At one time a Boxer army from the south was about to cross the
river and destroy the foreign settlement. Chang, when appealed
to, frankly confessed that his troops were in sympathy with the
Boxers, and that being in arrears of pay they were on the verge
of revolt. Fraser found him the money by the help of the Hong Kong
Bank; the troops were paid; and the Boxers dispersed.
The same problem confronted Liu, the viceroy of Nanking; and it
was solved by him in the same way. Both viceroys acted in concert;
but to which belongs the honour of that wise initiative can never
be decided with certainty. The foreign consuls at Nanking claim it
for Liu. Mr. Sundius, now British consul at Wuhu, assures me that
as Liu read the barbarous decree he exclaimed, "I shall repudiate
this as a forgery," adding "I shall not obey, if I have to die for
it." His words have a heroic ring; and
[Page 228]
suggest that his policy was not taken at second-hand.
A similar claim has been put forward for Li Hung Chang, who was at
that time viceroy at Canton. Is it not probable that the same view
of the situation flashed on the minds of all three simultaneously?
They were not, like the Peking princes, ignorant Tartars, but Chinese
scholars of the highest type. They could not fail to see that compliance
with that bloody edict would seal their own doom as well as that
of the Empire.
Speaking of Chang, Mr. Fraser says: "He had the wit to see that
any other course meant ruin.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235