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 Settlements were closed, and orders were sent to all Ningpo
men—and they form 50 per cent. of the population—to go out on
strike.

"Some of the principal Ningpo merchants came forward in the

afternoon, and through the good offices of a peacemaker came
to an understanding with the French Consul, under which it was
agreed that the French should postpone taking possession of the
cemetery for one month, during which time the Ningpo Guild
trust to come to some amicable arrangement. The French Consul
has given them to understand that he will not recede from his
position; the cemetery must be given up, but he is willing
that this should be done in any way that will be most pleasing
to the Ningpo residents."

On the 23d of August it was announced by telegram from

Shanghai that "the dispute arising out of the Ningpo Josshouse
is about to be settled by French withdrawing their claims to
remove the buildings in consideration for an extension of
their concession as far as Si-ca Wei, an addition of 20 square
miles." This raised protests from Great Britain and the United
States, many of whose citizens owned property within the area
thus proposed to be placed under French jurisdiction; and the
distracted Tsung-li Yamên was threatened and pulled about
between the contending parties for months. The final outcome
was an extension of the general Foreign Settlement at Shanghai
(principally British and American) and a limited extension of
that especially controlled by the French. The adjustment of
the question was not reached until near the end of 1899.

Great Britain, Papers by Command:

China, Number 1, 1899. and Number 1, 1900.

CHINA: A. D. 1898-1899 (June-January).

Anti-missionary insurrection at Shun-ch'ing,
in Central Szechuan.
The following is from a communication addressed by the British
Minister to the Tsung-li Yamên, August 2, 1898:

"At Shun-ch'ing Fu the local officials, with a few of the

gentry, have for years shown themselves determinedly hostile
to foreigners, and have refused to allow houses to be let to
missionaries. British missionaries have in consequence been
forced to quarter themselves in an inn for the last six years,
but even that was apparently objected to; in 1893 there was a
riot, and in 1895 another, in which two missionaries were
treated with brutal violence. In May of this year a house was
finally rented; the District Magistrate was notified, but
neither he nor the Pao-ning Taotai issued proclamations or
gave protection, though requested by the missionaries to do
so. The Shun-ch'ing Prefect, instead of giving protection,
connived at the local opposition, and with the usual results.
On the 15th June three missionaries were attacked and stoned,
and one severely wounded, while passing through the city, and
though protection was asked of the Prefect, he gave none, and
later he and the other officials repeatedly refused to issue a
Proclamation or to take any measures whatever to avert
disturbances. On the 20th the Prefect feigned sickness, and
could not be appealed to, and on the 27th the house leased by
the missionaries was destroyed, with all the property it
contained. The Roman Catholic establishment was also gutted.

"As usual the disturbance did not end at Shun-ch'ing. Later on

a Roman Catholic Chapel at Yung ch'ang Hsien was attacked and
looted, two native Christians killed, 10,000 taels of silver
stolen, and a French priest [Father Fleury] seized and held to
ransom by a band of rioters. I am also informed that other
acts of brigandage have occurred, and that the Protestant
missions at Pao-ning and Shê-Hung are in grave danger. The
Provincial Government appears to absolutely ignore the recent
Imperial Decrees for the prevention of missionary troubles.
All the conditions point to this, or to an utter incapacity on
the part of those officers to exercise satisfactory control. Her
 Majesty's Consul, indeed, informs me that there is one band of
brigands, led by an outlaw known as Yü Mau Tzu, which is able
to terrorise two important districts in the centre of Szechuan
and even to overawe the Chêngtu authorities. In connection
with the Shun-ch'ing affair Her Majesty's Consul has made the
following demands:

1. Immediate restoration of their house to the missionaries,

the officers to pay the whole cost of repairs;

2. Punishment of the ring-leaders;

3. The local headmen to give security for future good conduct;

4. Compensation for all property destroyed;

5. Punishment of officials in fault.

I shall look to the Yamên and see that these demands are fully
satisfied and with the least possible delay."

