LPHUN 
 
.xV -... 
 
 '"^^ 
 
 ,>\ 
 
 '/-I 
 
 c> 
 
 
 
 ■=^0 0^ 
 
 X^^^. 
 
 
 .^^ 
 
 
 
 
 , V 1 6 
 
 O 
 
 'b. 
 
 vOq, 
 
 "o o"^ 
 
 ""^^ 
 
 "> 
 
 .<>^ 
 
 
 >. 
 
 <>-. 
 
 =!:o A'' 
 
 .i-^' 
 
 
 J °^/. * O N 
 
 %^^^ 
 
 x^^ 
 
 .V 
 
 '*Or^'< 
 
 nO<^<, 
 
 'O^ 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 V- V, 
 
 r*/"-^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 ■*■ cf* ft 
 
 
 ^> 
 
 •^ 
 
 -"/ 
 
\^ ^>_, ^.^^^^ 
 
 
 
 V* 
 
 0' c 
 
 V' "^t^ ' &iC-7«iilllllllllK— i A^ "'^ 
 
 
 
 '-%,/ ^:^fv 
 
 
 ^/. * O s 
 
MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
«a^. 
 
 ae 
 
 
 "*'■ ( 
 
 ms, 
 
 
 7/'i3!3l^ 
 
 ..^Z^' /:yolc/^7^a^'1s>rii 
 
 Mi^^^ .^Z^o^Ui^ c:^/(J-^^^^iA/z^ a/?7^ ..:^M^t<:/' '^c 
 
 </U/>? 
 
MEMOIRS OF 
 
 LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 WILLIAM FRANCIS MANNIX 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 HON. JOHN W. FOSTER 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 (iCiJC lMatt0ii>e }^xe0 Cambriboc 
 
 1913 
 

 COPYRIGHT, I9I3, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published October 1QT3 
 
 M 
 
 6^ 
 
 >CI,A357159 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 It is believed that the memoirs of Li Hung Chang 
 will speak for themselves, or, better, for the famous 
 Viceroy, who in the flesh was ever ready to speak 
 for the betterment of his country and her people. 
 Still it is deemed advisable here to call the reader's 
 attention to the form in which the translated tran- 
 scriptions are given to the public. 
 
 The Viceroy was by no means a careful diarist; 
 indeed, the contrary was true. Many of his manu- 
 scripts were left in Hankow when he went north to 
 Tientsin; and the writings of twenty-four years in 
 the latter city were undisturbed in his rich private 
 lodge until about two years ago, when from half a 
 score of cities of China — Hankow, Canton, Shang- 
 hai, Nanking, Suchau, Peking, Tientsin, and others 
 — his writings were collected by a provincial gov- 
 ernor of the two Kwangs provinces, a nephew of 
 Li's, and deposited in the palatial residence of the 
 former Viceroy at Canton. 
 
 With the permission of the Imperial Government 
 nearly two years ago, and the consent of the trustees 
 and heirs of Li Hung Chang's estate, the great mass 
 of documents and notes were examined, and care- 
 fully translated by Major R. Emmet Roberts, a 
 secretary of the late Viceroy, assisted by Drs. Wang, 
 of Peking, and Hsiu-Tsai, the Elder, of Canton. 
 
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 Over one hundred and seventy thousand words 
 of the Viceroy's memoirs were translated and dili- 
 gently compared; and from this large mass, these 
 notes — comprising the only writings of the Grand 
 Secretary that have ever been rendered into English 
 — are for the first time offered to the public of 
 England and America. 
 
 It will be remarked that various subjects are 
 treated under separate titles. The original manu- 
 .scripts, found in many different cities of China, and 
 placed at our disposal through the great kindness of 
 family and friends, and with the consent of the 
 Imperial Government, — nearly two years ago, — 
 treated, of course, of a multitude of subjects. A line 
 — a column of characters — would be the sum- total 
 of comment at a particular time; while, later on, 
 when perhaps the Viceroy occupied a wholly differ- 
 ent post, maybe in another part of the empire, he 
 would revert to the subject and, it might be, write 
 three, five, or twenty pages. Still later, again, he 
 would express himself upon the same subject from a 
 different or new viewpoint. 
 
 It was thought best, therefore, — and particu- 
 larly as it was manifestly out of the question, because 
 of their great bulk, to publish his entire writings, 
 which amount to the equivalent of some one million 
 six hundred thousand English words, — to make 
 selections from his diary and other manuscripts to 
 be grouped together under appropriate heads, at 
 the same time arranging them chronologically. 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE vli 
 
 And this calls for the second and final explanation. 
 While the translators found little difficulty in render- 
 ing into English the beautifully executed characters 
 of the great Viceroy, they were sorely distracted in 
 the matter of determining dates; for in his earlier 
 years, and up to the time of his appearance as Vice- 
 roy at Tientsin, Li marked his manuscripts in a way 
 of his own : in strange cycles and reigns. So confusing 
 was this, even to the Chinese scholars engaged in 
 the work, that they agreed to omit many of them, 
 unanimously asserting that to ascertain with exact- 
 ness when each entry was made would require a 
 year's time of an expert Chinese historian! 
 
 Even from 1870 onward, Li, though making use 
 generally of more modern methods, went to extremes 
 in the dating of some of his entries and manuscripts, 
 writing, for example, "12th Day of the 5th Moon, 
 of the loth Year of Kuang Su. Hour of the Sheep," 
 to identify the time of putting upon paper a few 
 unimportant statements, and quite ignoring to 
 state time or place in connection with comments or 
 historical data of world-wide interest. In some of 
 these latter, dates have been supplied, for the pur- 
 pose of associating the matter with the proper period 
 of the Viceroy's life, rather than because of any belief 
 that either their presence or absence would add to or 
 detract from the political or literary value of his 
 words. 
 
 It may be said that this volume does not presume 
 to present all that Li Hung Chang wrote upon the 
 
viii EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 subjects given herein under the various part titles, 
 or even a larger portion; but in the making of the 
 selections it has been the aim of the Editor to include 
 those which he believed held the widest and most 
 enduring interest. 
 
 W. F. M. 
 
 Shanghai, December i, 1912. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction, by Hon. John W. Foster 
 I. His Ambitions in Literature . 
 n. His Views of Christianity 
 HI. Relations with General Gordon 
 IV. At the Shrine of Lady Yuen Fi . 
 V. In the Time of Famine 
 VI. Devotion to Agriculture . 
 VI I. Afterthoughts of the Japanese War 
 VIII. A Coup d'£tat on the Horizon . 
 IX. At the Czar's Coronation 
 X. Men and Things in Germany 
 XL In France and England 
 XII. The Atlantic Voyage and New York 
 
 XIII. What he saw in America . 
 
 XIV. Short Notes from his Diary 
 XV. His Task in the Boxer Crisis 
 
 XVI. Called to the Throne's Aid 
 XVII. His Fight to hold Korea . 
 XVI 11. The Cession of Formosa . 
 XIX. Estimates of Prominent Persons . 
 XX. The Opium Habit and Traffic 
 Appendix: Poetical Writings on Opium 
 
 XI 
 
 I 
 13 
 
 43 
 
 72 
 
 85 
 88 
 
 97 
 123 
 141 
 156 
 169 
 
 183 
 198 
 212 
 220 
 228 
 249 
 261 
 272 
 281 
 295 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Li Hung Chang was not only the greatest man the 
 Chinese race has produced in modern times, but, in 
 a combination of quahties, the most unique person- 
 ality of the past century among all the nations of 
 the world. He was distinguished as a man of letters; 
 as a soldier in important campaigns he rendered 
 valuable services to his country; as a statesman for 
 thirty years he maintained a recognised preeminence 
 over his countrymen in the oldest and most populous 
 nation of the earth ; and as a diplomat his achieve- 
 ments entitle him to a front rank in the international 
 relations of all history. 
 
 The last one hundred years have produced many 
 men of scholarship, several great generals, a number 
 of statesmen of distinguished ability and success, 
 and a few diplomats of high rank; but no one of these 
 can be singled out as having combined in his person 
 all these attainments in such an eminent degree 
 as Li Hung Chang. Because of his distinction in 
 all these fields of human activity, we should wel- 
 come these memoirs, extracted from his volumin- 
 ous diary, as a valuable contribution for the better 
 understanding of his character and services. 
 
 In forming an estimate of any man, the age in 
 which he lived and his environment are to be con- 
 sidered. It is hardly just to estimate the character 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 and attainments of Li Hung Chang according to the 
 standard of European or Western nations. His 
 education was exclusively Oriental, and until he 
 had passed the allotted Scriptural period of man's 
 life, his had been spent entirely in China. His 
 knowledge of our civilisation was only such as could 
 be acquired in the motley society of a treaty port. 
 As a statesman he had to deal with a very conserva- 
 tive and bigoted constituency, and with associates 
 prejudiced against and ignorant of foreign nations. 
 He was born and reared in a rural community, of 
 worthy but not distinguished parentage. His father, 
 of the "gentry" class, had successfully passed the 
 examinations, but held no official position, and was 
 possessed of no means of procuring his son's advance- 
 ment beyond affording him an opportunity to pursue 
 his studies and fit himself for the examinations. 
 These he successfully passed in all grades, and in the 
 final contest at Peking he came out with distin- 
 guished honours among twenty thousand competi- 
 tors. Later he was made a member of the Han-lin 
 College, which corresponds somewhat to the French 
 Academy. 
 
 He therefore had reason to take pride in his 
 accomplishments and standing as a scholar, and 
 throughout his career he was recognised by his 
 countrymen as in the first rank among the men of 
 letters. Some of his writings in prose and poetry 
 had wide circulation in the empire and gained him 
 much praise. His diary shows that he himself put 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 great store on his literary attainments, and until 
 late in life, when absorbed in the weighty affairs of 
 state, his highest ambition was to be recognised as 
 the poet-laureate of his people. 
 
 In his early manhood he thought only of a literary 
 career ; but the course of public affairs was destined 
 to defeat his expectation, and turn his life into an 
 entirely different channel. The Taiping Rebellion, 
 one of the most sanguinary in the history of the 
 human race, had its inception during his student 
 days; and about the time of his return from the 
 imperial capital to his home to receive the honours 
 which every Chinese community showers upon its 
 successful students, the rebellion had assumed its 
 most alarming proportions. As he reached his 
 father's house he saw the rebels pass by on their 
 triumphant march towards Peking. His patriotism 
 was stirred within him as he saw the dynasty which 
 had conferred on him such high honours and the 
 ancient government in imminent peril. He at once 
 set to work to raise a volunteer regiment to fall upon 
 and harass the rear of the enemy. His diary reveals 
 the man: "Everybody knows that a soldier is de- 
 spised, and that, according to the Old Rules, I am 
 leaving the greatest of the professions for the worst 
 of occupations. . . . But is this a time for writing 
 poetry ? Who cares for romances when fire and sword 
 are in the land?" 
 
 The next four years found him actively engaged in 
 warfare; and he showed such aptitude for the pro- 
 
1/ 
 
 xiv ' INTRODUCTION 
 
 fession that he had the distinction of being in com- 
 mand of the army which gave the death-blow to 
 the rebelHon. In this period he had under his com- 
 mand the American soldier, General Ward, who 
 organised the "Ever Victorious Army," and General 
 Gordon, who assumed its leadership on the heroic 
 death of Ward. The diary gives great credit to the 
 latter, and reveals not only a high appreciation of 
 the services of Gordon, but an accurate comprehen- 
 sion of his merits and defects. 
 
 His military career continued for some years, 
 owing to the disordered state of the country, coupled 
 with civil duties of high responsibility, until he was 
 called by the Emperor to face the crisis occasioned 
 by the riots in Tientsin in 1870, which threatened 
 a war with France. He brought with him to this 
 important viceroyalty a high reputation for military 
 skill, great administrative capacity, and devoted 
 loyalty to the reigning dynasty; and was thence- 
 forth regarded as one of the most famous men of his 
 nation. His successful termination of the questions 
 growing out of the riots so impressed the Imperial 
 Government that it showered upon him new and 
 almost unprecedented honours. In addition to his 
 appointment as Viceroy of the metropolitan prov- 
 ince of Chihli, he was named Imperial Tutor, 
 Grand Secretary of State, Superintendent of Trade, 
 and a noble of the first rank. These high titles made 
 him the first official and statesman of the Govern- 
 ment of the Emperor. 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 For twenty-five years continuously he discharged 
 the duties of these high offices from his residence at 
 Tientsin, with occasional visits to Peking. Because 
 of his high rank and of his location at the seaport 
 to the capital, he was brought into contact with all 
 persons having business with the Government, and 
 stood as a sentinel on the outpost for his secluded 
 Emperor. As the virtual head of the Chinese For- 
 eign Office, he proved himself a match for the most 
 astute of the trained European diplomatists. While 
 the jealous guardian of his country's interests, he 
 always secured the confidence and esteem of the 
 foreign ministers with whom he conducted negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 Probably no man of his time received such signal 
 marks of respect from his diplomatic antagonists 
 as he. In a serious controversy with Great Britain, 
 he was so straightforward and just in meeting the 
 demands of that Government that Sir Thomas Wade 
 stated that he was led to make an important con- 
 cession expressly to him "in recognition of the 
 frankness with which he had negotiated this trouble- 
 some business." In the adjustment of the French 
 conflict with China of 1885, the French Minister 
 inserted in the treaty a renunciation of all claim for 
 indemnity, in order thereby "to pay a mark of 
 regard to the patriotic wisdom of His Excellency Li 
 Hung Chang." 
 
 When the Japanese Government In 1895 refused 
 to receive the first peace commissioners, the Prime 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Minister, Count Ito, sent a message to Peking that 
 if Li Hung Chang should be appointed, he would be 
 received and treated with the highest consideration; 
 and the sequel realised to the greatest extent this 
 high estimate of his character and ability. In prep- 
 aration for the ceremonies of the coronation of 
 Emperor Nicholas II, the Czar himself sent a per- 
 sonal request to the Chinese Emperor that Li Hung 
 Chang should be entrusted with the mission of 
 special Ambassador for that occasion. It has been 
 charged that the Viceroy was under the undue 
 influence of Russia, it even being asserted that he 
 had been controlled in his conduct by corrupt 
 motives. The publication of this diary will set at 
 rest all such insinuations, as it makes it clear that 
 he correctly estimated the schemes of that Govern- 
 ment, and that in his relations with it his conduct 
 was patriotic. 
 
 In a country where office was greatly sought after 
 as a stepping-stone to power and self-aggrandise- 
 ment, it was natural that a man in his high position 
 would have enemies among his own countrymen. 
 His diary shows that they were numerous, and that 
 he visited some of them with intense antagonism. 
 But the mass of his countrymen recognised him as 
 the first and ablest of the public officials, and paid 
 him honour as such. This was demonstrated in a 
 notable manner on the observance of his seventieth 
 birthday. The Emperor sent various rich and appro- 
 priate gifts, with flattering inscriptions written in his 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 own hand; the Empress Dowager vied with her 
 imperial ward in her gifts; subjects of high and low 
 degree and foreign residents lavished upon him 
 presents and mementoes; processions, ceremonies, 
 and banquets in Chinese profusion were the order 
 of the day; and all culminated in an address signed 
 by the leading officials throughout the empire, 
 written by Chang Chi-tung, next to the Viceroy the 
 most honoured and influential man in the country, 
 and often his political opponent. As a specimen of 
 Chinese eulogy an extract may be interesting : — 
 
 "You are altogether to be admired; in literature 
 deep, in warcraft terrible, in perception acute, in 
 genius sublime, entrenched on every side, unassail- 
 able. ... As I stand beside you in the Han-lin, I 
 feel how small I am, how little able to grapple with 
 the great matters met within my province on the 
 great river. In you we have perfect confidence, and 
 I earnestly desire to learn from you. Compared 
 with you, I am as a simple peasant to a picked archer, 
 a poor jade to a fleet racer. You are men's ideal; 
 you, like Kang Hou, enjoy the confidence of our 
 Sovereign; yours is the glory of Chang the Council- 
 lor. You are the cynosure of all eyes." 
 
 Although in his public life the Viceroy was of 
 stern and unrelenting character and apparently 
 indifferent to human life, the diary reveals in many 
 places a tender heart and sympathetic nature. His 
 devotion to his mother was most touching. Her last 
 illness and death occurred in a distant province 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 while he was immersed in important affairs of state 
 at Tientsin. He memorialised the Empress Regents 
 for a leave of absence to go to her bedside in which 
 he said: **She is eighty-three years old and her con- 
 stitution is breaking up; and the thought of her 
 absent son continually recurs to her and makes her 
 illness more dangerous. When memorialist heard 
 this his heart burned with anxiety, and his sleep and 
 his food were worthless. Since he bade her farewell 
 thirteen years ago, he has never seen his mother's 
 face." 
 
 A leave of absence for one month was granted him, 
 but before he could start on his journey news came 
 of her death, and he petitioned for the usual retire- 
 ment of three years for mourning, but the Empress 
 Regents answered that the state of public affairs 
 would only allow of one hundred days. But this did 
 not satisfy his grief at the failure to reach his mother 
 before her death, and he sent another lengthy 
 memorial, saying: "Remorse will haunt memorialist 
 all his life, and there is a wound in his heart that 
 prevents him privately from enjoying a moment's 
 respite from pain, and publicly from being of any 
 service to the state. . . . Even if he, separated 
 beyond hope from meeting his mother, the living 
 from the dead, were to spend three years in lamenta- 
 tions at her tomb, it would not avail to relieve his 
 soul from the poignant and inexpressible regret he 
 feels for his lack of filial duty." We find that years 
 after, when absorbed in his official duties, he records 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 that fourteen years had passed that day since his 
 mother died and that he secluded himself from all 
 callers. "With all the incidents of my life, its trials 
 and lamentations, its moments of joy and pride, 
 with all and every affair of life, I cannot forget my 
 celestial mother and all she was and is to me." 
 
 The unique correspondence with the Empress 
 Regents brings out one of the most distinguished 
 traits of Chinese character — veneration for parents, 
 which has become sanctified into religious worship, 
 and also has exercised a marked influence on the 
 political relations of the people, the Emperor being 
 the parental head of the nation. If the fifth com- 
 mandment of the Mosaic code were as faithfully 
 observed by Christian nations as the central doc- 
 trine of the Confucian philosophy is practised by 
 the Celestials, the social order of the Western world 
 would be greatly improved. 
 
 We see something more of the Viceroy's humanity 
 when, in the midst of the battle, the grim warrior 
 stood beside the bedside of the American General 
 Ward, and the tears flowed down his cheeks as he 
 thought of the soldier dying for China, "so far from 
 his family and friends." His sympathetic nature 
 was shown, also, in the fearful famine which during 
 his viceroyalty visited Chihli and the neighbouring 
 provinces. He was the most prominent agent in 
 staying the ravages of this fatal scourge, and his 
 energy, business capacity, and large-hearted charity 
 were conspicuously displayed in the measures for 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 relief. In addition to the public and charitable funds 
 which he disbursed, the diary shows that he fed 
 daily from his own table between one and two thou- 
 sand of the starving, and from his own purse near 
 five thousand in the near-by villages. "My mother 
 is blessing me every day for this work; and she says 
 the Gods as well as the people will not forget that 
 my wealth, such as I have, is not withheld from the 
 poor and needy." 
 
 In nothing is the diary more useful than in show- 
 ing the development of Li Hung Chang's mind 
 respecting foreigners and the Christian missionaries, 
 and how with growing experience his ideas under- 
 went a complete change. Early in his public career, 
 when his knowledge was limited to a brief inter- 
 course with foreigners at Shanghai during the 
 Taiping Rebellion, he partook strongly of the hatred 
 and prejudice of the masses. At this time he records, 
 "I hate all foreigners." But fifteen years later, 
 when he had become better acquainted with the ills 
 which afilicted his country, and just as he was 
 starting to assume his duties at Tientsin and put an 
 end to the anti-foreign riots, he writes: ''In spite of 
 all dislikes, if we truly have the best interests of 
 China at heart, we will no longer oppose the coming 
 of the foreigner, for he is bound to come anyway, 
 even if he must ride behind a bayonet or sit upon the 
 big gun of a warship." And he expressed great 
 pleasure that the Throne had selected him for the 
 task at Tientsin. About this time he records that 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 he is preparing an article advocating the right of 
 foreigners to reside in China, which he intends to 
 submit to the Throne and have printed and circu- 
 lated in every province. After his coming to Tientsin 
 foreigners were fully protected in the provinces 
 under his administration. He was not blind to their 
 encroachments and arrogance, but he recognised 
 their usefulness to the country and that they were 
 entitled to protection. At the beginning of the 
 Boxer outbreak, when Viceroy at Canton, he reports 
 that some of the viceroys had received orders to be 
 prepared to despatch all foreigners, which he terms 
 "dastardly commands. How well the authors knew 
 better than to send such outrageous documents to 
 me." When we call to mind the experience China 
 has had with certain Western nations, it does not 
 seem strange that his attachment to foreigners in 
 general should not have been very ardent, but he 
 came to feel the need of foreign aid, and solicited 
 it and gave it proper welcome. 
 
 The Viceroy's mind underwent much the same 
 experience respecting Christianity and missionaries. 
 As he reached manhood he possessed the same igno- 
 rance and hatred of missionaries and their work as 
 prevailed generally throughout the country, referred 
 to them as "foreign devils," and treated their doc- 
 trines with scorn. But gradually, as he became per- 
 sonally better informed as to their work, he revised 
 his judgment. Soon after assuming charge at Tient- 
 sin he notes a conference with Tseng-Kofan, the 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 great statesman of that day, who, he says, "like 
 myself, has changed his views exceedingly in the 
 past five or six years, and is no longer a hater of 
 the Christians." Fifteen years later he went so far 
 as to put Christ and Confucius on the same exalted 
 plane and to assert that if he were in England or 
 America he would want to call himself a Christian. 
 He treats their doctrines as philosophic or moral, 
 and fails to comprehend the spiritual quality of the 
 teaching and mission of Christ. But his prejudice 
 against Christianity had disappeared, and he said 
 that there were millions in China who would be 
 benefited by a knowledge of Jesus, as they do not 
 trouble themselves to follow Confucius. Neverthe- 
 less, the inconsistencies of the Christian nations did 
 not fail to attract his attention. He notes how they 
 fight among themselves and cherish most bitter 
 hatred against each other. "The French hate the 
 Germans, and the Russians kill the Jews, but they 
 are all Christians when they come to China"; and 
 he refers to the action of Great Britain in forcing 
 opium on the Chinese as one of the impediments to 
 the progress of Christianity, with this closing com- 
 ment: "A great nation, a Christian nation above all 
 things, has given this awful blight to the Middle 
 Kingdom. What are our people to think?" 
 
 In the seventy-fifth year of his age, Li Hung 
 Chang made his first journey to foreign lands. It 
 was a memorable event in his life. The occasion of it 
 was the coronation of the Emperor of Russia. This 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 ceremony brought together at the ancient Muscovite 
 capital such a representation of the nations of the 
 earth as was never before assembled in the world. 
 And it is safe to say that the most notable personage 
 in that august assemblage was the representative of 
 the "Son of Heaven," the Emperor of China. In 
 length of public service, in the character and impor- 
 tance of that service and of the myriads of people 
 in whose behalf it was rendered, in his intellectual 
 attainments, his unique characteristics, and in his 
 commanding personality, the Chinese representa- 
 tive was the most conspicuous witness of the young 
 Czar's coronation. 
 
 Aside from his distinguished services and his high 
 offices, he was a man well suited to be placed at the 
 head of an imposing embassy, and to represent his 
 imperial master. He was of pure Chinese extraction, 
 having no mixture of Manchu blood. Although in 
 his seventy-fifth year, he was in fair degree of health 
 and vigour, of fine physique, full six feet in height, 
 of commanding presence, erect and stoutly built, 
 with dark, piercing eyes, and a face strongly moulded 
 and indicative of strength of character, and that 
 would command attention in any foreign circle. 
 Dressed in his parti-coloured silken robes, and his hat 
 decorated with the three-eyed peacock feathers, he 
 could not fail to attract attention. 
 
 The Viceroy having made the journey to Russia 
 via the Suez Canal, he continued the circumnaviga- 
 tion of the globe by way of the Western nations of 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Europe and America, in the course of which he met 
 the crowned heads and leading statesmen of those 
 countries, received marked ovations everjrwhere by 
 the officials and people, witnessed military and 
 naval reviews, and saw the marvellous industrial 
 and social development of Occidental civilisation. 
 He returned to his home land more impressed than 
 ever with its needs of the elements which had made 
 those nations so powerful and prosperous. Had he 
 possessed this knowledge at the beginning of his 
 public career, how much more valuable would have 
 been the services to the country of this commanding 
 personality, and how much greater the credit he 
 deserves for having served it so well in ignorance of 
 the great world beyond the confines of the Middle 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The diary gives us new light upon his relations 
 and personal intercourse with Their Majesties and 
 especially with the Empress Dowager, Tze Hsi, that 
 notable woman, who for half a century was the ruling 
 spirit of the Chinese Government. At four different 
 times in his career he was stripped of his "yellow 
 jacket" and all his honours, and disgraced in the eyes 
 of his countrymen by that irascible woman, yet he 
 remained loyal to the Throne, assured that she knew 
 the value of his services and would again bestow 
 upon him honour and high duty. He records: 
 "Whenever there is trouble, I am always the physi- 
 cian in attendance, but, instead of collecting a fee, I 
 am usually subject to a fine for my trouble and skill." 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 On several occasions, when the fate of the nation 
 was In peril, although under the shadow of her dis- 
 pleasure, he did not hesitate to seek an audience 
 with the Empress Dowager. When the war party 
 had gained the ascendancy and hostilities were about 
 to be declared against Japan, he remonstrated so 
 strongly with her against the step that " Her Majesty 
 flew Into the worst rage In late times," and sent him 
 away stripped of his Insignia of honour. Again when 
 the Boxer outbreak was preparing, although he was 
 in retirement and without office, knowing that she 
 was falling under the Influence of that movement, 
 he records, " I am leaving for Peking to-night, deter- 
 mined to see Tze HsI herself, and present the situa- 
 tion to her In the plainest manner." A lengthy Inter- 
 view occurred, but It ended with the Empress 
 Dowager "alive with wrath and angry words" and 
 the Viceroy sent from the palace, never again to 
 appear In her presence. She was evidently committed 
 to the Boxer movement and he was powerless to 
 avert the calamity that was Impending. 
 
 Notwithstanding the diary reveals the Empress 
 Dowager as an arrogant, cruel, and headstrong 
 woman, and the Emperor as a weakling, through all 
 vicissitudes the Viceroy remained faithful to the 
 Manchu Dynasty. When following the upheaval 
 and the siege of the legations the suggestion was 
 made In diplomatic circles and the press that the 
 reigning family be deposed and a new emperor placed 
 on the throne, he denounced It as so much Idle talk, 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 and recorded in his diary, as he made known to the 
 diplomatic corps, that there was no Chinese family 
 sufficiently respected to rule the country in peace 
 and order. 
 
 The last service he rendered his country was the 
 crowning act of his long career. After the Empress 
 Dowager and the Court had fled from the capital, 
 as the allied armies occupied Peking and rescued the 
 legations and foreign refugees, the nations which 
 had been so grossly outraged instructed their diplo- 
 matic representatives to seek the punishment of the 
 guilty officials and exact full indemnity for the losses 
 sustained. Notwithstanding Li Hung Chang had 
 been driven from her presence with angry words 
 and banished to a distant province at Canton, from 
 her hiding-place in the mountains she summoned 
 him to Peking to meet the angry and determined 
 diplomats, and save the throne from extinction and 
 the empire from dismemberment. 
 
 Although the disease which brought him to the 
 grave was rapidly undermining his strength, he 
 made the long journey back to the capital. On his 
 way, at Tientsin, he makes this entry in his diary: 
 " I fear the task before me is too great for my strength 
 of body, though I would do one thing more before I 
 call the earthly battle over. I would have the for- 
 eigners believe in us once more, and not deprive 
 China of her national life." His labours were suc- 
 cessful, thanks in large measure to the high consid- 
 eration shown him by the foreign negotiators. It is 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 gratifying to Americans to know that in his diary 
 he gives our Government great credit for aiding him 
 to save his country from dismemberment and from 
 conditions too burdensome to endure. 
 
 Within a few weeks after he signed the Protocol 
 which gave his country peace, he ended his earthly 
 life in the seventy-ninth year of his age. It was a 
 fitting end to the stormy career of the greatest of 
 Oriental statesmen, and one of the most distinguished 
 of the public men of the world. 
 
 John W. Foster. 
 
 May, 1913. 
 
MEMOIRS OF 
 
 LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE 
 
 "Some day I hope to be the Chang-yuan [the poet- 
 laureate] of China." 
 
 These significant words, of such interest to the 
 student of the Hfe of Li Hung Chang, were written 
 by him as early as 1846, while the industrious and 
 brilliant young man was preparing for those higher 
 examinations which he was to take a year later, 
 when he would go up for the highest literary water- 
 mark of his country — the Metropolitan or Third 
 Degree of the Han-lin. 
 
 That honour he gained fully, and since he ranked 
 among the three most successful in a total of four 
 thousand, it may be assumed that, notwithstanding 
 Western views of Chinese educational methods, he 
 might rightly claim a place among the highly edu- 
 cated and gifted young men of his country and 
 generation. 
 
 That his aspirations were lofty his own words 
 tell, and that his industry and ability were in a very 
 large degree of a kind making the attainment of 
 his ambitions, in whatever channel they might tend, 
 
2 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG ; CHANG 
 
 possible, no one who has followed his career of notable 
 achievement and high recognition will gainsay. 
 
 Li's memoirs, the words he wrote from time to 
 time, often carelessly, often with apparent haste, 
 and again with a style and diction indicating diligent 
 and laborious thought, all point to one supreme fact: 
 that from the beginning of his school-days almost to 
 the day of his death he cherished, above all others, 
 the profession of literature, and that it was his hope 
 to be known in the future story of his country as a 
 poet, essayist, and historian. 
 
 "Some day I hope to be the poet-laureate of 
 China," he wrote in 1846. " I am a newspaper man 
 myself," he said to a New York reporter exactly 
 fifty years later. 
 
 ^^ January, 1846. — ^^This day I completed the last 
 of my examinations, and I know I have won the 
 Ready-for-Office degree! I know, too, that I passed 
 high, for I wrote and wrote with great ease; and the 
 classics I can repeat word for word. 
 
 "I believe if the great Emperor Chow — oh! how 
 great he was in learning and in the arts ! — would 
 submit me to an examination, I would please him 
 by my answers. Yes, and some arts that have grown 
 and flourished since his time, in which I would sur- 
 prise him ! He taught that all the six arts were neces- 
 sary for a man's life and happiness, but he did not 
 speak much of the classics, for the very good reason 
 that the classics were not as important as now. 
 
HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE 3 
 
 "The good King of Learning made music the first. 
 I am deficient in that, for in these days it is not 
 gentlemen who play in the streets nor sing at fairs. 
 Archery I know little of, but it would come to me 
 with slight practice, for in our family 2800 years ago, 
 or 2900, — I shall figure this out, — a great ancestor, 
 now among the chieftains of the Celestial Kingdom, 
 was famous for his archery. He made the first bows 
 in all Asia, drew them from the hearts of unknown 
 trees, kept them for long weeks immersed in the 
 brine of young sows, and turned them out the strong- 
 est and with the greatest accuracy of spring in all 
 the world. I could practise archery now and become 
 expert, but I do not want to become a soldier, and 
 there is no hunting by which a young man could live 
 in these days. 
 
 "The same in horsemanship. The horses are not 
 used much. I mean there is only a horse to a league 
 these days, and I do not expect to go north or west 
 to ride camels. Besides, riding camels is not horse- 
 manship. 
 
 "But in the other arts of Chow I know I would 
 please him, just as I have pleased [here the young 
 graduate gives a list of more than two hundred and 
 seventy names] . . . with the progress I have made. 
 In the memorising of the classics, in handwriting — 
 my characters are clean and artistic, the most so in 
 the college the doctors say — in mathematics, even 
 into remote algebra, in astronomy, and in social and 
 religious rites I am elated and confident. Astronomy 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 I shall study more and more; it, and pure literature, 
 for who can be a great poet unless he understand 
 the movements in the heavens, and know the 
 planets and their orbits by name and rote? 
 
 "It is not given to any man to indite great 
 classics merely because he is a graduate of the 
 Third College [LL.D.], but if he have the education, 
 and behind the education the love, and behind the 
 love the desire and purpose, he can do work that 
 will make his name live gloriously among his 
 countrymen. 
 
 " I have all these now. I am between twenty-four 
 and twenty-five years of age. My father is between 
 forty-one and forty-two. That is a difference of 
 seventeen. In such a length of time, if I do not suffer 
 accident through the night, or am not set upon by 
 ruffians in this brawly neighbourhood, and if the 
 governor or viceroy give me a place under him, I 
 shall do much to advance myself in my own esteem 
 and in the esteem of others. People would laugh at 
 me, perhaps, the students would stone me, and the 
 professors and friends, especially [another long list 
 of names] . . . might not think it possible, but some 
 day I hope to be the Chang-yuan of China." 
 
 ^'January 27, 1846. — To-day I finished reading 
 for the ninth time the fine lesser classics, 'Lieh Nu 
 Chuen' [The Record of Cultured Women]. My 
 list of books is not large, but I am making good 
 use of those I have. Each time I peruse one thor- 
 
HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE 5 
 
 oughly I make a note within it, with the time of 
 beginning and the time of ending set down. 
 
 "This is one of the classics no part of which I 
 have yet attempted to memorise ; but there are niany 
 beautiful passages, and the record tells of such 
 lovely and heroic women that it is most interesting. 
 The story of Wha-Mou-Loh is most fascinating, 
 and already I have begun some stanzas to her 
 memory." 
 
 ^^ January 28. — My people are bringing the 
 matter of my marriage too earnestly before me. 
 This is true more particularly of my uncle, quite 
 more so than my father, for they are together in 
 arranging a matrimonial alliance for me with a 
 Sweet Blossom of Hoh-fei. The young woman is 
 exceedingly virtuous, so far as I have been able to 
 learn, and my mother vouches for her good in all 
 things. And in her personal appearance there is 
 everything to entice a young man who might have 
 any desires for matrimony in his head. But an 
 ancient saying is, 'Take a blossom early and some 
 of the fruit of your life-tree is gone,' and it has 
 impressed me greatly with its truth. 
 
 "It is not that I do not want this sweet maiden 
 of respectable family. Her family is equal to ours 
 in wealth and standing, but I am, as yet, not in a 
 position to justify the beginning of a family — re- 
 gardless of what my uncle may say, or of my pro- 
 spective patrimony. 
 
6 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "I do not know, of course; but I am of the belief 
 that my life will be a long one, and that sufficient 
 opportunity will be given me to raise up fruit that 
 will honour my memory. It is holy and right that 
 one should beget many sons to love his memory and 
 make great his grave, and on no account will I 
 oppose the law and the religion. 
 
 '* . . . My good chum, Ah Fing, called, and we 
 had a long and serious conversation. He tells me 
 that his most severe parent desires that he take as 
 wife the child-daughter of the law-aunt at Po — 
 that he has never seen her, does not wish to, and will 
 soon start for the south. 
 
 "Ah Fing is a good young man, and full of indus- 
 try and straight habits. He, too, believes he will 
 follow 'the calling of literature, and he brought 
 several long scrolls of romances which he has 
 written since our days together when both were 
 studying for the chu-jen [promoted scholar] degree. 
 I could not hurt him so much as to tell him that while 
 his romances seemed most interesting his language 
 was too plain, and like the speech of the street people. 
 I did, though, criticise his manuscript, for he writes 
 a tsao tsz style [a sort of abbreviated character 
 writing], and even that is homely and without grace. 
 He was slightly put out, I fancy, when I exhibited 
 to him some of my compositions in the best hing-shu, 
 with elaborate ornament work and dainty colours in 
 the high and left corners. 
 
