In view of the fact that the inclosure was signed by the representatives of
all foreign powers in China, it must be remembered that united action is
absolutely necessary on the part of foreigners in China for self-protection.
The Chinese mob knows nothing about race or nationality. It regards all
foreigners as enemies, and destroys all alike. It is true that the recent
riots were chiefly directed against Catholics, but two Englishmen were
murdered at Wusieh, and many injuries have been done to English chapels.
Americans slightly suffered, but in various places the missionaries were
compelled to flee for their lives. I have had no hesitation, therefore, in
joining with my colleagues in earnest demands for redress of wrongs,
punishment of offenders, and better assured protection to foreigners.
The time is now appropriate for a definite settlement of the rights of
foreigners in China. If it comes to be understood by the people that rioting
may be indulged in without fear of punishment, the residence of foreigners
in China must cease. It must not be imagined that the Government of China
favors or foments riots. The Emperor thoroughly understands that these
outrages are injurious to his dignity and power, and he is impressed also
with the idea that the ringleaders are looking to the destruction of the
Manchu dynasty. Very excellent proclamations have been issued, but, as the
inclosure states, there has been little actual repressive or punitory work
done. I sincerely hope that the yamên will respond favorably to the demands
made in the inclosure, and thus avoid complications which may possibly lead
to hostile acts on the part of the powers that are most aggrieved.
[Inclosure in No. 1368.]
The foreign
representatives to the tsung-li
yamên.
The undersigned, representatives of Belgium, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and the United
States of America, have the honor to address the following communication
to his highness Prince Ching and their excellencies the ministers of the
tsung-li yamên:
The Chinese representatives in Europe having, by order of their
Government, stated officially to the governments to which they are
accredited that, two executions having taken place at Wuhu and two at
Wusueh, the Chinese Government did not see their way to inflict any more
capital punishment, for fear of exciting instead of appeasing the
population, that a certain number of officials had been dismissed from
their posts, and that in the disturbed provinces peace and security had
been restored, those of the undersigned representatives to whom their
governments have referred these declarations emanating from the Chinese
legations have felt themselves obliged to state in reply that to their
great regret they could not share the favorable appreciation which the
Chinese Government seemed to have of their own action and of the general
state of things. In fact, the promises contained in the imperial edict
of June 13 may be said to have so far remained almost unfulfilled.
Instead of the edict itself having been published generally throughout
the country, there are many districts and even provinces where it has
not been published at all, while in some places where, on account of
former riots, its publication would have been of the most vital
importance, it has been published only in an incomplete form. Besides,
wherever it has been published, publication has taken place only after
undue delay, a month and more having been allowed to elapse in some
instances. The arrests of rioters hitherto made are very few in number,
although thousands have been engaged in destroying property and
threatening or taking life; and those who were known as ringleaders have
been permitted to escape, either by the apathy or the neglect or even
with the connivance of the native officials. The punishments meted out
so far, either capital or other, are not at all in proportion to the
gravity of the offenses committed; on the contrary, the leniency shown
by the authorities in the instances of the riots in the Yangtse Valley
and elsewhere contrasts very unfavorably with the requirements of the
criminal code and its application in cases in which no foreigners or
Christians are concerned, as can be shown by numerous reports and edicts
published in the Peking Gazette. No official information has as yet
reached the undersigned of any punishment having been inflicted upon
Chinese officials for their attitude before, during, or after the riots,
and certainly the only punishment repeatedly demanded and insisted upon
by the foreign representatives, namely, the removal of the taotai of
Wuhu from his post, has not yet been carried out. No mention has been
made in the Peking Gazette of the results of the investigations into the
causes of the riots or of the punishments inflicted, and the great mass
of the Chinese population must therefore continue to believe that the
destruction of foreign life and property is an offense considered as a
venial one by the Chinese authorities. Instead of security having been
reëstablished, the troubles and riots, are spreading everywhere, and
foreign missions and chapels are attacked and destroyed, while the
native Christians, though the peaceful and undisturbed exercise of their
religion has been guarantied to them by treaty, are pillaged and
expelled without any interference for their protection or for the
execution of treaties being undertaken by the Chinese authorities. The
undersigned have for the last two months tried in vain, singly and
collectively, verbally and in writing, to obtain redress and induce the
Chinese Government to understand the grave responsibility they are
assuming by their refusal to interfere more energetically for the
protection of foreign life and property, as well as for the protection
of native Christians against attacks and insults. All their endeavors
have constantly been met by the statement that the Chinese Government
could not interfere with the action of the provincial authorities. Such
a state of things, however, can not be allowed to continue. The attempt
of the Chinese Government to repudiate all responsibility for the acts
of the population, as well as of the local and provincial authorities,
and their evident determination not to interfere with what they consider
to be exclusive domain of those authorities, can not but lead to serious
complications between foreign governments and China. The undersigned are
accredited to the Chinese Government, they address the latter by order
and in the name of their governments, and they have not only the right,
but it is also their duty, to require that they shall be put into
communication with an office representing the views and the policy of
the Government and willing as well as able to exercise such power and
influence as generally belong to an office which is intrusted with the
maintenance of the foreign relations of a country. If the present
constitution of the tsung-li yamên should not give that body the powers
regularly to place before His Majesty the Emperor the course and the
results of their relations with the representatives of foreign powers
and to solicit the issuance of such
[Page 424]
imperial orders as may be necessary to oblige
local and provincial authorities to bring their conduct into accordance
with the requirements of the foreign policy of the Empire, the
undersigned must ask that the tsung-li yamên should lose no further time
in exerting themselves to obtain such changes in the constitution of
their department as would be necessary to give them the power indicated
above. The representatives of foreign powers are no longer in a position
to admit the refusal of the yamên to consider and act upon the
representations addressed to them in the regular course of international
business. In the meanwhile the undersigned have the honor formally to
request his highness and their excellencies to give directions for
insuring the immediate promulgation everywhere and in
extenso of the imperial edict of the 13th of June.
They must further formally request that the investigation of the riots in
the Yangtse Valley and elsewhere shall be conducted with greater energy
and in more complete conformity than hitherto with the requirements of
the Chinese criminal code; that those Chinese officials who have been
remiss in their duty either before, during, or after the riots shall be
removed, and that such a measure shall at once be applied in the case of
the taotai of Wuhu; that the foreign representatives shall be furnished
officially with the reports of the provincial and local officials on the
subject of the riots, as well as with the results of the judicial
investigation of the cases of arson, of destruction of property, or of
loss of life; that not only these reports, but also any measures for the
punishment of officials, shall be published in the Peking Gazette in the
same form as is followed in cases purely Chinese; and, finally, that the
Chinese Government shall provide for the due protection of the Christian
population of the Empire against attacks and spoliations, and shall at
the same time guaranty to them the free exercise of their religion.
There being nothing in these demands which has not already been
repeatedly placed before the Chinese Government by the foreign
representatives, and the acceptance of which has not been urged upon the
former verbally and in writing, the undersigned have the honor to inform
his highness and their excellencies that if they should not receive,
within a reasonable time, the assurances and the proofs that the Chinese
Government is willing to act in accordance with the demands in question,
the necessity for which has been pointed out to them, the undersigned
will be compelled to inform their respective governments that their
efforts to bring the Chinese Government to comprehend either the gravity
of the situation or their own responsibility have been unsuccessful, and
that they must await further instructions as to the line of conduct
which they should pursue under the circumstances.
The undersigned avail themselves, etc.