{98}

But urgency from both England and France failed to stimulate

action on the part of the Chinese government, energetic enough
to stop this anti-missionary movement in Central Szechuan. What
seems to have been a riot at first became a formidable revolt.
"The action of the Provincial Government was paralysed by the
fact that Father Fleury was still in Yü's hands, and would be
killed if a move was made against the brigands. On the other
side the Viceroy was informed by M. Haas, the French Consul,
that if anything happened to the Father the consequences to
China would be disagreeable. The Taotai was in consequence
making efforts to secure the release of the prisoners by
paying blackmail." In September it was reported that "Yü's
power was increasing, his emissaries were scattered about in
places beyond his immediate sphere of influence, and were
attempting to stir up Secret Societies, and he had issued a
manifesto. A riot took place at Ho Chou, 60 miles north of
Chungking, on the 14th September, the American mission
hospital being partially looted and a Roman Catholic
establishment destroyed by fire. The Provincial Government was
acting weakly and unprofitably."

Towards the end of September, "Yü marched with about 2,000

uniformed men and took up a position on the Ch'êng-tu road;
thence he moved east to Tung-Liang, pillaging and burning the
houses of Christians, and levying contributions on the rich.
The Viceroy, at the request of the Consuls, was said to have
sent 4,000 troops from Ch'êng-tu, Lu-chou, and Ho-chiang to
converge on Chungking. Twelve of the rebels, who had been
seized at a place only 30 miles south of the port, were
publicly executed with torture in Chungking on the 30th
September." In October the report was that "fresh troops were
arriving, and were taking up positions along the Ch'êng-tu
road, and the passes north of Chungking. Further executions
had taken place. … The Procureur of the French Mission
estimated that up to date the total damage done by Yü Mau-tzu
was twenty persons killed, the houses of 6,000 Christians
burned and their property stolen, and twelve Missions
destroyed."

Great Britain, Papers by Command: China,

Number 1, 1899, page 249, and Number 1, 1900, page 152.

On the 12th of October the United States Minister, Mr. Conger,

sent to the State Department at Washington the following
translation of a decree issued by the Empress Dowager on the
6th:

"From the opening of ports to foreign trade to the present

time, foreigners and Chinese have been as one family, with
undivided interests, and since missionaries from foreign
countries are living in the interior, we have decreed, not
three or four times, but many times, that the local officials
must protect them; that the gentry and people of all the
provinces must sympathize with our desire for mutual
benevolence; that they must treat them truthfully and
honestly, without dislike or suspicion, with the hope of
lasting peaceful relations.

"Recently, there have been disturbances in the provinces which

it has been impossible to avoid. There have been several cases
of riot in Szechuan, which have not been settled. The stupid
and ignorant people who circulate rumors and stir up strife,
proceeding from light to grave differences, are most truly to
be detested. On the other hand, the officials, who have not
been able at convenient seasons to properly instruct the
people and prevent disturbances, can not be excused from
censure.

"We now especially decree again that all high provincial

officials, wherever there are churches, shall distinctly
instruct the local officials to most respectfully obey our
several decrees, to recognize and protect the foreign
missionaries as they go to and fro, and to treat them with all
courtesy. If lawsuits arise between Chinese and native
Christians, they must be conducted with justice and speedily
concluded. Moreover, they must command and instruct the gentry
and people to fulfill their duties, that there may be no
quarrels or disagreements. Wherever there are foreigners
traveling from place to place, they must surely be protected
and the extreme limit of our hospitality extended. After the
issue of this decree, if there is any lack of preparation and
disturbances should arise, the officials of that locality will
be severely dealt with; whether they be viceroys or governors
or others they shall be punished, and it will not avail to say
we have not informed you."