 "It has always been my idea that carelessness 
 
HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE 7 
 
 in any branch of art or work or even thought is bad. 
 Perhaps it is egotistical for me to write in my own 
 book this way about myself; but many, yes, thou- 
 sands of men before me, have thus kept records of 
 their lives, and have not hesitated to express their 
 thoughts; and it is good to write down what one 
 thinks. But Ah Fing's careless ways, together with 
 the fact that he has no ink in his stomach [i.e., no 
 literary ability], make it appear to me that he will 
 make but a precarious living with his pen. I did not 
 tell him so; for so many unkind things have been 
 said to me, and they have cut so deeply, that it is 
 not my purpose to make light of the attempts of 
 others, nor to discourage them in their honest am- 
 bitions. 
 
 "But I hope that I shall never grow so careless 
 as poor brother Ah Fing. Ah ! if I had failed to pass 
 the chu-jen, as he did — he even failed thrice in 
 the Budding Genius examinations — I would have 
 hidden my body in the hills or let it float in the 
 river!" 
 
 ^^ March 19. — There is bounding happiness in 
 my inmost heart to-day, for I have been given a 
 regular place in the office of the chi-fu [head] of the 
 prefecture, and I know that my start on the right 
 way to political progress has been made! 
 
 "My noble and severe parent also rejoices, and 
 my mild mother is happy beyond compare. I do 
 not know how my uncle feels, or whether he has yet 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 learned the glad tidings; but he will soon know, for 
 my father has gone in his chair to tell him, and to 
 invite him to a feast we will enjoy to-morrow. 
 
 "Perhaps I shall marry now. The Sweet Blossom 
 wants me, according to what she has told the go- 
 between, and also what her mother has said to 
 mine." 
 
 ''Late. Between the days. — It has been impossible 
 for me to close an eye and keep it closed, so good 
 do my spirits feel over the fortunate tidings. Even 
 my uncle, in his home on the Hong road, heard the 
 news before my father had arrived, and had started 
 for our house with two fat geese and a fish. They 
 missed each other on the way, for father went on the 
 highroad by the fruit wall, while uncle took the 
 main Hong road direct to the yamen of the fu in 
 order to thank the latter and leave a present. 
 
 "Uncle is claiming that my good fortune is largely 
 due to him, owing to his intimate acquaintance with 
 the fu. He, himself, was a collector of liken for a 
 number of years. 
 
 "Of course I did not dispute my uncle, but 
 thanked him generously and upon my knees. Yet 
 every one roundabout knew that four days ago the 
 hein-kwan [district magistrate], the honourable 
 Pi-wang, sent for me, and spake the most encour- 
 aging words I have heard for many moons: — 
 
 "*Do you remember, Li, when you stole my 
 goslings from the Splendid Water LakeP'i 
 
HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE 9 
 
 "I told him that I remembered it well, though 
 the wrong happened many years ago. 
 
 " ' Do you remember the time you cast the cobble 
 and nearly killed the little daughter of Wee, the one 
 daughter he would not have die for anything?' 
 
 "I told him my memory was very good yet very 
 sorrowful upon that affair. And I explained, as I 
 had done before, that I was fighting with the Hop-e 
 boy, and had no intention of hurting the little girl. 
 
 '"Well, Li,' continued the district magistrate, 
 'it was my opinion in those days that you would 
 some day come to a ling-chi death [of a thousand 
 slashes], and my heart was made glad when I saw 
 you wince under the blows you received in punish- 
 ment for those offences, and your father was in like 
 manner pleased, for he avowed he had been unable 
 to do much with you at his yamen. 
 
 " ' But of late years your conduct, so far as we are 
 aware, has been exemplary, and in your studies you 
 have outstripped them all. Now, then, recite for 
 me sixty and six paragraphs, commencing at the 
 last, of the 'Spring and Autumn Annuals.'" 
 
 "How pleased I was that he had selected the great 
 work which I could write off from beginning to end 
 with a stick in the red sand. I recited off for him the 
 sixty and six, and was still going on when he raised 
 his hand and stopped me. Then it was that he told 
 me he had wanted for some time to give me a place 
 in the hein-kwan office, but he knew it was my 
 father's desire that I start with the fu. 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "Then, after I had thanked him with all my 
 heart, both because he had forgiven my early 
 wrongs — though stone-casting was not so to my 
 discredit — and had interceded for me with the 
 chi-fu, I came away, my soul magnified to the 
 heavens. I knew the hien to be a most upright and 
 open-hearted man, who very often spoke the truth, 
 and I did not doubt at all but that the chi-fu would 
 send for me with very little delay. 
 
 "And there has been great rejoicing at our house 
 since I returned home, — so much so in my own case 
 that I have been unable to sleep, and I am afraid 
 my face looks like that of a man given to drugs. But 
 all will be well after to-morrow, for I shall feast well 
 and read some of my poetry to the assembled guests. 
 I sent word to Ah Fing to come, but my mother has 
 often scolded him when he has visited here, and he 
 may not think he is welcome unless he brings a 
 parcel of rice, which is impossible with the poor 
 fellow; for at his home they believe themselves 
 fortunate if they have meat twice during the winter, 
 and maize-meal and vegetables the rest of the time." 
 
 Whether the youthful enthusiast and office-holder 
 ever wrote an account of that feast is not known, 
 but among the six hundred or more manuscripts of 
 his which were and are at present in the possession 
 of a grand-nephew at Nanking, and which were 
 courteously submitted for the purposes of these 
 translations, is a lengthy poem descriptive of such 
 
HIS AMBITIONS IN LITERATURE ii 
 
 an affair as he here tells us was about to occur. 
 Indeed the subject-matter and treatment are such 
 that there can be little if any doubt but that the 
 poem relates to the very occasion in question. 
 
 The poem in toto is rather too lengthy for reproduc- 
 tion here, and particularly as the latter portions of it 
 are so involved in thought relating to the realms and 
 times of the most ancient of the Chinese writers that 
 its rendition in literal English is very difficult. A 
 number of the stanzas, however, commencing with 
 the fifth, are here reproduced. 
 
 AN EARLY REWARD OF GENIUS 
 
 AND THE JOYOUS FEAST SENT BY THE GOOD GENII TO 
 THE YOUTH OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS 
 
 No questionings do mock my mind, 
 
 That the good genii of the sky 
 Will favour those who hold quite true 
 
 To all the rightful things. 
 
 These words I say because in recent day 
 Sweet tidings, like water of the stream, 
 
 Have flowed into my heart to stay 
 And make a lake of gladness there. 
 
 I sought the honours of the school and literati, 
 
 I worked at morn, and midday too, 
 I strove when other students shirked, 
 
 Or wasted time at games. 
 
 My heart did burst with learning's longing. 
 
 Nothing else could give me joy. 
 I memorised and worked the harder ' 
 
 To realise my fond desire. 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 The clouds in glory sent their rains 
 To water seeds of thought in me : 
 
 The birds sang ever sweet refrains, 
 Inspiring me to con sweet words. 
 
 Soon I became a Budding Genius, 
 
 And then another rank I took, 
 And then the highest flight I gained : 
 
 Thus I reached my heart's desire. 
 
 But when the hien-kwan of the district 
 
 Sent for me to seek his yamen, 
 I hastened with my fears excited — 
 
 How happily was I mistaken ! 
 
 O, what blessed words he uttered ! — 
 He who once had caused me pain — 
 
 Of how the whole hien rejoiced. 
 And that an office now was mine. 
 
 Then came a time of song and feasting — 
 
 Happy feasting in my home. 
 With father proud, and friends about me, 
 
 Eating, drinking — rice and tea. 
 
 Glad and merry mandarins feasting ! 
 
 Joy within my heart was swelling. 
 For the honour that they showed me. 
 
 For my parent's pride in me! 
 
 Then follow those parts already referred to, so 
 abstract and involved in thought and diction that 
 the translators were unable readily to render them 
 into English; and which appeared as a successful 
 attempt on the part of the enthusiastic young writer 
 to go beyond his depth. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 If all the writings of Li Hung Chang were to be 
 fully translated, and the parts relating to the various 
 subjects upon which, during a period of over half 
 a century, he continued to express his views, were so 
 segregated that his written comments might follow 
 each other in regular and chronological order, it is to 
 be doubted if a more entertaining subject than that 
 of Christianity could be selected. 
 ' As stated in the Preface of this volume, it has 
 been thought desirable to make, under various 
 headings, such selections from the great mass of 
 material received from the hands of the translators 
 as would be in consonance with the chapter or part 
 title, thus affording the reader a more concrete and 
 at the same time comprehensive view of the subject 
 treated by the author. Some of the great topics are, 
 however, treated at such length in many entries of 
 his diary, or in other papers wholly detached from 
 any relationship with it, that the matter would fill 
 a published volume. For instance, his writings con- 
 cerning the Empress Dowager and the Court are 
 estimated by competent authorities to be the equiva- 
 lent of half a million English words. On the ever 
 recurring subject of foreigners, missionaries, and 
 Christianity, — he regards all foreigners as Chris- 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 tians, if not all Christians as foreigners, — the Vice- 
 roy seemed never to tire of writing, and it is likely 
 that two volumes at least of a size similar to this 
 could be filled with the transcriptions of such manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 The following selections, therefore, may be viewed 
 as but a very small proportion of the large number of 
 entries in his memoirs; yet they have been chosen 
 with such discretion as to justify the belief that 
 within the necessarily confined limits they indicate 
 Li's feelings toward "foreigners and their religion" 
 — feelings which were constantly shifting and chang- 
 ing — during a period of over fifty years. 
 
 The first mention of Christianity in his writings 
 is found to have been made while he was looking for 
 his doctorate of letters at the Imperial Han-lin Col- 
 lege, Peking, in 1 849 : — 
 
 " I think it would be a noble and glorious career, 
 and highly pleasing to the sacred gods and to my 
 ancestors, if in all my books and papers I were to 
 tell the people the truth about the sacred gods and 
 false genii of the foreign devils. I could easily obtain 
 the information which would show up these impos- 
 tors to the whole people, at least to the base and 
 ignorant coolies of the south, who, I hear, are listen- 
 ing to the sacrilegious utterances of the black-robed 
 individuals. 
 
 "These foreign devils come to the country for 
 no good to it. They preach and talk in loud voices, 
 and hold up their hands, and pretend that they 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 15 
 
 come for the people's benefit; but I hear that each 
 and every one of them is a paid agent of some for- 
 eign power, and is here only to spy upon the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 "I hear that in the Far West for many years, 
 altogether by far too many, there have been num- 
 bers of these black-robes teaching their nefarious 
 doctrines, and uttering defiance to the Jade Emperor 
 and all the gods. These black-robes are of one sect 
 of the foreign devils, and I hear there are many sects, 
 all hating each other and all preaching for the same 
 god whom they call the Tien-fu [Heavenly Father]. 
 If they have such a father he cannot be proud of his 
 sons, for they are unlearned men and barbarians. 
 
 " It is a part of their teaching that the Tien-fu let 
 his son come on earth and die for wicked people. 
 Such teaching! If they would say that he came and 
 died for the good people it would sound sensible, 
 even if the rest of their doctrines are too absurd for 
 a man with brains to give a serious thought to. If the 
 gods are good and want men to be good will they 
 allow members of their families to be killed like 
 criminals for the sake of criminals? It has been long 
 intimated that most of these foreign devils are 
 crazy, and I am beginning to believe it. But it is 
 strange that they should be able to draw any of our 
 people away from the old religion and old philosophy. 
 I cannot understand how it is, but I am sure this 
 crazy fad will die out." 
 
i6 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Again, in 1849, he wrote: "Dr. Quong tells me 
 that he has heard several of these foreign devils 
 preach their insane doctrine in Honan. These were 
 of that sect that hails from the country of the French, 
 and are called the Tien-chu kiao [Roman Catholics]. 
 These persistent demons have been over a century 
 in the country, and they even grow queues, not only 
 to fool the people but to try to fool the gods! They 
 want to make believe they are Chinese, yet at the 
 same time they would make fun of the religion of the 
 people. 
 
 "These fanatics have some very queer ideas of 
 their own. They say that more greatly to honour 
 their god they abstain from having wives, not even 
 one wife; and yet they urge the people to marry 
 young, and to let all their children, girls as well, 
 grow up. What kind of teaching is this? These fel- 
 lows will die, and leave no one to mourn for them 
 nor attend their graves. But I am wondering if none 
 of this sect marry where their new preachers will 
 come from. Perhaps they expect their fool converts 
 to select preachers from their number that will not 
 marry. And maybe they are right and will thus 
 succeed, for when people are so twisted in their 
 heads as to believe what these black-robes say, they 
 may be ready to do as they do. 
 
 "Dr. Quong has once before written the Censors 
 to memorialise the Throne for the extinction of the 
 black-robes in the West, but the Chief Censor wrote 
 in return that the Throne would not dignify the 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 17 
 
 foreign sect by taking notice of it. Besides, it has 
 been learned that the land of the French is a very- 
 strong kingdom far to the other end of Asia, and 
 that these black-robes are all officers of the Govern- 
 ment. Still, it is reported that they live off the 
 people, and yet do not have yamens or fine houses. 
 And their temples are great buildings, square and 
 ill-looking, but well built." 
 
 The author does not appear to have written much 
 concerning the Christians during the next few years, 
 but his vigour and apparent hatred, as shown by a 
 lengthy entry in his diary, made in 1854, rather 
 make up for the seeming delinquency. He is again 
 in central China, holding office; and the Taiping 
 rebels, calling themselves Christians, — without at 
 all knowing the meaning of the term nor practising 
 in even the remotest degree its teachings, — are 
 marching through the central coast provinces with 
 fire and sword. 
 
 ''Why do not all our people rise together and drive 
 these enemies from the country? I did not think the 
 ideas of the cursed foreigners would ever take hold 
 of a large number, but it appears that in the south 
 there are thousands and thousands of mongrels who 
 are willing to follow the smell of this Hung Siu-tsuen 
 dog, who has imbibed the bold doctrines of the other 
 nations. Not only are they devastating the whole 
 country, but they are forcing their beliefs upon the 
 people everywhere. And, if reports are true, thou- 
 
i8 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 sands more of the fanatics are preparing to come 
 from Canton and the regions to the north. 
 
 "I have learned from good reports that in Nan- 
 king the Long-Haired Rebels have cut the heads off 
 of many hundreds, and the ears of ten thousand 
 who did not join at once in their vile beliefs. And 
 this is the manner of acting of the members of the 
 Association for the Worship of God (Shangti hwui), 
 who are presuming to call this country the Kingdom 
 of Heaven (Tien Kwoh). 
 
 "I do not think the authorities are half severe 
 enough with these fanatics, and it is very wrong 
 to take any of them into the Imperialistic forces 
 when they surrender and declare repentance. They 
 do not repent, the hounds ! They are rats of disease 
 caught from the leprous missionaries of Canton, and 
 they would run into all the holes of the centre and 
 north and spread their vile malady. The lingering 
 death should be applied to all those who have coun- 
 tenanced this foreign doctrine, or in any way aided 
 the marauders, though they may not have marched 
 with them. If my own arms were not so lame during 
 this season from rheumatism and other ailments of 
 the blood, which I hope will soon pass, nothing could 
 please me better than to take a place as executioner 
 of the vermin. As it is, I am doing my share ; for to 
 help collect moneys for the support of our patriotic 
 soldiers is in itself a great task, especially as the 
 fertile fields have been so largely destroyed by these 
 marauders." 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 19 
 
 About this time Li wrote: — 
 
 It is truly the greatest sacred duty 
 Of all patriotic sons of the Middle Kingdom, 
 And all who bow to the mighty Throne, — 
 The glorious seat of ten thousand years, — 
 To strike to the black heart 
 The Long-Haired bandits; 
 And to let out their vitals upon the earth, 
 That the swine of our gutters 
 ' And the fowls of the barnyards 
 And the mongrel curs of the alleys 
 May lick up their blood and gnaw their bones. 
 
 These fierce Long-Hairs are wild in their heads. 
 
 They have crazy notions of Heaven. 
 
 They have a new god 
 
 And his Elder Brother 
 
 Whom they follow to deeds of darkness. 
 
 They have forsaken all our sacred gods, 
 
 And spat upon the images, 
 
 And upon the graves of our ancestors. 
 
 They are dogs of low order. 
 
 Devils of blackest darkness, 
 
 Lepers of the foulest ills, 
 
 Serpents with marks of the pox, 
 
 Fowl that limp with gangrene! 
 
 They are not men at all in human shape, 
 
 Nor in their minds — for such are gone ; 
 
 Nor in their new speech, 
 
 For they ape the tones of the foreign masters 
 
 And talk loud, like barking dogs at night. 
 
 Let them be given no quarter! 
 
 It is a great work and blessing 
 
 To pluck out their lying tongues, 
 
 To burn deep the sockets of their eyes, 
 
 To rip open their vile bellies, 
 
 To rub salt into many cuts, 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 To" trim close their ears, 
 To draw forth the nails, 
 
 To bury deep whilst yet alive. 
 
 To use the pole upon their skulls. 
 
 Oh ! all patriotic sons of the Middle Kingdom, 
 
 Drive these rank fiends 
 
 Into the salty sea. 
 
 Or make their rotting bones 
 
 Manure the land ! 
 
 In 1865, two years after the capture of Nanking 
 and the complete collapse of the Taiping Rebellion, 
 Li Hung Chang at Suchau (Soochow) writes as 
 follows: — 
 
 "It is always well for a man to give continued 
 and serious consideration to a question before arriv- 
 ing at a final decision, and I find this particularly 
 true with relation to the underlying character of the 
 Taiping Rebellion. During the most of those long 
 and bitter years I was wholly of the opinion that 
 the foreigners along the coast, especially at Shanghai, 
 Hong-Kong, and Canton, were in a very large 
 measure responsible for the outbreak of the Long- 
 Haired Rebels, but I am now forced to the conclu- 
 sion that my thoughts and opinions were very wrong. 
 
 "This I have learned in a number of ways, mostly 
 since the fall of Nanking. Yet I remember that upon 
 at least one occasion General Gordon, who was 
 my lieutenant-commander of the 'Ever Victorious 
 Army,' tried to explain to me the doctrines of the 
 Christian Church ; but I would not listen in patience, 
 so much had I learned to hate the name. Gordon at 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 21 
 
 that time would have me believe that none of the 
 Christian nations were in sympathy with the Long- 
 Hairs; and he offered as partial proof of the truth- 
 fulness of his words the fact that his own nation, 
 which he said was the leading Christian country of 
 the world, was at that very time lending all due aid 
 to China for the suppression of the rebellion. 
 
 "I remember Gordon's words very well, as they 
 
 were translated by , for Gordon himself could 
 
 not speak fully in our language. But it so happened 
 that this was about the time that General Ching 
 accused Gordon, to me, of being in communication 
 with the Wangs of the Taipings, and for a greater or 
 shorter period I did not know whether to believe 
 him or not. Because of this feeling of mine — which 
 I afterwards learned was entirely wrong, and a very 
 great injustice to the fine loyalty of General Gordon 
 — I all the more doubted the sincerity of his words, 
 and believed it was simply a case of one Christian 
 endeavouring to be of some assistance to another. 
 
 "But since I have been Governor, and since peace 
 has given time for many things which for a number 
 of years I could not enjoy, I have taken opportunity 
 to inquire diligently into the training and so-called 
 inspiration of Hung Siu-tsuen, with the result that 
 I have ascertained that the leader of the Taipings 
 was as far from being a Christian as I from a Tartar, 
 and that neither he nor his followers had any con- 
 ception of how the Western Church members live 
 in peace or fight in war. I have even seen the 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 brother of the foreign devil missionary, who gave 
 Siu-tsuen his first lessons, and he has told me that 
 his reverend brother gave no encouragement to 
 Siu-tsuen or any of his followers to make a study of 
 the Christian books. 
 
 "Yet, it was the loud words of these Long-Hairs 
 that gave us the strongest impression, and that at 
 the same time brought them hundreds of thousands 
 of followers in the four provinces. In all their 
 marches, pillages, and battles they called upon the 
 name of the foreign devils' god to give them victory 
 and to send them many new recruits. And they had 
 such great success in the early years, and so many 
 hundreds of thousands believed in the divine appoint- 
 ment of the leader, that I myself began to believe 
 that they were real Christians as they claimed, and 
 that their so-called Heavenly Father and his Elder 
 Brother [God and Jesus Christ] were giving them aid 
 and encouragement. It was difficult for me to believe 
 that our own gods and good genii had forsaken the 
 religion of the Middle Kingdom, and departed from 
 their guardianship of the Throne; but with the 
 continued success of the rebels I began myself to 
 lose some little part of my former faith, and even 
 to question whether our illustrious ancestors were 
 still in love with the people who worshipped them. 
 Thus it was that from day to day, especially in those 
 terrible years when the Long-Hairs were sweeping 
 all before them and assembling armies that were 
 larger by far than any of those which the Imperial 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 23 
 
 Government might master, I hated the foreign 
 religion more violently than all other scourges in the 
 world ; and I prayed and hoped that not alone would 
 the Taipings be destroyed, but that earthquakes, 
 eruptions of mountains, and terrible fevers would 
 make the Christian nations without a man, a woman, 
 or a child. 
 
 " But I have learned many things by studying this 
 matter. First of all I have come to the conclusion 
 that it is not best for a man to pronounce hurried 
 judgments upon matters to which he has not given 
 diligent and continuing examination. It is well for a 
 man to forget many things, and when he seeks a clear 
 and unbiassed opinion upon some certain matter, 
 to begin to look at it as if he knew nothing at all 
 before. Then when facts and theories are presented 
 to his mind — it is better to have facts, for theories 
 change with the sun and the moon — he may stand 
 them up like culprits before a magistrate, pick out 
 the good and the substantial, and decapitate the 
 remaining ones. 
 
 "Since my present office began I have had more 
 intercourse with foreigners than in all my life before, 
 and I cannot assert truthfully that they have played 
 greater tricks on me than my own countrymen; but 
 this may be more because of their pride than their 
 honesty, for, as I understand it, the citizens of most 
 of these European nations take a pretended delight 
 in evincing a superiority over the Asiatics, and are 
 therefore opposed to doing many things when they 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 are away from their home lands which they would 
 not hesitate at all to do in the places of their birth. 
 
 "In this I do not see any true moral philosophy, 
 but rather a weakness in their attempt to impress 
 grandly what they believe to be weaker nations. 
 I am told that great numbers of the foreigners along 
 our coasts, especially in Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and 
 Macao, left their homes because they owed large 
 sums of money, and either could not pay or did not 
 care to. Yet these same foreigners, when they are 
 residents of Asian ports, will be angry with their 
 coolies and servants if they are not on hand promptly 
 to receive wages due them. I cannot believe they 
 are very angry ; at least if they are it is entirely sense- 
 less, for, if the man who has performed the labour 
 is in no hurry for his pay, does it cost the foreigner 
 anything to hold it a day or two for him? If held two 
 months or two years, is not the interest all the greater ? 
 
 "The British officials from Shanghai have im- 
 pressed me most favourably since I have held high 
 office, and I have often wished that I might be able 
 to speak their language. Some of them converse 
 very well in Mandarin, and one or two of the secre- 
 taries write it very well; but these latter are those 
 who have been many years along the coast. 
 
 "All these tell me that the Christian people in 
 foreign lands were rejoiced that the Taipings failed 
 in their rebellion, but I have had translations made 
 from some of the articles in the English press, and it 
 would seem as if the editors were themselves going 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 25 
 
 to die because of the treatment accorded some of the 
 Long-Hairs. And I find that in nearly all foreign 
 quarters I am severely blamed for what happened 
 to the Wangs at Suchau, and am called a 'Yellow 
 Barbarian'! I will no longer attempt to answer 
 these outside attacks: all I will say is that I did not 
 give an order for the execution of the Wangs, but 
 had I done so I would not have regretted it very 
 sorely, for their going gave the greatest pleasure to 
 the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and the 
 country was well served. If General Gordon, during 
 any of his visits to the Taiping leaders, made cer- 
 tain promises to them, he was exceeding any au- 
 thority ever given him." 
 
 Receiving in June, 1870, word from Peking that 
 he should prepare to go north as Commander of the 
 Forces and Viceroy of Chihli Province, Li wrote : — 
 
 "I am not too highly pleased with this new 
 appointment, for I am quite at home and satisfied 
 where I am; but in the Province of Chihli there are 
 just now the worst elements in the empire so far as 
 the treatment of foreigners is concerned, and I am 
 happy to know that the Throne believes my hand 
 strong enough to cope with these ruffians. 
 
 " It cannot be said, even by my worst foes, that 
 I have been a bosom friend to the foreigner, either 
 the man that comes to force his trade upon us, or 
 the fellow who would cram his religion down our 
 throats. Of course it is offensive to our educated 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 people to know that these churchmen are sent from 
 all parts of the world to explain to us the nicest way 
 to live and the happiest way to die, but the entering 
 wedge was inserted many years ago, and it is now 
 too late to cry out against what we once permitted. 
 We opened our gates and the goats came in, and now 
 the goatherds insist that the pasture wherein their 
 hungry flocks have so long grazed shall not be taken 
 from them. 
 
 "Yet, in spite of all our dislikes, if we truly have 
 the best interests of China at heart, we will no longer 
 oppose the coming of the foreigner, whether he be 
 trader, missionary, or tourist ; for he is bound to come 
 anyway, even if he must ride behind a bayonet, or 
 sit upon the big gun of a warship. And it is just as 
 well, much better in fact, that all our people come 
 to a realisation of this. 
 
 "Just now, in the Province of Chihli, there is a 
 great agitation among certain classes against the 
 French priests and nuns; and, in fact, against every 
 agent of a foreign institution. But Their Majesties 
 desire an end put to all such things, and I feel highly 
 complimented to think that I am regarded as the 
 proper person to put Their Majesties' desires into 
 effect. I shall spare none of these ruffians and hard- 
 heads when I am at my post ; and if the foreign ele- 
 ment in the population, whether priests or harlots, 
 missionaries or opium fiends, does not get protection 
 it will be because the sword and the bamboo are 
 worn to soft places. 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 27 
 
 "When last I saw Tseng-kofan we spent several 
 hours in full discussion of this great problem — 
 a problem which, unless settled in the right way, 
 will be as a dagger ever likely at a moment's notice 
 to be thrust into the body of the nation. Tseng- 
 kofan, like myself, has changed his views exceedingly 
 in the past five or six years, and is no longer a hater 
 of the Christians. He told me that it was his inten- 
 tion some pf these days to memorialise the Throne 
 to issue an edict of complete toleration for all for- 
 eigners of whatever profession or occupation, and I 
 told him that I would gladly join in such a memorial 
 if he would so desire." 
 
 ^^ June 13. — Though my action may not be fully 
 understood I am writing an article upon the rights 
 of foreigners to reside in China and prosecute their 
 own affairs without insult or hindrance. I hope to 
 have it ready to present to General Tseng-kofan, 
 who is soon to have an audience with Her Majesty, 
 the illustrious old Buddha, when he may have oppor- 
 tunity to leave it with her for her private counsel. 
 If the Court wiW give sanction I will have many 
 thousand cojpes printed at my own expense, and 
 circulated in every province. I think there is 
 scarcely anything I could do at the present time that 
 would result in greater good to both foreigners and 
 Chinese.". 
 
 In an entry made some weeks later, Li mentions 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 that his memorial on behalf of foreigners was not 
 completed, "because I hope soon to speak directly 
 with Her Majesty, when I shall seek permission to 
 write my views upon diis all important matter." 
 
 " Viceroy's Yamen, Tientsin, June 23. — The hell 
 leaders of this city, foilowing out their own cursed 
 notions, have again brought China into disrepute 
 with the whole world, and humiliated the Throne; 
 but these ignorant fiends who incite or take part in 
 outrages must not think that they will escape the 
 penalty, for I shall see to it that every miscreant 
 who had aught to do with the massacre of two nights 
 ago will get his just dues." 
 
 "June 24. — The acting French Consul called 
 upon me early to-day presenting a note from the 
 French Minister at Peking, asking what steps I was 
 taking to apprehend and punish the participants 
 in the outrages upon the Consul, the Catholic priests, 
 nuns, and converts. 
 
 "This is the way the foreign official acts in China! 
 An English trader's shop window is no more than 
 broken by some rowdies than the Consul or the Min- 
 ister is at the yamen demanding to know what we 
 are going to do about it. A French dandy gets into 
 a street brawl with a band of ignorant coolies, and 
 before the officials have even heard that such an 
 affair took place the Consul or Minister is shaking 
 his fist at the Viceroy. A fat, red-faced German, half 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 29 
 
 full of stout beer and smelling of cheese, falls into a 
 gutter and breaks one of his legs. Passers-by try to 
 help him to his feet, and he thinks they are going to 
 rob him. He pulls a revolver and shoots a native, 
 and then friends of the latter throw stones and cut 
 the fat German's red face. Immediately his Consul 
 or his Minister is knocking loudly at the door of the 
 yamen and demanding 'satisfaction' for the 'insult 
 offered the German flag'! 
 
 '•^Thus it is in China. If that same Englishman or 
 Frenchman or German had the same sort of trouble 
 in his own country he would be well satisfied if 
 a policeman and a Justice of the Peace took any 
 notice of his case; but in China he expects and 
 demands that the whole machinery of his Govern- 
 ment be invoked to bring the ' Yellow Barbarian ' to 
 terms ! 
 
 "Of course I do not mean to bring up these cases 
 in comparison with the present vile outrage; but it 
 is an injury to my pride to think that the French 
 Minister and the French Consul should demand to 
 know what I am 'going' to do when any one of 
 any intelligence in Tientsin and Peking, themselves 
 included, knows how sternly I view all infractions of 
 the law, and in particular outrages against foreigners. 
 
 "I said to the French official: 'You will please 
 pardon me, Mr. Consul, but if you will inquire at 
 the prison you will find what I have already done in 
 the matter. And if you will inquire of almost any 
 coolie in the city you will be told that more than 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 three thousand soldiers are scouring the whole of 
 the province and every corner and hole of Tientsin 
 to bring suspected ones before the authorities.' 
 
 "The Consul in one way was greatly pleased with 
 my answer, although I only imparted information 
 such as was already in his possession ; but he desired 
 to impress me with the importance of his position as 
 representative of the great French nation, forgetting 
 that I myself am the virtual ruler of as many people 
 as there are in twenty cities like Paris, where Mr. 
 Consul would not be known upon the streets." 
 
 (No date.) — "Having fixed the time for the 
 execution of the ringleaders in the massacre I have 
 been requested by both the French and Russian 
 Ministers to postpone the decapitations. They are 
 desirous of being present to witness the show, or, 
 more truly, to see that the culprits really die after 
 their heads are chopped off. 
 
 "This is another disgusting trait of the foreigners, 
 and these messages of to-day have caused me much 
 annoyance. Perhaps they think that in all my words 
 and actions against such outrages I am only looking 
 for effect, whereas, if they would know the truth, I 
 am more anxious to see such vagabonds put out of 
 the way than are any of the foreign Government 
 representatives in Peking or Tientsin. It is not only 
 right on mere grounds of revenge or satisfaction for 
 the lives of the men, women, and children taken, 
 but it is necessary for the good of China that swift 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 31 
 
 and sure punishment be meted out to all offenders. 
 If my son or daughter were killed in Europe or 
 America I believe the authorities would see to it that 
 the murderer or murderers paid the penalty. And 
 it will be so here in Chihli so long as I am Vice- 
 roy. 
 
 'sj Of course most of our people think that a Chinese 
 young woman who would wish to go into a foreign 
 nation among strangers deserves to be killed by a 
 mob, or have some fatal accident befall her; but the 
 views of the English and Americans and other Chris- 
 tian nations are very different. While our people 
 think the putting out of the way of the nuns is a 
 benefit to the latter — for they have no husbands, 
 and by their looks do not eat much — as well as to 
 the world at large, in France, as the Consul says, 
 these women are looked upon as great and holy 
 saints in the next world. And, is n't this strange? — 
 they were nothing but plain, hard-working women, 
 looking after a lot of children (of whom it is a pity 
 they did not die in infancy), when the work of a crazy 
 band of fanatics makes holy saints and immortal 
 ancestors of them. Yet, for this great transformation, 
 as I understand the present temper of that nation, 
 the French are ready to send a fleet and an army to 
 kill as many thousand Chinese as get in their way. 
 And France is a Christian nation. I do not under- 
 stand in full the application of the doctrines they 
 profess to believe, nor the principles they announce 
 themselves willing to uphold." 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "July 21. — Again the date for the execution of 
 the criminals connected with the massacre of the 
 French consular officer and the Christians has been 
 postponed, this time also upon request of the 
 Russian Minister. Yet the Foreign Office is continu- 
 ally hearing that in Paris and St. Petersburg the 
 Governments are impatient with the delay in bring- 
 ing these outragers to punishment. What does all 
 this mean? Are Russia and France looking for some 
 excuse to make war upon China? 
 
 "It has been brought to my attention by one of 
 the British consular officers of this city that it is 
 very probable that France would declare war upon 
 us if it were not for the fact that she is just now very 
 much occupied with Germany. I do not know 
 whether to believe this or not, but I understand that 
 the same report has reached the Tsung Li Yamen at 
 Peking from another source. If this is so it is 
 very wrong on the part of the French, for the rioters 
 would have paid the penalty of their crime days 
 ago had it not been for the request of the French 
 Minister. This appears strange, and not at all as it 
 should be. 
 
 "The Minister has himself assured me that he 
 is thoroughly satisfied with my attitude in the 
 entire matter, but in the same breath he did com- 
 plain unofficially of what he terms the ' apathy of 
 the Imperial Government.' I explained to him that 
 neither the Throne, the Court, nor the Government 
 Departments at the capital had anything to do with 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 33 
 
 the punishment of the outragers; that I had been 
 given a wholly free hand in the entire matter, and 
 that I would see that each guilty one was brought to 
 book in the most certain and summary manner if 
 I was not interfered with by the Legations. I asked 
 the Minister himself to set a date for the executions, 
 but he declined to do this." 
 
 ''July 25. — Lying and contemptuous officials, 
 I believe, are often at the bottom of these riots 
 against foreigners. In the past I have been willing 
 to believe the mandarins as a general thing exerted 
 themselves vigorously to prevent anti-foreign out- 
 breaks, but upon investigating this terrible massa- 
 cre of a foreign official and so many church workers, 
 and considering facts of some other recent outrages, 
 I am, convinced that shallow-minded and venial- 
 hearted district and prefectural officers are largely 
 to blame. 
 
 "I know that by so doing I will make hundreds 
 and perhaps thousands of enemies throughout the 
 country; but at my next audience with Her Majesty 
 I am going to urge with all my strength, and as far 
 as I dare proceed, that an edict be issued to the effect 
 that fu and hein officials will be held personally 
 responsible, in life and property, for the lives and 
 property of Christians. If this is done there will be 
 fewer attacks upon missions, and the missionaries 
 will be allowed to pursue their vocations without 
 hindrance." 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ^^ July 27. — General Tseng-kofan has issued a 
 fine statement relieving the priests and nuns of any 
 culpability in giving cause for the late massacre. 
 He condemns the work of the mad rioters in the 
 most scathing terms, and declares that the Throne 
 is ever against such action on the part of its subjects, 
 and is desirous of having the most condign punish- 
 ment inflicted. 
 
 "I am happy that this action has been taken by 
 Tseng-kofan, and it pleases me beyond measure to 
 know that Their Majesties are willing to uphold 
 me in the severe measures which I am taking to 
 suppress anti- Christian lawlessness, and the still 
 more drastic action I am ready to take if such 
 appears necessary. 
 
 ''It is my intention to end this rioting busi- 
 ness in the Province of Chihli, if personally I must 
 visit the magistrates and army ofBcials at Peking, 
 Paoting-fu, and Tientsin each week of my stay in 
 office. The whole world will get the impression that 
 our nation is indeed one of 'yellow barbarians' if 
 these inexcusable and terrible affairs continue. I 
 shall certainly memorialise the Throne for an edict, 
 and at the same time I will make of my province a 
 safe place in which foreign merchants and mission- 
 aries and their families may reside." 
 
