Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1900

Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States,
Pekin, China, January 6, 1900.

No. 307.]

Sir: I have the honor to confirm on the overleaf my telegram of yesterday concerning the murder of the English missionary, Rev. S. M. Brooke.¹

He had been to spend Christmas with some friends, and while returning to his station, Tainanfu, he fell in with the Boxers, who took him prisoner on December 31 and on January 1 beheaded him and threw his naked body in a ditch.

The tsungli yamen reports that as soon as Governor Yuan Shih-kai learned of his capture he dispatched soldiers from Chinanfu to secure his release, but they were too late. As soon as news reached the Throne an imperial decree, translation of which I inclose, was issued expressing regret for the murder and ordering the arrest and punishment of the criminals, and also the punishment of the delinquent officials, which decree was immediately telegraphed to the governor of Shantung.

I received telegraphic information of the murder on the 4th, and immediately sent a strong note to the tsungli yamen.

The British minister, upon learning of the capture of Mr. Brooke, sent immediately to the Tsungli Yamen and learned there of the murder.

He is at present awaiting further particulars, and the result of the efforts to arrest and punish the criminals and officials.

This affair, I think, has at length aroused the authorities here to the extreme gravity of the situation, and I believe now that the uprising will be put down.

About the time of the arrival of the new governor at the capital three of the Boxers were decapitated, which it is believed only enraged the rest and caused them to rally in greater force, but Governor Yuan Shih-kai is said to have decided that punishment by death is the only way to restore order, and it is expected that he will now proceed with sufficient severity to accomplish this result.

Since my dispatch No. 289, of December 7 last, I have several telegrams and letters from the missionaries reporting further persecutions and robberies of the native Christians, which have been laid before the Tsungli Yamen in personal interviews, they each time promising to send telegraphic instructions ordering troops to the localities; but they either did not fully appreciate the critical situation or else the delay in installing the new governor permitted the uprising to spread and gain its present strength.

I have several times urged that they were moving too slow, and that there was great danger of the trouble getting beyond their control and of foreign lives being taken, and I informed them that I should hold them to a full responsibility for the results.

It is to be hoped that the crisis has now been reached, but of that no one can be certain. I have, however, advised the missionaries not to travel about until quiet is restored.

I inclose translation of a note received from the Tsungli Yamen on December 11 last.

I have the honor to be, etc.,

E. H. Conger.

P. S.—Since writing the above I have been informed that the Chinese Government has ordered 8,000 soldiers from Tientsin to the province of Shantung.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

Imperial decree published in the Pekin Gazette, January 4, 1900.

Yuan Shih-kai has memorialized us by telegraph that in the districts of Pingyin and Pacheng the banditti have assembled in large numbers and created trouble. These outlaws forcibly took a missionary to a place called Mao Chiapu. The acting governor adopted various means to secure the release of the missionary, and dispatched a contingent of cavalry to seize the outlaws, but he failed to accomplish his purpose, as the missionary had already been murdered. The death of this missionary is greatly to be lamented.

The treaties provide for the propagation of the Christian religion by foreign missionaries, and repeated decrees have been issued by Us calling upon the viceroys and governors to instruct the local authorities, as occasion and circumstances make it necessary, to zealously and energetically afford all proper protection to these persons.

Our injunctions and orders have been repeatedly issued. But a missionary has now been murdered in Shantung. The civil and military officers before the murder happened were relax in taking precautionary measures, and they can not evade responsibility for what has happened.

If the persons concerned in this murder case are not quickly arrested, then affairs will still be going all wrong.

Let Yuan Shih-kai present to Us, without delay, the names of all the delinquent military officials, so that they may be impeached and punished. At the same time a limited time will be given to arrest the murderers, so that they may be severely dealt with, to the end that tranquillity may prevail and thus give force to our friendly feeling toward a neighboring state.

[Inclosure No. 2.]

The Tsungli Yamen to Mr. Conger.

Pekin, December 11, 1899.

No. 131.]

Your Excellency: We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 5th instant in regard to the troubles in Shantung.

In reply we have the honor to state that before your excellency’s note was received by the yamen, a decree was issued appointing the Vice-President Yuan as acting governor of Shantung.

This officer is in command of the new army corps styled Wu I, and he will certainly be able to distribute the troops to various places to suppress the rioters, give due protection, and restore order, so that the Christians may feel easy in their minds.

Cards of ministers with compliments.

1. Printed ante.