United States Consular Reports,

February, 1899, page 299.
On the 1st of November the British Consul at Chungking
announced "an alarming extension of the rebellion. Flourishing
communities of Christians in four districts were destroyed,
and heavy contributions were laid on non-Christians. The
continued inactivity of the Government troops was chiefly
attributable to orders from the Yamên to the effect that the
first and foremost consideration was the rescue of Père
Fleury. Negotiations were being carried on by the Chungking
Taotai and the Chinese Generals for the Father's release; a
ransom of 100,000 taels was offered, presents were sent to Yü
and his mother, and he and his lieutenants were given buttons
of the third rank." The next month, however, brought on the
scene a new Viceroy who really wished to suppress the
insurrection, though he "complained that his hands were tied
by the Yamên's instructions, which urged him to come to terms
with Yü." At last this singularly energetic Viceroy got
permission to fight the rebels. On arriving in front of the
terrible Yü he "found that the troops who had been stationed
there previously were quite untrustworthy, and that the
Generals and local officials were all more or less in league
with the rebels. However, as soon as it was learnt that the
Treasurer meant business, a number of the rebels dispersed.
The main band, under Yü Mau-tzu, about 6,000 in number, was
then surrounded in Ta Tsu Hsien, after a preliminary encounter
in which the rebels lost some 100 men. By the 19th January, a
Maxim was brought to bear on Yü's camp, and the rebels fled
like rabbits. Yü begged Père Fleury to save his life, and next
day released the Father, who found his way to the Treasurer,
after some narrow escapes. Yü then surrendered."

It was said at the time that the French government was

demanding an indemnity in this case to the amount of £150,000.
Later it was understood that the French Minister at Peking
"had taken advantage of the pending missionary ease to revive
an old request for a Mining Concession."
 Great Britain, Papers by Command:
China, Number 1, 1900.

{99}

CHINA: A. D. 1899.
Anti-missionary outbreaks, increasing piracy, and other
signs of growing disorder in the country.

During 1899 there was a notable relaxation of the hard and

ceaseless pressure upon China which governments, capitalists
and speculators had been keeping up of late, in demands more
or less peremptory for harbor leases, settlement grounds,
railway franchises, mining privileges, and naval, military and
commercial advantages of every possible sort. But the irritation
of the country under the bullying and "nagging" of the
treatment it had received from the European nations revealed
itself in increasing outbreaks of popular hostility to
foreigners; and these called out threats and demands, for
indemnity and punishment, which were made, as a rule, in the
truculent tone that had become habitual to western diplomacy
in dealing with the people of the East. It was a tone which
the Chinese provoked, by the childish evasions and treacherous
deceptions with which their officials tried to baffle the
demands made on them; but it gave no less offense, and is no
less plainly to be counted among the causes of what afterwards
occurred.

Throughout most of the year, the British Legation at Peking

and the Consulate at Chungking were busied in obtaining
satisfaction for the murder of Mr. Fleming, a missionary in
the China Inland Mission, stationed at Pang Hai, near
Kwei-Yang. He had been killed and the mission looted in
November, 1898. The Chinese authorities claimed that he had
been killed by a band of rebels. The British Consul
investigated and became convinced that the missionary had been
the victim of a deliberate plot, directed by the headman of the
village of Chung An Chiang, where the murder occurred, and
connived at by the military official Liu. The Chinese
government, yielding to this conviction, caused two of the
murderers to be executed, degraded and exiled all of the local
officials who were involved in the crime, except the headman,
and paid an indemnity of $30,000. But the headman escaped, and
it was claimed by the governor of the province that he could
not be found. The British authorities found evidence that he
was being shielded by the governor, and demanded the dismissal
of the governor, which was persistently refused. Finally, in
October, 1899, the guilty headman was hunted down.

