442
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
AN INTERVIEW WITH HE. LI
x
HUNG-CHANG.
HIS OPINIONS ON THE CRISIS.
On the 19th inst. the Canton correspon- dent of the Daily Press sent the important news that H.E. Li Hung-chang, the Viceroy of the Two Kwangs, had been ordered by Her Majesty the Empress-Dowager, to va- cate his post and proceed at once to Peking. The impression conveyed by this was that the aged Viceroy, who, in the opinion of many competent to judge, had been sent from the north to be out of the way of Empress-Dowager and her plans, was found once again to be the only man in China able to extricate his country from the difficulties into which it had been 'plunged. He was the man to save the situation and his
Empire's "face."
[June 30, 1900. Dowager. He said it was correct. The conversation was continued as follows :-
Will your Excellency go with the inten- tion of mediating ?"
1x
"I shall go to Peking for two purposes. One, to suppress the Boxers, the other, as a mediator to try and make peace."
C
It is generally believed that your Excel- lency is the only man in China at present who can cope with this difficulty."
His Excellency, laughing, but with em- phasis, "I believe that myself!"
"What is your Excellency's opinion as to this Boxer outbreak ?"
"I believe the Boxers to be only a rabble of stupid, ignorant people, led away by fana- ticism, and anti-Christian feeling into at- tacking native Christians, and then their foreign teachers--the missionaries."
"You do not then regard them as having political motives, or class them in the same catagory as the secret societies in China, whose object is rebellion and the overthrow- ing of the dynasty ?"
'No, I do not. First of all, the Boxers are but the common people the peasantry. Their origin is, I think, due to the fact that continuous trouble with native Christians has
engendered ill feeling among the peasantry, and as the Christians in law-cases invariably get the better of them they thought they must practice physical exercises to be equal to the Christians. They commenced to at tack the native converts and then the mis- sionaries. The reason is, therefore, partly due to anti-Christianism and fanaticism."
.
'Do you think the native Christians in instances are to blame for this spirit of op- position ?"
"Yes, both Catholics and Protestants, and the missionaries often themselves give trouble. The Roman Catholics are the most troublesome."
dered as the paramount Power; and it is the prestige of the powerful satraps of the this position that, perfectly compre- Yangtsze on our side. They are the elements hended by the other Powers, England her- we should rely on; and fortunately they self appears inclined to ignore. Even the have, in the resources of their provinces United States, which till lately had not essayed alone, the means of establishing under the an interest in Oriental politics, have been legitimate Emperor a stable and respectable beforehand, and in ordering at once rein- government. And this leads naturally to forcements from Manila have declared to another, but equally important, subject and the world that America is not going to be that is the position of the capital. At all indifferent to the fate of China. Sometimes the remote situation of Peking has what erroneously we hear of the struggle made it a hotbed of intrigue: this is no against the disorders of the North spoken modern discovery and was equally the case of as a war against China, and we are in medieval times as in the present. The constantly from sources that should be vagaries of the Empress Dowager would better informed hearing of declarations of have been impossible in the freer air of war. As a fact, we have no quarrel against Nanking; and the welfare of the nation, no China and if our Ministry had remembered less than respectable tradition points to that our grievances were not against the Nanking or Hangchow as the proper centre. nation, but proceeded from a small and uni- The well known desire of the usurper to versally detested faction at the Capital, who shift her Court to Singan, shows that what had usurped the functions of government, she and her reactionary party most dread is we should not have been in the ignominious the light of day; and as she has uncon- position of finding ourselves foiled at every sciously given the hint, it would be wise to turn by the petty intrigues of an ignorant follow it up. The Emperor is understood to and vicious woman. Meanwhile it is some have entertained such a project, and policy, slight satisfaction to find that the great no less than convenience dictates the change satraps of the central provinces, who at all as necessary to the growth of a good under- times have opposed by such constitutional standing. means as were in their power, without hav- ing recourse to violence, the upstart at Pe, king, have all along been on the side of or- der. But little had perhaps been expected of the aged Viceroy LIU KUNYI, and it is therefore in the highest degree satisfactory to discover that he, with a moral courage rare under such circumstances anywhere, and in China almost unknown, has through- out dared to impugn the conduct