10th Nov.
Prince Tuan and his pro-Boxer friends drew up in August last and embodied in an ultimatum to be presented to the Foreign Powers the terms on which they were willing to make peace with the Barbarians, whom Li Ping-hong reported that he had defeated with enormous loss. We have reiterated ad nauseam the statement that it is the colossal ignorance of Prince Tuan and the other high Manchus at Peking that has got them into the present trouble, and the terms of Prince Tuan which practically contain the Boxers' Creed, show that this ignorance has not been exaggerated. We understand that this ultimatum has been distributed far and wide throughout China: the copy sent us by Dr. Griffith John is published by a firm of printers at éngchou in Hunan, and circulated widely throughout that province. It will behave the Foreign Representatives at Peking to see that when peace is arranged the real terms shall be equally widely circulated throughout China, or large masses of the population' will believe that the Allies have paid China an indemnity and that in destroying foreign mission property and driving out the missionaries they are continuing to carry out the wishes of the Government. A Chinese gentlemen of education and position seriously urges that the only way to convince the people of China that the Manchu supremacy is at an end will be to order all queues to be cut off. The queue, as is well known, is not Chinese; it was introduced by the Manchus to mark the subjection of the Chinese, and with the Manchus it should go. As we have said, the Emperor Kuang Hsii is not regarded as a Manchu, but as a good Chinaman at heart.
The first of Prince Tuan's peace terms is that Foreign Powers shall not claim any indemnity, but on the contrary shall pay China an indemnity of four hundred million taels. Lower down it is claimed that four hundred million taels shall be paid to the Boxers. Whether this is an additional sum or an explanation of how the compensation earlier provided for is to be allocated is not clear.
Then comes (No. 3) the somewhat unintelligible stipulation that all foreign ships of war that enter Chinese waters will not be permitted to leave their berths. This is followed by an extraordinary concession to foreigners; "The Foreign Settlements in the Treaty Ports are to be extended to twice their present size and area." Perhaps this is to make up for No. 19: "No Japanese or Foreigner shall be allowed to travel in China." No. 5 is very funny: "The Tsungli Yamen to be returned to the Chinese Government." It is supposed that the framers of this think that the Tsungli Yamen is something the foreigners have borrowed from China and used to the detriment of China. The Foreign Ministers at Peking will, we are sure, be only too delighted if the Chinese Government will take back the Tsungli Yamen and put it away good and all. The rebel Kang wei is to be punished should he return to China; he is naturally as a reformer anything but a persona grata with the Manchus. All foreign churches are to be confiscated and made common property; all missionaries are to return to their native countries, and not be allowed to enter China, and Chinese who sympathise with foreigners, ie. converts to Christianity, are to be punished by the Chinese Government. As Dr. Griffith John points out, these are the only references to mission work, and thi shows that the Boxer movement is not primarily anti-missionary, but anti-foreign.
Then comes a general demand for restitution of territory. Japan is to return Formosa, Germany Kiaochou, Russia Talienwan, and Great Britain the Kowloon Extension. Nothing is! said about Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, or- Manchuria, the Boxer knowledge of geography being rather limited. China is to resume her control over Corea and Annam, in which we must suppose that Tongking is included. The Imperial Maritime Customs is to revert to Chinese control,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.