 '^August 23. — My heart is pierced with sorrow 
 to-day to learn of the dastardly assassination of 
 General Ma Yu-k'un, the great Viceroy of Nanking 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 35 
 
 — a man I was proud to call friend. It is too 
 bad, altogether deplorable; and, I pray the fiendish 
 assassins will not only be made to pay for their deed 
 by a lingering death, but that the spirits of the 
 ancestors will rend their spirits into bits as small as 
 flashes from diamonds. 
 
 " Perhaps some of my enemies will regard Viceroy 
 Ma's taking-off as a lesson to me; for he was ever 
 friendly toward the foreigners and their religion, 
 and it was because of this feeling, no doubt, that he 
 met death in the very height of his powers and use- 
 fulness. Glorious man ! — he paid with his life for 
 the liberality of his mind and the openness of his 
 heart. I wonder if the foreigners will really appreci- 
 ate the sacrifice of this life in their behalf? Time 
 will tell us. 
 
 "But if there are any who think that my own 
 actions, much less my thoughts and feelings, will 
 be influenced by the assassination of the Nanking 
 Viceroy they are not acquainted with Li Hung 
 Chang. On the contrary, the wild ruffians of Chihli 
 will be dealt with more rigorously than ever. I will 
 drive such fisticuffs and murderers out of my vice- 
 royalty — if the Court does not interfere. 
 
 ''Glorious Viceroy Ma Yu-k'un! He died for 
 China, yet as a Chinese Martyr to the God of the 
 Westerners!" 
 
 "August 25. — During the entire night I dreamed 
 only of the dead Nanking Viceroy, and I saw his 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 cold body in the hands of the murderers. I do not 
 know when I have felt so ill as to-day. I shall deny 
 myself even to the agent of the Russian Minister, 
 who is to call." 
 
 "September 4. — The Grand Council has asked 
 me if the number of rioters awaiting execution for 
 the massacre cannot be reduced somewhat. This 
 interference is as bad or even worse than that exer- 
 cised by the Legations. I have answered that I see 
 no way of exculpating any of the prisoners, but rather 
 that I am straining every effort to increase their 
 number. It would be well for the Grand Council 
 and the other high officials to be busying themselves 
 regarding the payment of the indemnity that is 
 demanded, and leave to me the details of dealing 
 with these hardened rascals." 
 
 '^September 5. — I have pardoned one of the nine- 
 teen condemned to death. He is a low creature, and 
 would be happier and better in the ground than on 
 top of it. But I permitted him to tell his story again 
 this morning, having him brought into my presence 
 accompanied by one of the French priests, who, 
 luckily for himself, was at Tung-Chow at the time 
 of the Tientsin outbreak. The low creature explained 
 that he had been employed by the Sisters of Mercy 
 about the Orphanage, and that instead of being a 
 part of the original mob he himself was threatened 
 with death if he did not take a hand in the mad and 
 fiendish work. 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 37 
 
 '"Did you murder or burn?' I asked him. 
 
 '"No, Your Excellency, I did not; I made my 
 escape as soon as I could, and then went to my home 
 in the old city as quickly as possible.' 
 
 "'Are you a convert to Christianity?' I ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 '"Oh, no. Your Excellency, never, never!' 
 
 "When he made this answer the priest looked at 
 the fellow reproachfully, and told him that he knew 
 he was lying, and that instead of denying his faith 
 he should be willing to die for it. Then the low crea- 
 ture, ashamed of himself, told me that he really was 
 a convert. 
 
 " 'Well, it is good for you that you have acknowl- 
 edged it,' I told him, 'for I would not want to be 
 accused of executing a Christian — even a worthless 
 cur like yourself. I will, therefore, excuse you from 
 decapitation; but you are sentenced to eternal 
 banishment from this Middle Kingdom and its outer 
 provinces. I hope you will seek a home in some 
 Christian country, and that the Christians, as I 
 doubt not they will, will find without delay a reason 
 for killing you.* 
 
 "The low fellow then begged that the original 
 sentence be carried out, and the priest said he did 
 not much care. But I sent the liar and coward away, 
 with an order that he be exiled from the whole coast. 
 Such mendacious creatures as he would have a 
 monster lie in his throat at the time of the falling 
 of the sword, and the edge of the instrument would 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 be dulled to a greater damage than his carcass would 
 be worth." 
 
 On September i6 the Viceroy of Chihli wrote his 
 last comment upon the massacre which for many 
 months threatened to bring on a war between 
 France and China, but regarding the satisfactory 
 settlement of which the French Government made 
 an announcement before the end of the year — a 
 "Christmas present of peace," as the Republic's 
 Minister expressed it. 
 
 ^iceroy Li wrote: "Christian ministers, priests, 
 and Sisters of Mercy preach peace and good will, 
 and by their lives and works among the people 
 indicate that they are honest in their intentions, 
 and would show good example to their converts. 
 But they have one great fault: it is unknown that 
 they ever appeal directly to the local authorities 
 when affairs do not go in a manner to please them. 
 In the smaller villages they do not think of going to 
 the head man of the place with their troubles, nor 
 to the hein-kwan, nor the fu, nor the Governor, nor 
 the Viceroy. But always they would air their griev- 
 ances to the Consul, and the Consul to the Minister. 
 This latter official — and I say it with all personal 
 and official respect, for the Ministers are usually 
 men of high standards — cables the trouble to his 
 own Government oftentimes before bringing the mat- 
 ter to the attention of ours. Thus it is that the 
 journals in foreign parts publish the news of the 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 39 
 
 latest "Chinese outrage upon Christians," and the 
 people are ready to believe that our entire nation is 
 in arms against the foreigner. Two or three ruffians, 
 or half a hundred crazed fanatics who consider 
 themselves patriots — damn them ! — give a bad 
 name to the whole empire, from the Throne to the 
 coolies. 
 
 "I am weary advising the missionaries as to the 
 best course to pursue in the event of trouble of what- 
 ever nature that concerns their lives and the prose- 
 cution of their labours; yet it is simply and solely 
 to make the acquaintance of the local officials, and to 
 have faith that the latter will accord full protection 
 against violence. If they have good reason to doubt 
 the sincerity or reliability of the local mandarins, or 
 the fu or hein magistrates, they should put them- 
 selves , directly under the care of the Governor or 
 Viceroy. These latter may not love or admire the 
 missionary and his work to any greater extent than 
 does the fu or the hein, but they have more at stake 
 in the losing of their positions, and are generally 
 men of greater intelligence, broadmindedness, and 
 wealth. 
 
 "But to-day I personally witnessed the paying of 
 a debt in blood for the Orphanage massacre and the 
 killing of the French consular officer, and I am 
 pleased that this miserable chapter has been 
 brought to a close. The foreign Governments were 
 all represented at the scene, and I trust they are 
 satisfied. Sixteen heads were lopped off. The other 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 thirty- three culprits were started upon their journeys 
 into exile. 
 
 "I asked the French Minister if he was satisfied. 
 
 '"Yes, perfectly,' he answered. 'And how about 
 Your Excellency? * 
 
 "I told him that in a sense I was quite pleased, 
 but that there were still many ' rough necks ' in the 
 province which needed a shaving by the 'heavy 
 razor.' I was thinking also of General Ma when I 
 spoke." 
 
 On February 17, 1886, this entry is found: — 
 
 " I am more and more convinced that the Christian 
 religion is not so much hated in itself, but that the 
 animosity which is found to a greater or lesser extent 
 throughout China against the 'foreign devils' is 
 because they are 'foreign.* 
 
 X During several years I have given quite careful 
 study and thought to the religion of the West, and 
 I cannot see that it is in conflict at all with our 
 own philosophy. On the contrary, the teachings of 
 Confucius and the doctrines of Jesus appear to be on 
 one exalted plane, conceived and promulgated for the 
 betterment of all mankind, 'heathen ' and Christian. 
 I know this: that if my lot in life were cast in Eng- 
 land, France, or America I should want to call my- 
 self a Christian, for that is the religion of those 
 countries; and a man who would order his life by its 
 tenets would keep out of trouble and be respected. 
 He would not think of Confucius, because he would 
 have no need for him or his teachings. And it is the 
 
HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY 41 
 
 same way, reversed, in China: I have no need for 
 Christ if I will but follow our own great sage and 
 philosopher. But simply because I feel no personal 
 call for the Christian religion I will not therefore 
 oppose it, since I believe that there are thousands, 
 perhaps millions, in China who would be somewhat 
 benefited by a knowledge of Jesus, especially as they 
 trouble themselves not at all to follow in the ways 
 directed by Confucius. 
 
 "Therefore I would sum up the feelings of the 
 more intelligent officials and literati to-day — for 
 my own sentiments appear to be largely shared by 
 this class in all the Eastern provinces from Canton 
 to the Northern Capital — it is the foreigner who 
 is disliked, not because of his religion, but because 
 he is otherwise feared. He is feared not at all in this 
 year because he may be the agent of Jesus Christ or 
 a follower of that great man, but as a possible enemy 
 to the political and industrial independence of the 
 country. 
 
 "That this conclusion is correct I know from this 
 one fact, regardless of any others: the Japanese are 
 the most despised of all the foreigners, yet we Chinese 
 know that they are not Christians, nor have they 
 any of the good traits of the Christian nations, 
 government, or people. Quite the contrary. The 
 Japanese are very much like ourselves in matters of 
 religion, philosophy, and ethics, yet we hate them 
 and they despise us. Though they received all they 
 have in arts, literature, and science from China, 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 they pretend to be much better than we; and, instead 
 of thanking China for all she has done for them, they 
 would pluck her feathers from neck to tail, and, if 
 opportunity offered, run off with the whole bird. 
 
 "v Knowing these things and thinking of them as 
 I do, and fully appreciating what the Christian 
 nations did for us in a late emergency, I cannot say 
 that I am not friendly to the people of the West, 
 whether they come as merchants or missionaries, or 
 do not come at all. And it is time that our people in 
 the south and centre and north realise that all for- 
 eigners are not the same, and that some Christians 
 are much to be preferred to some Taoists and follow- 
 ers of Buddha." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 
 
 Through attracting the attention of the famous 
 scholar and soldier Tseng-kofan, at that time 
 commander-in-chief of the regular and irregular 
 forces employed against the Taipings in Central 
 China, Li Hung Chang, then a comparatively 
 obscure but brilliant civil officer of his native Prov- 
 ince of Anhuei, was first engaged in the profession of 
 arms; an occupation which was eventually to bring 
 him into contact with General Charles Gordon and 
 establish a relationship whose varying degrees of 
 friendship and trust, at least on Li's side, are, during 
 a number of years, told in notations of sufficient 
 comprehensiveness to make a volume in themselves. 
 
 Quite with the enthusiasm of early youth, al- 
 though he was thirty-five years of age, he writes of 
 Viceroy Tseng-kofan in 1855: — 
 
 "It is the highest compliment of my life, and 
 praise of my humble work in the different minor 
 offices I have filled, to hear that the great Tseng- 
 kofan has decided to give me a place under him in 
 the extermination of the Chang-mao-tseh (Long- 
 Haired Rebels). I am as yet uninformed as to the 
 exact nature of my duties, but whatever they are 
 I will do my best to fulfil them properly. Oh, I will 
 fight — fight — fight, for I despise these rough 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 rebels who would go through the country like bands 
 of robbers. They would destroy the whole Govern- 
 ment if they could, and would march to Peking and 
 level the Sacred Throne itself. But we must com- 
 pletely annihilate them, and drive them into the sea, 
 or feed their bodies to the swine upon the land. 
 
 "My father, who has been thrice to see Tseng- 
 kofan, says that but few men of China of late centu- 
 ries have been greater scholars than the Viceroy. 
 What a reputation ! Is it not wonderful to be learned 
 and profound in the classics, and at the same time 
 a wise administrator and soldier of great strategy? 
 Yet such is Tseng-kofan — learned, wise, rigorous, 
 and brave ! And such a man as this, whose deeds are 
 heralded and praised from the far south to the far 
 north, from Tibet to the eastern sea, desires me to 
 assist him in his great work. 
 
 "Tseng-kofan's family is like our own in many 
 ways, though it is necessary that I show a little 
 modesty, and do not draw the comparison too closely. 
 But his is one of the old Chinese families of Anhuei 
 and Kiangsu, for there are two great branches. It 
 was said by friends of mine that he came originally 
 of the Manchu blood, and that it was on this account 
 that he had been given high offices and vast prefer- 
 ments, but I have learned that this information is 
 wholly wrong, and that for eleven centuries the home 
 of the family has been in the provinces. 
 
 " 1855. — Three of my old friends of student days 
 were with me to dine last night. They all came to 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 45 
 
 the office [Li refers very likely to the office wherein 
 he was engaged as sub-treasurer pf Hofei] during the 
 day with the intention, as I soon saw, of chaffing me 
 and disturbing my work. This was very wrong of 
 them, for if they are not taken up with serious mat- 
 ters themselves, they should not make it a part of 
 their business to interfere with the weighty affairs 
 of others. 
 
 "P'ing remarked upon my good clothes and the 
 heavy jade ring. I did not like what he said to the 
 effect that my father must be more liberal these days 
 than when I was studying for my degrees. I told 
 P'ing I did not like his manner of speech, for it more 
 than intimated that I was receiving no salary or, 
 perhaps, that I was securing funds that did not 
 rightly belong to me. 
 
 " Itis true that both my father and my uncle are 
 more liberal in their offers than they were six or eight 
 years ago, and that I could obtain, if I needed, goodly 
 sums from them. But it is not because they have 
 changed in money matters; they know now that a 
 borrowed sum could be quickly repaid with goodly 
 interest, while before there would have been some 
 uncertainty about it. 
 
 VI have not had as yet vast experiences in the 
 world, but it is an established thought with me that 
 if you are possessed of a definite amount of anything, 
 people are willing to aid you to add to it, while if 
 you are wholly without, it is a remarkable man who 
 will offer you anything. It appears to be the same in 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 regard to all things connected with life. If a student 
 fails in the examinations none of the bachelors or 
 doctors will sit up nights with him in his recitations, 
 nor explain the difficult passages. But let him be 
 high in his student work, and come out at the head of 
 his lists in his examinations, and all the learned men 
 will offer their assistance to make him better. If a 
 man have no money at all, and is a ragged beggar 
 upon the highway, he is most likely to remain so, 
 for he has no friends, except mendicants like himself, 
 and they are of no use to him when he would buy a 
 bowl of soup on a cold night or a dish of locusts or 
 bees on a holiday. This rule extends even to the 
 affairs of the domestic realm, for if a man has gone 
 over a limit of years without a wife, all the women 
 of his district believe either that he cannot get one, 
 or that he would be unable to support one if he had 
 her. But when he is once married, and has assumed 
 a position of some standing in the community, there 
 are many women who think their daughters might 
 be valuable additions to his household." 
 
 "P'ing, San, and Klun are good friends of mine, 
 but I do not care to have them obtrude their noses 
 and tongues into my affairs when I am at the office. 
 The treasurer was not there when they called. Had 
 he been, he would have put a sudden stop to their 
 gibes, and ordered them to go about their own con- 
 cerns. But, nevertheless, he heard of their visit, and 
 questioned me about it when he returned from the 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 47 
 
 office of the Chi-fu. He asked if I was making the 
 yamen a place for reunions with my literati friends. 
 Tsung is himself an ignorant man in all things liter- 
 ary, although he is a master of accounts and gives 
 the collectors no rest. During the term of office few 
 taxes have remained unpaid except in those districts 
 which have been most greatly despoiled by the 
 Taipings, and in such districts the Viceroy has always 
 been considerate enough to allow of their being 
 remitted." 
 
 "My friends, who have learned of the military 
 appointment, never seem to tire with their jokes on 
 my former ambition. Some of them who heard me 
 say at one time that it was my hope to write a great 
 classic, an epic that would perhaps give me high 
 rank among the literary names of our history, have 
 told of my aspirations all about; and even Tseng- 
 kofan, in his talk with my father, asked by way of 
 amusement if I would be a better officer with the 
 dictionary or the sword. Of course, he was only 
 uttering a playful jest, and my father knew it; for 
 the Viceroy has told that his attention was first 
 called to me by the statement made by the hein- 
 kwan that I had stood so high in my literary work. 
 Then when I wrote to him asking for an appointment, 
 he complimented me highly upon the appearance of 
 my manuscript — with which, in truth, I took extra 
 pains. Later, when I saw him personally, he an- 
 nounced that all my record and accomplishments 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 were in my favour, and that he would appoint me to 
 a place near him; and that, if I deserved it, a pro- 
 motion to a place of greater responsibility would 
 follow." 
 
 "Everybody knows that a 'soldier is despised,' 
 and that, according to the Old Rules, I am leaving 
 the greatest of the professions for the worst of occu- 
 pations. At least, such would be the case if I were 
 going low in the ranks of a regiment or army that 
 fights alone for pay. It is not so in this case. I do 
 not like the occupation of arms, but I have my future 
 to think of, and the provinces need good men. I 
 have never left and will not leave the profession of 
 letters, but is this a time for writing poetry? Who 
 would read my stanzas and lines? Who cares for ro- 
 mances when fire and sword are in the district? 
 
 "It is wrong to say that I have forsaken the literati, 
 and that I have changed all my ambitions. Is not 
 Tseng-kofan the most learned scholar in all Central 
 China, and is he not Commander-in-Chief of all the 
 Forces?" 
 
 During the following years Li Hung Chang wrote 
 with even more care than was his practice, but of 
 matters relating largely to his own rise in the esti- 
 mation of the Viceroy, and consequent promotion 
 from one post to another. His diary and other 
 memoranda are filled with multitudinous detail, all 
 indicating that the " Ready-for-Office " graduate was 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 49 
 
 indeed "in office," and committed to a career of 
 tireless political activity. 
 
 It appears that in the five years following the 
 surrendering of his fiscal position, the young man 
 had quite forgotten that "soldiers are despised," for 
 a lengthy writing made in August contains the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 "To be selected as head of a great number of 
 troops is indeed an honour not to be despised. It 
 was my own banner [regiment] which first attracted 
 the most favourable attention of the Commander- 
 in-Chief, and has finally caused him to select me as 
 head of the forces at Kiangsu. I did not expect the 
 promotion, but it did not come as a great surprise, 
 for my troops have been driving the Long-Haired 
 Rebels (Chang-mao-tseh) before them, like chaff 
 before the wind. 
 
 " In my earlier days I did not believe that I should 
 enjoy engaging in battle or the sight of carnage; 
 but a new nature has come to me, I imagine, and I 
 sometimes wonder if I shall ever want to return to 
 peaceful pursuits. 
 
 "Surely not so long as these fanatics with their 
 new gods and new religion are devastating the land. 
 They start out and preach and call themselves the 
 Shangti Hwui [Association for Worshipping God], 
 and they gather hundreds and thousands of converts. 
 Their name itself is a treason against the Pure 
 Dynasty, but they would not have been molested if 
 they had not armed themselves and marched for the 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 assault of cities. They burn and pillage, and com- 
 mit untold crimes against peaceful inhabitants, and 
 force the country people — and those in the towns 
 and cities; too — to go along with them and worship 
 their Tien-fu [Heavenly Father] and the Tien-hiung 
 [Elder Brother, as Jesus Christ was termed by the 
 fanatical Taipings]. But everywhere we have been 
 exterminating these Long-Hairs from the south, and 
 it gives me much pride to know that by^my own 
 orders hundreds of their heads have been lopped off. 
 ^' When some of the meat butchers at Chi-kiang 
 told me that because of the depredations of these 
 Taipings in all the country roundabout there was 
 no meat anywhere on sale, not even sufhcient for a 
 meal, in that city, and asked if some of the Long- 
 Hair prisoners might be killed for food, I told them 
 to see my captain in command over the wretches, 
 and tell him it would do no harm to replenish the 
 meat supply of the city. 
 
 /'It was the same in Nanking when they were in 
 control. They came in hordes upon the place, and 
 made havoc of the outlying suburbs, and slaughtered 
 right and left. Then, when great breaches were made 
 in the walls, these Long-Haired Rebels poured into 
 the city like floods of fierce devils, cutting and burn- 
 ing and committing all manner of horrible assaults. 
 Their hungry thousands, all the riff-raff and tough 
 characters from that vast region between Canton 
 and the Great River [Yangtse], and far to the west- 
 ward until Hankow was reached, came in tens of 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 51 
 
 thousands to raise up this new religion and to spread 
 destruction wherever they traversed. 
 
 "They had no organisation, although they had 
 great titles and many ceremonies. But their leader, 
 Hung Siu-tsuen, whom they dared to call Tien-teh 
 [heavenly virtue], and his satrap, Yun-Shan, were as 
 wild and unbalanced in mind in all things as they 
 were in religion, and they soon found themselves 
 hemmed in in Nanking — their long tongues sticking 
 out in thirst for water, while their lean stomachs 
 grew as thin as a pig's bladder when it is emptied. 
 
 **They would not come out and fight in the coun- 
 try districts along the Great River. No. Neither 
 would they surrender their forces, and accept the 
 leniency of Tseng-kofan, the great soldier and great 
 scholar. No ! They would stay only with their large 
 numbers in Nanking until fever swept them away 
 by the boatload, and until the bodies of loyal sub- 
 jects to the Tseng-chao Throne [Manchu] were 
 killed, so many a day, and the bodies offered for sale 
 in the meat stalls! 
 
 "My officers and bannermen have made reports 
 without number to me of the atrocities of the Long- 
 Hairs from the south, and with my own eyes I have 
 been a witness to occurrences that my mother would 
 not believe if she had merely heard tell of them 
 second-hand, or had read of them in books. Yet 
 she, too, and my father have also witnessed the fire 
 and sword of the Long-Hairs ; for our own home, the 
 place where I was born, and where at this writing 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 my wife is — for the place has been partially rebuilt 
 — was burned like a stack of rice-straw by the mur- 
 dering bandits, and hundreds of places in that part 
 were treated in like manner, and the people butchered. 
 Therefore, no orders can be too harsh with such 
 marauders, wild fanatics, who have piled the living 
 and the dead in great mounds, and burned their 
 bodies together. I cannot forgive or overlook their 
 licentiousness and thirst for blood, and I praise all 
 the gods and all the ancestors that I am permitted to 
 be in a position where I may follow them and follow 
 them until they are all dead or driven into the sea." 
 
 "December 12, 1859. — Report was made to me 
 to-day that P'ing Kli and a brother, both of them 
 friends of mine of student days, were killed in a 
 house-braw on the outskirts of the city. I regretted 
 very much to hear of this affair, though it seems 
 that P'ing, who is half ready to join in the beliefs 
 of the Taipings, poked humour or satire at some of 
 the soldiers, and they hung his body and that of his 
 brother over a bridge. The soldiers* names were 
 reported to me, and I gave orders that they at once 
 be treated in like manner. I do not like to lose good 
 soldiers, especially at this time, but three or four, 
 more or less, will not be noticed much." 
 
 ''April 16, i860. — My wife has given birth to 
 another boy, and I am happy. I hope he will live 
 to be a great man and a governor-general." 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 53 
 
 *'June 16, i860. — These Wangs [Taiping gen- 
 erals] would murder me as they caused my good and 
 noble brother to die at Taitsang, but there is a 
 plentiful supply of blood in my veins yet, and a 
 brain to accomplish much against the Long-Haired 
 Rebels and their chieftains.". 
 
 In that same month and year he for the first time 
 mentions by name the "Ever Victorious Army" 
 [The Chang-shing Kiun], of which Colonel Charles 
 Gordon, of the British Army, was later to become 
 commander, and with whom he was to deliver such 
 a succession of telling defeats upon the rebels in the 
 provinces of Chekiang and Kiangsi that the power 
 of the Taipings was completely broken, and the 
 authority of the Manchu Dynasty restored through- 
 out the region. In the mean time the writer of these 
 memoirs, promoted to the command of the Imperial 
 forces in both provinces, was also acting as Governor 
 ad interim; and was shortly to be fully commissioned 
 from Peking upon the high recommendation of 
 Governor-General Tseng-kofan. 
 
 He writes: "It has never been my belief that it 
 was well to encourage foreigners to meddle in the 
 home affairs of the kingdom, and I believe if I were 
 in supreme authority now, or had been in the years 
 of this Long-Haired rebellion, I would not have 
 memorialised the Throne to allow the English and 
 the French to supply troops in its suppression; but 
 Tseng-kofan is a man of great wisdom, and he is my 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 strongest champion; therefore I will not criticise 
 nor even pretend to follow a path that veers in the 
 slightest from the one he would deem most suitable. 
 Tseng-kofan says the foreigners, at least their reli- 
 gion, is responsible for this present scourge, and that 
 it is well if they lose a few thousand of their soldiers 
 and marines in bringing an end to it. Undoubtedly 
 this is true, but at the same time is n't it possible to 
 believe that these yang kuei [foreign devils] are often 
 at the bottom of such troubles as this, that they 
 may be given a good excuse for stepping in and mak- 
 ing claims for their nations on account of their aid? 
 
 "Yet, I must say that they have been a great help, 
 more especially the English, who have sent in the 
 past four years many well-trained soldiers to our 
 aid. They are splendid fighters and worthy men, 
 for foreigners, when they are, sober; but they have 
 neither liking nor respect for the Imperial troops 
 when they are filled with intoxicants, and it requires 
 much of the time of our patriotic army to keep them 
 within bounds after the capture of a city. They 
 eat and drink everything they can find, but they do 
 not mistreat our women, and they kill non-combat- 
 ants only upon great provocation. 
 
 "I have presented to Wu of Sung-kiang a sum of 
 money to divide with the American, Ward, who is 
 doing such energetic work in recruiting my 'Ever 
 Victorious Army,' and I have recommended to the 
 Viceroy that this man be made a general. I have 
 not seen him as yet, but I have learned of many of 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 55 
 
 his exploits, and am ready to believe that he is a 
 most hard-working and courageous man." 
 
 '^January 5, 1861. — Sung-kiang, which is occu- 
 pied by the Long-Hairs in great numbers, must be 
 retaken at once at all costs, and I have sent orders to 
 Wu and Ward to consult with me at once regarding 
 it. The 'Ever Victorious Army' has been lying in 
 idleness now for many days, and it may be necessary 
 for me to assume personal command again. I would 
 not care so much about several weeks or months of 
 rest, for I have found that my own body has great 
 pains and fatigue after all this campaigning; but 
 while they are resting they eat more than during this 
 fighting. When they are marching or engaged in 
 battle, they are always on the lookout for food and 
 drink, and they manage to get it somehow. But when 
 they remain idle in big numbers, they get lazy and 
 mutinous, and want the food brought to them. This 
 alone requires the services of many extra men, and 
 the expense of the food is hard to bear. Besides, 
 w^hen they are idle they are given to much excess 
 and lawlessness upon their own accounts, and do 
 not hesitate to demand more pay than is coming to 
 them. I think it is best to keep them fighting; then 
 they are more likely to want to sleep at night, in- 
 stead of prowling about making trouble for them- 
 selves and others." 
 
 In December, 1862, we find: — 
 
 "It is sad to know that the right kind of a 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 commander to succeed Ward has not been found, 
 although several have been tried. Ward was an 
 energetic fighter, and if he could only have lived 
 there would be great benefits resulting to the Im- 
 perial cause and many honours for himself. In all 
 places where he was in charge he was almost sure of 
 victory, and the Long-Hairs began to fear his name 
 alone. 
 
 "I was with him when he died at Tsz'ki, and the 
 tears came to my eyes when he breathed his last. 
 It was affecting to know that he so grieved because 
 he was dying so far from all his family and friends, 
 and this seemed to be of more moment than his 
 actual dying. Though he had drawn in full the pay 
 for all his soldiers, he had a considerable sum due 
 him as lieutenant-commander of the Chang-shing 
 Kiun, but he made no mention of it, and I will have 
 it spent in a shrine to his memory." 
 
 The same day he writes: "Neither Burgevine 
 [an American who succeeded to Ward's command] 
 nor Holland [an English ex-officer] has been able 
 to do anything with the reorganisation of the force. 
 I think from their actions they only pretend a mili- 
 tary education. I have therefore consented that 
 Major Cooke, who comes with fairly good docu- 
 ments, may take command and see what he can do. 
 Both my feet trouble me, and my back is very lame 
 from last year's fall at Kiang, else I would resume 
 individual command." 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 57 
 
 " February 18, 1863. — I have received word from 
 Sir Frederick Bruce and General Staveley that one 
 of the best of English officers, a Colonel Charles 
 Gordon, will be given us to take command of the 
 'Ever Victorious Army." The Governor says that 
 this fine officer will serve without pay, which is not 
 only very gracious and generous of the great English 
 Government, but very pleasing to me; for the cost 
 of this long and terrible scourge is appalling to the 
 provincial treasuries, as well as depleting to private 
 funds. Can it be, though, that this officer is not 
 worth much, and that he is of little service to his own 
 Government? In these days valuable services are 
 seldom given unless something of equal or greater 
 worth is expected in return." 
 
 ^^ February 28, 1863. — Another communication 
 has been brought me from the English, this time 
 from Colonel Gordon himself. He writes but very 
 briefly, in his own language, and says that it must 
 be understood that he is to be in supreme command 
 or not at all. 
 
 "That is just the manner of all these foreigners 
 who come into our service, even when they them- 
 selves are seeking the position, and are held waiting 
 many days or weeks for their answer. Of course 
 I cannot say this of this English officer, for he did 
 not apply for a generalship nor does he want pay. 
 He does not say this last himself, but his superiors do, 
 and that is sufficient for me. However, if he is an 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 able man and can make of the army the kind of 
 weapon that is needed now to break the necks of all 
 these Taipings, I will see to it — regardless of what 
 his Government may say — that he is well rewarded 
 in honours and money." 
 
 (Without date). — "The thought is troubling me 
 that this new British colonel and myself may not 
 get along very well together. That letter of his 
 announcing that only upon the condition that he 
 be given supreme command would he consent to 
 fight the rebels, has caused me considerable uneasi- 
 ness. Ward said the same thing, so did the useless 
 Burgevine and the incompetent Holland. As for 
 Cooke, he would have been a good general over a 
 crowd of loafers to lead camels to water. 
 
 "I hate all these foreigners, but it would not be 
 wise to let them know. It is not the men personally 
 that I dislike, but it is their airs of wonderful 
 superiority. Each and every one sings the same song : 
 'I will do this and I will do that; I will drive them 
 out or I will kill them all; I '11 make your army more 
 glorious than ever; but you must let me have my 
 own way and not interfere with me.' 
 
 "That is the whole style of the foreigners, espe- 
 cially as I have seen them in this war. And it makes 
 hair grow stiff on my neck to know that because of 
 the emergencies constantly arising we are obliged 
 to put up with it, and say, 'Yes, yes,' and smile. 
 Some day I will ask them the question: 'Was your 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 59 
 
 country civilised and studying the Seven Arts before 
 ours, and were you born in a century of greater wis- 
 dom than myself?'" 
 
 Perhaps it might be well here to explain that, 
 without justification, the Taiping hordes which 
 marched upon the defenceless inhabitants of Kiangsi, 
 Anhuei, Chekiang, and Kiangsu, destroying and 
 outraging, and disputing the Imperial authority of 
 Peking, were led by men claiming authority from 
 the "God of the Christians and his Elder Brother, 
 Jesus Christ." This was owing to the fact that their 
 supreme leader. Hung Siu-tsuen, who had at one 
 time imbibed a few dreamy notions from a mission- 
 ary tract which had fallen into his hands, declared 
 that' in a vision the "God of the Christians" had 
 appointed him Emperor of China. 
 
 Li Hung Chang, with prominent men of his time, 
 including Tseng-kofan, and Prince Kung, — as well, 
 of course, as the Court, — believed the Taiping 
 Rebellion to be the direct result of foreign teachings 
 in China; when, as a matter of historical fact, the 
 chief Christian missionary of the time in the king- 
 dom. Rev. I. J. Robberts at Canton, refused to take 
 Hung Siu-tsuen's mentality seriously, and made light 
 of the latter's alleged "visions." 
 
 In no sense did Siu-tsuen receive encouragement 
 from any Christian nation or quarter, yet the fact 
 of his having announced himself as the anointed one 
 to lead the Chinese people to a religious life such as 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 the "foreign devils" practised, was sufficient in itself 
 to characterise the rebelHon as a Christian attack 
 upon the Pure Dynasty, and to place the odium 
 of the horrible warfare of the Taipings upon the 
 Church of the foreigners. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that Li Hung 
 Chang, whose relations with foreigners had up to 
 this time been practically nil, and whose mind had 
 not perhaps entered upon its broadening period, 
 should write as we have seen — with more malice in 
 his heart, no doubt, than he saw fit to commit to 
 words; yet it is to his everlasting credit that, with 
 ripening years and a fuller understanding of the 
 "Western Church," he became, as other parts of 
 these memoirs tell, one of its warmest friends. 
 
 " March 27. — It is a direct blessing from Heaven, 
 I believe, the coming of this British Gordon, whom 
 I am already designating General. It appears that 
 he has seen some service before in China with the 
 Anglo-French troops, and that for a time he was at 
 Tientsin. However, now that I have met him per- 
 sonally, and we are quite like friends, I am very well 
 pleased with him. 
 
 "He is superior in manner and bearing to any of 
 the foreigners I have come into contact with, and 
 does not show outwardly that conceit which makes 
 most of them repugnant in my sight. Besides, while 
 he is possessed of a splendid military bearing, he is 
 direct and businesslike. Within two hours after his 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 6i 
 
 arrival he was inspecting the troops and giving 
 orders; and I could not but rejoice at the manner in 
 which his commands were obeyed. 
 
 "It seems that the British Government simply 
 'lends' him to us, and that he will not be on the 
 Imperial pay-roll at all. I am afraid that this is bad 
 in a certain sense, for the man that offers his serv- 
 ices to you gratuitously is more apt to be independ- 
 ent and ready to throw up his position than the one 
 who is receiving even small wages. I must arrange, 
 some way, to have General Gordon accept money." 
 
 "April 7. — General Gordon, with 3000 members 
 of the 'Ever Victorious Army' and 15,000 or 16,000 
 of regular Imperial troops and irregular Provincials, 
 is pressing a hard attack upon the rebels at Fushan. 
 I gave them some pay the day before yesterday and 
 let it be known that as soon as Fushan is completely 
 in our hands another good payment will be made. 
 Then, when Suchau is again under our control, I told 
 them, full payment and a bounty would be given 
 each member of the force under Gordon." 
 
 "May 2. — ^.A former hein-kwan at Taitsang-fu 
 brought me complaints that Gordon's men, when 
 they captured the place, stripped it as dry as a fish- 
 bone of everything valuable, and killed surrendered 
 rebels by the hundreds. He was very excited, this 
 late hein-kwan, and asked if I would not give him 
 an order to Gordon to protect his life and property. 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "The impudence of this rdscal, who himself en- 
 couraged the Long-Hairs at Taitsang because he 
 could not hold his office for ever ! I long have known 
 the thieving propensities of this traitor, and, during 
 the time he was gesticulating his complaint, I was 
 wondering if it would not be well to call some of the 
 guard and have an end made to his troubles in the 
 yard. But I thought better of it, and so sent him 
 back with a letter to Gordon, written by Hoh in 
 English, asking the Commander to please cut the 
 fellow's head off upon its presentation. He went 
 away very gleefully." 
 
 (No date attached; probably written in mid- 
 May.) — ''What a sight for tired eyes and elixir 
 for a heavy heart it is to see this splendid English- 
 man fight! I have just returned from nine days and 
 nights with him, and if there is anything that I 
 admire nearly as much as the superb scholarship of 
 Tseng-kofan, it is the military qualities of this fine 
 officer. Fight — move — fight again — move again 
 — landing his men — planning by night and execut- 
 ing by day — planning by day and executing by 
 night! He is a glorious fellow! 
 