of Peking; and has even had the courage to declare that he was in person prepared to restore order in the Metropolitan province. There is, in fact, even in the degenerate China of our days an element, and an important one, which it would be well for us not to ignore, working for the cause of order; and the want of appreciation of this fact has been one of the numerous instances of incapacity, which even his greatest admirer must lay at the feet of Lord SALIS- BURY's administration, when the subject for administration came to be China. In point of fact we are not at war with China, nor is there any occasion, if our Ministers are capable of rising to the situation, why we should be at war. This is really the funda- mental difference between our natural policy and that which has been actuating one or Where the hunger for mere territory, which is the be- setting sin of more than one of the European nations, sways the policy of the state, there iş a temptation to see in every affront a cause of war; simply because war supplies
"Can you confirm that, because I do not the supposed justification required for seiz-
think it can be true? But even if it were true his disgrace for not defeating an enemy ing territory. The very evident attempt on the part of Russia to foster the feeling I arrived in Canton on Thursday morn- would be merely in accordance with the that the country is engaged in a holy war ing, and at once proceeded with what was Chinese law, which formally requires the against China has already much hampered anticipated would prove to be a difficult punishment of a defeated general. Of course the other Powers, and has undoubtedly led task-to arrange for an interview with His it is said generally that the forts at Taku to delay in the relief of the Legations Excellency. This, however, was accomplish-suddenly opened fire on the allied fleet While Russia has been planning occasioned without much difficulty, for it was desir-without warning, but then I am in receipt for interference in force, the British Govern- able, as the Interpreter explained, that of an official telegram about this. men has scarcely shown itself alive to this China's true position should be known to appears that either H.E. Yu Loh, the Viceroy of Chihli, or the commander of the forts, I feature of the situation; and Russia it may the world. be noticed has been arming herself cap-à-pie
am not certain which, received an ultima for a supposed position, which except in her
tum that he was to disperse the Chinese awn imagination does not exist. It is this,
soldiers, send away the torpedo boats and even more than the possible dangers of the
render useless the submarine mines at Taku, situation itself, which is an ordinary Jacquard
so that the foreign gunboats could get near the shore and go up river. It was not rising, that renders it necessary that the na- tions standing on the side of order should
strange that our people should take this to find themselves fully prepared for even-
mean war to be asked to clear off as they tualities. The getting rid of the intrusive
were. Perhaps these ignorant people did Dowager and the restoration of the Emperor
not quite understand things; therefore they to his Throne should be the first step taken,
began to open fire, but whether they really and in this it is to he remembered we have
commenced firing first I do not know
more of the Continental states.
It was reported he would leave Canton on Friday, 22nd inst., and as the necessity for his presence at Peking must be serious indeed that would remove him at such a juncture from a scene so long regarded as the birth- place of rebellion in China, his opinions, if he could be induced to give them, would be of far-reaching importance, and might in- deed explain the existing extraordinary crisis.
I therefore determined to interview the man who was selected to save China, and as it was stated he was leaving Canton on the 22nd inst., there was but little time to do it.
On Thursday afternoon H.E. Li Hung- chang granted an audience which lasted exact- ly two hours. Many things were said in con- versation by His Excellency which he thought undesirable to record. His son, Lord Li, was present with H.E.'s staff.
After the Viceroy had asked a number of questions, chiefly regarding the latest news to hand from Europe and China concerning the trouble in the North, H.E. was asked if the report was correct that he had been summoned to Peking by the Empress
"Do you think the Empress-Dowager has been misled at all-take the tone of her last edict, for instance ?"
C
Yes, I am certain" (and here the Viceroy slapped the chair in emphasis) "that she has been misled and misinformed. I be lieve the Empress-Dowager has not been informed of the true state of affairs. Her Majesty has
summoned me to go to Peking to know exactly what has hap pened. I firmly believe it was not the intention of the Empress-Dowager that these things should have taken place."
"But it is reported that Yu Lu has been handed over to the Board of Punish- ments, apparently for his non-success against the allied forces. He acted under Imperial
orders ?
23
It
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