On the 18th of February, the British Minister complained

energetically to the Tsung-li Yamên of the rapid increase of
piracy on the Canton River. "Since November, 1898," he wrote,
"that is in three months, no less than forty-seven cases of
piracy in the Canton waters have been reported in the papers.
In several of these cases life was taken, and it may almost be
said that a reign of terror exists on the waterways of the Two
Kuang. Cargo boats are afraid to travel at night, or to move
about except in company, and trade is becoming to a certain
extent paralysed. The Viceroy is always ailing, and it is
difficult to obtain an interview with him. Her Majesty's
Consul has repeatedly addressed him on the subject of these
piracies in the strongest terms, but can only obtain the
stereotyped reply that stringent instructions have been sent
to the officials concerned. Admiral Ho, the
Commander-in-chief, who should properly be the officer to
inaugurate a vigorous campaign against the pirates, appears
absolutely supine and incapable of dealing with the evil. The
complaints of the Hong Kong Government and Her Majesty's
Consuls show a state of affairs in Canton waters which is
quite intolerable. There is no security for life or property,
and as British subjects are closely concerned, it is my duty
to inform your Highness and your Excellencies that unless
measures are immediately taken to prevent such outrages, I
shall have to report, for the consideration of Her Majesty's
Government, the advisability of taking steps to protect
British lives and property, either by patrolling the waterways
or by placing guards on the steamers, the expense of which
would be the subject of a claim on the Chinese Government."

On the 28th of February, Herr von Billow, the German Imperial

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, announced in the
Reichstag, at Berlin, the reception of a telegram from
Tien-tsin, reporting that several Germans had been attacked
and insulted in that town on the 24th, and had been compelled
to take refuge in the side streets and narrow alleys. The
Imperial Government, he said, had been already aware for some
weeks past that a considerable feeling of irritation had
manifested itself against foreigners in China, especially in
the southern portion of the Province of Shantung. The Chinese
Government were thereupon warned of the necessity of
maintaining order and securing public safety, and, upon the
receipt of the telegram above referred to, the German Minister
at Peking was instructed to impress upon the Chinese
Government that, if such incidents were permitted to recur, or
the perpetrators allowed to escape unpunished, the
consequences for China would be very serious. "We have," Herr
von Bülow declared, "neither the occasion nor the desire to
interfere in the internal affairs of China. But it is our duty
to watch lest the life and property of our fellow subjects,
whether missionaries or traders, should be made to suffer
through the internal complications in China."

In March, however, the state of things at and near Peking was

so far improved that the Legation guards were being withdrawn.
Sir Claude MacDonald obtained leave of absence and left Peking
on the 23d for a visit to England, and the business of the
Legation was conducted for a time by Mr. Bax-Ironside, the
Charge d'Affaires.

In June there was an anti-missionary riot at Kienning, in the

neighborhood of Foochow, excited by the murder of a boy,
 popular rumor ascribing the murder to foreigners. "In all
directions," wrote one of the threatened missionaries, who
gave an account of the occurrence, "murders were said to be
taking place, though no bodies were ever found; that seemed of
no consequence to the people, and the story was current, and
was apparently generally believed, that these murders were
done by men in our employ, and that we used the eyes and legs
to make medicine. There were endless stories of people being
kidnapped, chloroformed in the road by a bottle being held out
to their nose, and the day I arrived it was said that eyes had
been found at Tai-lui, a suburb of Kienning, and as I passed a
crowd was actually on the spot seeking for the said eyes." The
missionaries succeeded in escaping from the mob; but one
native convert was killed, and the mission hospital and other
premises were looted.