 "Yesterday when I left him to return for a brief 
 space, I told him he was my brother; that I consid- 
 ered him worthy to fill the place of the brother who is 
 departed. Could I have said more in all the words of 
 the world? The Englishman's face was first filled 
 with a deep pleasure, and then he seemed to be 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 63 
 
 thinking of something depressing and sad; for the 
 smile went from his mouth and there were tears in 
 his eyes when he thanked me for what I had said. 
 Can it be that he has, or has had, some great trouble 
 in his life, and that he fights recklessly to forget it, 
 or that death has no terrors for him?". 
 
 (Without date.) — "I am sorry there Is not entire 
 harmony between Ching and Gordon. The reports 
 from each of them regarding the other indicate an 
 ill-feeling." 
 
 "June 12. — A number of officers, who have been 
 cashiered by General Gordon, appealed to me to rein- 
 state them, but I have refused to do anything of the 
 kind. It is my belief that they should have been forced 
 away from the army a long time ago. They have no 
 patriotism, but look only for booty and fresh wives." 
 
 "Later. Same date. — General Ching threatens 
 to resign if some curb is not put upon General 
 Gordon. Perhaps it was a mistake to tell Gordon 
 that he was under my direct orders, and that Ching, 
 though commander of the forces against the rebels, 
 was not to interfere directly with the ' Ever Victori- 
 ous Army.' Ching is far from being a great military 
 man. Besides, he has a bad temper like Gordon, and 
 they are both quick to say hot words, like myself." 
 
 "July 19. — Gordon must control his tongue, 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 even if he lets his mind run loose. To be told that I 
 am secretly favouring Ching and trying to put him 
 in complete control of the forces, including the * Ever 
 Victorious Army,' when there is no truth in it, and 
 to be further accused of withholding money that is 
 due the troops, is hard to bear. General Gordon 
 demands the respect of those who are inferior to him 
 in rank, and he believes in strong measures to main- 
 tain discipline. Why, then, does he not accord me 
 the honours that are due as head of the military and 
 civil authority in these parts?" 
 
 ^^ July 28. — Ching came again to-day with com- 
 plaints against Gordon. I drove him from my pres- 
 ence and directed him to return to his command. 
 These things keep me awake nights, and make me 
 sleepy during the hours when I should be devoting 
 my best energy and attention to my duties." 
 
 (No date.) — "Gordon thinks of nothing but 
 money these days, and demands coin of me as if I 
 were the god of gold and silver. He says the men 
 will not fight any more unless they are paid. I tell 
 him that as soon as Suchau is in our hands there will 
 be funds sufficient to pay all arrears and some good 
 bounty. This is the word that I have from the Vice- 
 roy, and his promises come from the Throne." 
 
 During the following week nothing appears in Li's 
 memoirs regarding the numerous troubles and 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 65 
 
 changes which beset him during that time, culmi- 
 nating in the virtual resignation of General Gordon 
 and his departure for Shanghai, where he hoped to 
 have his action ratified by his British superiors. Sir 
 Frederick Bruce and General Staveley. But, arriying 
 in that city, he ascertained that Burgevine, the 
 American who had succeeded to the command of the 
 "Ever Victorious Army" upon the death of Ward, 
 had but lately gone over to the Taipings with about 
 one hundred foreigners from Shanghai, and was at 
 that moment within the rebel stronghold of Suchau. 
 The English officer had for some weeks been making 
 preparations for an assault upon this city, and, in- 
 deed, had reduced and captured Wukiang, Kahpu, 
 and other important outlying towns and strong 
 stockades, and but for the jealousies and bickerings 
 between Governor Li, Ching, and himself, was in 
 excellent condition for making a successful attack 
 upon Suchau. He was still very fretful because of 
 the apparent overlording of those to whom he was 
 giving his valuable services; but the duplicity of 
 Burgevine evidently halted the gallant soldier in his 
 purpose of resigning, and we find him returning to 
 his post within a few weeks. 
 
 ^^ September — . — With his many faults, his 
 pride, his temper, his tongue, and his never-ending 
 demand for money, Gordon is a noble man, and, in 
 spite of all I have said to him or about him, I shall 
 ever think most highly of him. If he would only 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 scorn to pay any attention to what Ching might 
 say, and forget about the cursed pay for the troops ! 
 Damn them! They will do nothing without pay 
 now but eat and drink and sleep; yes, and insult 
 innocent people." 
 
 ''September — . — I have ordered Ching to remain 
 by my side for a time and interfere not at all with 
 General Gordon." 
 
 ''September — . — I gave Gordon a month's pay 
 for seven thousand men to-day, and offered him one 
 thousand taels in English coin for himself. He took 
 it all, saying that he would apply the latter upon the 
 pay of his officers. He is an honest man, but difficult 
 to get along with." 
 
 "November 28. — The first serious defeat of the 
 'Ever Victorious Army' occurred last night at the 
 Suchau walls. More than three hundred officers and 
 men were killed and Gordon had a narrow escape. 
 However, he is preparing for a final assault upon the 
 city, and asks me to prevent Ching from interfering 
 with his plans. This I will do." 
 
 "November 29. — Ching understands that, while 
 he is in command of the Kiangsu forces, he must not 
 attempt to thwart the plans of Gordon in our assault 
 upon Suchau." 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 67 
 
 ^^ December 2. Afternoon. — The Muh Wang [lead- 
 ing Taiping general] was publicly assassinated within 
 the city to-day. It is glorious news, for it shows that 
 the Wangs are not harmonious among themselves, 
 and that our negotiations looking to the surrender 
 of the city will be most welcome shortly. Three 
 thousand women were sent out of the city to-day to 
 be fed by our troops, but Ching drove them back." 
 
 '^December 6. — Negotiations for the surrender 
 of the city being completed, I have issued an order 
 granting pardon to the Wangs and a majority of 
 their followers. The surrender will occur at three 
 o'clock. Gordon is reported as personally visiting in 
 the city. I cannot see what nature of business would 
 call him to go alone to carry on negotiations with 
 the Wangs. Ching has declared time and again that 
 Gordon has a secret understanding with the leaders 
 of the rebels, and even that he has been in communi- 
 cation with the dastardly Burgevine. This does not 
 look right to me, but nevertheless I cannot suspect 
 this man, who returned of his own accord when he 
 heard of Burgevine's perfidy." 
 
 In Li Hung Chang's preserved papers relating to 
 this period, but three further references are made 
 to General Gordon, — one in the following brief 
 account of the murder or execution of the W^angs on 
 the night of their surrender of Suchau ; and another 
 written on December 29, in which he says that he 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 offered General Gordon, "on behalf of the Throne," 
 a gold medal and ten thousand taels in British coin, 
 *'but he appears injured over the death of the 
 Wangs, and haughtily refuses the honour and the 
 gift." 
 
 As Viceroy Li, during his famous tour of the world 
 in 1896, wrote an account of the death of the Wangs, 
 for the avowed purpose of supplying copies of it to 
 the English press, in the event that he should be 
 questioned as to the cause of the disagreement 
 between Gordon and himself, it is interesting to com- 
 pare it — as it appears in another part of these 
 memoirs — with this recital of the affair written on 
 December 8, 1863, the morning following its occur- 
 rence, by the Governor of Kiangsu himself: — 
 
 " Suchau. Governor's Temporary Yamen. — This 
 is a city of blood to-day, as it has been a vile nest of 
 rebellion and starvation for so long a time. But in 
 the midst of it all I am finding a peace of mind and 
 body such as I have not known for years. A great 
 and noble victory for the Throne has been won, and 
 only a few more battles will be necessary to separate 
 the rotten head of this scourge from its long-decom- 
 posing body. High credit will come from the Court 
 for this splendid outcome, and Prince Kung will leap 
 with joy when he receives the news, which is already 
 on the way. Gordon and Ching and all the men 
 deserve high praise; but it is a good time that Gor- 
 don's services be dispensed with. He is more head- 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 69 
 
 strong every hour, and by the way he speaks of the 
 Wangs one would think that they were brothers of 
 his. 
 
 "Last night, to please the Wangs, I invited them 
 to a council of peace and a banquet, and it was inter- 
 esting the way we settled old scores in words. I 
 spent, too, a large sum upon the foods, and the table 
 was well set. There was much merriment and good- 
 nature, and I, too, enjoyed meeting these men — 
 Long-Haired Rebels though they were. But I made 
 a serious mistake in not having a strong guard placed 
 about the east gate, at which my large boat was 
 lying, and before the banquet was ended a great 
 horde of lawless fellows, some of them Imperialists, 
 but a majority of them drunken fellows of the Wangs' 
 army, poured through the gate, killing and assault- 
 ing. I was one of the first to hear the great uproar, 
 and, believing the marauders might be intent upon 
 dispatching me, — for threats had been made in 
 many quarters, — I made my escape from the barge 
 and hurriedly entered the city. Ching also managed 
 to escape from the hands of the rioters, and followed 
 me to the landing and into the town. Immediately 
 I sent orders, by officers we met, to get troops as 
 soon as possible and arrest all the rioters; but the 
 orders were not quickly obeyed, and a scene of 
 wholesale slaughter occurred upon the barge. I 
 must make report of this to Peking; but it is not 
 likely that great sorrow will be felt." 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ^^ Same Day. Late. — Gordon came and accused 
 me of plotting for the murder of the Wangs. I asked 
 him why I should plot, or go around a mountain, 
 when a mere order, written with five strokes of the 
 quill, would have accomplished the same thing. He 
 did not answer. But he insulted me and said he 
 would report my treachery, as he called it, to Shang- 
 hai and England. Let him do so; he cannot bring 
 the crazy Wangs back. I am not sorry they are gone, 
 but I regret the manner of their going." 
 
 ^^ Midnight. — To-morrow twelve hundred of the 
 rebels will be executed. This number will include 
 many of the worst fiends and outragers of the thirty 
 thousand. Some of them, according to my best 
 reports, were engaged in the murder of the Wangs, 
 and they were looking for me." 
 
 (Without date.) — "I have received the highest 
 praises from Peking, and Prince Kung says that I 
 may look for a good promotion before many moons. 
 He sends earnest congratulations to Gordon and 
 Ching. To the former I am to offer a gold medal 
 direct from the sacred Throne, and ten thousand 
 taels in English gold." 
 
 (Without date.) — "General Gordon called upon 
 me in his angriest mood. He repeated his former 
 speeches about the Wangs. I did not attempt to 
 argue with him, or even to explain the circum- 
 
RELATIONS WITH GENERAL GORDON 71 
 
 stances, as I have done this before. He refused the 
 ten thousand taels, which I had ready for him, and, 
 with an oath, said that he did not want the Throne's 
 medal. This is showing the greatest disrespect, and 
 I shall memorialise the Throne to let him seek other 
 service." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 
 
 "Peking, February 24, 1873. — Last night, in all 
 the excitement and turmoil of the new order [the 
 Viceroy refers to the assumption of government by 
 the young Emperor T'ung-Chih, of whom he writes 
 interestingly in another part of these memoirs], 
 Her Majesty the Empress Dowager [Tze Hsi] sent 
 for me, and asked with some emotion if I had made 
 any offerings at the temples or shrines, because of 
 the happy outcome of events. 
 
 "And I said, bowing lower than the officials then 
 present, though in rank I was above any of that 
 number: — 
 
 "'Yes, Most Glorious Empress, at many, but all 
 of them in spirit alone; for, as Your Majesty is 
 aware, I have, ever since my arrival at the Front 
 Gate, been happy to attend to those duties Your 
 Majesty has been gracious enough to honour me 
 with.' 
 
 "To this she replied: — 
 
 "'Yes, Excellency, these things I know, and, 
 knowing, thank you for. But I will now give you a 
 great command, greater than any man has ever 
 received from his Empress.' 
 
 "I waited a long time, bowing low, though not 
 quite prostrate, for I was then privileged in audience 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 73 
 
 without abasement [without lying face downward, 
 prone upon the tapestry of the audience marble]. 
 I wondered if the Illustrious One was to command 
 that of my own personal valour and devotion I was 
 to perform a deed of some darkness. To me, but 
 five nights before the full coming to the Throne of 
 T'ung-Chih, the Empress had intimated a certain 
 wish, the fulfilling of which she might command me. 
 
 "Without asking what that desire might be — 
 for secretly I knew it well — I had answered her 
 that my life was hers most gladly, and that the 
 more trying the sacrifice the greater would be my 
 happiness. At that time she had said: 'You are a 
 loyal subject of your word, Excellency, and you have 
 many of them.' 
 
 "This quip of Her Majesty's pleased me greatly, 
 for in these times she is not over-humorous even 
 with those whom she most highly regards. 
 
 "'Are you of full acquaintance with the Lady 
 Yuen Fi?' Her Majesty asked after long waiting. 
 
 "It was unnecessary for the Empress so to ques- 
 tion me, and without awaiting a reply she continued: 
 
 "'Go between this hour and the same hour not 
 later than two nights hence and make for me a 
 great prayer at the shrine of Yuen Fi. Your Excel- 
 lency has beautiful words and calm thoughts, even 
 in the times of complexity; and I need not direct 
 you what to say. You may leave the Presence now, 
 but before you do, you may look full upon the form 
 of your Empress.' 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "I arose with pleasure in my heart, and it was 
 truly with a great joy that I looked upon the figure 
 of Her Majesty. She had arisen from her seat of 
 Heavenly Grace, and I knew that she was proud of 
 the exquisite attire of yellow silk and yellow gold 
 in which she was arrayed. 
 
 '''May I crave a word, Most Illustrious Queen?* 
 I asked, looking into her smiling face. 
 
 "She gave assent. 
 
 "'My prayer to the Great Lady Yuen Fi will be 
 the holier and more joyful that I have seen Your 
 Majesty arrayed in the garments Her Ladyship 
 invented.* 
 
 "My words, I was sure, highly pleased the 
 Empress, and I withdrew. 
 
 "Therefore, this night at the hour of the silk- 
 worm, I repaired to the temple of Yuen Fi, and 
 offered up my devotions to that great one in our 
 history, whose art and industry wrought so much 
 for the noble women of our land, and caused the 
 mouths of many millions of people to be filled through 
 the labours they performed. 
 
 "I went to the temple with but one secretary of 
 my household and the bearers of my chair, and upon 
 arriving I gave orders at once that the entire place 
 be cleared of worshippers for the space of eighty 
 minutes. Many worshippers had been in attendance 
 at the shrine for several days, for the anniversary 
 time of the taking of the name was at hand." 
 
 [Li Hung Chang here intimates, quite asserts, 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 75 
 
 that the name of China — derived from the ancient 
 Mongol Sin, silk — was selected at a certain known 
 time; but in another place in his writings, "The 
 Domain of the Sin," he confesses that he cannot find 
 authority for any statement of fact in this relation. 
 — The Editor.] 
 
 "The chief keeper of the tem^ple was abashed and 
 surprised upon hearing my order, which was carried 
 by the household secretary to one of the assistants, 
 and he came and sought me personally outside the 
 entrance. 
 
 " ' In truth I could not believe it was Your Excel- 
 lency that had arrived to offer sacrifices to the Great 
 Lady Yuen Fi, and I almost doubted my secretary's 
 words. But if you will have the temple cleared, the 
 while I will give orders to have this done, will Your 
 Excellency be so gracious as to inform his humble 
 servant the reason for this order? ' 
 
 "'No!' I replied. 'The order is sufficient.' 
 
 "With this he went away quickly, after mumbling 
 apologies; but I knew he was not pleased. Instead, 
 I am certain he was much annoyed by my action, 
 for I had heard that in the preceding days he had 
 sought and obtained large numbers of tolls from 
 those who came to lay their gifts and their hearts 
 at the feet of Lady Yuen Fi ; and at this hour, as it 
 transpired, he was entertaining with a feast a large 
 number of his family and friends in a part of the 
 temple. 
 
 "Whatever his feelings in the matter, it was soon 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 apparent that the order was being put into effect, 
 for the worshippers came quickly from the place, 
 and sought their homes or stood without. Then, 
 in a time long enough to try one's patience, but suffi- 
 ^ ciently brief if one had many hours and days to spare 
 in idleness, this official of the temple returned to 
 where I still remained outside the entrance, and 
 informed me that the place was vacant. 
 
 "I went to the door and saw that he spoke the 
 truth. Then I entered, closed the entrance-way 
 behind me, and went to the sacred shrine of Yuen Fi. 
 
 "I remained eighty minutes and ten, alone and 
 undisturbed, with the spirit of that beautiful Queen 
 of Industry, to whom I had been sent to speak by the 
 Empress Dowager. During the eighty minutes I 
 offered thanks and prayer and praise in behalf of 
 the Empress, and the remaining time I spoke for 
 Li Hung Chang; and all I said will ever remain in 
 my memory, for they were not common words that 
 I uttered, but heavenly ones borne away to the 
 heavenly land, where round about the Lady of the 
 Sin so many who loved her art and her industry, 
 and were made beautiful or wealthy by it, are her 
 subjects. 
 
 "I returned once again to the palace from the 
 shrine, but the hour was very late, and I entered only 
 the Outer Gate, returning then to my own abode." 
 
 On the following day this note is found : — 
 
 "I am incensed at the action of the chief keeper 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 77 
 
 of the shrine. Such inquisitiveness in a mere salaried 
 official (one who is known to help himself to gift 
 offerings and tolls as well) is an affront I do not 
 propose to forget. His uncalled-for and impertinent 
 manner did not interfere with my devotions last 
 night, for I represented Her Majesty, and his affront 
 was to me personally, not her. But to-day, when I 
 am preparing a copy of the prayer to send to the 
 Empress, I am hampered in my work by the thoughts 
 of this petty official. Yet the words I uttered are so 
 plain to me that only the mechanical part is made 
 difficult." 
 
 " February 26. Hour of the Sheep. — It is a satis- 
 faction to accomplish things. The keeper Jun came 
 to see me a time ago to beg that his place might not 
 be taken from him. I told him I had nothing to do 
 with his affairs, and did not care to be troubled with 
 small men or matters. He went away with tears in 
 his voice, and will not come back. He should have 
 known better than to come in the first place, for 
 after I had sent in to the Board my word of dis- 
 approval of him, he would have to be a very changed 
 man, and a good one, to cause me to seek his reap- 
 pointment." 
 
 " February 2"]. — To-day I had audience with 
 both His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress 
 Dowager. The young Emperor, now a man in years, 
 and, I hope, in the things he may accomplish, is 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 deeply elated when he contemplates his greater 
 growth. I believe that kings, as other individuals, 
 like to feel that the world, which they ofttimes pre- 
 tend to despise, looks upon them as being past the 
 immature age. 
 
 "The Dowager appeared in the lovely dress of 
 three nights ago, when she gave me the unusual 
 mission. This, she explained, was to show me appre- 
 ciation of the prayer I had uttered on her behalf to 
 the Queen of the Sin, a copy of which, written largely 
 by myself, on silk pages decorated long ago by Fen-lo, 
 was sent her at an early hour for Her Majesty's 
 perusal. 
 
 "'You must not claim it as your own; it is too 
 beautiful even for the Metropolitan Viceroy to 
 indite,' she said happily. 
 
 "His Majesty smiled, but he did not speak. 
 
 "To Her Majesty's words I replied that I could 
 not claim, if I spoke the truth, the prayer to be my 
 own, for it was not. The prayer for eighty minutes 
 was Her Majesty's, I told her; inspired by Her 
 Majesty, coming from Her Majesty's heart and hers 
 alone. 
 
 "'But, your most gracious Majesty,* I said, 'the 
 Viceroy, your most abject servant, followed with a 
 prayer of his own for the space of a brief time ; and 
 if you will allow I shall beg the sublime privilege of 
 sending you a transcription of my own weak and 
 humble effort. Your Majesty had spoken with such 
 eloquence and flowers of language to the Great Lady 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 79 
 
 Yuen Fi that my own effort must needs have been 
 a mere school-boy attempt in comparison.' 
 
 "'You are loyal and generous, Li Hung Chang,' 
 said the Dowager, ' but send me a copy of your own, 
 for I doubt not it is even as exquisite as mine.' 
 
 "Having a copy with me, but written in common 
 characters and upon silvered paper, I presented it 
 with apologies to her. 
 
 "But she only glanced at the paper and returned 
 it to me. 
 
 "'Your Excellency is too modest,' she said. 
 'Engross the words on five thicknesses of imperial 
 silk and send them to me."* 
 
 The following is without date, but evidently was 
 written some weeks later at Li's official yamen at 
 Tientsin. The paper was one among a number en- 
 closed in a steel figured box, all of them relating to 
 persons and events associated closely with the pro- 
 claiming of the Joint Government, at the Emperor's 
 coming to his majority. The document itself is of 
 heavy silvered paper, badly worn from folding, and 
 soiled from handling, and several lines are missing. 
 It is quite evident that this was the identical paper 
 presented to Tze Hsi, and which she returned to 
 him as an indication of her belief in his over-modesty. 
 
 It is interesting to note in this connection that the 
 silver paper manuscript, wholly literary (and reli- 
 gious) in its nature, and in a certain sense chiefly 
 of personal interest to the writer — at least at that 
 
8o MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 time and in the years following — gave evidence of 
 much ''thumbing," while a score of documents of 
 considerable political importance were, in some 
 instances, clean and unsoiled. 
 
 A HUMBLE MAN'S VOICE 
 
 To Thee, O Ancestor of the Silken World, 
 a humble man, with face to earth, 
 which thou didst bless and make glad, 
 asks of thee in all the humility of 
 his soul to hear his prayer of praise 
 and petition. 
 
 To Thee, O Ancestor of a Noble Work, 
 it is not given that thou shouldst 
 hearken unto my words, for in the 
 celestial world of the Seven Springs 
 a million millions of them that drew 
 from thee on earth the breath of their 
 souls and the food of their bodies are 
 now thy meekest servants and subjects; 
 and the voices of their praise must 
 ring so loud and sweet to thine ears 
 that these rough words of mine are 
 but as jarring sounds of discord. 
 
 To Thee, O Gladsome Queen of a Gladsome Art, 
 it cannot be known that one so poor 
 and miserable as I doth even in thy 
 loved land exist, much less that thy most 
 degraded petitioner did in all his days 
 honour and praise thy name, sing thy glories, 
 pray for them that prayed to thee, thought 
 by day and dreamed by night of all the 
 vast goodness thou didst bestow upon 
 this Flowery Land. 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 8i 
 
 But, O Transcendent Lady of the Ancient Sin, 
 I, thy miserable petitioner, did, when 
 a boy, labour among the trees of the 
 mulberry, feed with tender care the 
 creatures thou didst teach to spin, 
 threaded from their shells the divine 
 gleams which thou taughtest to produce, 
 wove with mine own hands the silken 
 strands of thy invention, and made into 
 great widths and breadths the shimmering 
 fabric which is the glory of the world. 
 
 Yet, O Yuen Fi, Goddess of the Golden Weave, 
 all, all the words of this most humble 
 man are true ; as true as ever lowly one 
 did vouch to speak to one exalted high. 
 
 And now, Yuen Fi, Lady of the Blessed Silk, 
 I crave that thou wilt think of me in 
 thy celestial sphere; that to the holy 
 ones forgathered there, thou wilt but 
 speak a kindly word and say that here 
 upon the sordid earth, which thou alone 
 didst beautify, there lives a humble man of 
 poor renown, who, in all the hours of all 
 his days did strive and toil by sweat of face 
 and tire of brain to do thy bidding in the 
 silken fields ; who . . . 
 
 [Lines obliterated] 
 
 My prayer, O Heavenly One, O Goddess Rare, 
 though I would speak to thee the whole 
 night through, in pain I do make brief; 
 for well I know that in that High Beyond 
 this voice of mine can hold no charm. 
 But now again of thee I fain would ask: 
 that in this hour of darkest night a 
 newer blessing thou wilt give to all that 
 work in arts of thine ; bless them that 
 
82 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 harvest in the fields, bless thou the 
 silkworms' rounded home, bless them that 
 toil at factory loom, bless them that mart 
 thy precious weave, bless them that sail 
 the far salt seas and take thy goods to 
 foreign shore ; bless them that on their 
 bodies fair — in Indies and the far beyond, 
 the lands of Europe and the West, in every 
 isle, in every clime, in cold and heat, in 
 shine and rain, in mountain home and valley 
 mild, in palace rich and humble cot, — 
 where'er, O Mighty Sun-Loved Queen, thy 
 name is thought or heard or sung, send 
 down thy blessings like the dew ! 
 
 Editor's Special Note. — In three distinct places 
 in his memoirs, each of them written some years 
 later when Li Hung Chang was holding the highest 
 office in the empire, that of Grand Secretary of State 
 and President of the Council, he makes mention of 
 the giving of orders by himself for the rich engrossing 
 and wide distribution of "Her Glorious and Illus- 
 trious Majesty's exquisite 'Prayer-Song to the 
 Goddess Yuen Fi,' to the end that the people every- 
 where within the realm may not alone learn more of 
 the great deity of the silk, but that the art and indus- 
 try which is so dearly beloved of our country may 
 be encouraged to greater growth and prosperity." 
 
 It appears, from an examination of the Book of 
 Records at the palace, that the Empress Dowager is 
 credited with the uttering of the "Prayer-Song to 
 the Goddess Yuen Fi" and its transcription; and it 
 further appears that inasmuch as Her Majesty was 
 
AT THE SHRINE OF LADY YUEN FI 83 
 
 very jealous of her literary ability — which, en 
 passant, all authorities agree was of no mean order 
 — the imperial claim to the authorship of the 
 "Prayer-Song" was never questioned. 
 
 It is certain that during his lifetime Li Hung 
 Chang never publicly asserted his authorship of the 
 "Prayer-Song," which he took such pains to order 
 printed and distributed, and to which he refers in one 
 of his published orders as "the immortal words of 
 the greatest of living women to the most glorious 
 and sacred woman of the ancestors." 
 
 In the careful examination and translation of the 
 Viceroy's memoirs, including the great mass of pub- 
 lic documents, letters, and other papers, no manu- 
 script of a "prayer" or "song," other than the fore- 
 going, was found, although diligent effort was made 
 with that end in view; and while there can be little 
 if any doubt that he was the writer of the " Prayer- 
 Song to the Goddess Yuen Fi," and a copy of it 
 might very appropriately and rightly be reproduced 
 in these pages, yet the fact that it is common enough 
 throughout China, coupled with the inability of the 
 researchers and translators to discover even a dupli- 
 cate of it among the Viceroy's papers, as well as the 
 further consideration that the "Prayer-Song" ren- 
 dered into English would cover ten or twelve book 
 pages, make its omission at least a not serious defect. 
 
 There is, however, at least to serious literary men 
 in China, as well as in Europe and America, another 
 and far more important consideration, particularly 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 since the "Prayer-Song" is declared by Oriental 
 scholars to be a work of great merit, and as of late 
 years Li Hung Chang has become known as not 
 only a great statesman and diplomat and the richest 
 man of his country, but a writer whose untiring 
 work and high scholarship are bound eventually to 
 give him front rank among the literati of his age. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN THE TIME OF FAMINE 
 
 *^ November 30, 1877. — No man in his heart will 
 ever wish for a recurrence of the famine of this year, 
 even though he be a hater of every person in the 
 land except himself. If I live to be twice my present 
 age, I do not expect to wipe out from my sight the 
 terrible pictures of hunger and despair that I have 
 witnessed in so many parts of the north. The Govern- 
 ment has not as yet all the facts and figures, but from 
 my own estimates I believe that fully 7,000,000 
 people have perished for lack of food. 
 
 "In such times as these a man wishes that he might 
 be the whole Government, or of such tremendous 
 wealth that he might purchase food for the many 
 who hunger. Even a meal of millet or vegetables 
 every two or three days will keep a man alive, and if 
 he can live long enough succour is bound to come. 
 
 " My own purse, during these trying times, I have 
 opened almost as widely as it will bear; but the 
 amount of food purchased thereby is as a handful of 
 grain to a flock of crows. Still, it is a very great 
 satisfaction to know that thousands of hungry 
 stomachs have been at least partially satisfied during 
 these awful months. My men report to me that from 
 one to two thousand are being fed on my corn and 
 vegetables in the city [Tientsin] alone, while I am 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 trying to feed five thousand in the near-by villages. 
 My mother, who has never known want or misery 
 of a like nature in her family, is blessing me every 
 day for this work; and she says the gods as well as 
 the people will not forget that my wealth, such as I 
 have, is not withheld from the poor and needy." 
 
 THE SAD SIGHT OF THE HUNGRY 
 
 !T WOULD please me, gods, if you would spare 
 Mine eyes from all this hungry stare 
 That fills the face and eyes of men 
 Who search for food o'er hill and glen. 
 
 Their eyes are orbs of dullest fire, 
 As if the flame would mount up higher; 
 But in the darkness of their glow 
 We know the fuel 's burning low. 
 
 Such looks, O gods, are not from thee ! 
 No, they 're the stares of misery ! 
 They speak of hunger's frightful hold 
 On lips a-dry and stomachs cold. 
 
 " Bread, bread! " they cry, these weary men. 
 With wives and children from the glen! 
 O, they would toil the live-long day 
 But for a meal, their lives to stay. 
 
 But where is it in all the land? 
 Unless the gods with gen'rous hand 
 Send sweetsome rice and strength'ning corn 
 To these vast crowds to hunger born! 
 
 For months the awful famine beast 
 
 Has roamed the lands both North and East, 
 
 And smiled as he on landscape read 
 
 The gruesome figures of the dead. 
 
IN THE TIME OF FAMINE ^7 
 
 His black claws clutched the stalwart man, 
 The very headmen of each clan, 
 The elder sons and younger ones. 
 Nor e'en the baby's cradle shuns. 
 
 In all the fields along the road, 
 In each and every mean abode, 
 He stops to grin in hellish way 
 At famished forms turned quick to clay. 
 
 The greater are the awful pains, 
 And if the tears do fall as rains, 
 This monster demon smiles the more 
 While passing by each hungry door. 
 
 He crosses now the bone-dry streams, 
 And listens to the frantic screams 
 Of those who on the mountain high 
 Are doomed this awful death to die. 
 
 In valley and on sandy plain 
 The beast appears, again, again! 
 In city and in village street. 
 Where'er you go, the beast you meet! 
 
 A million now have bowed to him. 
 This famine monster, black and grim! 
 O, gods, we ask, remove the brand 
 Of this vile demon's bony hand ! 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 DEVOTION TO AGRICULTURE 
 
 In more than twoscore places of his translated 
 memoirs, the Viceroy mentions agriculture as a dis- 
 tinct science to be cared for for its own sake, and, 
 though ever asserting that he is above all things one 
 of the literati, he devotes more space and words to 
 the apotheosis of agriculture than to the glory of 
 literature. Yet this may be satisfactorily explained 
 by these lines, written in his diary at Tientsin in 
 
 1879: — 
 
 "One of the officers of the Summer Palace of the 
 Royal Blood, who has been reading my high essay 
 on the Divine Husbandman, declares that I must in 
 very heart be more of a tiller of the soil than a liter- 
 ary man ; for he told me (without flattery, I believe) 
 that he never had held so high an opinion of the great 
 Shen Nung as when he had finished reading my 
 words. But he went on to say that if I were more 
 devoted to literature I should never have written 
 such a beautiful eulogy ; and he wanted to know why 
 I had passed over Mencius and Confucius. 
 
 "This caused me to be much amused, and I went 
 on and explained that literature did not need to pay 
 repects to itself; that such a thing would be seem- 
 ingly selfish, for its highest aim was by the uses of 
 its own beautiful weapons of brain and colours and 
 
DEVOTION TO AGRICULTURE 89 
 
 papers to exalt the other arts and sciences of man- 
 kind that were not able thus to speak. 
 
 'lAs we discussed the matter further, I tried to 
 explain that the great philosopher and the great 
 writer reared their own monuments so nobly that 
 any attempts of mine to lift their names would be 
 not only a waste of time, but perhaps would be 
 resented by such persons as would consider me only 
 a minor authority. But with Shen Nung, could I not 
 see his beauties and blessings all about, and yet hear 
 no great voice in praise of him? 
 
 "And so he went away satisfied; but not so with 
 me, for he did not give over into my keeping the 
 manuscript he had read with such great pleasure. 
 It was so nicely painted and scrolled (in as many as 
 eight colours, done by my former writers of the 
 Chi-lin family) that I was to have it hung about the 
 walls, piece by piece. 
 
 "But I have some other copies, and to-night I 
 shall take joy in reading to the household this piece 
 of mental work, of which I have always been so 
 proud." 
 
 It does not appear from the Viceroy's documents 
 just when he composed the Shen Nung Tribute, as 
 he calls it, for several different copies — found at 
 Tientsin as well as at Canton — have different dates 
 attached. One of them, a carefully engrossed copy 
 found at the latter city, bears date of October 12, 
 1869, or about ten years after his mention of it at 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 such length as has just been told. This is a careful 
 version of it: — 
 
 MY SHEN NUNC TRIBUTE 
 
 (Written by me from my Proud Heart) 
 
 When I sit down and reflect, 
 
 And let my mind and my soul tell me of things so true, 
 
 I know that thou, 
 
 Most glorious and sublime Shen Nung, 
 
 Art the great helper of our people; 
 
 The wonderful provider of the world ; 
 
 The hope of them that have not mines. 
 
 Nor great stores, nor forests of hardwood. 
 
 But all our wealth comes from thee: 
 
 All the funds of our banks. 
 
 All the strength of the Government, 
 
 All the force of our national progress, 
 
 All the muscle of our people, 
 
 The beauty of our women, 
 
 The hard sinews of the workers, 
 
 The strong brain of the banker. 
 
 The level head of the statesman. 
 
 The shrewdness of the diplomat. 
 
 The right arm of the Throne. 
 
 (There must always be good blood there.) 
 
 We work in the fields: 
 
 In the rice, 
 
 In the millet. 
 
 In the corn, 
 
 In the poppy. (The poppy is wrong.) 
 
 We work in the vegetables. 
 
 In the grain. 
 
 And all that is good for man. 
 
 But 't is not for their sake alone, 
 
 'T is that by bringing them to fruition we raise 
 
DEVOTION TO AGRICULTURE 91 
 
 A Nation, 
 
 A People, 
 
 The Middle Kingdom! 
 
 And when we do this 
 
 We are pleasing the Ancestors. 
 
 Shen Nung, 
 
 You did not teach us mean arts, 
 
 You did not show us the way to cheat our friends, 
 
 Our brothers, 
 
 Our townsmen, 
 
 Our officials, 
 
 Even our enemies. 
 
 You did not tell us that we should live by sloth, 
 
 Nor smart games. 
 
 Nor subterfuge. 
 
 Therefore, 
 
 This day, when I am called to go to the North, 
 
 When vast affairs of state speak to me. 
 
 When some might think I should be preparing for my 
 
 journey, ^ 
 I am here saying these things 
 To Shen Nung. 
 
 Even when I was a little boy, 
 
 When my father laboured. 
 
 When my mother scolded, 
 
 When there were mean times in the village. 
 
 And I was almost tired of living; 
 
 I thought of thee, Shen Nung — 
 
 And the green grain thou gavest, 
 
 The yellow corn so rich in bread, 
 
 The nodding wheat that gives colour to the blood, 
 
 The vegetables that give strength to the bone. 
 
 You taught us all these things, 
 
 You made them ours, 
 
 You made them beautiful, and gave them to us. 
 
 You bade our land be fertile, the soil in which they grow. 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Because you smiled, the winds blew fair, 
 
 The sweet rains came like drops of glory, 
 
 The sunshine did not hurt, 
 
 The moon told the crops to keep growing, 
 
 The stars blessed each head of grain, 
 
 The dews dropped their blessings 
 
 On the corn and the vegetables. 
 
 And made them glad. 
 
 For the people's sake. 
 
 You taught the golden sun to shine, 
 
 The night to be cool and refreshing, 
 
 The air to be sweet and to soothe, 
 
 The trees to hold back the storm, 
 
 The grain to bow its heads to meet the blast. 
 
 I see in your art, 
 
 Shen Nung, 
 
 The message of ages, 
 
 And ages of sweet thinking. 
 
