Stripped of every vestige of authority, the unhappy prince was confined, a prisoner of state, in a secluded palace where it was thought he would soon receive the present of a silken scarf as a hint to make way for a worthier successor.  That his life was spared was no [Page 174] doubt due to a certain respect for the public sentiment of the world, to which China is not altogether insensible.  He having no direct heir, the son of Prince Tuan was adopted by the Dowager as heir-apparent, evidently in expectation of a vacancy soon to be filled.  Prince Tuan, hitherto unknown in the politics of the state, became, from that moment, the leader of a reactionary party.  Believing that his son would soon be called to the throne by the demise of the Emperor, he put on all the airs of a Tai-shang Hwang, or “Father of an Emperor.”

Here again the patria potestas comes in as a factor; and in the brief career of the father of the heir-apparent, it shows itself in its most exaggerated form.  Under the influence of the reactionary clique, of which he was acknowledged chief, the Empress Dowager in her new regency was induced to repeal almost everything the Emperor had done in the way of reform.  In her edict she said cynically:  “It does not follow that we are to stop eating, because we have been choked!” Dislike to foreign methods engendered an ill-concealed hatred of foreigners; and just at this epoch occurred a series of aggressions by foreign powers, which had the effect of fanning that hatred into a flame.

In the fall of 1897 Germany demanded the cession of Kiao-Chao, calling it a lease for 99 years.  The next spring Russia under the form of a lease for 25 years obtained Port Arthur for the terminus of her long railway.  England and France followed suit:  one taking a lease of Wei-hai-wei; the other, of Kwang-chou-wan.  Though in every case the word “lease” [Page 175] was employed, the Chinese knew the transfer meant permanent alienation.

A hue and cry was raised against what they described as the “slicing of the melon,” and in Shantung, where the first act of spoliation had taken place, the Boxers, a turbulent society of long standing, were encouraged to wage open war against native Christians, foreigners and foreign products, including railways, telegraphs, and all sorts of merchandise.

Not until those predatory bands had entered the metropolitan province, with the avowed object of pushing their way to Peking[*] did the legations take steps to strengthen their guards.  A small reinforcement of 207 men luckily reached Peking a few days before the railway was wrecked.

[Footnote *:  On March 30, 1900, the following Boxer manifesto in jingling rhyme, was thrown into the London Mission, at Tientsin.  It is here given in a prose version, taken from “A Flight for Life,” by the Rev. J. H. Roberts, Pilgrim Press, Boston.

“We Boxers have come to Tientsin to kill an foreign devils, and protect the Manchu dynasty.  Above, there is the Empress Dowager on our side, and below there is Junglu.  The soldiers of Yulu and Yuhien [governors of Shantung and Chihli] are an our men.  When we have finished killing in Tientsin, we shall go to Peking.  All the officials high and low will welcome us.  Whoever is afraid let him quickly escape for his life.”]