The ideas and the state of feeling out of which this attack on
the missionaries and their converts grew are revealed in the
following translation of a placard that was posted in Kienning
in June:

"We of this region have hitherto led a worthy life. All the
four castes (scholars, agriculturists, artizans, traders) have
kept the laws and done their duty. Of late foreigners have
suddenly come among us in a disorderly march and preaching
heretical doctrines. They have had from us indulgent
treatment, but they have repaid us by endangering our lives.
This year, in town and country, people have been hewn in two,
men and women in numbers have fallen upon evil days.
{100}
Everywhere the perpetrators have been seized, and everyone of
them has confessed that it was by the missionary chapels they
were ordered to go forth and slay men and women; to cut out
their brains and marrow to make into medicine. The officials
deliberately refrained from interfering. They garbled the
evidence and screened the malefactors. The whole country side
is filled with wrath; the officials then posted Proclamations,
and arrested spreaders of false reports. The hewing down of
men is hateful; but they issued no Proclamations forbidding
that. Now fortunately the people is of one mind in its wrath.
They have destroyed two chapels. The Ou-ning ruffian has
issued another Proclamation, holding this to be the work of
local rowdies. He little knows that our indignation is
righteous, and that it is a unanimous expression of feeling.
If the officials authorize the police to effect unjust
arrests, the people will unite in a body, in every street
business will be stopped, and the Wu-li missionary chapel will
be destroyed, while the officials themselves will be turned
out of the city, and the converts will be slain and
overthrown. When cutting grass destroy the roots at the same
time. Do not let dead ashes spring again into flame."

A settlement of the Kienning case was arranged locally between

the British Consul at Foochow, Mr. Playfair, and the Viceroy
of the province. The views of the Consul were expressed in a
communication to Mr. Bax-Ironside as follows:

"Since the missionaries established themselves there it is the

sixth attempt made to drive them out of the region. The common
people (from what I can gather) have no animus against the
foreign preacher of the Gospel, and show none. On the
contrary, whether moved to accept Christianity or not, they
appear to recognize that missionaries are in any case there
for benevolent and beneficial objects. Schools and hospitals
are independent of proselytizing, and, even if the
missionaries were never to make another convert, they would be
doing good and useful work in spreading Western knowledge and
healing the sick. In addition to this, the presence of
missionaries in out-of-the-way places in China has one
unquestionable advantage. To use the phrase of Sir Thomas
Wade, they 'multiply the points of contact,' and familiarize
the Chinese with the sight of the European. To the missionary,
either as a preacher of the Gospel or as a dispenser of benefits,
the populace at Kienning does not seem to have shown any
aversion; yet six times this populace has risen and tried to
drive the missionaries from the place. The logical inference
is that the Kienning peasant, though tolerant by nature, is
subject to some outside influence. He is moved, not by what he
sees, but by what he is told exists beyond his range of
vision; and these things are pointed out to him by such as he
believes to be his intellectual superiors, and as have,
therefore, the faculty of perceiving what is hid from himself.
The history of almost every anti-missionary movement in China
points to the same process. Why the educated classes of this
land should be so inveterately hostile to the foreigner is a
difficult question to answer. It has been suggested that the
Chinese of this type have an ineradicable conviction that
every European is at heart a 'land-grabber'; that missionaries
are the advance agents of their Governments; that the Bible is
the certain forerunner of the gun-boat; and that where the
missionary comes as a sojourner he means to stay as a
proprietor; consequently, that the only hope of integrity for
China is that her loyal sons should on every occasion destroy
the baneful germ. Extravagant and (in the instance of
Kienning) far-fetched as these notions may seem, I am
convinced that the literati and gentry have been at the root
not only of the present outbreak, but of the others which have
preceded it. While, therefore, I have insisted throughout that
Kienning must be made a place of safe residence for the
British missionary, I have considered that the only way to
attain that result will be to shackle the hands of the gentry
by making any further breach of the peace a sure precursor of
punishment."

To this end, Mr. Playfair's exactions included, not only the

trial and punishment of those guilty of the riot and the
murder, but the signing of a bond by twenty-four leading
notables of Kienning, binding them, with penalties, to protect
the missionaries. His demand was complied with, and, on the
29th of September, he reported that the required bond had been
given. He added: "Before accepting it, however, I required the
authorities to inform me officially that the terms, which to me
seemed somewhat vague, were understood by the authorities to
extend the responsibility of the gentry to any outbreak of the
populace. I received this intimation and I consider that it
supplements the original wording effectually."