 I see your blessings conceived, 
 
 Increased, and multiplied. 
 
 I feel the countless hours of thought you have given 
 
 To make something 
 
 So grand and glorious for the world. 
 
 You did not sleep, 
 
 You did not rest, 
 
 You did not tire, 
 
 You did not stop, 
 
 Until all this 
 
 Was ready to be placed upon the head of man 
 
 For his everlasting blessing. 
 
 As though you had spun 
 The finest silk 
 And hung it there — 
 A rainbow! 
 
DEVOTION TO AGRICULTURE 93 
 
 It would appear that at still another time, just 
 previous to a journey to Peking, the Viceroy made a 
 pilgrimage in state to the shrine of the great Patron 
 of Husbandry, for this dissertation is found : — 
 
 "In a few days I shall be going north again on a 
 mission of international import; but to-day I could 
 not forbear paying a part of the honours due to ever 
 great and glorious Shen Nung. 
 
 "Yesterday I summoned all the persons I desired 
 for the ceremony, and to-day we Tilled the Soil at 
 the Temple. It would seem as if the royalties at 
 Peking thought I would start right away upon the 
 receipt of a message, but to me the Divine Husband- 
 man is more than local or transitory things, for he 
 gave us something that means the good of our people ; 
 the good of all the world, I should say, for all time. 
 
 "Last year, at this season, I sent a poetic memorial 
 to the Throne, and at the same time wrote an essay 
 which I hope will live along with the works of 
 Mencius. Both of them were dedicated to the Divine 
 Husbandman, and I look for the time when the last 
 one will be read in all the universities of the world. 
 [This probably refers to the Tribute.] 
 
 "Some people might think that it was in my offi- 
 cial capacity only that I went to-day beyond the 
 East Gate to the temple. Yes, let us agree that it 
 might have been so; for the man in office, especially 
 in high position, is called upon to show good example. 
 
 "It is wrong for any man to commit sin with 
 daughters of other men when he has no licence to 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 do so; but it is a grievous wrong for an official to do 
 these things, because he is watched by thousands, 
 and his actions are approved by those who would do 
 likewise. It is this way: When a low man has no 
 right to do a thing (but does it), he is ever ready and 
 willing to cite the example of some individual who 
 is of high estate. He seems to assume that such a 
 one of great office is a kind of god who may be emu- 
 lated — even when in his own soul he knows that 
 emulation is crime. Great men disagree with each 
 other in such matters, but the common herd only 
 follow like sheep when a man of parts commits 
 folly. 
 
 "Again, we know that the low and common herd 
 are for ever saying among themselves : Are there not 
 greater wrongs found among the high than among 
 the low? Do not the mandarins steal more than the 
 boatmen? Are we not for ever hearing of scandals 
 even at the Swan's Lake [probably refers to the For- 
 bidden City], and fewer in the river gutters? 
 
 "Thus we know the meaner in mind and in pocket 
 speak of those of exalted position. We know, I say, 
 even though we may not hear with our own ears. 
 For when a viceroy, or a commissioner of the Govern- 
 ment, or a mandarin, is met by the kow-tows of the 
 multitude, or when the many may whisper into his 
 ears, if but a word, it is ' Excellency,' 'Your Honour,' 
 or even 'Your Illustrious Majesty!' — fools they 
 are when they use this last to speak to a sub- 
 commissioner of food supply! But they will do it, 
 
DEVOTION TO AGRICULTURE 95 
 
 if but a cash [smallest Chinese coin] is dropped upon 
 the pavements for their dirty hands to grasp. 
 
 "And so I say it is for these and other reasons 
 that it is a sign of the highest sagacity for the man 
 in office — the lesser the office the greater is the 
 virtue — to show himself at public functions of 
 patriotic import, to speak strong words for high 
 principles, and at the same time to appear with the 
 greatest outward humility (and inward, if he be sin- 
 cere) in the presence of noble ancestors or superla- 
 tive deeds. 
 
 "If a coolie decry against the holiness of the 
 Philosophies, he is but cuffed and beaten, or, at most, 
 his wretched head is impaled. Of this there is little 
 or no matter, for even the passer-by doth not enquire 
 the fellow's name. 
 
 "But lo! if the governor of a city, the viceroy of 
 a province, doth dare profane! It is not sure that 
 he will be mistreated in his person, nor yet, always, 
 that he may lose his office — for he may have great 
 power in his region. But his words of profanation 
 are as crash of sudden thunder upon the air; the 
 whole city hears the spoken word, and in every house 
 they ask: What was that? And soon it becomes 
 known that the voice was of a mighty man defying 
 something that before was thought mightier. And 
 many of the ignorant, and even those more intelli- 
 gent, take up the words of the great man, and say 
 one to another: 'Ha! I have thought this way all 
 the time, and now the Governor says the same thing, 
 
,96 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 and I know I am right, for he speaks with great 
 knowledge and high authority.' 
 
 "So, thinking over these things many, many 
 years, I know that as I grow higher in the province 
 or kingdom it is the more necessary that by my out- 
 ward observances I give not only no occasion for 
 scandal-makers or carriers, but that, on the other 
 hand, it is my duty to ever show a respect for the 
 Analects and the Laws, and for every custom that 
 (not called for by the exact privileges of my station) 
 may bring to the minds of the people those things 
 and forms which tend toward a better respect for 
 all the past. 
 
 "Yet, as I have said, I go not to the temple of 
 the Divine Tiller for the sake alone of outward 
 observances. Rather do I think that my inward 
 feelings form much the stronger motive: an ardent 
 personal love, combined with a sense of high official 
 duty." 
 
 The following lines were written evidently some 
 time later, perhaps after a rereading of the last 
 paragraph, if not the entire composition : — 
 
 "How happy indeed should I be if I could speak 
 thus of all my official and private acts!" 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 AFTERTHOUGHTS OF THE JAPANESE WAR 
 
 Although the great Viceroy made many notes in 
 his diary during his sojourn in Japan as Peace Com- 
 missioner, even to dictating considerable matter 
 to his secretaries from his sick-bed, — that is, matter 
 of a nature such as is found in his personal manu- 
 scripts, for from his sick-chamber he actually con- 
 tinued the carrying on of the peace negotiations, — 
 he appears not to have written much for several 
 weeks after his return to China, where, though ac- 
 claimed by the world as one of its most astute and 
 successful diplomatists, he was received almost coldly 
 by the Throne which he had saved from utter hu- 
 miliation at the hands of the conquerors, and found 
 himself hated and despised by millions of his igno- 
 rant countrymen, who charged him with paving the 
 way for the total dismembership of the nation. 
 
 Thus he writes in retrospect at the Vice-Regal 
 Yamen, Tientsin : — 
 
 "In one's old age it is terrible to be beset by 
 troubles, worries, and base falsehoods. I should 
 not mind my physical ills at all, at least but very 
 little, if the lies and dissatisfactions which seem to 
 fill the very air could be gathered into a heap and 
 go up in smoke as do the offering papers. Still, there 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 is to me a great personal satisfaction in what I have 
 accomplished, and within my own heart I feel that 
 not in all my days have I had the right more than 
 now to be proud of my labours for China. 
 .^ "Yesterday, when I returned frorn Peking, I was 
 sore distressed, for, while I was received by the Sacred 
 Car [Their Majesties] with every indication of a 
 sincere personal liking, there can be no question 
 but that at least they did strongly pretend to be 
 aggrieved over the terms of the treaty. Yet, what 
 would they have me do? — a man with his shoulders 
 flat to the ground, even though those shoulders be 
 broad and strong, does not usually dictate to his 
 adversary terms upon which he shall rise. \ 
 
 " It is time for him boldly to talk terms when he 
 is once more upon his feet ! And the wise man — 
 and why not the wise nation? — knows enough to 
 wait until he gets his breath again before talking too 
 loudly. 
 
 "If words and gesticulations could win armed 
 battles, the palace and the Tsung Li Yamen would 
 need neither soldiers nor ships. Yet, perhaps, I 
 should not be too severe on Their Majesties nor the 
 Censors, for words won my victories at Shimonoseki. 
 But when a noisy rascal like An Wei-chun memorial- 
 ises the Throne against me — he who could do 
 nothing of value for Tze Hsi in the field nor as a 
 Peace Commissioner, and who has lived by bribery 
 all his days — I am incensed to the core ; and were 
 my life younger and a world before me instead of 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 99 
 
 behind me I should take him to task severely. 
 Hound that An Wei-chun is! 
 
 " I think that deep within her the Empress under- 
 stands fully my stand in all this miserable Japanese 
 affair, and that in her own records she will place me 
 right in history. Some men would not care what 
 posterity might say or think of them, but after all 
 these years of mine of ceaseless endeavour, both to 
 help the nation and to build up a name for myself, 
 I cannot bear to think that coming generations might 
 regard me in any light other than a patriot who 
 attempted well and did not always fail. 
 
 "From what I am able to learn of my English 
 friends here [Tientsin] nearly all foreigners blame 
 me for the war with Japan. I am not so much inter- 
 ested in what the devils think as in what they say, 
 for, sooner or later, so terribly wide and deep is 
 the devils' influence throughout Asia, that what is 
 thought in London and New York is finally accepted 
 as fact in Hong-Kong, Tokio, and Peking. There is 
 to-day, and has been for nearly a decade, altogether 
 too much correspondence back and forth between 
 our country and Europe. The correspondents write 
 many hundreds of things which are as far from the 
 truth as my life is removed from that of Kang He, 
 or my work in letters from his. And the editors and 
 publishers far away believe all this stuff, — they 
 have no other reliance, because their own foreign 
 offices will not talk, — and so the whole world gets 
 wrong impressions. 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "Some say that because I was foremost in advo- 
 cating an army and navy I should receive the most 
 blame for whatever warlike complications the coun- 
 try gets into. What damnable, hellish, good-for- 
 nothing nonsense! 
 
 "The enemies at Peking, getting their tips of 
 thought from some of my enemies abroad, have 
 asserted that because I urged China to make prepa- 
 rations for war — which is as likely to happen to any 
 country at any time as a Yunnan dam is to give way 
 before its flood of waters — I invited the hostility 
 of the foreigners, especially of Japan. Such reason- 
 ing is worthy only of a slut puppy! If a bank builds 
 iron doors, or a pawn-shop puts bars upon its win- 
 dows, may we say that these are invitations to strong- 
 fists and hard-faces to break in? Do we rail at a 
 man, who, having a house full of jade ornaments 
 and rich pottery, causes strong shutters to be placed 
 over his windows so that he may close them at night? 
 If a man stand at the edge of his rice-field, cudgel 
 in hand, while a caravan is passing, do we claim that 
 his attitude is one of invitation to enter and destroy? 
 — or rather do we not commend him as one who is 
 ready to defend his fields that they be not destroyed? 
 
 "The truth is, and I have stated it boldly in the 
 north and south, and to Marquis Ito, Prince Ching, 
 and even to the Empress and the Court, to say 
 nothing of the miserable, corrupt An Wei-chun him- 
 self, — though I shall never foul my tongue by 
 addressing that hair-brained Censor again, — that 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR loi 
 
 for twenty-two years I have been opposed to a 
 belligerent attitude toward our Island Neighbours; 
 and that last year, on the 3d, 7th, and 9th days of 
 the second moon, personally and with vehemence, 
 I urged the Throne against any precipitate action 
 against the Japanese. Upon the last occasion Her 
 Majesty flew into the worst rage in late times, and 
 desired to know if, in matters of international 
 import, I had begun to regard myself as superior to 
 the Emperor. 
 
 "Of course I did not, and the question was idle, 
 as are most questions asked or statements made in 
 that condition of mind; and, furthermore, I have 
 been too long a soldier, either giving or receiving 
 orders, not to know what commands are. 
 
 "Even one of the first compliments ever paid me 
 by a person of note was when, in Kiangsu, after I 
 had been under him less than two years, Tseng- 
 kofan, with all his knowledge of the academy and 
 the guidance of troops, said that I was not only ever 
 alert to see that orders were obeyed, but promptly 
 and fully to obey in spirit and in letter those which I 
 received. 
 
 "Glorious and departed Tseng-kofan! 
 
 "My head is very painful to-day. I have written 
 too much and worried too much for an old man, 
 ' an old fool ' that damnable Censor calls me — I 
 hope the ancestors hate the culprit — and I must 
 eat and sleep. 
 
 "I am afraid this last tea is not so good. Kee 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 maintains that it is our own best yu-tsin. If it is, 
 I think we had better return to sou-chong. 
 
 "An American is here with a letter of Mr. Fos- 
 ter's." 
 
 ''Hour of the Monkey [3 p.m.]. — I thought the 
 American came with a letter of introduction, and 
 that he might be looking for an interview. I do 
 believe he was a journalist, but he came on a mission 
 that is most pleasing, for he brings a letter from Mr. 
 Foster [formerly American Secretary of State, who 
 assisted Viceroy Li in the Japanese peace negotia- 
 tions], and he says that all the reports he has been 
 able to receive upon the opinions of men whose views 
 are worth obtaining (in both Japan and the United 
 States) believe that we have come out far ahead in 
 the treaty. 
 
 "This is, indeed, news to gladden the gizzard of 
 old Li! I shall see to it that this bountiful harvest 
 of words reaches every part of the country, and par- 
 ticularly the capital. In the south they will learn it 
 afterwards, just as they learn everything." 
 
 Secretary's Foster's letter was carefully printed, 
 probably for select distribution by Li, and several 
 copies were found among the latter's papers. While 
 it is not strictly a part of the Viceroy's memoirs, 
 and not in the broader sense confidential, nor even 
 a state document, it is thought justifiable to intro- 
 duce it in this part of the work. 
 
f AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 103 
 
 American Legation, Tokio, ' 
 June 7, 1895. 
 
 My dear Friend and Viceroy, — Your good 
 letter of some two weeks ago has been following me 
 about, and only on Monday night caught up with 
 me here, where I am awaiting Washington mails and 
 further instructions upon certain matters. 
 
 I was made happy to hear that your head does 
 not trouble you nearly as much as formerly, and it is 
 my earnest hope that you will be wholly mended by 
 the time you receive this letter. You will recall that 
 one of the last things you said to me was that 
 you would not allow worries to kill you, since the 
 Japanese maniac's bullet could not do it; but I fear 
 you have not been quite true to your word, and that 
 your complete recovery might have been an accom- 
 plished fact by this time if you had simply remained 
 indoors, and let nature and the physicians bring you 
 about. 
 
 My dear Viceroy, it is the height of folly for you 
 to let your enemies at the capital bother you with 
 their opinions and outbursts. Had you succeeded 
 in annexing Japan they would have accredited you 
 only with ulterior motives. 
 
 You must remember, and doubtless you do, that 
 never in the history of the world — so far as I am 
 aware — has there been signed a treaty of peace 
 which pleased all parties, or even one party wholly. 
 One side or the other (more often both sides) is cer- 
 tain that the opposite party got the best of the bar- 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 gain; and the mission of peace plenipotentiary is at 
 best a thankless one, particularly when you are repre- 
 senting the vanquished, if not the weaker, nation. 
 
 It might not be quite politic for me to come out 
 publicly and say so, but I have no hesitation in 
 telling you that all the world, including Japan, out- 
 side your own nation, believes you accomplished a 
 truly remarkable victory in the negotiations. My 
 cables from home, some official, but mostly personal, 
 indicate that the Mikado is judged to have lost much 
 that his armies had gained, because of your superior 
 ability; and, between us, we are mutually aware that 
 you did not expect to go home with "a tooth in your 
 mouth or a hair in your head," as you so humorously 
 expressed it. 
 
 Therefore, let all this carking, senseless criticism 
 go by. It can do you no harm, either now or in the 
 future. I hear you have lost or will lose some of your 
 decorations and dignities ; but they will all come back 
 to you, augmented by others. Whether they do or 
 not, you will be always possessed of the conscious- 
 ness of having served well your country and people. 
 — Believe me Your Excellency's friend and well- 
 wisher, 
 
 John W. Foster. 
 
 " Fourth Day of the Sixth Moon [June 30]. — I have 
 seen and heard so many misstatements regarding 
 my actual words and propositions at the Peace 
 Meeting that I am to-day writing the actual pros 
 
, AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 105 
 
 and cons which led up to the final agreement and 
 signing. This same statement I will send as a sup- 
 plementary report to the Throne, with the request, 
 which will be granted, that it be inscribed in the 
 Records of the Dynasty. I shall also forward a copy 
 of it to Count Ito, asking that high-minded man to 
 read it and point out to me where I am in error, if 
 I am. 
 
 " Let it first be known that only the sincere desire 
 to be of some service to Their Majesties and to the 
 people led me to hazard going to Nippon. I had 
 never set foot on a foreign shore, and it was my wish 
 to live and die in China, without the reproach of 
 setting foot on alien soil. 
 
 "At the same time I was opposed to the sending 
 of the former missions. I urged with all my force 
 and strength, first, against the sending of Mr. 
 Detring, and, second, against the going of Chang- 
 yin-hoan, for I could not imagine the Japanese 
 Government, or any other of importance, treating 
 with men of such rank and credentials in a matter of 
 such momentous consequence. 
 
 "When I was informed by the Foreign Office that 
 it was determined by the Palace that Chang-yin- 
 hoan be sent, I made haste to protest ; for I believed 
 a mission headed by him could result in nothing but 
 failure. Then it was that I was asked, not kindly 
 nor with consideration, if I had been on the alert for 
 such a task myself. 
 
 "Why should I be? I had spoken and laboured 
 
io6 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 against war and, now, if I were to appear anxious 
 to bring it to an end, it certainly would be charged 
 that because of personal financial interests, rather 
 than for the general good, I was hoping to stem the 
 Japanese advance ; for it is as well to put it down in 
 writing now : no man or set of men in China could 
 count their individual losses or expenses alongside of 
 mine. Fen-lo has been figuring for weeks, and he is 
 still at it, so as yet there is no telling what Li Hung 
 Chang put into this unfortunate conflict; but in 
 munitions and supplies (my paid-for goods) about 
 2,650,000 taels, and in actual cash — the amount 
 cannot be correctly known for some time yet — 
 probably 2,300,000 taels. All Peking and Tientsin, 
 and the centre and south, were aware of this; and 
 had I rushed forward to urge myself as an ambas- 
 sador plenipotentiary it would have immediately 
 been whispered, then talked aloud, and finally told 
 in the language of lions, that the Viceroy Li, to save 
 his own private fortune, was willing to sacrifice the 
 honour of the nation and the glory of the Throne. 
 
 "Yes, I wanted peace; wanted it quite as much 
 if not more than any Chinese, and I was daily and 
 hourly losing more individually than was any entire 
 prefecture in the empire, but I was not sufiiciently 
 anxious for it to smirch my name and forever lose 
 my reputation. 
 
 " I had treated with Count I to on Korean affairs 
 before, and I learned from agents of mine in Japan 
 that the Government there wanted to treat with me 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 107 
 
 in any matters relating to a cessation of hostilities 
 or a permanent peace. This was known, too, at 
 Canton and Hong-Kong, as well as at Peking. The 
 Council knew it, so did the Foreign Office. Still I 
 was not anxious, at any time, on my own account, 
 to go out and seek peace; and it was only upon, first, 
 the entreaty and, finally, the absolute command of 
 Their Majesties that I did go. 
 
 " I am not sorry that I went, but my heart is sore 
 distressed to think that my going was necessary. 
 \v"It was the Empress herself, for His Majesty, 
 who commanded me to go. For the first time in all 
 my acquaintanceship with Her Glorious and Illus- 
 trious Majesty, I had occasion to feel a sense of pity. 
 I had always revered, or, at least, happily and loy- 
 ally obeyed her; but now it seemed as if the aged 
 Viceroy was her only hope. And I left for Japan 
 with these cruel words ringing in my ears : — 
 ^^'^' You made the war; now see if you can unmake 
 it without humiliating your country before the dogs 
 of Nippon.' 
 
 "It was Prince Ching who uttered these words. 
 
 "They rang in my tired ears all the way to Ja- 
 pan; they made themselves heard when I met the 
 Mikado's envoys; and they burned into my brain 
 deeper than did the would-be assassin's dirty bullet! 
 
 " I wonder if I had died in that foreign land, died 
 in the service of my country, would my enemies 
 have laughed, railed, or shed tears? 
 
 "When I arrived in Japan, and the usual formal 
 
io8 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 courtesies were over with, Count I to personally 
 called upon me at my place of temporary abode, and 
 we chatted as old-time friends rather than peace 
 ambassadors of two neighbouring nations that were 
 thirsting for each other's blood. There can be no 
 question but that the people in north and central 
 China and the entire people of the Japanese Empire 
 were feverish for a continuation of the war. What 
 poor fools the populace at times make of themselves, 
 more especially when they do not have even a fair 
 inkling of what is at stake ! 
 
 "One of the first things I to said to me was: 'Why 
 did you send the Kow-hsing to Korea? ' 
 
 "'I?' I asked. 'I am not the Chinese Govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 "Thus it was that at the very outset of the 
 negotiations, the very day of our landing, in fact, 
 I was made to face the assertion that personally I 
 was responsible for the war; in other words, that but 
 for me the Imperial Government would never have 
 taken aggressive action. 
 
 "I made this reply to the chief plenipotentiary 
 of the Mikado: 'Count I to, you and I have together 
 gone over this Korean question before, and we were 
 able to understand each other perfectly, because we 
 spoke frankly, and I hope these present negotiations 
 will be conducted in a similar manner. Therefore, 
 at the outset, let me take what blame is truly mine. 
 I did advise the sending of troops to Korea, in fact 
 many of the troops that came were mine. But I had 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 109 
 
 the unqualified assurance from Peking that a mes- 
 senger would leave for Tokio far in advance of any 
 troopship, and that the Government of the Mikado 
 would be amply warned of Chinese intentions. In 
 this, if I was fooled, my province and troops were 
 fooled, and the nation was brought face to face with 
 this rupture.' 
 
 " * I believe every word Your Excellency is saying,' 
 said the Count. 
 
 "'The Viceroy is unquestionably speaking the 
 truth, and the truth only,' said Mr. Foster, who was 
 with me when Count I to called. 
 
 "There was a silence of many moments following 
 these words of the American diplomat, and during 
 that time I noticed that there were friendly and 
 knowing nods between the latter and the Japanese 
 ambassador. 
 
 ' "'As to the Kow-hsing, Count I to,' I said — 'if 
 this is simply an informal talk between us, and not 
 to be carried into our negotiations — I think your 
 treatment of our ship was abominable and barba- 
 rous.' 
 
 " Ito made no comment, though his face twitched. 
 I believe he fought hard in order to keep back that 
 word 'Yes,' which was struggling within him. 
 
 "Shortly after this he took his leave, and we did 
 not meet again until the opening of the formal con- 
 ference next morning. Mr. Foster remained with 
 me a large part of the day and well into the night; 
 and here is a fitting place to say that I feel that 
 
no MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 China should ever remember him as a great national 
 friend, just as I shall ever cherish him as a true and 
 helpful personal one. Indeed, I do not hesitate to 
 say that but for Mr. Foster the case might have 
 gone more heavily against us, though he was by no 
 means one-sided in his views — on several points in 
 the dispute actually taking the view of the Japanese. 
 
 "My very first proposition to the conference was 
 that an immediate armistice be declared. I urged 
 that inasmuch as we, the fully accredited representa- 
 tives of our respective nations, were there assembled 
 for the avowed purpose of arranging a peace protocol, 
 it was extremely strange if the very Governments 
 which had sent us upon our missions should at the 
 same moment and hour be issuing orders to generals 
 in the field and admirals on the sea. 
 
 "I spoke for some time upon this phase, one of 
 the longest addresses of the kind I ever made; and 
 when I had finished there was silence for many 
 minutes. This was followed by the retiring of Count 
 Ito and his colleagues to a part of the room by them- 
 selves; after which they took their places, and 
 Count Ito said : — 
 
 "'Your Excellency's proposal is agreeable to us as 
 representatives of Mutsuhito, His Imperial Japan- 
 ese Majesty; but we are compelled to demand that 
 during at least the period of the armistice the Chinese 
 Government shall turn over for safe keeping the 
 fortress and munitions, permanent, at Taku and 
 Shanghaikwan, the railway and rolling stock of the 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR in 
 
 Tientsin line, free of every interference, and the fort 
 and munitions, permanent, at the city of Tientsin.' 
 
 "I was dumbfounded at this proposal, and had I 
 not kept fully in view the great seriousness of our 
 conference, and the nature of the men composing 
 the Japanese delegation, I should have thought Count 
 Ito guilty of perpetrating a great bit of humour. 
 Frankly, I was astounded to think that such a con- 
 dition — precedent to an armistice — should be 
 made, and it appeared as if I were unable to find 
 words with which to express my surprise. Indeed, 
 all I could do upon the moment was to ask Count 
 Ito to have the graciousness to repeat what he had 
 said. To think that he seriously intended that we 
 should turn over the Gate to the Capital itself, to- 
 gether with our munitions of war, was truly baffling. 
 
 ''Count Ito repeated, word for word, as before. 
 
 "As he proceeded each syllable seemed to rouse 
 a new anger within me, and it was with considerable 
 difficulty that I restrained myself when he had 
 finished. 
 
 "I looked over at Mr. Foster, who was only as a 
 spectator up to this time, and I saw that his face was 
 ashen. 
 
 " ' Are those your best and only terms? ' I asked as 
 calmly as I could of the Mikado's chief ambassador. 
 
 "'They are the only terms for an armistice,' he 
 replied. 
 
 "'Then let the war go on while we talk peace,' 
 I answered. 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "And the first session of the conference came 
 abruptly to a close." 
 
 "When I was again in my abode and alone, I went 
 over the situation phase by phase and step by step, 
 and reluctantly I came to the conclusion that the 
 Japanese Government meant to impose about the 
 hardest conditions possible to any terms of peace. 
 The Japanese were as fully aware as myself of the 
 conditions in China, for, for years, to my certain and 
 personal knowledge, they had had spies, emissaries, 
 and agents from one end of the country to the other. 
 Peking, Tientsin, and Nanking were fairly alive 
 with Japanese civil and military officers, some of 
 them employed at the hotels, some on estates, many 
 of them in the foreign concessions, and a few, as I 
 learned, even drawing salaries or stipends from my- 
 self. Of course, when I learned of these latter they 
 were forthwith put out of harm's way. 
 
 " But China was wholly unprepared for a conflict 
 with Japan, and it is with no sense of personal 
 boasting that I say that no one knew this terrible 
 fact better than myself. Yet I had been in favour 
 always of maintaining our position in Korea, for 
 that country had been for centuries the vassal of 
 China; and had she not been a lone long peninsula 
 running down in isolation from Manchuria, the 
 Japanese would never have deemed themselves as 
 possessed of any more rights there than in Shantung, 
 or my native Anhuei. But for the sake of peace with 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 113 
 
 her neighbour China had agreed, in the Convention 
 of 1884, at Tientsin, when Count Ito also repre- 
 sented his country, that both our nations should 
 withdraw their troops from the country, and allow 
 the King of Korea to look after all internal disturb- 
 ances of that realm. And it was further agreed, to 
 this solemn effect: 'That in case of any grave dis- 
 turbance occurring within the kingdom of Korea, of 
 great moment or concern to China or Japan, such 
 as might of necessity call for troops from the out- 
 side for the suppression thereof, it is hereby under- 
 stood and agreed that they shall give, each to the 
 other, previous notice in writing of their intention 
 to send a force; and that after the matter which 
 made the call for such troops necessary is settled, 
 such troops shall forthwith be withdrawn, and 
 other troops shall not be further stationed at any 
 place or point within the recognised kingdom of 
 Korea.' 
 
 "It was claimed by Japan that the Chinese 
 Government broke this solemn clause. If it did so 
 I myself was misled, for, as I informed Count Ito, 
 and as I have already written, I was given plainly 
 to understand at Peking that proper notification had 
 been sent to Tokio a reasonable time in advance of 
 the sending of help in response to the call of the 
 Seoul authorities. The King believed himself unable 
 to cope with the wild Tong Hak, and he very rightly 
 asked the Throne for assistance, just as his country 
 had been doing for centuries. 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "I have made this declaration once before in the 
 presence of the high contracting parties of the two 
 empires, and with Mr. Foster a witness; but I wish 
 here to record it as my eternal judgment. 
 
 "Had not the Japanese Government been deter- 
 mined to possess Korea at any cost, some time or 
 another, it would not have hastened to despatch an 
 army corps to that country immediately — immedi- 
 ately, I repeat — upon receiving the bare informa- 
 tion that Chinese troops had gone to Seoul in response 
 to the appeal of the King of Korea. China did not 
 force her troops upon Korea, nor did she seek for an 
 opportunity nor an excuse to do so. On the contrary, 
 the Throne and Government were quite willing, 
 even anxious, that Korea attend to her own affairs. 
 That country had long been a considerable burden 
 upon China, and while there was, and is, and always 
 will be, the kindliest and most sympathetic bonds 
 between the Hermit Kingdom, so called, and the 
 Chinese Empire, the latter country had nothing to 
 gain even by substantially and politically incorpo- 
 rating Korea as a province to be governed from a 
 vice-regal yamen in Seoul or more directly from the 
 Northern Capital. 
 
 "Had Japan not been anxious to force a war upon 
 China, the Government of that country would never 
 have countenanced, before nor afterward, the sink- 
 ing of the Kow-hsing, and the consequent murder 
 of hundreds of brave men who not only were in a 
 defenceless position themselves, but were going in 
 
' AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 115 
 
 obedience to orders to assist in the pacification of 
 Korea — not in any attack upon Japan. 
 
 "I charge that the Government of the Mikado 
 dehberately sought a conflict with China for the sole 
 purpose of annexing the so-called kingdom of Korea. 
 I charge that the methods pursued by the Japanese 
 were underhanded and uncivilised. I charge that 
 the destruction of the Kow-hsing was deliberate and 
 wholesale murder, perpetrated in the name of a 
 Government that pretends not only to be a leader in 
 Oriental thought and learning, but to have absorbed 
 the best of Occidental ideas and principles. ) 
 
 "These are my own personal feelings and state- 
 ments, but they are susceptible of corroboration by 
 general facts of this war, and by records to be found 
 in Tokio and Peking. Perhaps some will say — 
 people say everything and anything when my life 
 and motives are under consideration — that it is 
 my duty to gather these proofs and submit them for 
 the judgment of the world. Some will say that I owe 
 this duty to China, if not to myself. Some will 
 denounce me if I do not follow such a course. I 
 should be denounced and vilified in any event. 
 
 "But I have great and potent reasons for main- 
 taining silence at this time, and I am sure that every 
 statesman in the world will agree with me. 
 
 "I have lately returned from a peace conference. 
 The awards and the settlements have been made. 
 The war is at an end, and peaceful pursuits are again 
 occupying the attention of the people. My name has 
 
ii6 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 been signed to a great document agreeing that our 
 troubles are things of the past, and that each nation 
 now looks to the other for friendship and right deal- 
 ing. My country feels her humiliation, and person- 
 ally I am in disgrace. 
 
 "Looking upon these things and giving them care- 
 ful thought, who is there, Government or people, 
 at home or in foreign lands, that would forgive me if 
 I were to open up all the old cuts again and precipi- 
 tate a renewal of the strife? Such I am sure would be 
 the result if I were to speak out to all China and to 
 all the world as I have spoken man to man, to Count 
 I to at Shimonoseki. And I am not writing these 
 words with any thought that they will be given 
 publicity within a period during which any of the 
 hot animosities engendered by this deplorable and 
 uncalled-for conflict may remain. I hope for peace 
 for China, peace for Japan." 
 
 One week later at Peking the Viceroy wrote : — 
 "I have pored over a mass of translated corre- 
 spondence from St. Petersburg to-day, part of which 
 is from my friend Count Cassini, and my old frame 
 seems to be given thereby a new elixir of life ! I can 
 return south with better feelings, if less honours. 
 
 "Now once more the Throne feels more friendly, 
 but there is an apparent coldness in the treatment 
 accorded me by the Empress. Yet she was gracious 
 enough to acknowledge that the satisfactory assur- 
 ances are the result of my representations to the 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 117 
 
 Russian Court, last year, when these troublous times 
 were approaching. 
 
 "The Empress is a strange woman, contradictory, 
 and headstrong as the devil at times ; but if she feels 
 she has done a great wrong, she is ever ready to 
 right it if her personal dignity is not too plainly at 
 stake. 
 
 "Yesterday her mood was that of desiring me to 
 say things in my own behalf. She had learned within 
 an hour of their arrival the good tidings from St. 
 Petersburg, the gist of them ; and I was admitted to 
 her presence shortly after. 
 
 "Briefly we discussed the Russian letters, and 
 Their Majesties are heartily grateful that Japan 
 will not be permitted, either now or in the future, to 
 seize upon any part of Manchuria or the mainland. 
 
 "Why did I not have these assurances before I 
 went to Japan? 
 
 "Had I known the way the Czar's Government 
 feels in the matter of Japanese aggressions in Korea 
 and in Manchuria, after my armistice proposal had 
 been answered in the manner it was, I could have 
 said — and would have said — to I to : 'Go ahead 
 with the war ! ' 
 
 "Still, there is often a very serious doubt in my 
 mind as to the real object of these Europeans, and 
 I have found that some of their most able and hon- 
 ourable diplomats will lie with as much ease as a 
 Nanking bird-hawker. , They will be as extravagant 
 in their promises as a man who wishes to borrow 
 
Ii8 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 money but who also has no security to give — 
 especially England ; they swear they intend to do 
 one thing, and it is certain that beforehand they had 
 it all figured out how they would do another. 
 
 "Russia is to-day our greatest friend and our 
 most-to-be-feared enemy. She is our friend because 
 Great Britain and France pose as friends also. She 
 wishes to be a better friend than they. She is our 
 greatest enemy, because what the Russians call the 
 trend of her destiny makes her so. She dominates all 
 northern Asia, and hopes some day to have prepon- 
 derating influence in China. 
 
 "She will help us to^eep Japan out, because she 
 herself wants to get in." 
 
 "July 28. — I cannot think that all people are 
 bad, even the worst of the Christians, for to-day 
 I had an experience — just an hour ago — that 
 makes me think that outside of office and business, 
 outside of riches and honours, there are small hap- 
 penings which touch a man's heart, and make him 
 feel that humanity is not all iron and gain and false- 
 hood. 
 
 "For to-day this yamen, which for twenty-four 
 years had been mine, was the destination of a great 
 mission, such as never came within the compound 
 before. I nearly wept to receive them. 
 
 "Two native Christians all the way from that 
 miserable town in Japan to bring me here medicines 
 for my head, and to see if I was getting better! I 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 119 
 
 wonder if this is because Christianity teaches such 
 things? It must be, for the Japanese are a race that 
 assume to be strong in matters o1> physical pain, and 
 they are a people that hate the outsider — the Chi- 
 nese most of all. Therefore, it must be some new ideas 
 that this man and boy got into their heads to make 
 them do such a thing. 
 
 "With my own eyes I saw them coming up the 
 steps of the yamen, and at first I told Len to send 
 them away — as if I were proprietor of the place; 
 but I soon saw that they were Japanese, and I won- 
 dered what they might want of me, or if it was I 
 they desired to see. Len let them in, but for a long 
 time we could not learn just what was desired; for 
 the man spoke his own tongue, or a dialect of it, and 
 I could gather but a few words. 
 
 "Ling-ho, one of my interpreters, being sent for, 
 I was amazed to learn that the strange man was one 
 of a number of native converts who had called to 
 see me in my sick-room when I was recovering from 
 the effects of the madman's bullet in my skull ; and as 
 I looked at him I saw that he was telling the truth, 
 for I recognised him. His name, he said, was Sato, 
 and the boy that accompanied him was his thirteen- 
 year-old son. 
 
 "Sato said that all the native Christians in the 
 little mission at Ketuki, near Moji — the mission 
 that had at first sent the delegation to my sick-room 
 with flowers — had talked about me every day since 
 I was there, and had prayed to the Christian God 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 for my recovery. He said that they, his mission 
 friends, did not beheve in war or killing, and that 
 they had understood that I had come to put a stop 
 to the war. 
 
