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Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Proclamation by Viceroy of Hukuang Provinces against Boxers and other Disturbers of Peace.
(Translation.)
WHEREAS in the neighbourhood of Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankow, certain evil-doers have actually posted everywhere placards talking of "keng-tsu," the fist of the patriot god, or "wu-yin," the shining of the red lamp, and have further dared to concoct false stories of the Boxer rebels of the North having got to Hsiang Yang by way of Honan, and being due here within a certain time;
And whereas when first the Boxer rebels of the North began to stir up strife, we, in concert with the Viceroys and Governors of the various provinces, explained to the Throne that this was an heretical sect of disorderly folk, and asked for an Imperial Decree to exterminate them utterly;
And whereas on the 17th July and the 2nd of August we were honoured with their Majesties' Decrees ordering the provinces to purify the source of disorder by suppressing local rebels and disorderly folk;
And whereas the awful terrors of the Imperial commands were long ago reverently copied and promulgated abroad :
Now, the Boxer rebels of the North themselves confess that their heretical arts are broken, and they have not the least skill left. Most of them have died under artillery fire, or been smitten down by the regular forces, and the small remainder must have removed their bead-dresses and distinctive girdles and scattered into hiding in all directions. Their habits of arson, murder, and robbery had early earned the detestation of the decent population, and now that in dread of being captured by the militia and regulars they are in despair of escaping, how can they assemble in numbers to skulk to the south of the Yellow River, still less to come all the way to Hupei? As to Hsiang Yang and that locality, strong forces have been dispatched which bar the way; the country is at peace, and people and converts live in harmony. Although in the dependencies of Nanyang, in Hunan, there did chance to be scoundrels stirring up trouble, yet the Governor ordered his subordinates straightly to seize and punish them, and at the moment all is tranquil again. Even supposing that really Honan scoundrels, styling themselves Boxers, should raid our territory, we would simply carry out faithfully the repeated Imperial commands and vigorously suppress them; never would we let them penetrate into our territory and raise disturbances.
Wuchang and the Han cities being the important seat of the provincial capital, we have arranged measures of defence with extra care and completeness. Yet by spreading false accounts of imaginary events, the simple people in their ignorance terrify one another, and some even go so far as to move their families and seek refuge elsewhere. This is plainly the work of local scoundrels and Society men of this place, who concoct stories and stick up placards to disturb people's minds in the hope that, when the traders and people are in panic and confusion, they may get an opportunity to pillage. The evil designs they cherish are indeed detestable.
As we are ordering the local officials, civil and military, and the garrison and trained battalions to make secret search and in concert seize the scoundrels who concoct lying stories, and execute them immediately on conviction.
It is also our duty to issue this stringent Notification and prohibition. Wherefore, know all men, soldiers and people alike, ye must understand that such placards and stories are nothing but the cunning plots and lying fabrications of evil characters to which ye must on no account lend credence, and on which ye must not act, as by doing so ye will only excite and alarm yourselves, and when you have brought about the calamity of pillage, it will be too late to repent. So, if any dare to go on fabricating stories to terrify and to disturb men's minds, these will thereby prove themselves scoundrels, and will be at once seized and executed, nor will any mercy be shown them.
Let all obey with awe!
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Fraser to Acting Consul-General Warren.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Hankow, August 24, 1900. WITH reference to my despatch of yesterday concerning a plot to raise insur- rection here and at other points along the Yang-tsze, I have the honour to state that the Chinese authorities suspect the Japanese of complicity therein.
It is pointed out that the "Yayeyama" left suddenly a few days before the date of the Independent Association's manifesto; that the Japanese Consul is loth to deal severely with the student arrested in the house, who also resisted arrest; that among the letters seized is one from a Japanese in Hongkew, and that from the papers scized a Japanese appears to have been one of the chiefs.
The Consul told me yesterday that the Japanese employed by the Viceroy Chang were anxious to leave, and that those in the Nanking Military School would depart
to-morrow.
I think it probable that members of the "soshi" class did join Kang and Sun's followers, but I can see no reason to suspect that the Government was aware of the plot.
I have, &c. (Signed) E. H. FRASER.
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