In November the German government made public the substance of

an official telegram received from Peking, reporting a serious
state of disturbance in the German missionary districts of
Shantung: "It appears from this communication that the
followers of the sects of the 'Red Fist' and the 'Great Knife'
are in a state of revolt against the Administration and the
people in that province, and are engaged in plunder and rapine
in many places. The native Christians suffer no less than the
rest of the population by this revolt. Money was usually
extorted from them, and their dwellings were pillaged or
destroyed. The Italian Mission, situated in the adjoining
district, were faring no better, and their chapel had just
been burned down. Owing, however, to the unremitting
representations of the German Minister, the Chinese Government
have caused several of the agitators to be arrested by the local
authorities, and they are taking further steps in this
direction, with the result that order is gradually being
restored. At several places the native Christians, with their
non-Christian fellow-countrymen, repulsed the rebels by force
of arms. The Provincial Governor has promised the authorities
of the Mission a full indemnity for the losses suffered by
them and by the other Christians, and several payments have
already been made."

On the 4th of December, the following despatch was sent to

London from the British Legation at Peking:

"During the delimitation of French leased territory at

Kwang-chou-wan on the 13th November, Chinese villagers seized
two French officers and decapitated them. The execution of a
dignitary—the Prefect concerned in the murder—has been
 demanded by the French Minister, as well as the dismissal of
the Canton Viceroy, who is also implicated. The Chinese
Commissioner engaged in the delimitation and the gunboat in
which he travelled are held by the French as hostages."

{101}

CHINA: A. D. 1899 (March).

The Tsung-li Yamên.
Its character and position.
The power of the Empress Dowager.

The Tsung-li Yamên is a small body of Councillors who form a

species of Cabinet, with a special obligation to advise the
Emperor on foreign affairs. "They have no constitutional
position whatever, they have no powers except those derived
from the Emperor, and they are very much afraid for
themselves. He may by mere fiat deprive them of their rank,
which is high; he may 'squeeze' them of their wealth, which is
often great; he may banish them from the delights of Pekin to
very unpleasant places; or he may order them to be quietly
decapitated or cut slowly into little pieces. At such times
their preoccupation is neither their country nor their
immediate business, nor even their own advancement, but to
avoid offending the irritable earthly deity who holds their
lives and fortunes in his hands. Such a time it is just now.
The Empress-Dowager is Emperor in all but name, she has ideas
and a will, and she is suspicious to the last degree. There is
no possibility of opposing her, for she has drawn together
eighty thousand troops round Pekin, who while she pays their
Generals will execute anybody she pleases; there is no
possibility of appeal from her, for she represents a
theocracy; and there is no possibility of overpowering her
mind, for she is that dreadful phenomenon four or five times
revealed in history, an Asiatic woman possessed of absolute
power, and determined to sweep away all who oppose, or whom
she suspects of opposition, from her path. Under her regime
 the members of the Tsung-li Yamên are powerless nonentities,
trembling with fear lest, if they make a blunder, they may
awaken the anger of their all-powerful and implacable
Sovereign, whose motives they themselves often fail to
fathom."

The Spectator (London),

March 18, 1899.

CHINA: A. D. 1899 (March-April).

Agreement between England and Russia concerning
their railway interests in China.

On the 28th of April, 1899, the governments of Great Britain

and Russia exchanged notes, embodying an agreement
(practically arrived at in the previous month) concerning
their respective railway interests in China, in the following
terms:

"Russia and Great Britain, animated by the sincere desire to

avoid in China all cause of conflict on questions where their
interests meet, and taking into consideration the economic and
geographical gravitation of certain parts of that Empire, have
agreed as follows:

1. Russia engages not to seek for her own account, or on

behalf of Russian subjects or of others, any railway
concessions in the basin of the Yang-tsze, and not to
obstruct, directly or indirectly, applications for railway
concessions in that region supported by the British
Government.

