also,” expresses the whole idea.

In view of this popular feeling the imperial decree, a translation of which I inclose, (inclosure B,) is an important document, and will, I trust, be productive of good. It is not as clear and explicit as I could have wished, but it is all that can reasonably be expected from officials trained as they have been, and harboring superstitions that would have been considered radical in the days of Salem witchcraft.

Inclosure C is a translation of the offensive proclamation which the prefect of Tien-tsin put forth about the 10th of June, which it is believed was mainly instrumental in stirring up the people. It is certainly a very offensive document, and well calculated to produce the terrible result which followed.

Inclosure D is a translation of a decree ordering the two suspended magistrates back to Tien-tsin for the convenience of examination. These are the two officials whose summary punishment the French chargé demanded.

I regret to be compelled to say that the delay of the officials in this whole matter argues ill for the future. At first they appeared to be greatly alarmed, and anxious to get advice from the foreign diplomatic representatives as to their proper course, in order to do justice and avoid a hostile demonstration on the part of the French. Latterly this feeling has given way to one of coolness bordering upon indifference. This change is attributable partly to the action of the French chargé as detailed in my No. 24, and the knowledge that France is engaged in hostilities at home, and partly to the practical difficulties in the way of ascertaining and bringing to justice the criminals in Tien-tsin, against the public opinion of the entire population of the city. These causes are likely to defeat the well-intentioned plans and purposes of the officials, formed in the beginning; and things will be likely to drift along until France gets ready to apply force to compel a settlement.

Fans are now being manufactured and sold in Tien-tsin, having coarsely engraved views of the burning buildings and the murdering of the people in the streets upon them. Fans to the Chinese are what illustrated papers are to the people of the United States. They are made to suit the tastes of the people, and the fact that such engravings will cause a better sale for the fans is a conclusive argument that there is no sentiment of regret or sorrow among the people over the result of the riot. There is undoubtedly greater unanimity of opinion there in favor of the rioters than there is in Ireland among the peasantry in favor of one of their number who shoots his landlord. If this feeling in Ireland is strong enough to baffle all attempts of the English government to bring to justice, by the ordinary forms of law, a peasant accused of injuring the person or property of his landlord, is it surprising that this feeble central government should find it difficult to ascertain and punish the rioters in a city of 400,000 inhabitants, all of whom either aided in the massacre or sympathize with the criminals?

It is this spirit among the people that portends evil; and I shall not be surprised to hear of similar outbreaks elsewhere, unless a change in feeling of the populace soon takes place. All the foreign representatives here are doing what they can to secure action by the government which will change the current of public sentiment, and thereby add to the safety of their countrymen residing here. I shall continue to urge upon the Chinese officials measures calculated to promote the security and welfare of foreigners, and at the same time insure peace and benefits to the people here, and stability to their government. Further than this I do not feel at liberty to go, were I so disposed, which I am not.

FREDERICK F. LOW.

A.

Mr. W. Ashmore to Mr. F. F. Low.

Consulate of the United States, Swatow, July 25, 1870.

Sir: It may be of interest to your excellency to learn the effect produced upon the Chinese mind in distant ports by the news of the atrocity at Tien-tsin.

I have the honor, therefore, to communicate to you a digest of observations thus far.

It is proper to remark, in the way of preface, that my opportunities for learning speedily and correctly are full and reliable, for, in connection with my missionary work, I have assistants stationed in nearly all of the principal cities of the prefecture. In accordance with an established usage, these assistants write to me in the early part of every week. Their letters are concerned exclusively with their legitimate work. They are not encouraged to allude to the common gossip of the places where they are. It is only when something stirs up unusual commotion that information on the subject is communicated to me. The week subsequent to the dissemination of the Tien-tsin intelligence, these letters of the assistants came to me freighted with the same stories of what was being said among the Chinese. It is impossible that they could have communication with each other. The letters are therefore independent sources of information, and mutually corroborate each other. Besides the above, I have myself taken special pains to ascertain, by personal converse with persons, the movements of popular feeling, and can therefore make my statements with confidence.

After the exercise of a due discrimination between what is local and what is general, what is rumor and what is substantial, I find myself in possession of information that may be comprised in the following points:

1st. Within a week after the first receipt of the news here it was well known in all the towns and cities in this department. There have been three distinct sources of information: 1st. Intelligence contained in the Hong-Kong papers; 2d. Numerous letters received by the Chinese from Hong-Kong, from Shanghai, and from Tien-tsin; many Chinese from this region in those places in the prosecution of business; and, 3d. Verbal information given at various Yamêns to those who inquire.

2d. In every instance the Chinese version of the affair has received credence. With alight variation, the story given out has been that foreigners have been kidnapping children for the most horrible purposes; that a mandarin went to the Roman Catholic hospital to remonstrate; that he was set upon by the priests and killed, or, as some say, fired upon; that this was more than the people could bear, and then they rose for self-protection; that in the collision which ensued, many Chinese were killed and many foreigners also.