 "'Were we not right, Your Excellency?* he asked. 
 
 '"Yes, Mr. Sato,' I said, 'you were right. I went 
 to try and stop the war. There has n't been any 
 since, has there?" 
 
 "He answered no, and said that I was a great and 
 good man. 
 
 "Then he explained that all his friends were very 
 anxious to know how I was getting along. Some- 
 times, he said, they would hear that I was entirely 
 well, and again it would be reported that I was 
 dead; so they could n't stand the uncertainty any 
 longer, and collected money between them and sent 
 Sato with a message of good will and some herb 
 medicines. 
 
 xl took the medicines and had my two visitors 
 served with the nicest kind of boiled chicken, some 
 chicken tongue on crackers, rice, cakes, and tea. 
 I wanted them to stay with me for a few days, telling 
 them that I would treat them well ; but Mr. Sato said 
 he was already almost sick unto death to get back 
 home, and that he had once or twice nearly turned 
 back, especially as his son was so lonely. Besides, 
 he said, he had been driven almost to distraction, 
 not knowing whether he should find me here, at 
 Peking, or in the south. 
 . "When they were ready to go I gave them a big 
 
AFTERTHOUGHTS OF JAPANESE WAR 121 
 
 bundle of presents of all kinds for their friends back 
 at Ketuki, two hundred taels for the mission, and as 
 much more to reimburse them for the outlay of the 
 journey. This last he did not want to accept, saying 
 that as he had funds sufficient to take him home he 
 was fearful that the friends who had sent him might 
 not like it. But I prevailed upon him to take the 
 money. 
 
 'II think this Christianity makes poor and lowly 
 people bold and unafraid, for before Mr. Sato and 
 his boy left he wanted to know if they might pray 
 for me. I said they could, expecting that he meant 
 when they got back home again; but he said some- 
 thing to the little son, and they knelt right there at 
 the door and said a prayer. I could not keep my 
 heart from thumping in my bosom as I watched that 
 poor man and his frightened little boy praying to 
 God — the God that will deal with me and with 
 them and all mankind — that I might be well of my 
 injuries. 
 
 " I was sorry to see them go. 
 
 l^In this old yamen, which for twenty odd years 
 was mine, strange scenes have been enacted, great 
 councils held, and midnight conferences affecting 
 the whole world have taken place. I have received 
 royalties and dukes, ambassadors, ministers, mur- 
 derers, robbers, and beggars. Men have been sen- 
 tenced to death from here, others have been made 
 glad with leases of lands, railroad contracts, or the 
 gift of public office. But during each and every oc- 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 currence, whatever its nature, I have been complete 
 master of my house and myself — until an hour ago. 
 Then it was that for the first time did I believe the 
 favour was being conferred upon me." 
 
 Li was not "master" of the yamen at this writing, 
 simply making it his headquarters during his stay 
 in Tientsin. 
 
 " Poor, good Mr. Sato, all the way from Japan to 
 offer a Christian prayer for the 'heathen' old Vice- 
 roy! I did not know that any one outside my own 
 family cared enough about me for such a thing. 
 
 "I do not love the Japanese, but perhaps Chris- 
 tianity would help them!" 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 .»-A 
 
 A COUP D ETAT ON THE HORIZON 
 
 The first intimation in Li's memoirs that he antici- 
 pates serious trouble for the country through the 
 machinations of what he terms the ''reformers" and 
 "reactionaries" occurs in the following lines, which, 
 though accompanied by indication neither of place 
 nor date, were probably written at Nanking in early 
 May of 1898, because treating in the first part of 
 the death of Prince Kung, which occurred on May 
 3 of that year : — 
 
 "Not in many months have I heard news that is 
 so disheartening as that which came yesterday and 
 is confirmed to-day. All night long I had repeated 
 petitions to our ancestors that it might not be true; 
 but Heaven sent for Prince Kung, my old and tried 
 friend, who has been a fighter in the political and 
 other arenas for nearly forty years, and who in 
 influence during all that time has been as a water 
 level for rash and hasty ones in the Government. 
 
 "The Prince has been a true patriot, and the 
 country will miss him. If he had died ten years ago, 
 or even just following the Japanese troubles, the 
 blow to order and moderation would not have been 
 so severe ; but his going now, to be a guest on High, 
 when China needs all the balance she can secure, 
 when a ferment like the very yeast of hell is working 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 in every part of the body politic, and when a lot 
 of crazy-brained zealots and bigots have the ear of 
 the Throne, if not the arm, his strong mind and fear- 
 less voice is needed at Peking. 
 
 " It would seem that a great many people do not 
 imagine they are doing things at all unless they are 
 going to extremes. From the cold of the Calgan 
 snows they rush to the heats of India or the other 
 way about. It is either murder with them or a 
 sickening honey kindness. They want to yell at the 
 top of their voices from a temple pagoda, or go down 
 to a deep well and whisper at the bottom. Some 
 brains are so constituted, or mixed, that if a thing 
 does not appear white to their mental vision it is 
 black, if it is n't yellow it is green, if not red it is 
 blue. They take no bath at all, or they scrub their 
 bodies until no skin is left. They will eat like hogs 
 and just so often, or they go fasting, and scorn a 
 chicken's tongue or a thin cracker. 
 
 "It is just so with too many of our public men. 
 They are like acrobats that jump from one side of 
 the stage to another, just to let people see that it can 
 be done. 
 
 "Oh, but Prince Kung was not one of these, and 
 it grieves me more than I like to confess that he has 
 been removed by the gods from the place in life he 
 so well filled, and wherein at present he is so direly 
 needed. If I could bring him back I would turn over, 
 for the nation's sake, more than one half of what I 
 own; even though Kung himself never helped me 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 125 
 
 to accumulate a dollar, but rather put himself in my 
 way two or three times. 
 
 ''But, after all, what is wealth? My noble and 
 severe parent had it in goodly quantity, but it can- 
 not be said that it made him happy. He was far 
 from being a happy man. I suppose that when he 
 was the husband of one wife he thought he would be 
 happy with two; but when the second was there, it 
 appeared his idea of happiness called for another. I 
 am glad that it did — but this has nothing to do 
 with the argument — for that third and lesser wife 
 was my own good and mild mother, who scolded 
 only when it was absolutely necessary, and who 
 raised a son to my father who has been able by his 
 own exertions to lift himself above all the other 
 children, and at the same time 'put rice in their 
 pockets and hams over their shoulders' [i.e., to assist 
 to wealth and office]. 
 
 '-'And so it is with many people. I remember 
 when I was a youth at Lou-Chow that riches and 
 promotions seemed as very gifts of the Celestial 
 Regions. But I have found that neither great wealth 
 nor distinguished decorations, nor both put together, 
 will guarantee a man against unrest of mind or 
 turmoil of soul. How great and honourable is the 
 Peacock's Feather of the Throne, yet how much 
 easier rests the head on goose feathers! 
 
 '^Therefore would I give about all I possess In 
 worldly goods if Prince Kung could be spared to 
 China another year or two. I am getting old, almost 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 beyond the years of strength, and I fear that unless 
 supported strongly I cannot withstand a long battle 
 against the hurly-burly, hit-or-miss crowd, able to 
 see little beyond its own compounds. 
 
 "Prince Kung and myself, in the French crisis of 
 1 88 1, stood together, shoulder to shoulder, voice to 
 voice ; and from that day to the present — this is 
 sad to think that he is silenced — we have laboured 
 for the safety of our country, and have saved her 
 from being sliced like a watermelon. 
 
 "Reformers! reformers! — idiots and liars, and 
 enemies of their country, I call them! 
 
 "Under the guise of reform, they, led by one who 
 is close to the Emperor, would turn things topsy- 
 turvy in a month, and build a nation over again. 
 K'ang Yuwei is a good man in himself, and deserves 
 his doctorate of letters — I admire his writings and 
 his speech very much — but he does not seem to 
 realise that in advocating wholesale reforms, even 
 though he do so with the best of motives, he is 
 simply affording a different class of ' reformers ' — 
 crazy, hunchbacked barbarians — opportunity to 
 carry on this propaganda against the foreigners. 
 K'ang Yuwei, because of his learning, his brilliancy, 
 and his earnestness, has the Emperor under his 
 thumb, and he is holding him there until the other 
 'reformers* (who laugh over their moon shoulders 
 at both) have the fanatics aroused to do injury to 
 the foreigners, and thereby bring upon our heads 
 the maledictions of the Powers." . 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 127 
 
 ''May 30, 1898. — I am too ill to go to Peking, 
 though I feel that what weight I may exert to offset 
 K'ang Yuwei's influence at Court is sorely needed. 
 It was regrettable that I could not attend the funeral 
 of dear Prince Kung." 
 
 "June 6. — My health is somewhat better, but 
 I fear the country is becoming ill." 
 
 ''June 7. — ^^ To-day, even in the sadness of my 
 soul, I have attended to much correspondence. I 
 took occasion to write K'ang Yuwei, warning him 
 that he was leading the Emperor too rapidly through 
 forests neither of them had traversed before. My 
 letter will anger them, and I shall receive, if any- 
 thing, a most spirited retort from the Emperor's 
 tutor. Nevertheless, I would write just such a letter 
 every day, and knock, if vainly, for admittance to 
 the audience room, if I thought the mad trend of 
 affairs could be stayed." 
 
 "June 8. — : The Emperor, led on by a few first 
 notions of reform, would turn water into rice, wine 
 and sand into fine meal. K'ang, with the best of 
 intentions, appears to have lost his balance, and of 
 course the Emperor is unbalanced with him. They 
 probably do not realise that their own childlike 
 upsetting of things simply gives a cover under which 
 the anti-foreign agitators may continue their suicidal 
 propaganda. Only to-day I received by a courier, 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 without knowing who sent it, or why it should have 
 been sent to me above all others, a vermilion placard 
 which reads: 'The Throne is instituting wholesale 
 reforms. Let all patriots band together that the 
 foreign devils may be driven out of the country, 
 so that the people of the kingdom may enjoy the 
 gracious and beneficial reforms the Emperor may 
 provide.' 
 
 "I hear that Mong of the Board of Rites has 
 rashly attempted to memorialise the Throne against 
 some of the Board and one or two of the Censors. 
 Poor fool, he is taking the Emperor at his word, 
 and thinks that he is already in the latter' s confi- 
 dence." 
 
 ^^ June 17. — I am leaving for Peking to-night, 
 determined to see Tze Hsi herself, and present the 
 situation to her in the plainest manner, just as I 
 see it." 
 
 " Tientsin [without date]. — It was told me since 
 my arrival here — people do not care what they say 
 to a man when he is ill — that ' all the patriots ' 
 are regarding me as a reactionary, while I formerly 
 posed as a reformer. 
 
 "If these very forward and intelligent persons 
 would define the words as I do they would find that 
 they have been changed about. I think that it is 
 possible for me to say with truth and pride that for 
 twenty-five years I have been the champion of true 
 reform throughout the empire; but I do not believe 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 129 
 
 in tearing down one's house in order to build a new 
 one which is to have a gable which the other lacked. 
 I think if a man wants a gable or another window or 
 a door to his yamen, he should go right ahead and 
 make the alterations; but a man is insane who will 
 tear down his entire length of wall in order to change 
 the place of entrance to his yard. Why not kill all 
 of your flock of turkeys because one of them has a 
 limpy foot? 
 
 ^' K'ang proposes to cure all the ills of the nation 
 by one great dose of reform medicine. He would 
 have the Emperor building his own fires, and the 
 ladies of the household washing their own linen. He 
 thinks the Board of Mines and Railways will in a 
 week or a month solve problems, and do away with 
 prejudices that have occupied the attention of this 
 country for two thousand years. He believes that 
 every man with a grievance should have the right to 
 memorialise the Throne, and tell his difficulties into 
 ears that are already burdened with such things. 
 
 "K'ang Yuwei, you are an excellent educator, 
 your writings are elegant, and better speech than 
 yours is not heard in all the Middle Kingdom, nor 
 beyond; but you are making an ass of the young 
 Emperor, and it is only a question of time when Tze 
 Hsi will make a bigger ass of you ! . . . I am sorry 
 that this is so, for your sake ; but I am more sorrowful 
 still for the sake of the country, and within the next 
 few hours I am going to speak these words to your 
 face: — 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "'You are a reformer; yes, a reformer who will 
 make a back handspring into a worse mess than you 
 are trying now to get out of. I would not say these 
 words to the Emperor — he *s too inexperienced to 
 know that they are true, and too light-headed to 
 believe them if he knew. Nor will I speak against 
 you to the Dowager Empress. But if I were the ruler 
 of China to-day I would send you back to teach a 
 lot of undergraduates their letters, or I would part 
 your head from your shoulders! 
 
 '"Remember, Honourable K'ang, chief tutor to 
 His Majesty, I give you credit for a patriotic heart 
 at the same time that I tell you your brain is a 
 muddy mill-pond called reform, in which older and 
 stronger men cannot see a decent fish. You love 
 your country, but you would make a fool of her; just 
 as the lovesick rustic, rattle-brained over his new 
 toy, would make her forever ashamed by embracing 
 her in the market-place.' 
 
 "Being called to the palace now for consultation, 
 I shall make an effort, according to my duty as I 
 see it, to put a damper upon some of these alleged 
 'reforms.' 
 
 "A reform that means going backward is laugh- 
 able when it is not tragic. 
 
 "A reform that tears everything down before 
 attempting to build up is a hurricane. 
 
 "A reform that assumes that the whole world 
 went bad in a week, and that it can be made good 
 in a day, is a senseless thing. ^ 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 131 
 
 "I hate a professional reformer as I hate a nag- 
 ging woman ; each has the idea that the other party 
 was not endowed with even a place for brains, to say- 
 nothing of possessing any mentality. 
 
 "But in my very soul I feel that the wild new- 
 doings of the Emperor have given tremendous 
 encouragement to the anti-foreign sentiment; and 
 that once again, but without the strong power for 
 suppression which was mine in the days of 1870 and 
 onward, when I put an end to the killings and wrong- 
 doings in Pe-chili, I am called upon to do my utmost 
 in the cause of internal order, that the excesses of the 
 country may not bring the outside Governments 
 within our gates again." 
 
 *'At the house of the late Prince Kung. July 9. 
 Hour of the Dog. — Since my last arrival at the 
 capital, I have scarcely put in an hour alone. In 
 truth no period of my life, of equal length of time, 
 has been so filled with work that should have accom- 
 plished much but which, I fear, really amounts to 
 so little. It is too bad I am not an ignorant man 
 owning a single dromedary. Then I would crawl 
 close to my beast on the roadside, or in his stable, 
 and sleep in peace until morning; but youthful 
 ambitions and forty years of unceasing labours have 
 brought me an old age of turmoil and upheaval, and 
 I shall not shirk my responsibilities, even though the 
 tired blood be spilled upon the ground through the 
 great artery of my neck!", 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "Home Place, July ii. — For more than two 
 hours after midnight I was at the Empress Dow- 
 ager's own palace, and for more than one-half of 
 that time I was in secret audience with that woman 
 who has often said that twenty minutes was suffi- 
 cient time for her in which to give orders and answers 
 to the Council, the Cabinet, and the Foreign Office 
 combined. 
 
 "It was a bad omen that the Dowager held in her 
 hand a communication from Kang-i, and that Tung 
 Fuh-sing had been in audience with Her Majesty 
 thrice during the day. Fuh-sing, too, claims to be a 
 'reformer,' but his idea is to 'reform' the finances, 
 'reform' the Emperor, and 'reform' the Christians. 
 He has Kang-i with him, or rather is with Kang-i, 
 and together their influence over Tze Hsi is indeed 
 deplorable — quite as bad, except in a different 
 direction and for different ends as K'ang's crazy 
 dominance of His Majesty. Yet one begets the other, 
 for the more foolish the Emperor becomes under the 
 tutorship of K'ang — curse his snake hide, why does 
 he not teach only things of which he is competent? 
 — the more rabid becomes Her Majesty under the 
 evil eye of Kang-i, Tung, and Prince Tuan. If she 
 would but listen to the wise counsels of Prince Ching 
 and Jung-lu, her manner toward all the world would 
 soften, and her ending years would be those of peace 
 and comfort such as she fully deserves. 
 
 "I believe with the flight of time her ambition 
 grows, and she hopes to live on for ever. Poor 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 133 
 
 Empress ! — she does not understand that these 
 constant bickerings, midnight counsels, and harsh 
 words are making her life as bitter as aloe juice and 
 iron mixed with rain water. 
 
 "To me Her Majesty put the question direct, as 
 to where I should be found in the event of a great 
 trouble. 
 
 "'Just as always, Your Illustrious Majesty,' I 
 replied. 
 
 "'And where is that?' she questioned further. 
 
 '"A million pardons, but does Your Majesty need 
 an answer to that question?' 
 
 "She was apparently impatient with my seem- 
 ingly evasive answer, but she did not look angrily 
 upon me as is her custom when offended ever so 
 slightly. 
 
 "'But I wish to know!' she commanded. 
 
 "Then I told her that I should be found always 
 with her and China, just as I had been all my days. 
 
 " * My days. Your Majesty,' I said, ' are not many; 
 but such as they are, you may count upon your old 
 Grand Secretary.* 
 
 "'In any event?' she persisted. 
 
 "'In any and all events,' I answered. 
 
 "Then she indicated that the present audience 
 was at an end, but as I had remained about the 
 palace until two o'clock in the morning, and as 
 I hoped she would not find it necessary to summon 
 me again to-morrow night, which she had intimated 
 might be the case, I did not immediately retire; but 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 urged that if there was a premonition of trouble in 
 her mind, and if she reposed in me the trust I hoped 
 and believed she did, would it not please her to put 
 me at greater ease regarding her plans? J 
 
 "She had been so cordial and amiable in com- 
 parison to her ordinary wont that I did not believe 
 my further query would offend her, but in an instant 
 she was alive with wrath and angry words, and I 
 immediately withdrew. 
 
 "I have seen women something like her before, 
 but they were in my house, and it was not necessary 
 for me to get down on my knees to them." 
 
 "August [no date]. — If my counsel amounts to 
 anything in the affairs of this nation, I am unable to 
 see in which direction or quarter, for I find myself 
 utterly opposed to the desires and policies of either 
 one of the factions that seem bound to bring about 
 a great social upheaval, if nothing more. 
 
 "The Emperor — less of a monarch than my 
 youngest son — is inaccessible to friend or foe, and 
 I am beginning to feel that his end is near. But 
 really I should have no pity; nor have I, as a matter 
 of fact; for, under the spell of those feather-minded 
 ones about him, he refused to listen, even listen, to 
 certain words of wisdom I would have uttered. With 
 his eyes wide open like a frightened feline, he still 
 was so blind to all truth and all manifestations of 
 events that the Palace of Heaven itself would be 
 but a mere speck upon his vision. 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 135 
 
 "The One-Thought K'ang has gone. What a pity 
 a year ago did not see him back with his classes!" 
 
 [Without date.] — "It is as I thought regarding 
 K'ang. I did not believe he had even sufficient 
 reason or wisdom to perceive the avalanche that he 
 was bringing about his own head with the great 
 reform wind he himself stirred up. He is gone from 
 Peking, and I trust he has not failed to perform that 
 act which would fittingly crown his work of the past 
 few years. I have no personal animosity toward 
 Yuwei, nor his memory; but I hope he has taken 
 himself to other spheres, where he may be of some 
 use to K'ang and those about him. I wish his mem- 
 ory well, and if I knew for certain he was dead I 
 would make an offering this very hour." 
 
 [Without date.] — " Personally and with my own 
 hand — for Fen-lo is no longer with me, and I have 
 found few others to have any confidence in — I have 
 sent brief letters to my friends in the foreign lega- 
 tions, telling them of the events which they may soon 
 expect. If some of those who always enjoy picking 
 at the bones of the old man knew this, they would 
 be avowing that great national secrets were being 
 divulged to the foreign devils. 
 
 "I know affairs are going to be bad again, and 
 perhaps there will be a season of massacre and burn- 
 ing. But what can I do? I have exhausted every 
 reasonable resource in speech and writing, and 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 through the influence of such friends of mine as still 
 may have an opportunity for a hearing at Court; but 
 I fear it is all unavailing. 
 
 ** Jung-lusent me a lengthy communication to-day. 
 He does not say as much, but I am sure from the 
 tone of his splendid letter that he feels that a reac- 
 tionary movement of the most momentous kind is 
 contemplated by Her Majesty. Jung-lu knows. 
 
 "He asks me to send word to my friends in the 
 different Governments not to be alarmed at any 
 event that may follow in the next five or six weeks. 
 This is just what I have already done. We do not 
 want the Powers to think that in any emergency 
 we have been taken by surprise, or that widespread 
 outrages upon native Christians or missionaries will 
 necessarily follow. It is true that we fear these 
 very things; but the coming of foreign troops would 
 only increase the tension at this time, and perhaps 
 be the very means of precipitating a vast outbreak. 
 
 "Her Majesty itches for the name of being Ruler. 
 She is not satisfied with the amount of glory that 
 has been and is hers, and her mind has been very 
 fully poisoned of late against all things foreign or 
 Christian. The best that we can do — we who are 
 still friends of hers (though some of us are held at a 
 great distance) — is to keep our peace as best we 
 may, and not too strongly oppose the radical hot- 
 heads who are apparently completely in the ascend- 
 ancy at the palace. Her Majesty would not permit 
 a physical injury to be done even to the end of one 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 137 
 
 of my toe-nails, though I might openly oppose her 
 in the scheme she has on foot; but, for the sake of 
 the greater good in the end, I must appear to be in 
 accord. What does it avail a man to whistle in the 
 teeth of a gale, or cast a jug of water against a tidal 
 wave? 
 
 "Apparently, for once in my life, I am forgotten 
 by everybody. I wish that I might return the 
 compliment." 
 
 With a mere line, "She is once again in name — 
 as she has been ever in fact — the Ruler," Viceroy 
 Li, on 24th September, dismisses the coup d'etat of 
 the 20th, by which Tze Hsi assumed again the full 
 title and responsibility for the conduct of the affairs 
 of the State. 
 
 At one side of the single column of written char- 
 acters, which announced so briefly the startling 
 change in Government, is the official edict, cut from 
 the "Peking Gazette," the organ of the Court, of 
 2 1st September, and which in its more important 
 part, somewhat condensed, is as follows : — 
 
 "Our empire is now labouring under certain great 
 and important stresses, and steady and wise guid- 
 ance is needed in all branches of the public service. 
 We ourselves have laboured diligently, night and 
 day, to perform our duties, but in spite of all OUR 
 anxious energy and care we are in constant fear lest 
 delay should be the undoing of the country. We 
 now respectfully recall the fact that Her Imperial 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Majesty the Empress Dowager has on two occa- 
 sions, since the beginning of the reign of H.M. 
 T'ung-Chih, performed the functions of Regent, and 
 that in her administrations of the Government she 
 displayed complete and admirable qualities of per- 
 fection which enabled her successfully to cope with 
 every difficulty that arose. 
 
 "Recollecting the serious burden of the respon- 
 sibility WE owe to OUR ancestors and to the Nation, 
 WE have repeatedly besought Her Majesty to con- 
 descend once more to administer the Government. 
 Now she has graciously honoured us by granting 
 OUR prayer, a blessing, a heaven-sent blessing, for 
 all OUR subjects. 
 
 "From this day forth Her Majesty will transact 
 the business of the Government in the Side Hall of 
 the Palace, and on the day after to-morrow we our- 
 selves at the head of our Princes and Ministers shall 
 perform obeisance before her in the Hall of Diligent 
 Government. 
 
 "The Yamens concerned shall respectfully and 
 with despatch make all such arrangements as are 
 necessary to this ceremonial. 
 
 "The words of the Emperor. 
 
 "Given this Day.'^ 
 
 (Without date.) — "I am in fear and trembling 
 for what may happen in Peking and throughout the 
 north. The old-style 'reformer' is gone, and the 
 newer-style ' reformer ' is here ! 
 
A COUP D'ETAT ON THE HORIZON 139 
 
 "There are whispered threats in all the depart- 
 ments of Government against the Christians, and 
 I already hear rumours of disturbances in the vicin- 
 ity of Paoting-fu. If the evil influences about Her 
 Majesty are allowed to go unchecked, and political 
 insanity reigns within the Forbidden City, I see only 
 a few short months of national tranquillity. 
 
 "My messages of preparation have been well 
 received by the legations, and five of them, those 
 of England, Russia, Germany, France, and Japan, 
 have sent notes of thanks. Minister Conger called 
 in person, and assured me that my words, which he 
 knows were sent to all, are reassuring." 
 
 "Tientsin, October 9. — A courier arriving from 
 the capital this morning brings me many communi- 
 cations of great interest. Jung-lu writes of the scene 
 in the palace when the wretched Kuang Su was 
 made to kneel and acknowledge that he was nothing 
 at all. Jung-lu says that Her Majesty was a veri- 
 table lioness at the ceremonies of obeisance, and 
 treated the young Emperor worse than she has 
 often treated unruly eunuchs. 
 
 "According to what he writes, — and he declares 
 it to be true, — the Empress Dowager threatened 
 Kuang Su with the loss of his life if he did not read- 
 ily consent to living with the Empress Consort [Tze 
 Hsi's niece and spy], and the Emperor said he would 
 live with her and love her. What an outrage, when 
 personally I know he hates the sight of her! 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "And then, when Chen Fei, whom the poor 
 Emperor has loved ... as any young man desires 
 to love his true wife, made a plea for him to Her 
 Majesty, the latter ordered her to be carried from 
 the room and cast into a lone barred chamber of one 
 of the administration palaces. This I regard as very 
 wrong. It is not enough for him to be humiliated 
 and degraded, even before the eyes of miserable 
 eunuchs and servers, but the only comfort of his 
 domestic life is snatched from him. Of course 
 Jung-lu has no sympathy with the deposed monarch, 
 neither has Yuan Shih-k'ai ; but I am going to ask 
 them as the greatest favour they can do me at the 
 present time to prevail upon Tze Hsi to allow the 
 Emperor to have Chen Fei with him in his prison, 
 the Ocean Terrace." 
 
 There is no record that Li Hung Chang ever wrote 
 to the Empress Dowager or to Jung-lu or Yuan Shih- 
 k'ai in behalf of Chen Fei, the favourite wife of the 
 Emperor, she who was called, because of her beauty 
 of form and clearness of complexion, the "Pearl 
 Concubine." The unfortunate young woman was 
 kept under close confinement for nearly two years, 
 without again seeing Kuang Su, except in the pres- 
 ence of the Empress Dowager; and she finally met 
 death by being thrown down one of the wells of the 
 Forbidden City, by Tze Hsi's orders, as the Court 
 took its hurried flight upon the entrance into Peking 
 of the allied forces in 1900. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 AT THE czar's CORONATION 
 
 Returning to China in 1896, after his attendance 
 as representative of his country at the coronation 
 of the Russian Czar, Li Hung Chang, for the first 
 time in his memoirs, speaks of his own selection 
 by the Throne to go to St. Petersburg, though at an 
 earHer date in the same year he has a single line 
 referring to a Chinese ambassador at the ceremony : 
 
 "Prince Chang Chi-chun has been chosen by the 
 Sacred Car [Their Majesties] to represent them at 
 the crowning of the Emperor of Russia." 
 
 Though his diary indicates that he wrote a great 
 deal on the journey from Peking to St. Petersburg, 
 it contains not a single comment regarding his own 
 appointment until he is again upon Chinese soil : — 
 
 ^■I am back once more and my spirit is pleased, 
 for it best fits an old man to be at home among his 
 kind. Old men — at least I think so — are not taken 
 up with the sights of strange things or other lands, 
 for they are, at such an age, preparing for the sights 
 of the Place of Seven Springs, of which they have 
 been told so much and know so little. 
 
 "yl wonder why Russia asked the Throne to send 
 me? It was most certainly a great compliment, and 
 I have a right to feel flattered. But Chang Chi-chun 
 was very worthy of the honour, and he informed me 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 how well he was suited. Just then came word from 
 the Russians that my coming would please them 
 better. That was a blow to Chi-chun, and not very 
 pleasing to the Empress, but I was told that from 
 the very beginning I had been the choice of the 
 Throne. 
 
 ",The Russians have for long tried to impress 
 me with the idea that they hold me in the highest 
 esteem. Perhaps they do. An5rway they may have 
 their motives for all this. And I have no doubt they 
 have; but I could tell them that my own country's 
 interests are above all other considerations, and if I 
 show favour to Russia in any matter, I do so because 
 I believe China will be the ultimate gainer. I have 
 tried in years past to make Russia realise that Korea 
 could not be taken from us, but the standing of that 
 country has been changed of late, and the Czar can 
 hope to gain nothing by flattering me with honours 
 or preferences. 
 
 ^' Still the coronation was a wonderful sight, even 
 if I must say this after having been told that I was 
 the centre of attraction; more so, the Czar told me, 
 than he himself. But all this is Western flattery, 
 for could I not see that the beautiful Czarina was the 
 eye of the peacock? 
 
 * ; When she spoke gracious things to me and lifted 
 her cup of wine toward me, and smiled, I could well 
 believe that that was a compliment to remember. 
 When I told the Empress and her ladies upon my 
 return about the beauties of the Russian Czar's wife, 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 143 
 
 they all said she must be even as lovely as the pic- 
 tures of her which I had brought to them as tokens 
 from the Russian Court. 
 
 "The Dowager asked me many trying questions 
 about the Russian Court, which I tried as best I 
 could to answer intelligently. She wanted to know if 
 the Czarina was a political power, and if she had 
 many eunuchs about her; but I answered that the 
 Czarina was raising a family of her own, and even 
 giving her breasts to her children; and that eunuchs 
 were unknown in Russia. 
 
 "She said she wished I had learned how the 
 Russian Empress had kept her fertility. But I told 
 her that the Russian Empress was not at all old 
 (only half my own age), and a very careful woman. 
 
 "I did not intend to offend Her Majesty in any 
 way, but she told me that she would question me about 
 Russia at some later time, and announced that she 
 must speak with her ladies. This was Her Majesty's 
 way of telling me the audience was at an end." 
 
 "21st Day of the 12th Moon. I have received 
 notification that I am to forfeit one year's pay for 
 a breach of ceremony at the palace. This is a small 
 matter, the fine, but I should be glad to know in 
 what respect I offended Tze Hsi." 
 
 "215^ Day of the 12th Moon. Later. — Messengers 
 from the Throne have just arrived bringing a copy 
 of the edict conferring upon me the Order of the 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Golden Dragon. The original edict was written, says 
 the copy, by Tze Hsi herself. I am inclined to think 
 my breach of Court etiquette was not serious to her 
 private mind, although her official mind fined me 
 37,000 taels for it! 
 
 "The Order of the Golden Dragon! I am truly 
 well pleased, although I had expected it before I 
 went on the long journey to the Capital of Russia. 
 
 "If I was not a plain man I should quite think I 
 was a member of the Imperial family, for the Golden 
 Dragon is conferred (except in extraordinary cases) 
 only upon those of the Blood. Perhaps Her Majesty 
 conferred it upon me so I could not 'offend' in her 
 presence again, for wearing the Golden Dragon I am 
 privileged to kneel or not as I please. But I shall 
 always be attentive to matters of ceremony and 
 regard to those above me, just as I expect like evi- 
 dences of respect from those who are not upon an 
 equality with me." 
 
 A few days later the Viceroy writes : — 
 ^ " Liars are the worst people in all classes, I believe. 
 While my friends are rejoicing and sending me long 
 letters of congratulation and many gifts, my ene- 
 mies are saying that the Order of the Golden 
 Dragon was conferred by Tze Hsi upon me only to 
 please Russia, while the fact that I have been made 
 to forfeit a year's pay proves conclusively that I 
 deeply offended the Throne in the matter of eti- 
 quette. Tseng [Li's secretary] tells me that he has 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 145 
 
 been approached by a number of very common 
 people, and asked if it is true that I told the Empress 
 that our imperial princesses would have more and 
 better children if they followed the Czarina's 
 example. What lies! What vicious, monkey-faced 
 lies ! Any one with sense would know that even if I 
 dared I never would address such language to Her 
 Majesty or the ladies of the Blood. I interest myself 
 not at all in the inner doings of the Court, for it 
 is enough that any man keep his own household in 
 order. 
 
 "It is not so much that the lies have been told 
 about me or my sayings. No ; for forty years I have 
 been forced to listen to such things; but it is that the 
 low and ignorant, hearing such words, and knowing 
 that the loss of a year's pay was exacted of me, will 
 really believe I uttered such infamies. And, believ- 
 ing I uttered them, they will think they are true. 
 Then there will be more scandal and talk, which is 
 all unnecessary; for I said not one word which might, 
 seen either through a mountain gap-way or the eye 
 of a needle, reflect at all upon the ladies of the Court.' 
 I did praise the Russian Czarina, but I dispraised 
 no one else." 
 
 Writing in his diary at St. Petersburg, the Grand 
 Ambassador says among other things : — 
 
 V It has been urged upon me to return to China 
 by way of Constantinople and the Suez Canal, but 
 I cannot agree to this plan. Now that I have trav- 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ersed all this distance, I want to go to Germany 
 and France, then to England and the United States. 
 There are wonders for me to lay eyes upon in all 
 these great countries; and, besides that, there are 
 official duties to be carried out. I am told here that 
 I shall not be received very well in England ; but it 
 is certain they will not harm me there, nor shall I do 
 them any injury. If the house is cold and the table 
 not set, I need not remain, for the road is long, and 
 the traveller who has money can turn up his nose 
 at town constables. 
 
 "To-night I am to attend another banquet given 
 by the Czar, which I hope will not continue as long 
 as the one of last night. It is true they prepare foods 
 especially for me, but they do not taste like the foods 
 at home, or those of our own cooks which we have 
 along. The tea, however, is the best — I brought it 
 myself as a present to the Czar and Czarina, and Tu 
 [his chef] tells them how to make it! " 
 
 Shortly before leaving Russia for the German 
 capital, the Ambassador wrote: — 
 
 /* On Monday we shall leave the capital of the Czar 
 and travel toward the land of the Germans. They 
 tell me it is many hours' ride from here to the frontier 
 on the west, and that if we went south it would be 
 three times as far. Going north, the Czar's dominions 
 reach to the top of the earth, where mountains and 
 lakes of ice are seen forever, through all the moons. 
 
 "Often and often I had studied over the maps 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 147 
 
 of the countries of the world, and I knew, of course, 
 that Russia was a far-reaching empire; but I had to 
 travel to know fully how immense and solid it is. 
 There are vast plains and tremendous mountains, 
 but there are no seas or oceans coming in between, 
 and I cannot help thinking how much more solid 
 and substantial this empire must be than the British 
 Empire, with its islands and possessions scattered 
 like fowl over a large barnyard. China is much like 
 Russia in this respect, too, and it is sad that our 
 nation has not yet learned how to make all parts of 
 it stand together as one against the outsider. There 
 is this difference between China and Russia. Many 
 of the nations agree to harass China, but not any of 
 them will bother Russia. If Russia did not want to 
 control us in all our home affairs, what a strong 
 alliance would be possible between us! 
 
 1 / 
 
 '-' Sunday night. -M All the party attended a long 
 church service this afternoon, and when it came time 
 for my final audience with the Czar I was very fa- 
 tigued. Dr. Morniff, the household physician, who 
 has been attached to our party here by courtesy of 
 the Government, gave me a hypodermic of some- 
 thing, and a large bottle of white wine, so that when 
 we reached the castle I was feeling like a boy. I told 
 His Majesty that the long service and the smoke of 
 the incense nearly sickened me, at which he laughed 
 heartily, showing his fine teeth, and said I was about 
 the healthiest-looking man about. 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 '"When are Your Majesties coming to China?' I 
 asked him. 
 