2. Great Britain, on her part, engages not to seek for her own
account, or on behalf of British subjects or of others, any
railway concessions to the north of the Great Wall of China,
and not to obstruct, directly or indirectly, applications for
railway concessions in that region supported by the Russian
Government. The two contracting parties, having nowise in view
to infringe in any way the sovereign rights of China or of
existing treaties, will not fail to communicate to the Chinese
Government the present arrangement, which, by averting all
cause of complication between them, is of a nature to
consolidate peace in the far East, and to serve the primordial
interests of China herself."

Second Note. "In order to complete the notes exchanged this

day respecting the partition of spheres for concessions for
the construction and working of railways in China, it has been
agreed to record in the present additional note the
arrangement arrived at with regard to the line
Shanghaikuan-Newchwang, for the construction of which a loan
has been already contracted by the Chinese Government with the
Shanghai-Hongkong Bank, acting on behalf of the British and
Chinese corporation. The general arrangement established by
the above-mentioned notes is not to infringe in any way the
rights acquired under the said loan contract, and the Chinese
Government may appoint both an English engineer and a European
accountant to supervise the construction of the line in
question, and the expenditure of the money appropriated to it.
But it remains understood that this fact can not be taken as
constituting a right of property or foreign control, and that
the line in question is to remain a Chinese line under the
control of the Chinese Government, and can not be mortgaged or
alienated to a non-Chinese Company. As regards the branch line
from Siaoheichan to Sinminting, in addition to the aforesaid
restrictions, it has been agreed that it is to be constructed
by China herself, which may permit European—not necessarily
British—engineers to periodically inspect it, and to verify
and certify that the work is being properly executed. The
present special agreement is naturally not to interfere in any
way with the right of the Russian Government to support, if it
thinks fit, applications of Russian subjects or establishments
for concessions for railways, which, starting from the main
Manchurian line in a southwesterly direction, would traverse
 the region in which the Chinese line terminating at Sinminting
and Newchwang is to be constructed."

Great Britain, Papers by Command,

Treaty Series, Number 11, 1899.

CHINA: A. D. 1899 (April).

Increasing ascendancy of Manchus in the government.

On the 17th of April, Mr. Bax-Ironside reported to Lord

Salisbury: "There has been no change of importance to note in
the political situation. The tendency to replace Chinese by
Manchus in the important political posts of the Empire is
increasing. There are sixty-two Viceroys, Governors,
Treasurers, and Judges of the eighteen provinces and the New
Dominion. Twenty-four of these posts are now held by Manchus,
whereas before the coup d'etat only thirteen of them were so
occupied. So large a percentage of Manchus in the highest
positions tends to indicate a retrograde administration, as
the Manchus are, as a race, very inferior to the Chinese in
intelligence and capacity, and their appointment to important
positions is viewed with disfavour by the Chinese themselves.
The Dowager-Empress has sent special instructions both to
Moukden and Kirin to raise the present standard of the Manchu
schools in those towns to that existing in the ordinary
schools in Peking."-

Great Britain, Papers by Command,

China, Number 1, 1900, page 129.

{102}

CHINA: A. D. 1899 (May-July).

Representation in the Peace Conference at The Hague.

See (in this volume)

PEACE CONFERENCE.
CHINA: A. D. 1899 (August).
Talienwan declared a free port.

"The Emperor of Russia in a quaintly worded Imperial Order

issued on Sunday last [August 13] and addressed to the
Minister of Finance, has declared that after the completion of
the railway Talienwan shall be a free port during the whole
duration of the lease from China. In the course of the Order
the Emperor says: 'Thanks to the wise decision of the Chinese
Government, we shall through the railway lines in course of
construction be united with China,—a result which gives to all
nations the immeasurable gain of easy communication and
lightens the operations of the world's trade.' The Emperor
also speaks of 'a rapprochement between the peoples of the
West and East' (brought about apparently by obtaining an
outlet for the great Siberian rail way) as 'our historic
aim.'"

