Imperial Decree from the _Pekin Gazette_, June 6--Western Churches and men of evil character--Boxers the patriots and champions of peace--The children of the throne--Official neglect of duties--Riots--Disbandment of societies--The Generalissimo Jung-lu to pursue and punish the rebels--Secret investigations--No mercy.

IMPERIAL DECREE.

(From the _Pekin Gazette, June 6_.)

The Western religion has existed and been disseminated throughout China for many years, while those who disseminated it have done nothing except to exhort people to do good. Moreover, converts to the religion have never, under the protection of religion, raised up disturbances; hence converts and the people at large have always remained at peace with one another, each going his own way without let or hindrance. Of late years, however, with the constant increase of Western churches throughout the country and the consequent overwhelming numbers of converts joining them, men of evil character have stealthily gained a footing in their ranks, making it difficult, in the circumstances, for missionaries to distinguish the good from the bad amongst the converts. Taking advantage of this, these evil characters have accordingly, under the guise of being Christians, harassed the common people and bullied the country-side. We are of opinion, however, that perhaps such a condition of affairs cannot have been viewed with favour by the missionaries themselves. As to the Ih-hwo-Ch’uan (Patriots and Champions of Peace) Society, this organisation was first prohibited during the reign of the Emperor Chia Ch’ing (1795-1820). Owing, however, to the fact that of late the members of this society simply trained themselves for purposes of self-protection and to defend their homes and villages from attack, and, moreover, because they had abstained from creating trouble, we did not issue our ban of prohibition according to precedent, but merely sent repeated instructions to the local authorities concerned to keep a proper restraint on the movements of the society. We pointed out to the said authorities that the present was not a question of whether these people were society men or not, but that the point was whether, being banded together, their object was to create trouble in the country or not. If, then, the society men should indeed rise up and break the peace, it should be the duty of the authorities to make a strict search for the law-breakers and punish them according to law. Whoever these parties may be, whether Christians or society men, the Throne makes no difference in its treatment of them, for they are all the subjects (children) of the Empire. Moreover, even in cases of litigation between Christians and the common people, our instructions have ever been that the authorities should settle them according to the rights of the matter, no favour being allowed to be shown to either party. It transpires, however, that our commands have of late years never been obeyed. The officials of the various prefectures, sub-prefectures, departments, and districts have been proved to have neglected their duties. They have neither acted in friendly conjunction with the missionaries, sympathised with the people under them in their difficulties, nor settled litigation in the spirit of impartiality, and the consequence has been that those concerned began to hate one another, the enmity becoming deeper and deeper as occasions for ill-will multiplied. On account of this, therefore, we now find the members of the Ih-hwo-Ch’uan Society banding themselves together as village militia and declaring war against the Christians. In the meantime, we find discontented spirits, in conjunction with lawless ruffians, joining in the movement for their own ends.

[Sidenote: OPPOSED TO GOVERNMENT]

Riots are the order of the day, railways are destroyed, and churches are burnt down. Now, the railways were constructed by, and are the property of, the Government, whilst churches were built by the missionaries and their converts for their own occupation.

Do these society men and others, then, think that they will be allowed to destroy and burn at their own sweet will? In thus running riot these people are simply opposing themselves to the Government. This is really beyond reason. We therefore appointed Chao Shu-ch’iao, Grand Councillor and Governor Adjunct of Pekin, to proceed yesterday as our Imperial Commissioner to restore peace, and to call upon the people and society men immediately to disband and return each man to his own avocations and daily work. Should traitors and revolutionary society men try to stir up the people to rise up and pillage and destroy the country-side, we hereby call upon the Ih-hwo-Ch’uan people to hand over to the authorities the ringleaders for punishment according to the laws of the land. Should any be so misguided as to persist in disobeying these our commands, they shall be treated as rebels, and we hereby warn them that when the grand army arrives their fathers, mothers, wives and children will be separated from one another and scattered, their homes destroyed, and they themselves slain. They will also bring upon themselves the stigma of disloyalty and of being false to their country; for it will then be too late to repent. Our heart is filled with pity when we think of the retribution that will then overwhelm our people. We therefore hereby declare that if, after this warning, there should still be any who refuse to obey our commands, we will immediately order the Generalissimo, Jung Lu, to send Generals Tung-Fu-Hsiang (Kansu corps), Sang Ch’ing and Ma Yu-k’un (Szech’uan corps), with their commands, to punish these rebels and to disperse them. Finally, in sending out troops the primary purpose is to protect the law-abiding people; but we now hear that those sent out by the Chili provincial authorities have not only failed in affording such protection and restraining evil characters, but, on the contrary, have themselves been guilty of preying upon the country-side. We now hereby command Yu Lu, viceroy of Chili, to investigate this matter at once, and also to send trusty deputies to make secret investigations. If it be found that these military officials have indeed been guilty of encouraging their men to loot and pillage, such guilty officers are to be summarily executed. There must be no leniency or mercy shown to such.

Let this our decree be copied out on yellow paper and posted throughout the country as a warning to people and army, and that all may know our commands.[4]

[4] Translation, _North China Daily News_.