 "Again he laughed, and said that maybe sometime 
 he would like to arrange for his wife to meet the 
 Dowager Empress and the ladies of the latter's 
 Court somewhere in the Far East. 
 <j::'! Nicholas is himself not a very healthy man, I 
 think. I believe he stays indoors too much, or that 
 worry about his life keeps him pale and listless. He 
 is a small man to rule a great empire; though Na- 
 poleon, they tell me, was even smaller in stature. 
 But there are many big men in this capital. The 
 Czar is surrounded by them; and his soldiers, espe- 
 cially those regiments which are of his household, 
 are a magnificent lot of men. I believe the Japa- 
 nese soldiers would run fast from these regiments. 
 
 "I have learned that we start early to-morrow 
 morning. This is not to my taste. I should much 
 prefer to begin the journey now, and sleep on the 
 train going. To arise so early in the morning seems 
 to be a foolish Western practice; foolish especially 
 among men of state, who could so much better 
 transact their affairs at night when all is quiet and 
 the mind is most alert. 
 
 "But from what I can learn, these statesmen and 
 lawgivers look for their pleasures at night; going to 
 banquets, theatres, and fancy parties; often staying 
 until the light of dawn comes on again. To this I 
 attribute much of the intrigue that is known to all 
 these courts. The women cannot enter the council 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 149 
 
 chambers nor make speeches in the parliaments, but 
 they work their wiles at the parties and operas." 
 
 "On the train, Monday. — This train is travelling 
 at a much slower pace than any of those before. 
 I asked why, and was told that the Government 
 would not run any risks when so many big foreign 
 officials were aboard. 
 
 "Soldiers are everywhere along the line, and when- 
 ever the train stops the common people are kept at 
 a distance. 
 
 '' It is bad enough to be an official in China, and 
 put up with lies, abuse, and misrepresentation; but 
 here in Russia they kill their big officials whenever 
 they can. I am told that a great secret band exists 
 all over the empire, and that the members thereof 
 find their chief occupation and 'amusement* in the 
 killing of men of state and others in high position. 
 
 " I do not think I should like to exchange positions 
 with the Czar, even to have the fine Czarina as wife 
 and my choice of the rarest tea ! Especially in these 
 later years I have had no fear of my life being taken, 
 unless it would be by some crazy fanatic like the 
 fellow who shot me in the eye at Shimonoseki. Sev- 
 eral times in Hankow, in the days of my first vice- 
 royalty, low fellows sought to take my life, and once 
 in Tientsin [when Li was Viceroy of Chihli] a low 
 fellow came into my courtyard and told the banner 
 captain in charge that he intended taking my life. 
 He had a long piece of wire, and said he was going 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 to hang me to my own gateposts. I had to have his 
 head cut off before he would stop talking." 
 
 ^^ Hearing the German frontier. Hour of the Sheep. 
 P'lo has just finished shaving my head, and I feel 
 fine. I think I should be insane if I wore all the hair 
 some of these Russians do. Many of my people have 
 chaffed me about my beard, but I wish they could see 
 the hairy faces of the St. Petersburg Court. They 
 are 'hairy devils' in truth! 
 
 "My mother said that as a little baby I had 
 evidences of a strong beard later in life. She averred 
 that it was a sign that I should be a great man in my 
 country, and many times since affairs have gone so 
 well with me has she asked : ' Was not my prophecy 
 correct?' Always I have been compelled to answer 
 her that I did not know, but if she thought I was a 
 great man I was. 
 
 '-ISo Napoleon marched all this distance from 
 France in the midst of winter ! He was either a very 
 brave and determined man or a very foolish one, for 
 even now, with the best of accommodations and 
 soldiers to guard us instead of fight us, it is a long 
 and tiresome journey. Some of the country is very 
 beautiful, but there are hundreds of miles that are 
 dreary wastes, and fit only for sheep and goats and 
 even wild wolves. There are always wolves where 
 there are sheep. It is the same in the life of man and 
 the lives of nations. 
 
 yl do not want to be thought of as a wolf by my 
 
AT TKE CZAR'S CORONATION 151 
 
 fellow-men. But I have been called worse names, 
 even to 'foreign devil,' which is ridiculous ! Gordon 
 said once that he knew it was my ambition to over- 
 throw the Monarchy and make myself Emperor of 
 the whole Middle Kingdom. This thought comes to 
 me now when I am in the country Napoleon wanted 
 to rule. Gordon was a good friend in time of need, 
 but I was a still greater friend to him, and he could 
 have done nothing but for my money and influence 
 in keeping the ' Ever Victorious Army ' together. I 
 had no ambition ever to go as Emperor to the 
 Northern Capital [Peking]. 
 
 "The train is bustling with life and excitement 
 now, for we are coming to the frontier. There are 
 many soldiers, and the people afar off are looking at 
 the train. We shall meet the Germans soon, as I can 
 tell from the booming of the cannon and the music 
 of bands. 
 
 " I wish the band music would stop, and not blare 
 in my ears so near by. I wonder if I shall meet Herr 
 Krupp?" 
 
 Writing in his diary a few days later, while the 
 guest of the German Government, Li Hung Chang 
 refers at considerable length once more to General 
 ** Chinese" Gordon, the English Commander of the 
 "Ever Victorious Army," which Chang employed 
 so successfully in putting down the Taiping Rebellion 
 in 1863. 
 /'\The English will want to know just what caused 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 the trouble between General Gordon and myself, 
 and I shall have to tell them that I was not at all 
 jealous of him, as has been charged so many times. 
 Why should I be? He was directly under my orders, 
 and nothing pleased me better than to see him win 
 so many battles with the 'Ever Victorious Army,' 
 and drive the Wangs [leaders of the Taipings] into 
 Suchau. Gordon was not over-anxious for the end 
 of the rebellion, and I knew that he had secretly 
 memorialised the Throne to make him general-in- 
 chief of all the armies of China, including those of the 
 different viceroys. He did not know that no person 
 had power to grant him such unlimited authority, 
 and his foreign pride made him think he was above 
 myself in power. He made mistakes, and many 
 of them; but I overlooked them all, thinking only 
 of the great good he had rendered the country. 
 
 "His final mistake, however, I could not overlook, 
 and my memorial to the Throne was the cause of 
 his dismissal forever from the service of China. 
 
 ''This grievous mistake of his was the accusation 
 that I had treacherously caused the murder of the 
 Wangs upon my own barge. The very truth of this 
 matter is here written for the second time; the first 
 time was in my report to the Grand Council at the 
 Northern Capital, made in the year 1866, just before 
 I myself took the field against the Shantung rebels. 
 
 " Mow Wang told the other Wangs at Suchau that 
 he would not surrender to the Imperial forces but 
 would continue fighting for ten years. He was killed 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 153 
 
 upon this statement, and Chung Wang sent word to 
 me that he intended to surrender. I immediately 
 informed my own lieutenant, General Ching; and 
 Chung Wang and eight other generals, with their 
 men, surrendered. We were most friendly disposed 
 when the fighting was all over, and it was myself who 
 proposed that we have a feast in celebration. To this 
 Chung Wang, Lar Wang, and General Ching quickly 
 assented; and soon the banquet was set on board 
 my private boat. 
 
 ''In the meantime. General Gordon, who thought 
 he had not been accorded full glory for the complete 
 surrender of the Taipings, moved the * Ever Victori- 
 ous Army ' away from Suchau to its old headquarters 
 at Quinsan. This was against my orders, and also 
 against the counsel of General Chang; but Gordon 
 claimed there was a large amount of pay due him 
 and his men. This was true, but it was also true that 
 he had not been promised, and should not have 
 expected, pay until the Suchau army had surren- 
 dered. He was feeling ill-disposed, and was waiting 
 for replies to his memorials sent to the Throne. 
 His last memorial, as I knew through See Lund 
 H'en, who wrote it, was very much against me. 
 
 "When the banquet was set and we were in the 
 midst of our joyousness, report was brought me that 
 two large boats had pulled out from the shore and 
 were coming directly to my boat. I went to the near 
 side and looked. It was about the hour of the cock 
 [7 P.M.], and I could not discern plainly, but it 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 seemed to me as if Gordon himself captained one of 
 the boats. I went back to the feast and told the 
 Wangs I believed Gordon was coming. Ching turned 
 very white and whispered to me that he was afraid 
 — of what, he did not say; but before we, Ching, 
 Lar Wang, and myself, had time to reach that end 
 of the boat which was pointed to the shore. Imperial 
 officers and soldiers clambered aboard from both 
 sides and began cutting every one they met. They 
 killed Lar Wang by my side, and one fellow stabbed 
 General Ching, but only slightly. An officer was 
 coming toward me with his sword, but he fell to his 
 knees when I raised my hand. 
 
 "Ching, Lu'Klen, Tu-Kiang, General Tung, and 
 myself all succeeded in getting into one of the soldier 
 boats and the pole-man pushed us to the shore. 
 Immediately I issued orders to all the troops in the 
 city to make an attempt to capture those of the 
 attacking party ; but the feeling against the Wangs 
 was so strong that I think but little attempt was 
 made to carry out my orders. That night I learned 
 that all the members of the banqueting party remain- 
 ing aboard were decapitated and their bodies thrown 
 into the river. Among these were a deep personal 
 friend whom I loved very much, and a young 
 nephew of mine from Wu-Sang. 
 
 "I will have Fong Lee [his English secretary] 
 make a translation of this, and a number of copies; 
 and if I am asked anything about this in England 
 this true statement will be the answer." 
 
AT THE CZAR'S CORONATION 155 
 
 Evidently the Viceroy was not questioned regard- 
 ing the Wang massacre by his English entertainers, 
 for this line appears among his notes made two weeks 
 later on board the Atlantic liner: — 
 
 "Only Gladstone mentioned Gordon to me in 
 England. I guess most people have forgotten him." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 
 
 During the first five days of his stay in Germany 
 the Viceroy did not write a line in his diary, though 
 he does not fail to cover his experiences there pretty 
 thoroughly when he again "takes pen in hand"; 
 or rather, quill, for he was most proficient in the use 
 of the latter, seldom, if ever, in his official or more 
 important writings, using the stick or camel's-hair 
 brush so commonly employed by his countrymen. 
 ^He writes at Essen: "While I am officially the 
 guest of the German nation, I am personally the 
 guest of Herr Krupp, whom I have for many years 
 longed to see. I do not know which I had the greater 
 desire to see, Prince Bismarck or Herr Krupp; but 
 however that may be, I have seen them both, talked 
 with them freely, and feel that, had no other attrac- 
 tion or benefit been awaiting me in Germany, I 
 have been well repaid. Each of these men seems 
 to be filling the place he is best fitted to occupy: 
 Krupp, in his quiet way, making big guns, and Bis- 
 marck occupying a place where he can put them into 
 use. For, while it is known that the Kaiser is the 
 head and front of Germany, yet it is Bismarck who 
 is the solid rock upon which any great trouble must 
 fall. 
 
 "I had a splendid visit with Prince Bismarck at 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 157 
 
 his castle, day before yesterday. He made me drink 
 some beer, which I did not like at all, but a taste for 
 which he said I should acquire if I stayed long enough 
 in Germany. I told him I did not expect to live 
 many years longer, and that it would probably be 
 impossible for me to acquire a liking for the national 
 beverage. 
 
 *!We smoked our pipes together and enjoyed a 
 long visit, troubled only by those who translated 
 for us and by the servants who brought pipes and 
 drinkables. During a large part of the time we dis- 
 cussed international policies, and finally came to the 
 prospective influence of Germany in the Far East. 
 , "lYou have seen but little of us in your part of 
 the world,' he said, 'for Germany as a unit is only 
 a new nation ; but the time will come when the Ger- 
 man Empire will dominate Europe. England, with 
 all her bluster and show, has a hundred weak points; 
 and she knows that a conflict with a power nearly 
 her equal will mean her undoing. I hate the boast- 
 ing Englanders even though German blood rules 
 from the throne.' 
 
 "When, toward the end of our meeting, in fact as 
 we were about to part, I told him that some people 
 had paid me the high compliment of calling me the 
 'Bismarck of the Far East,' the Prince tried to look 
 serious as if studying my meaning. Then he smiled 
 under his bushy eyebrows and whispered to Captain 
 Ruffbach (who spoke the best Mandarin Chinese I 
 ever heard a German use). ' Tell His Excellency that 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 the French would not consider that a compHment at 
 ^\IV Of course I understood, and we shook hands 
 over the agreement that the French did not love 
 Bismarck. 
 
 *[l found that the Prince could deliver a compli- 
 ment as quickly as any one, for he immediately said 
 after our handshake, 'And so they have called Your 
 Excellency the Bismarck of the East, eh? Well, I 
 want to tell you that I cannot ever hope to be termed 
 the "Li Hung Chang of Europe!'" 
 
 \" As I was coming to Essen from Berlin, we natu- 
 rally spoke a good deal regarding Herr Krupp, 
 who Bismarck said was an emperor in his own 
 way, the 'Emperor of Essen.' 'Germany is not for 
 war,' he said, 'but strong armament is as necessary 
 to a nation as a club is to a policeman. The police- 
 man does not carry his stick to use upon the heads of 
 innocent people, but he has it in plain sight so that 
 evilly inclined persons may know that he is always 
 prepared for trouble. Let the policeman walk his 
 beat carrying a feather or a wisp of hay and see how 
 quickly the bullies will jump upon him and rob him 
 of the little he possesses. 
 
 "yAnd so with Essen. Herr Krupp has established 
 a great industrial plant there and provided bread 
 and beer for thousands. Even if not one of his guns 
 was ever fired he would still be a great benefactor of 
 his country. But as it is, he is still greater from the 
 German point of view. He has won many victories 
 for his country, victories that the public know 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 159 
 
 nothing about. The noise of Essen to-day is the 
 song of peace; to-morrow it may be the voice of a 
 united Germany speaking through a thousand Essen 
 mouths to an enemy.' 
 
 "Captain Ruffbach accompanied me here by the 
 request of Bismarck, and I am glad he did, for he 
 seems to know about everything, and is able to tell 
 what he knows. The captain was for many years 
 employed at Peking and Canton in consular capaci- 
 ties, and writes well in Chinese. I think I shall ask 
 the Kaiser to send him back with me. 
 
 "Herr Krupp presented me with a fine steel- 
 framed painting of himself yesterday. I asked for 
 it because of my great admiration for him. He said 
 that Miiller had painted the picture for his wife 
 (Madame Krupp), but that she was delighted to let 
 me have it. Herr Krupp also made me a present of 
 a complete miniature battery of artillery, of a good 
 size for children to play with. In fact, he had them 
 drawn into my room by six little school-girls all 
 dressed in yellow and hauling the little cannons by 
 yellow silk ribbons. One of the little girls thought 
 it was real war, I imagine, for she was very much 
 frightened and after a while began to cry. And she 
 was the one that ' drove ' the others, too ; and prob- 
 ably was captain of the battery. I could not help 
 thinking that that was often the way, for I remem- 
 ber t|iat once while fighting the Tongs in Senchi we 
 had officers that were mere cowards, while the com- 
 mon men would fight bravely. 
 
i6o MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "Herr and Madame Krupp, General Vonzberg, 
 Count and Countess Gregg and others were present 
 when the gift of the battery of artillery was made and 
 accepted. I spoke in reply to Herr Krupp 's brief 
 speech and Captain Ruffbach translated it excel- 
 lently. But he overlooked my last sentence, and I 
 called his attention to it. He grew very red in the 
 face and it was evident that he was somewhat 
 embarrassed, but I only repeated my statement, and 
 he in turn gave it to the little company. Poor fellow, 
 he thought it was going to offend the party! 
 
 "But as soon as Ruffbach's words were out of his 
 mouth, the whole company burst into laughter, and 
 Herr Krupp actually slapped me upon the shoulder 
 and acted like a merry brother. 
 
 ".'.You shall have one; yes, a real battery!' he said 
 a couple of times. You see I had told him that while 
 I appreciated highly his compliment to myself as 
 the representative of the Chinese Throne and people, 
 I believed his great gun-works would be made bet- 
 ter known in Eastern Asia by a battery of big guns ! 
 
 "And so this morning at the works six finely 
 polished guns were paraded before me as the present 
 of Herr Krupp to the Chinese Empire, a gift worth 
 more than 108,000 taels! But I do not think he will 
 lose by his generosity, for Lord Clung has instructed 
 two of the German engineers here to select three 
 other batteries of field-pieces and four ten-inch guns 
 to be shipped at an early date to China. We shall 
 buy German powder and shells here also." 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY i6i 
 
 " Next day. Hour of the Drake. — This day I shall 
 seclude myself from all callers, in order that I may 
 devote myself to thoughts of my celestial mother, 
 who died fourteen years ago this day, and who for 
 that long time has been thinking of my coming to 
 the Peaceful Sunlight of the Nine Springs. With all 
 the incidents of my life, its trials and lamentations, 
 its moments of joy and pride, with each and every 
 affair of life, I cannot forget my celestial mother and 
 all she was and is to me. 
 
 "My father died many years before my mother, 
 and his grave is great and hallowed. Many hundreds 
 of times did my mother bless it and ask my father's 
 spirit to hurry the time when her own might join 
 his in the Happy Vale of Ancestral Longevity. My 
 mother could never think of taking her own life. 
 It is thought great and glorious to do such a thing 
 by many of the ignorant, — and many of the intel- 
 lectual, too, — but my father's beloved helpmeet 
 could never think it was right, nor that it pleased 
 the spirits of the goiie-before. 
 
 7 In my early days I was possessed of many ideas 
 that I know now were foolish and wicked, and not 
 at all in agreement with common sense or philoso- 
 phy; one of these is suicide, and another is the put- 
 ting out of the way of infants. If a man or woman 
 has lost his or her face [i.e., is disgraced] so badly 
 that it is impossible to retrieve it, then perhaps it is 
 better to be buried deep in the earth than to live 
 and see shame all the rest of one's days. Or, if a 
 
i62 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 government official, with many honours bestowed 
 upon him, is caught steaHng the money that belongs 
 to the Throne, and cannot pay back all that he has 
 taken, even to the last cash, it is better that he take 
 poison. For by doing so he will be thought better 
 of by his family and friends and by the Government. 
 But if he will persist in living, even when the law of 
 his punishments do not reach him, he is each day 
 a greater disgrace than he was the day before ; and 
 upon his family the burden is heavier as each hour 
 passes. 
 
 '^Or, if a great official, when he finds that his 
 country is humiliated through him, even though 
 personally he be not at fault, it is a true sign of great 
 love of country if he put an end to his life. For what 
 happiness can a man have when he knows that that 
 name which he so proudly bore is the name to be 
 forever linked with some defeat or degradation of 
 his country's ? 
 
 "I can bless the name of my great and noble 
 friend Admiral Ting, and I can bow before the grave 
 of the illustrious General Chang! And I can burn 
 incense to the spirit of the gallant Commodore Liu ! 
 [Officers who committed suicide after the capture 
 of Wei-hai-wei by the Japanese, in January, 1895.] 
 Yes, they are honoured by all the world even in 
 defeat, and their spirits are sweetest and happiest 
 among those of our noble ancestors! Yes, even the 
 Japanese, in their hour of material victory over our 
 brave men on land and sea, did not refrain from 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 163 
 
 doing great honour to these glory-laden officers of 
 our army and navy. [The writer here refers to the 
 honour paid the suicide officers by Admiral I to, the 
 Japanese commander, who restored one of the cap- 
 tured Chinese vessels to be a ship of honour for the 
 conveying home of their bodies.] 
 
 "I did not ever care much for the Japanese, and 
 a deadly hatred was in my heart against that 
 nation when it forced China into war over Korea, 
 which for two thousand years had been ours; but 
 I loved Marquis Ito for this noble action, and I 
 was ready to treat with him in the arrangement of 
 peace. 
 
 J' Such causes for self-destruction are sufficient, 
 but many people take their lives for less reason than 
 would be necessary to send a vagrant to jail for two 
 days. They are silly people ; they act only from silly 
 and selfish motives; they have much pride and self- 
 love, and they want others to think they are brave. 
 Many widows cut their throats or bind twine tightly 
 about their necks or their bowels, or swallow large 
 doses of poisonous herbs, in an attempt to show 
 what affection they have for their departed husbands. 
 What a silly thing ! especially if that were the reason ; 
 but the truth is that the widow has become lazy, or 
 she fears no other man will want to work for her sup- 
 port. In this she does not deceive herself, neither 
 does she fool the many thousands who are glad to 
 come and witness her death. Let the widow marry 
 again and rear up more spirits to honour the spirits 
 
i64 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 of those gone before. Of course, if she is too lazy to 
 do this, suicide is good enough for her. 
 
 "When I was a very young boy in Anhuei I was 
 accused of something wrong, and some of my youth- 
 ful friends told me that I could only save my face 
 and the face of my family by jumping into a well. I 
 was guilty of the wrong — the taking of two ducks 
 from a pond, which I cooked and ate — and I was 
 very sorry, even without the severe punishment 
 administered to me by my father and mother as well 
 as by the owner of the fowl. But I did not want to 
 die, although I had disgraced my people and myself. 
 I went to my mother to ask her if I should jump into 
 the well. She said. No; that it would not be right; 
 but that the better thing for me to do would be to 
 earn enough in the next harvest time to pay for the 
 ducks and to give an extra duck and seven eggs 
 besides. This advice I followed, paying my debts 
 and more — for I gave a fine rabbit to the magis- 
 trate, and ever after that he was my friend. 
 
 "My life's greatest grief was the death of my 
 mother, and I desired a year of mourning; but the 
 Throne had negotiated with Russia as to the status 
 of Korea, and I was compelled to be in constant 
 communication with the Tsung Li Yamen. 
 
 "A letter from Von Moltke has just been handed 
 me by Song. I shall read it to-morrow. To-night I 
 must read long into the hours from the philosophers 
 in memory of my mother. 
 
 "The little battery of artillery, all its mouths 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 165 
 
 pointing east-north [northeast], seems to say that if 
 we ever fight the Japanese again we shall be better 
 prepared. The toy guns please that part of my na- 
 ture which is of the boy. But the business battery 
 present is a joy indeed! 
 
 "I now (8 P.M.) take up the Mang-tsze for a five 
 hours' reading." 
 
 "Morning. — The letter from Von Moltke is 
 simply one expressing his desire to meet me when I 
 arrive at Potsdam. He was to have been at Scheven- 
 ingen. (I can scarcely write that horrible name.) 
 
 \But I shall never forget the wonderful display of 
 sky-fire [fireworks] the people of that place prepared 
 for me. We have many kinds of coloured sky-fires 
 in China, and they are truly wonderful, but what I 
 saw at S. [a mark in the diary] was as if all the spirits 
 of the air had combined to make a home show for 
 me in Europe. There were real battles of men and 
 ships. I know, because I have seen them. And there 
 were great representations of the Golden Dragon, a 
 picture of the Empress Grand Dowager [Tze Hsi] and 
 of the Emperor. At last they had, with the booming 
 of cannons and the blare of many military bands, 
 a picture of His Excellency Li Hung Chang, in his 
 yellow jacket! And, without knowing, of course, 
 what kind of a show I was to witness — although 
 I had been informed in advance that it was in my 
 honour — I had donned my yellow jacket early that 
 evening, and was attired in it when the Army Com- 
 
i66 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 mittee, headed by General Von Getner (?) and the 
 city committee, headed by Burgomeister Sanders 
 called — " 
 
 In a marginal note, written some time later, the 
 Viceroy explains that he was interrupted in his 
 description of the "feast of S." by the arrival of one 
 of his party with a number of important cablegrams, 
 one of them being from President Cleveland inviting 
 him to America in the name of the American people. 
 This message also enquired on behalf of the State 
 Department the probable time of the Viceroy's 
 arrival in the United States. 
 
 " Bremerhaven (three or four days after leaving 
 Potsdam). — ^ From all that I have seen, I am more 
 than ever convinced that the Kaiser and Prince 
 Bismarck meant what they said when they averred 
 that the German Empire was destined to become a 
 dominant factor in Europe. I am wonderfully im- 
 pressed with the way this nation seems to be work- 
 ing as a unit. The army is upon a business basis, the 
 navy is on a business basis, and the whole machinery 
 of government works smoother than our best Canton 
 timepieces. 
 
 *^.I arrived here this morning, accompanied by a 
 host of high officials, and others met our party here. 
 The whole place is in gala attire, and I have all I can 
 do to make myself believe that I am only a foreigner 
 visiting the country, instead of a king in this land. 
 
MEN AND THINGS IN GERMANY 167 
 
 I am told that hundreds and thousands of foreigners 
 are here to-day, and a great number have been intro- 
 duced to me, some EngHsh, some French, and some 
 Americans — the latter said to be so rich that they 
 could buy the fleet of magnificent warships lying in 
 this fine harbour. 
 
 " It is a long time since I was engaged in any fight- 
 ing, hand to hand, and I am now getting too aged to 
 think of engaging in it; nevertheless, my eyes never 
 tire of regiments of soldiers and great warships that 
 can do things. 
 
 '(^In answer to my questions I have learned the 
 approximate cost of most of the German ships. 
 There are great shipyards here, and Germany in- 
 tends to build all her navy for all time at home. I 
 could wish for nothing better than that China 
 should build her own fleet and have every man and 
 officer in it a true son of the Middle Kingdom ; but 
 our people are not sailors, except upon the rivers, 
 and they do not know how to handle machinery. 
 But they will learn in time, I hope. Anyway, when 
 I return, I shall make it my duty to urge advance- 
 ment in all Western arts and crafts. We have our 
 beautiful literature, far and away ahead of that of 
 the Western nations ; but they have the money and 
 the guns. 
 
 "It was a sad thought for me to-day, as I saw 
 those fine ships lying idle there, that they were doing 
 no particular good, while, if they had been ours, we 
 should have conquered the Japanese! 
 
i68 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "Some of the officials hinted that I ought to leave 
 an order at Bremerhaven for one or two ships, and 
 I said to one of the admirals standing by: 'If you 
 will sell me that ship over there for 2,300,000 taels I 
 will go in her to France and England and America.' 
 But he said that my naval knowledge was too good; 
 I had picked out his flagship, the strongest battle- 
 ship of the German navy." 
 
 " Two days later. — We are in France, and some- 
 how I am feeling more at home. My stomach is in 
 bad shape, for I have been tempted to eat too much 
 of German foods. Maybe it is the wines that trouble 
 me, for I have been taking much of their white 
 wines, and like them so well that Count Hatzfeldt 
 said he would ship many casks to Tientsin for me. 
 
 "Seventy- five thousand Frenchmen surrendered 
 to the Germans just where we crossed into France." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 
 
 "La Belle France, they call this country," Viceroy 
 Li wrote on the evening of the second day in Paris ; 
 "the beautiful France, I am told it means, and I am 
 ready to agree with the sentiment. Indeed, from 
 my observations, I will go still further, and call it 
 Happy and Beautiful and Gracious France, for in 
 all my travels no hours have been so pleasing to me 
 as those which I have spent in this delightful land. 
 
 "Perhaps there is a sense of patriotism in this 
 thought, for I must confess that much of the country 
 between Metz and Paris is considerably like that of 
 KuangrTung and Kuang-Su provinces. Of course, 
 there is a vast difference in the houses and fences, 
 and the people are not at all alike; but the panorama 
 from the train for miles and miles was of the more 
 lovely portions of central and south China. The 
 trees and vegetables and grasses seem to have the 
 same greens and other colours, and if the houses were 
 changed and hidden from view, and if a few of my 
 people stood along the railroad, I could easily think 
 I was one or two hundred miles from Canton instead 
 of being that distance from Paris. 
 
 "And this is the very country through which the 
 mighty German armies, headed by the King of 
 Prussia and the master strategist, my friend Von 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Moltke, and directed by that man of silent thunder 
 and terrible lightning, Prince Bismarck, — who 
 offered me so much hofbrau only the other day, — 
 marched to the subjugation and humiliation of the 
 proud country of Napoleon. It is most interesting 
 to think about these things, but I suppose the French 
 people would rather forget. 
 
 V In truth I believe they must have long since for- 
 gotten, for these people are what we call in Chinese 
 a smiling family. They are so different from the 
 Russians and the Germans — I mean the masses. 
 Russian crowds seem to have no enthusiasm. There 
 is respect and awe of a dull kind in their faces, and 
 a sort of hopelessness that they seem to be afraid 
 to give expression to. With the Germans there is 
 enthusiasm, but it is of a hard, matter-of-fact kind 
 — the life of business or science, perhaps. They 
 laugh a great deal, sing much, and talk loud; but 
 somehow I was given the impression that all these 
 three came from their beers and wines, more than 
 from the heart or soul. 
 
 "But the French, as I have said, are so different. 
 The faces of the crowds, even of the little boys and 
 girls, seem to be those of a people who are living a 
 life of earnest joy, as if they knew there was much 
 good pleasure in life, and intended to get it out 
 without making too hard a job of it. 
 
 "This morning I paid a brief visit to the Bank of 
 France, and met the board of governors, all of them 
 introduced by M. Leroux, of the Ministry of Finance. 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 171 
 
 I was interested in this great institution, which they 
 tell me owns financially one half the kings and princes 
 of Europe. I wonder if I could borrow a few million 
 francs? As a bit of humour, I had C'Lung ask that 
 question when we were in the executive rooms, and 
 the chief governor immediately replied : ' Yes, Your 
 Excellency, fifty millions, almost on your own 
 terms ! ' Then I told him that I was not serious about 
 it, and to this he replied that when China was serious 
 about loans the Bank of France would be ready. 
 
 ."For more than an hour I enquired into the sys- 
 tem of finance in vogue in France, and it is, I believe, 
 the simplest yet most perfect in the world. I was 
 astounded when M. Leroux told me that if every 
 centime were taken from the vaults for governmental 
 purposes, a call on the branch banks throughout 
 France for 1,000,000,000 taels would be answered 
 satisfactorily within forty-eight hours. I wonder if 
 this can be true? 
 
 J' I learn that loan-oflfices [pawn-shops] are almost 
 unknown in France. My enquiries regarding them 
 appeared to amuse my informants, for it has been 
 published widely in the Parisian papers (and I pre- 
 sume in the English and American press, too) that 
 my own wealth is largely invested in the pawn-shop 
 business of China; and one of the illustrated French 
 papers, thinking it was humorous, pictured me yes- 
 terday with a Jewish nose and holding in one hand 
 the Western symbol of the loan office. Monsieur 
 Chateauvere, the chief of the French secret police 
 
172 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 detailed to guard me while in Paris, asked if I wanted 
 legal proceedings against the publisher to be taken, 
 but I told him that I had enjoyed the cartoon as 
 much, probably, as any one. 
 
 "It seems that in the Western world the small 
 moneylender, or perhaps, better, the lender of small 
 sums, is a person despised by the general public. 
 That is because they squeeze the blood of those who 
 borrow. That is why the ' pawn-broker ' is an unde- 
 sirable person in the community. 
 
 "However, I can say that while many of the 
 statements made regarding me as the owner of most 
 of the loan offices in China are without doubt much 
 exaggerated, I am interested largely in such estab- 
 lishments in some of the provinces. Nor am I 
 ashamed of such interest. On the contrary, I am 
 glad that I have so often been able to help poor 
 people with small loans, upon either their goods, 
 their labour, or just their promises. It is not seemly 
 that I write of my own virtues, but it is surely the 
 privilege and duty of every man to defend his name 
 and character when attacked. Therefore, I will say 
 that though I have made a comfortable amount of 
 wealth from my loan-offices, it has not been made by 
 excessive interest charges. If I had been a hard man 
 to all those who had borrowed from my agents and 
 were unable to pay, I should to-day be one of the 
 richest men in the world. And then, too, I have 
 never used what wealth was graciously given me by 
 the good gods for evil purposes. I have bought 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 173 
 
 neither honours nor offices. I would cut my face 
 with a knife rather than accept an office or an hon- 
 our by purchase. 
 
 'Jit is true that I have loaned large sums to the 
 provinces, and even to the Throne, but it is also 
 true that certain honours were stripped from me 
 when the Government was greatest in my debt. It is 
 also true that for many years I have contributed 
 well to flood or drought sufferers, and it is on record 
 at the Room of Worthy Deeds [Peking] that during 
 the last direful famine I supplied food to one thou- 
 sand families in Tientsin, to four thousand families 
 in other parts of Chihli, and to five hundred families 
 in Shantung, for more than sixteen weeks. . . . 
 
 "They tell me there is very little poverty in 
 France, and that even the poorest people save a little 
 from day to day." 
 
 ^^ Tuesday evening. — ^This evening I was received 
 by the President of the Republic and Madame Faure. 
 The great halls of the President's palace were 
 thronged with eminent people from all over France 
 and Europe. The American Minister was there, and 
 extended personally an invitation on the part of 
 President Cleveland. I know, from all I have heard, 
 seen, and learned, that my reception in America 
 will be most agreeable. I look forward to it anxiously, 
 especially to seeing New York and Washington, 
 and visiting with Mr. Cleveland. 
 
 "Jhe French President is a quiet man, of studi- 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ous, careful habits, I should think. He had learned 
 somewhere or somehow to speak one or two phrases 
 in Chinese and these he repeated at least eight times 
 during our first meeting. Madame Faure is a plain 
 woman, but, I hear, of very kindly heart. She had 
 around her at the reception a number of the most 
 beautiful ladies I had ever seen. They were duchesses, 
 princesses, countesses, and the daughters of plain 
 politicians or merchants ; but they were all so charm- 
 mg that the title of Empress would not be too great 
 for the majority. 
 
 ' 'What strange things do happen ! One of the gen- 
 tlemen standing at a distance seemed familiar to me, 
 and I found after a while that he was almost staring 
 at me, as if to attract my particular attention to 
 him. When I asked Tuan to find out who he was, the 
 gentleman himself came over and extended his hand 
 in European fashion. 'Does Your Excellency re- 
 member me?' he asked in my own language. The 
 moment he spoke I remembered him. He was Cap- 
 tain Fournier, now a high official, who was the repre- 
 sentative of France at the Tientsin Treaty. I was 
 so glad to see him again, for he is truly a chivalrous 
 man and an honour to his country! I will send him 
 a chest of tea. 
 
 ^^ Midnight, before starting for Calais. — -Tuan 
 opened and read to me a long letter from the German 
 Kaiser a little while ago. It came through the German 
 Embassy here, and informs me that my request for 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 175 
 
 a hundred German officers to instruct our army has 
 been granted, and that the War Office at BerHn will 
 at once make the selections. China will pay the 
 same salaries that they would receive at home and 
 their expenses in addition. I hope the Throne will 
 not think I am extravagant. Anyway, the money 
 will come out of my own provincial (Chihli) funds. 
 Now we shall have an army!" 
 
 The next day, crossing the English Channel, 
 the Viceroy wrote : — 
 
 '[1 left France with regret and am going to Eng- 
 land with some misgivings. I read in the French 
 press, in the ' Matin ' only to-day, that the English 
 were making fun of me when I was the guest of 
 Germany. That is not right ; for when they make fun 
 of me it is not simply a person they are treating 
 lightly but the envoy of a great nation. 
 
 "If they do not treat me well, I shall make my 
 sojourn very brief, for I would not linger in any 
 house wherein I was not welcome." 
 
 "10 o'clock. Same morning. — The weather is 
 very rough just now and some of my party are quite 
 sick, but I have remained on deck so that I might 
 see England and France at about one and the same 
 time. 
 
 ^'I just heard something which sounds like a 
 dream, in truth. Some wealthy Frenchmen and 
 engineers, backed by the Government, propose to 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 build a tunnel under these very waters upon which 
 we are saiHng. But I also hear that the English, 
 who do not believe it is only a dream, will not let 
 them have an opening on their soil. Oh, those 
 English — they 're afraid of everybody and every- 
 thing! Yet they want to make light of me. 
 
 "We are in rough seas, and although I can hear 
 the salutes of Dover Castle, I am going to my bed 
 for a few minutes' rest." 
 