3d. A bitter, malicious rancor toward foreigners suddenly developed itself. Some of this feeling was the natural result of faith in the stories about kidnapping. But it would be a delusion to ascribe it all to that source. It was plain that a long-cherished but suppressed ill-will was taking occasion to assert itself. Truth requires me to state that the general feeling about the massacre was gratulation, amounting in some instances to gloating. Persons connected with us have been threatened, and told that the time for the destruction of the rest of us would come by-and-by. In the first frenzy of the excitement, the soldiers under Pong-ta-yeh assaulted and partially destroyed several houses connected with the English Presbyterian mission. However, on complaint being made, the officer in charge caused some of the ringleaders to be punished, but declined the responsibility of making restitution. One of my own assistants, for expressing abhorrence of the treatment of the Sisters of Charity, was assaulted and beaten, and threatened with death by a squad of soldiers under the command of a petty officer traveling with him at the time on the same passage boat.

4th. The first imperial edict, made in reply to the memorial of Chunghow, and directing inquiry into the truth of the kidnapping story, and also after the originators of the disturbance, became known here about a week after the first news of the massacre. It produced a manifest effect in making people more cautious in expressing themselves. But, unfortunately, the effect is to confirm the mass in opinion that the enormities attributed to the Sisters of Charity were actually perpetrated, and, as the charge remains uncontradicted, the bitter feeling, though smothered a little, remains in force unabated. The extinction of the false impression is a matter of importance to us, even at this remote distance. This can be done effectually only through an imperial edict declaring the falsity of the charges, after a full investigation has been held. Any action taken by the French government which does not involve such a declaration from the throne will leave the adjustment of the difficulty incomplete. I say this for the reason that Chinese of standing and intelligence have told me the mass of the people do believe their own mandarin was assaulted while in the discharge of a legitimate, though disagreeable, duty, and “that it will be hard to bear to be in the right and have to suffer for it also.” The truth should therefore be fully set forth, and then subsequent measures will have their proper moral effect. It is to be feared that a commission, composed exclusively of high Chinese officials, without any foreigners, will fail to present the truth, and we shall suffer in consequence, in the general estimation.

5th. I am told by numbers of Chinese of respectability that upon the mode of settlement of the Tien-tsin difficulty depends the security of our future relations. There has been an opinion gaining ground here for years, and I speak now from personal knowledge, that a time was coming when a different tone should be used toward foreigners, which would be sustained by force if necessary. Such a sentiment in the territory adjacent to a small port is of itself no great moment, save as the constant iteration of it prepares the mind of the people for making the trouble they predict. Now that the massacre of the north has occurred, there has been excited and intense desire to see how it will end. It is plain the Chinese in this region will be influenced by it, for good or for evil, to annoy and hamper us, or allow us the quiet enjoyment of treaty life.

W. ASHMORE, Vice-Consul.

B.

Prince Kung to Mr. F. F. Low.

IMPERIAL DECREES RESPECTING TIEN-TSIN RIOT.

Tungchi, 9th Year, 6th Moon, 27th Day, (July 29, 1870.)

Sir: Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication.

Two days since, I was honored by receiving the following imperial decrees:

“Tsang Kwoh-fan and Tsanghow have sent up the following memorial, wherein they give the result of their inquiry into the riot at Tien-tsin and its attendant cireumstances:

“‘We have thoroughly examined into the charges brought against the Roman Catholics of having bewitched and carried off people, and find that there is no reliable evidence that the missionaries had anything to do with it; for Wang-sun, who at first confessed that he had given drugs to Wu Lan-chin, afterward retracted all he had said, and their depositions did not agree; further, the boys and girls taken from the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, more than 150 altogether, all declare that they were brought to the place by their relatives and not one among them had been kidnapped.

“‘When Tsang Kwoh-fan first reached Tien-tsin, he personally made inquiries and fully questioned people about the accusations of taking out eyes and opening hearts, but not one of them could bring forward a single actual case; nor had any family in or around the city of Tien-tsin complained in the courts of having lost children. The incidents closely resemble those in the provinces of Kianasi and Hunan in the cities of Yang-chau and Tienmân, and in Ta-ming and Kwangping, in this province (of Chihli,) all of which were caused by anonymous inflammatory placards and exciting talk by which people’s minds were distracted. Although these cases were all satisfactorily settled, the truth or falsity of these rumors and placards was never fully investigated and made generally known; while the people of Tien-tsin were continually hearing of them and fully believed them to be true.

“‘Moreover, owing to the practice of these foreign Roman Catholic mission establishments to close their doors thoughout the year; and to the existence of cellars under the mission-house and the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, dug to contain coal and prevent dampness, and to the rule that persons under medical treatment are not allowed to go out; and lastly that many of the poor homeless wretches taken in for relief were at the point of death, (and suffered great mortality,) it came to pass that the popular suspicions were all strengthened and not dissipated.