Spectator (London),
August 19, 1899.

CHINA: A. D. 1899 (December).

Li Hung-chang appointed Acting Viceroy at Canton.

On the 20th of December it was announced that the Viceroy at

Canton had been ordered to Peking and that Li Hung-chang had
been appointed Acting Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi—the
provinces of which Canton is the Viceroyal seat.

CHINA: A. D. 1899-1900 (September-February).

Pledges of an "open-door" commercial policy in China obtained
by the government of the United States from the governments of
Great Britain, Russia, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

On the 6th of September, 1899, the American Secretary of

State, Mr. John Hay, despatched to the United States
Ambassador at Berlin the following instructions, copies of
which were forwarded at the same time to the Ambassadors at
London and St. Petersburg, to be communicated to the British
and Russian governments:

"At the time when the Government of the United States was
informed by that of Germany that it had leased from His
Majesty the Emperor of China the port of Kiao-chao and the
adjacent territory in the province of Shantung, assurances
were given to the ambassador of the United States at Berlin by
the Imperial German minister for foreign affairs that the
rights and privileges insured by treaties with China to
citizens of the United States would not thereby suffer or be
in anywise impaired within the area over which Germany had
thus obtained control. More recently, however, the British
Government recognized by a formal agreement with Germany the
exclusive right of the latter country to enjoy in said leased
area and the contiguous 'sphere of influence or interest'
certain privileges, more especially those relating to
railroads and mining enterprises: but, as the exact nature and
extent of the rights thus recognized have not been clearly
defined, it is possible that serious conflicts of interest may
at any time arise, not only between British and German
subjects within said area, but that the interests of our
citizens may also be jeopardized thereby. Earnestly desirous
to remove any cause of irritation and to insure at the same
time to the commerce of all nations in China the undoubted
benefits which should accrue from a formal recognition by the
various powers claiming 'spheres of interest,' that they shall
enjoy perfect equality of treatment for their commerce and
navigation within such 'spheres,' the Government of the United
States would be pleased to see His German Majesty's Government
give formal assurances and lend its cooperation in securing
like assurances from the other interested powers that each
within its respective sphere of whatever influence—

"First. Will in no way interfere with any treaty port or any

vested interest within any so-called 'sphere of interest' or
leased territory it may have in China.

"Second. That the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being

shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such
ports as are within said 'sphere of interest' (unless they be
'free ports'), no matter to what nationality it may belong,
and that duties so leviable shall be collected by the Chinese
Government.

"Third. That it will levy no higher harbor duties on vessels

of another nationality frequenting any port in such 'sphere'
than shall be levied on vessels of its own nationality' and no
higher railroad charges over lines built, controlled, or
operated within its 'sphere' on merchandise belonging to
citizens or subjects of other nationalities transported
through such 'sphere' than shall be levied on similar
merchandise belonging to its own nationals transported over
equal distances.

"The liberal policy pursued by His Imperial German Majesty in

declaring Kiao-chao a free port and in aiding the Chinese
Government in the establishment there of a custom-house are so
clearly in line with the proposition which this Government is
anxious to see recognized that it entertains the strongest
hope that Germany will give its acceptance and hearty support.
The recent ukase of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia declaring
the port of Ta-lien-wan open during the whole of the lease
under which it is held from China, to the merchant ships of
all nations, coupled with the categorical assurances made to
this Government by His Imperial Majesty's representative at
this capital at the time, and since repeated to me by the
present Russian ambassador, seem to insure the support of the
Emperor to the proposed measure. Our ambassador at the Court
of St. Petersburg has, in consequence, been instructed to
submit it to the Russian Government and to request their early
consideration of it. A copy of my instruction on the subject to