“‘During the months of May and June it happened that some kidnappers, who had used drugs to bewitch people, were arrested and charged the Roman Catholics with participation in their doings. [On the day] the populace saw M. Fontanier, the consul, fire his pistol at the officers, and immediately raising a great cry throughout their ranks, at once ran together, crying out, this is the one who takes out the eyes and hearts and cuts up human beings; words that were mostly wild rumors, without a shadow of evidence to support them.’

“The orders which were sent to Tsang Kwoh-fan and Tsanghow to jointly manage this affair with fairness, have now brought out this report, showing that the whole disturbance arose from unfounded rumors which excited the suspicions of the people at Tien-tsin. This is plainly to be seen. If the same rumors prevail in other provinces they will give rise to endless suspicions which should be dissipated. It is to be feared, however, that the strict laws relating to the bewitching and carrying off of children and people have gradually come to be regarded as a dead letter; and the board of punishments is therefore ordered, wherever cases of this kind are brought before it, to inflict even additional punishment on the guilty. The authorities in the provinces will follow the decisions of the board of punishments in dealing with all persons convicted of these crimes and execute strict justice, that the wicked and cruel may be deterred from similar doings.

“Pekin itself, being the head of the empire, (lit., the place of the head of goodness,) must still more be carefully cleared of such miscreants. Let the commandant of the metropolitan guard therefore institute strict search, and let all kidnappers who are taken up be immediately delivered to the hoard of punishments for trial and condign punishment. Respect this.”

In addition to the preceding, I have received the following decree:

“Tsang Kwoh-fan having reported that Chang Kwang-tsao, the prefect of Tien-tsin, and Liu Kieh, the district magistrate, had so acted as to excite a riot between the people and the Roman Catholics, and been very remiss in taking precautions before it occurred, and since then have been unable to arrest the criminals quickly, requests that they be degraded from their posts and handed over for trial and punishment. Let these two officers, therefore, be instantly deprived of their rank and delivered to the board of punishments to be dealt with. Respect this.”

I have now the honor to send you copies (of these two decrees) for your excellency’s information.

To his Excellency Frederick F. Low, United States Minister to China.

C.

Proclamation of the prefect of Tim-tsin.

Chang, prefect of Tien-tsin, hereby issues a second proclamation respecting measures to be taken to arrest [kidnappers.]

On the 6th of June the constable of Yung-fung-tien (a village near Tien-tsin) seized and brought to this office two men named Chang and Kwoh, who had been arrested for stupefying and bewitching a lad named Li Ta-yang, in the district of Tsinghai, and carrying him off. On examination they confessed that they had used certain drugs, and recited incantations in order to bewitch children to follow them. They were accordingly ordered to be executed in that, district where the crime was committed, in accordance with directions received from the higher courts.

Rumors have been circulated that these villains had carried on their practices by direction of certain persons, and had gone about the country to bewitch and kidnap children in order to take out their brains, eyes, and hearts, to be used in preparing certain medicines. Detestable in the extreme! If instant measures are not taken to visit such things with condign punishment, how can the villagers be quieted, or the laws of the land vindicated? And the magistrate of Tien tsin has sent out his policemen, and issued orders for them to arrest such men. But as Tien-tsin is a large city, containing a dense population, and the district is a wide region, it is really to be feared that these miscreants will not give up their practices, but will steal into its purlieus and hide themselves in out-of-the-way places where they cannot be pursued, thence to watch their chance to conjure away ignorant and simple children. If such fellows are not sharply followed up and seized, how can these inhuman deeds be stopped and the country quieted? Competent detectives have therefore been appointed to follow up and arrest them, to notify which is the object of this proclamation.

Issued about the 10th of June, 1870.

D.

Prince Kung to Mr. F. F. Low.

Tungchi, 9th Year, 7th Moon, 14th Day, (August 10, 1870.)

Sir: Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication.

On the 7th instant I received the following imperial decree:

“Chang Kwang-tsao, the prefect of Tien-tsin, and Liu Kieh, the district magistrate, both of whom have been degraded, were reported by Tsang Kwoh-fan, and have been handed over to the board for trial and punishment. These degraded officers ought properly to be examined where their offense was committed; and at Tien-tsin, personal depositions can be taken, and the accused confronted with witness, which will enable the board of punishments to examine awl decide their eases equitably and intelligently. Let Tsien Ting-ming immediately semi them to Tien-tsin in charge of a special officer, who will wait with them till their depositions and cross-examination are finished. Respect this.”

It appears to me that as the riot in which these officers are involved occurred at Tien-tsin, it will be much easier to cross-examine and get the real facts there; and I have accordingly transmitted the above decree, requiring that the degraded prefect and magistrate give their evidence and be cross-examined before witness at Tien-tsin, preparatory to their being again delivered to the board of punishments for final sentence, to his excelleney Tsang, cabinet minister and governor general of Chihli, to act in conformity thereto, and the object of this dispatch is to inform your excellency of what has been done in this respect.

To his Excellency Frederick F. Low, Minister of the United States to China.