 That the Grand Ambassador had a touch of sea- 
 sickness he acknowledges with evident reluctance 
 in the last paragraph he writes in England, just 
 before taking steamer for New York: — 
 
 "Once more there is before me the prospect of 
 some seven or eight days of quiet, and the thought 
 is exceedingly pleasing. Yet there are also three 
 thousand miles of ocean between me and New York, 
 and they say that of all the great bodies of water the 
 Atlantic is the worst in temper. All our party were 
 seasick on the miserable little run across the English 
 Channel [the narrow sea of the English the Viceroy 
 calls it], with the exception of myself. I felt very ill 
 at my inwards when we were about midway across, 
 but that was the after effects of German food and 
 that Potsdam beer, more than any results of the 
 ship's motion. Tuan, C'Lung, and some of the others 
 chided me upon my so-called seasickness, but if 
 they had been across and up and down the China 
 Sea as many times as I, they would not have been 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 177 
 
 sent to their staterooms by the nasty little Narrow 
 Sea of the English." 
 
 During the first four days in England, so com- 
 pletely taken up was Li Hung Chang's time, as he 
 himself tells, so busy was he ** with small things and 
 great, small people and famous," that he had no 
 time for his memoirs. 
 
 ^'Hawarden, Eleventh Day in Memory of the Peace- 
 ful Jade Emperor. — Only here, in the home of the 
 "greatest living Englishman, have I found real rest 
 since leaving the boat at Dover. Here I have enjoyed 
 for a day such a rest as I have not known since bid- 
 ding good-bye to China; for it is a pleasurable rest 
 to see and know this * Grand Old Man.' It is delight- 
 ful to learn his thoughts and to see things of this 
 world as he sees them. It is the highest prize of 
 public service to be able to retire to such a home life 
 as is his, amid the respect of the world and the love 
 and admiration of his countrymen. If I could be 
 any other person than Li Hung Chang I should want 
 to be William Ewart Gladstone, the Grand Old Man 
 of England. And I should like best of all women, 
 even now before the Czarina, one of Fournier's 
 lovely daughters. 
 
 " Mr. Gladstone met me at the handsome, green- 
 covered station upon my arrival. A great crowd of 
 his countrypeople were there, and hats were raised 
 and handkerchiefs fluttered while our party de- 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 scended from the train. Then there was long and 
 hearty applause as we shook hands, both of us bare- 
 headed. I do not know when before, in public, I have 
 been seen without a head covering. 
 
 "Mr. Gladstone — he is only 'mister,' for he has 
 refused the highest titles the British Queen could 
 bestow — was much stronger in appearance than I 
 had expected to find him ; yet, when we were close 
 together and sat face to face, I could see that he 
 was an old man; much older in his face than I, 
 although there is but nine years' difference, I be- 
 lieve, in our ages. 
 
 "At once he apologised for not having come to 
 London to meet me. But he said that if he had made 
 the trip he would very likely have been ill for a week 
 or two. He had sent a telegram to me at Windsor 
 Castle to this same effect, two days before, and so I 
 had determined to visit him at Hawarden; even at 
 the expense of offending a number of the entertain- 
 ment committee and several members of the House 
 of Lords who had given me pressing invitations to 
 visit their homes." 
 
 The Viceroy on a later date gives a list of the 
 different personages in England who he thought 
 might be offended because he had chosen to go "of 
 his own will" to visit Gladstone at Hawarden, while 
 neglecting to accept the many other urgent invita- 
 tions to prominent houses. 
 
 "What had these other people to offer me?" he 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 179 
 
 asks. " Bread and wine and musical entertainments? 
 I had never heard of them, any pf them, and what 
 should I be spending my time with them for? The 
 Queen, Her Majesty Victoria, of England and Ire- 
 land and India, her son, who will be King if he lives, 
 Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley, Lord Tennyson, and 
 the Houses of Parliament, those were what interested 
 me in England, and the ships." 
 
 Still continuing his narrative at Hawarden, he 
 says : — 
 
 ''Mr. Gladstone and myself, accompanied only 
 by Long-li and Bruce [interpreters and secretaries], 
 took a long stroll over his estate, and talked of 
 many matters removed from state affairs. I was 
 surprised how well he knew my life, and he expressed 
 the sanie feeling when I told him that which I knew 
 regarding himself. He spoke about the Queen, about 
 Indian affairs and of Home Rule for Ireland; and 
 I was certain that he hoped to see that unhappy 
 country governed better before he died. * They have 
 given their best to England,' he said, 'and in return 
 have been given only England's worst.' 
 
 "He pointed out some tree-stumps to me, and 
 said that in eight years he had kept his health 
 good and muscles strong by this chopping exercise. 
 It amused me very much, and I told him I would 
 like to see him strike a blow. So he took up the 
 instrument for cutting and made several great dents 
 in one of the trees. Then he turned to me and said: 
 
i8o MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 *Lord Li, did you ever cut down a tree? ' I told him 
 I had many a time when I was a boy, but that like 
 many other boyish habits I had outgrown this one 
 also. But he wanted me to try and I did. However, 
 it was awkward work, for the handle of the instru- 
 ment caught in my sleeve and I nearly cut my foot." 
 
 "0/z the train, Hour of the Crow. — I slept two 
 hours during my visit to Mr. Gladstone, and he slept 
 also during that time. 
 
 "When we met again a nice little lunch was served. 
 Rare oolong, some Chinese crackers, and cold fowl. 
 Mr. Gladstone and myself ate alone this time. Then, 
 just before leaving, we sat together and were photo- 
 graphed. I could not get one of the pictures, although 
 I would willingly pay any price for it. Still, I am told 
 it will be in all the London papers in the morning." 
 
 During the following two days the memoirs con- 
 tain only the briefest comments on the dinner given 
 in his honour by the Lord Mayor of London, his 
 visit to the Tower and the Houses of Parliament, 
 and finally a carriage ride through the poorer sec- 
 tions of the city. Referring to this last, he says 
 among other things : — 
 
 "Of course, it is but natural that the hosts of our 
 party want to show us only the beautiful and pros- 
 perous in their realm. I saw great grandeur and 
 much wealth at Moscow and St. Petersburg, the 
 temples, parks, and fine avenues. I saw also the 
 
IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND i8i 
 
 strength and greatness of Berlin, and the wonderful 
 activity of Essen, Bremerhaven, Munich, and other 
 cities. Nevertheless, my eyes were constantly 
 watching for insights into the real conditions of the 
 people, and I saw things that somehow told me that 
 all was not sunshine and glory. 
 
 "And it is so with London and England. I dined 
 as the guest of Her Majesty at the castle, and great 
 officers of state took me to the Parliament and to 
 the forts and arsenals. I saw the fine parks of Lon- 
 don and some of the great thoroughfares; yet I could 
 see in the vast crowds so many people who were poor. 
 Even in the short time of my journey I have learned 
 to distinguish between the different classes of people 
 by the clothes they wear. 
 
 "My entertainers were not over-pleased, I fear, 
 by my desire and request to be taken for even a brief 
 period through the poorer sections. 'We have poor 
 in China, millions of them, and the sight of rags is 
 not new to me; but I have seen so many grand sights 
 that I am afraid, unless you grant my wish, that to 
 leave in my present frame of mind would mean that 
 I had not a true conception of life in England.' It 
 was this way that I talked to them. And finally I 
 was shown, hurriedly, some of the poorer parts of 
 the city. 
 
 " I cannot tell now of all I saw, nor of my fullest 
 impressions; but I know that I have come to the 
 conclusion that under a grand show many of the 
 countries with great armies and fleets of ships have 
 
i82 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 much misery hidden from the eyes of the world. 
 China is not the only country where there are rags 
 and hunger. The Chinaman cries out when his 
 stomach is empty and his throat dry; but in foreign 
 lands the hungry man steals from his neighbour or 
 breaks into his house. Often, very often, as I have 
 learned in these few but eye-and-mind-opening 
 weeks, he is ready to make silent war with bomb or 
 knife upon the Government he blames for his hope- 
 less condition. The more I see and learn of the lower 
 classes of people in Europe, the greater is my love 
 and pity for the miserable poor of my own country; 
 for, by comparison, the latter are less vicious. I 
 bow now in respect to all of China — from Her 
 Illustrious Majesty and the Court to the rivermen 
 of Canton." 
 
 "On the ship ready to sail for New York. — Good- 
 bye to you. Czar and Czarina, and to you, Russia; 
 good-bye to you. Kaiser, Bismarck, and my friend 
 Herr Krupp of Essen; good-bye to Happy and 
 Gracious La Belle France; good-bye to Victoria, 
 the Queen, and the Grand Old Man. 
 
 "I am going to Grant's country." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 
 
 That the Grand Ambassador to the Czar's corona- 
 tion was troubled again with what he had already 
 characterised, crossing the English Channel, as a 
 "disordered stomach," due to the "eating of Ger- 
 man foods," and, perhaps, to " Bismarck's hofbrau," 
 is evident from the first entry in his diary after 
 taking the Cunarder at Liverpool : — 
 
 " Third day on a mad ocean. — After eating. I do 
 not think, if ever I went to Germany again, I would 
 eat either with the Kaiser, Prince Bismarck, or any 
 other great man; that is, unless he would be agree- 
 able to my taking my own foods in my own way. 
 For I find that my stomach has not been so dis- 
 ordered for years. I do not remember that I was 
 ever so sick before. Dr. Gray, the ship's medical 
 officer, says that I have been seasick. It is a ridicu- 
 lous and most unscientific diagnosis of my case, and 
 I did not hesitate to tell him so. Dr. Tong-le does 
 not agree with Dr. Gray, and his disagreement gives 
 me more faith than ever in our Chinese medics. 
 
 "The master of the vessel has been very attentive 
 to me; more so, indeed, than I really desired — for 
 when one feels as I have felt in the last three days, 
 he wishes most of all to be left alone. 
 
 "Tong-Ie says- he has never known me to be so 
 
i84 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 irritable, and my good cook says he has been unable 
 to please me. Poor fellow ! he has staggered about the 
 ship like a man filled with strong drink, and I know 
 he is not any happier than I am. But he is seasick; 
 for he can demolish all kinds of foods, foreign and 
 Chinese, without experiencing the least ill-effects 
 afterwards. 
 
 "The sun is bright and warm to-day, and I am 
 beginning to enjoy the ocean air. We shall be half 
 the distance to America by to-night, they tell me. 
 I am also told that this mad ocean is quieter on the 
 American side." 
 
 , ''Fifth day out. — If the people aboard this ship 
 are a fair sample of the great mass of Americans 
 I am sure they are a wonderful nation. The men 
 are as polite as the French, and do not stare at one 
 like the Londoners. I was not pleased with the 
 crowds of England's capital/ They were rough in 
 looks and in behaviour, and many low fellows did 
 actually try to insult me. But the police were every- 
 where vigilant and superbly organised, and several 
 times the thugs were taught good lessons with clubs. 
 Njs^I think every one on board this ship, excepting 
 the third-class passengers and some of the crew, 
 have been presented to me in one way or another. 
 Fine old men, said to be the very rich, are among 
 the passengers. One of them, who owns many 
 railroads, was introduced by an American army 
 colonel, and later he brought his wife and daughter. 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 185 
 
 The latter is the belle of the ship, and would do for 
 a princess at court. I told the interpreter to tell 
 her so, and she replied with all the sweetness in the 
 world that she would like to be if I were king! yfy 
 
 " I think that was the highest praise I ever heard, 
 and I shall send Miss Marvin enough fine silks for 
 the rest of her life. She gave me a beautiful fan, 
 which she said she had purchased in Italy. It was 
 so rich and expensive that I did not want to take it, 
 and so told her. But she insisted, and I kissed her 
 hand. I have never before kissed a strange lady's 
 hand, — not outside of our Northern Capital, — 
 but I saw much of it in St. Petersburg and Moscow. 
 I think now that the Czarina expected me to kiss her 
 hand when she extended it immediately after the 
 ceremony of the coronation, but I neglected to do 
 it through my ignorance and excitement. Instead 
 I placed in her hand the Precious Queen Jade Ring 
 which the Dowager had sent as a present. 
 
 " I shall never forget the first apparent embarrass- 
 ment of the Czar and his Consort, to be immedi- 
 ately followed by a most pleased look upon the lovely 
 face of the pale Czarina. In a glance she examined 
 the Precious Ring, and then gladly extended her 
 hand once more, the ring upon her finger. I was 
 excited somewhat, and took the hand in both of 
 mine and knelt upon the rug. I suppose there is no 
 man with his eyes open who will not learn something 
 every day. Even Confucius said that a thousand 
 years of study was only a preparation for the real 
 
i86 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 knowledge one should possess to be able to stand 
 among his ancestors." 
 
 ''A Christian holiday [Sunday]. — My teeth are 
 troubling me to-day; that is, those which are not 
 false. When I get to Shanghai again I shall have 
 these last troubling ones removed. We shall be in 
 New York to-morrow. I feel thirty years younger 
 than Gladstone." 
 
 "At evening, Second Hour of the Crow. — I shall 
 go to my bed early, for we shall be in New York 
 Harbour at daylight. I am worried about this 
 American life I must lead for two or three weeks. 
 I hope it will be much shorter. I only want to see 
 Cleveland, and the tomb of General Grant." 
 
 It is exactly a week, according to the diary, 
 before His Excellency takes up again the narrative 
 of his trip, writing at the Hotel Bellevue, Phila- 
 delphia: — 
 
 ^"How can I write of all that has happened in the 
 six days just past? It seems as if I had lived a year 
 or more since I landed in New York from the Atlan- 
 tic steamer. I have been tired almost beyond words, 
 but the reception I have been accorded by this great 
 American people has filled me with pride, and I 
 know that in China it will be thought most won- 
 derful. 
 
 IJ And is it not strange? For years my people have 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 187 
 
 been barred out of this rich country — not because 
 they were criminals or had leprosy, but just be- 
 cause they were born in China. If the same persons 
 had been born in Japan or Korea or India or Eng- 
 land they would have been let pass through the 
 emigrant gates. And yet, I was born in China, and 
 these Americans, high and low, pay me the honour 
 and attention due a visiting monarch. I will see if 
 this cannot be changed somewhat. 
 
 "I have met that great-and-everywhere person 
 known as the American newspaper man, and I have 
 enjoyed him. Also, I guess, he has enjoyed me, for 
 I have been told more funny things by the reporters 
 than I ever heard in all my life before. They are a 
 jolly lot of fellows, and I think a regiment of them 
 would make the biggest army [enemy] laugh so 
 much that they either could not fight, or would not 
 want to shoot such clever chaps. 
 
 "When we came sailing into New York Bay, — 
 before, indeed, we had really left the mad ocean 
 behind us, — there were many craft coming to meet 
 us, smoke from their funnels, and white steam and 
 noise from their whistles. Ahead of all the rest were 
 two or three handsome launches, making for our 
 ship as if they would run us down. I thought these 
 must be the official boats, and I went far forward 
 on the ship and looked ahead to the oncoming 
 vessels. 
 
 "There were no ladies on these first boats, and I 
 surely thought they must be the carriers of the 
 
i88 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 officials. But I soon learned my mistake, for these 
 were the boats of the American press. Our big ship 
 slowed down — for the press is all-powerful in the 
 United States — and a lot of men scrambled aboard. 
 They were clean, fine-looking fellows; like young 
 diplomats or secretaries in a foreign office. 
 
 "At first I was somewhat nonplussed at their 
 familiarity, for they neither bowed nor hung back, 
 but came straight to our party, and began introduc- 
 ing themselves and shaking hands. It was impossible 
 to be offended, although, as I have said, I was at a 
 loss just what to do or say. But soon I got used to 
 the fine fellows, and took them as far forward on the 
 deck as we could go. 
 
 "When I had them there I said: 'Now, gentle- 
 men, I have come to see America, and not to be the 
 distributor of information. I want to learn things. 
 Therefore, please tell my secretaries all about the 
 points of interest as we go up the harbour.' And 
 they did it, too. I asked about everything I saw, 
 and before we had landed in New York I could tell 
 many things concerning the city, especially what 
 buildings loomed up into the sky, the various waters 
 of the bay, the islands, and the forts, and a lot of 
 such information as only one who travels may 
 acquire. 
 
 V From that morning to this I have not been — 
 I was going to say an instant — an hour, in my wak- 
 ing life, without the company of my newspaper 
 friends. At Washington, with the officials, on the 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 189 
 
 trains, at all the receptions and meetings, even wait- 
 ing for me at the hotels when I wanted to retire, and 
 again looking for me before I had partaken of the 
 first morning meal — they are wonderful and tire- 
 less, and deserve to earn a great deal of money. I 
 saw them hobnobbing with the President and with 
 Governors, just as if these high officials were only 
 respectable tax-gatherers. Still, it all told me that 
 this country was, indeed, the democracy of the 
 world. That great lesson I learned from the actions 
 of the American newspaper men, and I bless them 
 for it! 
 
 " I am a journalist myself. Many people would be 
 willing to doubt and to ridicule, but it is true never- 
 theless. While I have never published a journal, nor 
 acted as editor, the profession of writing is so noble 
 that I am honoured to claim membership therein. 
 When in my youth I thought of my future, I said 
 that some day I wanted to be the Chang-yuan [poet- 
 laureate] of my country, and I studied long and dili- 
 gently. I took my degrees ahead of many thousands, 
 the hsui-tsai [A.B.], the chu-jen [M.A.], and the 
 tsun-sz [LL.D.], following each other rapidly. And 
 I have written and written for many years. 
 \ -'One young reporter laughed long when I told 
 him I was a newspaper man, too, and that he surely 
 did not expect me to give him all the information I 
 had gathered. He had been asking me questions like 
 a rapid-fire gun, and I saw he was new at his profes- 
 sion, and I pitied him. 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "'You say, Mr. Li Hung Chung, that you are a 
 newspaper man?' he asked when I appeared serious. 
 
 "'Yes,' I replied, ' I have written a great deal that 
 has been published in our Chinese papers, and which 
 the editors did not dare refuse.' 
 
 "'How was that?' he enquired. 
 
 "'They were decrees from the Throne,' I told 
 him. 
 
 "Evidently that was all he needed for his article 
 that day; for he left me immediately, after offering 
 me a cigar, and the next morning I read in one of the 
 New York papers that ^ Li Hung Chang is a writer 
 who uses an axe on any man who dares Blue Pencil his 
 
 '-'The newspaper men of New York have given 
 me such treatment that I shall never forget them. 
 While they have not treated my visit in the severe 
 manner of the Germans, or in the half-patronising 
 attitude of the London and Liverpool journals, they 
 have tried to get at the truth regarding China and 
 the affairs of the Far East. The editorial writers 
 have poked a little fun at our party, but at the same 
 time the chief editors have made my visit the oc- 
 casion for long and sensible editorials upon China 
 and her people. For this I thank them. The great 
 United States has been our friend in the past — even 
 though she shut out the emigrants — and she will be 
 our strong friend in need some day. 
 
 "Of all the cities in the world I think New York 
 is the worst. The worst, least suited to the life of 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 191 
 
 Li Hung Chang, I mean. Of course, they did not 
 think of me when they were building it. 
 
 ^ But I should not want to live where, if an earth- 
 quake happened, ten thousand tons of stone and 
 iron would topple over on my head. Oh, I have pains 
 now in my head and neck from looking up! And when 
 I was looking up, there were hundreds of thousands 
 looking down at me — like people in crevices of 
 great cliffs, four times higher than our tallest pago- 
 das. Had they been enemies, how easy for one or 
 ten of them to drop heavy boulders down into my 
 carriage ! But they were all friends, thousands upon 
 thousands of friends of the Throne, of the Grand 
 Ambassador and his party, and of the millions and 
 millions of my countrymen. I know this to be so, for 
 flags and banners and long streamers waved every- 
 where. Even the myriads of young folks and chil- 
 dren waved little flags of yellow silk upon which 
 were painted the Dragon, and beautiful women and 
 girls cheered for China and clapped their pretty 
 hands. It was all very pleasing, very satisfying to 
 me and those with me, and I know the news will be 
 told far and wide in China." 
 
 ^^ Later. Same night. — The fine picture of Presi- 
 dent Cleveland, which I made him promise me in 
 New York, was delivered by a special Government 
 messenger this evening. Mrs. Cleveland's picture 
 also accompanies the President's, and there is this 
 brief but delightful inscription in her own hand: 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 * Joining with the President in sending photographs 
 to the most distinguished of Chinese statesmen, I 
 also request that assurances of my highest esteem be 
 given Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.' 
 \\ "It is told me that of all those fair women who 
 have been mistresses of the Executive Mansion at 
 Washington, Mrs. Cleveland is one of the most 
 lovable. This I can readily believe, for I do not know 
 when or where I have seen a face and form more 
 pleasing to the eye. I would call her the Mother of 
 Graciousness and the Sister of Heavenly Love. As 
 the Chief Lady of the United States she is an orna- 
 ment to her sex, and a glory to womankind the world 
 over. I wish the illustrious and sacred Empress 
 Dowager could know Mrs. Cleveland and the 
 Czarina.--::^" 
 
 --^\ President Cleveland could not have paid a 
 higher compliment to royalty than he did to me and 
 the members of our party. It was so great and affect- 
 ing that I authorised C'Lung to expend fifteen hun- 
 dred taels upon a message to the Throne telling 
 of the American President's superlative compliment 
 in coming all the way from Washington to New 
 York to greet us. Could he have done more? No, 
 if he had offered me the post of Secretary of State I 
 could not have felt more highly honoured. 
 
 " I cannot compare Mr. Cleveland with any man 
 whom I have met, unless it is with Prince Bismarck. 
 Yet, while he appears to have the great force and 
 will-power of the Iron Chancellor, I am sure he is 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 193 
 
 not possessed of the same quick temper. Bismarck 
 kicked one of his hounds, and slapped a lackey for 
 letting the dog get in his way. I cannot imagine 
 President Cleveland doing that, or getting so red in 
 the face as Bismarck did. Still, one cannot always 
 tell. I had a lesser wife [concubine] once, who, before 
 she came to my house, was the personification of 
 meekness and lovability. I almost began to believe, 
 before marriage, that she was too mild in mind to be 
 really human; but in six weeks she began to make 
 my tea bitter, and to treat me as if I were the tail 
 instead of the head of that establishment. I paid her 
 twenty shoes of silver [perhaps about $300] and sent 
 her away. ""-^ 
 
 ''^■This recalls some of the questions of another 
 reporter in New York. He wanted to know how 
 many wives I had, and after I told him I had as 
 many as I needed, he was impertinent enough to 
 ask how many I needed. The question did not please 
 me, but I did not let him know it, for that would 
 have been a satisfaction to him which I did not wish 
 to give. And so I asked, 'How many wives have 
 you?' He answered quickly, 'None.' 'Good,' I 
 said, 'you look as if you might be able to take care 
 of just that number. ',,„x^>^ 
 
 "When Mr. Cleveland and myself talked about 
 wives and women in America and China, it was 
 different. The President was seeking enlightenment, 
 and so was I. He laughed heartily when I told him 
 that if he were President of China he would have, 
 
^194 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 as he has here, but one wife in full legal status; but 
 that undoubtedly he would also possess a secondary 
 wife in each province, or perhaps more. ' No, no,' he 
 said, the tears of laughter running down his cheeks. 
 'But, come to think of it,' he continued, 'it takes a 
 man capable of managing sixteen or eighteen Chinese 
 women to govern one American girl.' 
 
 " I cannot pretend now to tell of all our activities 
 in New York, with the dinners and receptions and 
 the speeches. The Mayor presented me with the 
 keys of the city; at least, that is what he said he was 
 doing. The ceremony meant that I could go where 
 I pleased, eat and purchase what I pleased, and even 
 buy fine silks and satins, and the country would pay 
 for it all. But, as it happened, I was n't allowed at 
 any time to go where I pleased, nor to spend so 
 much as a cash [about one eighth of a cent]. I saw 
 the great Central Park, the Courts, and the Prison. 
 There is another prison on an island in one of the 
 big rivers that run around New York; or, rather, 
 through New York, for the original city, built on 
 an island, has spread out over territory in two or 
 three provinces or states. 
 
 "A great river, as wide as ours at Hankow, bounds 
 the city upon one side. I went up this fine stream 
 when I was taken to visit the tomb of the great 
 General Grant, who put down the rebellion of the 
 Confederates as I had put down the long turmoils 
 of the Taipings. And, strange enough, I was fight- 
 ing the Taipings with Ching andGordon in 1863 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 195 
 
 while General Grant was fighting to reach the rebel 
 capital. 
 
 t' I think,- if they wanted to win, that the Confed- 
 erates used poor judgment when they placed their 
 capital so near the old capital of the country. Why, 
 the distance is not greater than that between 
 Shanghai and Nanking! If their army lost the 
 battles in front of their capital, their Government 
 must run away or fall into the hands of the other 
 side. A Government that is running like a rabbit, 
 or trapped like a guinea-pig, does not command 
 much respect from its followers. I have looked at a 
 map of the Confederacy, and I should have estab- 
 lished the capital somewhere in Texas. It could be 
 moved later. 
 
 i "I cannot shed tears as some people do, — there 
 are those who shed them when they break the shell 
 of a painted egg, — but my heart was full of bitter 
 sadness and sweet memory when I stood beside the 
 tomb of my glorious departed friend General Grant. 
 Of course, I was in a manner happy to think and 
 know that I could stand at his holy grave, and speak 
 to him in the Other Land of Blissful Longevity. It is 
 at the grave of the departed that one's words are of 
 most effect. The spirits linger there to listen, and 
 when the distressed friend comes and speaks, his 
 words are caught up and carried to the Sacred Hol- 
 low, where the Seven Springs are always flowing. 
 
 "And so I told the spirit of my departed and 
 illustrious friend that I had come all the way from 
 
196 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 distant China to look upon his tomb as I had looked 
 upon his face so many years ago. And it was the 
 very truth ; for while I had an official mission to per- 
 form for my Sovereign, and a message of good will 
 to take to the Czar and to the rulers of Belgium, 
 Germany, and the other countries, I had in my heart 
 a loving desire to speak my inmost thoughts to the 
 spirit of the famous American commander. 
 
 '' I could not have returned satisfied to China had 
 I left this sweet and flower-scented duty unper- 
 formed. I offered sweet incense and holy flowers to 
 his spirit. I placed a booklet of prayers at his head, 
 and I asked his blessed spirit to think of me always, 
 and to give me welcome to the Land of Sunshine and 
 Golden Hours. This done, I am filled with an ocean 
 of peace and content; just as when, at the grave of 
 my illustrious and most holy mother, I find joy of 
 the heart and incense of the mind. 
 
 "I have thought and thought so much of General 
 Grant. He came to China covered with the honour 
 and plaudits of the whole world, and we honoured 
 him still more; we honoured him as no foreigner 
 before or since has been honoured in our country. 
 
 "And — is it not strange? — was he speaking to 
 me? — of General Grant I was thinking when the 
 Japanese ruffian attempted my life at Shimonoseki; 
 when the Marquis Ito and myself, as representatives 
 of our nations, were engaged in the treaty of peace. 
 Is it not strange? 
 
 "Yes, I even looked beyond to the trees of General 
 
ATLANTIC VOYAGE AND NEW YORK 197 
 
 Grant and Mrs. Grant, and spoke to him as I felt 
 the burning of the maniac's bullet!" 
 
 The Viceroy's memoirs take it as being well known 
 that during the visit of General and Mrs. Grant to 
 the Far East the Japanese honoured them, among 
 many ways, by the planting of two splendid trees 
 of the Samurai clan on a little island opposite the 
 city of Shimonoseki, dedicating the ground as sa- 
 cred. Upon one tree was hung a copper portrait 
 and inscription of the General, and a like placard 
 with the picture of Mrs. Grant upon the other. It is 
 recorded locally that soon after General Grant's 
 death the tree dedicated to him withered away, but 
 that the other grew green and luxuriant until Mrs. 
 Grant's death, when it, too, died. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 
 
 "Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, as it 
 is called, also the city of the Cradle of American 
 Liberty. I want to put down a few impressions now, 
 for in a few days more I shall be commencing the 
 long journey across the United States toward the 
 Pacific Ocean and my beloved home. I am getting 
 homesick for China; and although of late I have 
 been sending brief despatches by cable to the 
 Court, always with love and reverence for the illus- 
 trious Throne, I am anxious to tell China about my 
 triumphal journey in foreign lands, as a first wife 
 is to relate the antics of her first-born boy. 
 
 *LU New York is the noisiest, most mind-distract- 
 ing and elbow-rubbing place I ever saw, and Wash- 
 ington the most beautiful and open, — though I 
 have no doubt my French friends would not thank 
 me for saying this, especially considering the woods 
 of Paris [the Viceroy probably refers to the Bois 
 de Boulogne or the wide boulevards] , — Philadelphia 
 is one of the most smiling of cities. 
 
 "Of course, I mean the people, for I cannot say 
 that the city has any sections which compare at all 
 with the upper parts of New York, from Grant's 
 tomb and beyond; nor has it anything half so impos- 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 199 
 
 ing in buildings or thoroughfares as the Capitol and 
 Pennsylvania Avenue of Washington. 
 
 "The crowds are not as dense as they are in New 
 York, nor as well-dressed as those in Washington or 
 Paris, but they are better-natured than any I have 
 seen anywhere. Clean, nice-looking people, too, 
 with smiles all over their faces, and cheers and 
 'hellos' and other friendly greetings coming from 
 their throats. 
 
 "I think the place well named 'City of Brotherly 
 Love.' But I am going to invent a new title, — 
 which I told the Mayor, and he said he would write 
 it down, — and call it the Place of a Million Smiles. 
 That is almost poetic, but it is proper, for I have 
 also written some lines on the Liberty Bell, which 
 are yet to be rewritten when I return to China." 
 
 Whether Li Hung Chang ever rewrote his lines 
 upon the Liberty Bell, composed during his stay in 
 Philadelphia, is not known. Certain it is that a 
 careful search of his quite countless manuscripts 
 and notes fails to reveal any further attempt to 
 improve or revise the few original lines, although in 
 several places in his memoirs of later date he refers 
 to the Liberty Bell and his visit to Philadelphia. 
 
 The poem to which he refers, and which has an 
 excellent cadence and metre according to Chinese 
 standards, is extremely difficult of rendition in 
 English, if attempt is made to follow the author's 
 rather involved thought : — 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 To my eyes they did point out the symbol of Liberty, 
 
 And to my ears they did direct the sound. 
 
 It was only a sound of dong-dong. 
 
 And it came from an instrument of brass made by man. 
 
 The bell did not ring to my ears; 
 
 I could not hear the voice in my ears; 
 
 But in my heart its tones took hold, 
 
 And I learned that its brazen tongue 
 
 Even in silence told of struggles against wrong. 
 
 These good sons of America 
 
 Call the Liberty Bell ancient; 
 
 But I who come from the oldest of the lands, 
 
 A student of the philosophy of the ages, 
 
 Know that what this bell speaks 
 
 Is of Heaven's wisdom. 
 
 Millions of centuries before the earth was born. 
 
 It repeats the heart words of the gods; 
 It repeats, only repeats: 
 But let it do so to the end. 
 
 In his prose regarding the Liberty Bell, the 
 Viceroy speaks again of its age, but in a much 
 lighter vein : — 
 
 "They showed me a beautifully-shaped old bell, 
 which is in Independence Hall, and is called the Bell 
 of Liberty; which means that at its ringing all men 
 within sound of its voice know they are free. But 
 they do not ring it any more because it is cracked. 
 Is Liberty cracked also? 
 
 "When I was informed that it was considered 
 'old,' in fact, called the 'Old Liberty Bell,' I asked 
 regarding its age, and some of the officials began 
 looking quizzically one to another. The Governor 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 20i 
 
 of the State himself did not know its age, but finally 
 some fellow with sharp eyes discerned a date on the 
 symbol, whether inside or out I cannot say, and 
 announced that it was some hundred or two years 
 old. 
 
 "Ho! a hundred or two hundred (I forget which) 
 years old ! He ! we should laugh in China if any one 
 should call anything old at that age. It is simply 
 an infant, still suckling. I laughed at the mention, 
 and I told the Governor. He winked and said : * Yes, 
 Viceroy, all the nations are suckling infants com- 
 pared to your venerable land.' . . . With that I 
 bowed and thanked him, and I liked him for his 
 speech. 
 
 -The great celebration for our party in this city 
 was held principally about the place where the 
 Liberty Bell is guarded — a building called Inde- 
 pendence Hall. It is a small structure, not half as 
 large as the Hall of Sacred Records at Canton, nor 
 even of the Temple of the Great Philosopher at the 
 Forbidden City. Here it was that the first Assembly 
 of American representatives met to declare war upon 
 England, and freedom from her heavy taxes. The 
 English taxed everything the Americans used, almost, 
 excepting the air and the water. The worst tax of 
 all was upon tea grown in China. The Americans 
 were very fond of tea, and they wanted much of it. 
 So England decided that she could raise large rev- 
 enues by taxing the tea. Then the Americans threw 
 the tea into the harbours, tax and all, and would 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 drink nothing but milk and water and whisky for a 
 long time. Not much tea was drunk for eight years, 
 when the war ended with England beaten. It was 
 what she deserved. I should hate any man who 
 deprived me of my sou-chong [a rare variety of tea, 
 such as the Viceroy carried as a present to the Czar 
 and Czarina, and such as he invariably used him- 
 self whenever it was obtainable]. 
 
 "There were several speeches in and about 
 Independence Hall, even myself making a brief 
 address, which was translated by — I cannot 
 recall his name, a secretary of our Washington lega- 
 tion. It was only a few sentences, the best wishes 
 of the Chinese nation to the United States. I also 
 spoke a few words in English: 'I am proud to be 
 welcomed in the land of Washington.' 
 
 *M must not forget the Mayor of Philadelphia, 
 the Honourable Mr. Warrick [Warwick], who was 
 a jolly fellow, wearing a silk hat and a perpetual 
 smile. The smile suited his city. Mr. Honourable 
 Mayor made one of the longest speeches I have heard 
 on this trip, and he put me to sleep. Yes, I really fell 
 into a deep doze during his spouting, and it took 
 roars of laughter to awaken me to the sense of my 
 position. When I opened my eyes I saw thousands 
 of people laughing and clapping their hands, and at 
 first I thought it must have been some very humor- 
 ous or witty remark of the speaker's that had brought 
 about such an extraordinary outburst of good nature. 
 Then I saw that everybody was looking at me, includ- 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 203 
 
 ing the Honourable Mayor himself. He was laugh- 
 ing with the rest! Of course, I felt a little embar- 
 rassed. Then the speaker said, half to me and half 
 to the immense audience, 'His Excellency does not 
 like long speeches, evidently; so I will cut mine 
 short.' This being translated to me I had my secre- 
 tary say to the Honourable Mayor that I did like 
 long speeches, for during them I could have long 
 sleeps. The Honourable Mayor repeated my words 
 to his hearers, and there was laughter and cheer- 
 ing for several minutes. Anj^way, the Honourable 
 Mayor finished what he had to say quickly, the 
 bands began to play, and the soldiers — they were 
 Pennsylvania State Troops [National Guard] — 
 began to march, and our party entered carriages and 
 were driven up to Broad Street. 
 --"Broad Street is well named. It is very broad, 
 and many miles long; the longest straight street in 
 all the world. I looked down it both ways from the 
 City Hall, and it seemed to have no endings. Some 
 one told me it was thirty miles in length, which, if 
 true, is nearly one and one half times as long as the 
 great outer wall of Peking. In New York their prin- 
 cipal street is called Broadway, when it is not broad 
 at all, but narrow, as thoroughfares go in this coun- 
 try. I think it is not as wide as the Hatemen Road 
 in Peking; but with its buildings it makes me think 
 of the Si-kiang River at Sin-chow, with its tremen- 
 dous depths and high banks. But Broadway leads 
 the universe for business, and 'Business' is the key- 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 note of progress to-day. In America, especially, 
 everything is 'Business,' even to the art of writing. 
 Nobody in the United States writes for the mere love 
 of the work. No, the most immortal poem or the 
 greatest tale of true love and heroism must be paid 
 for before the writers will let their manuscripts out 
 of their hands. It is wonderful to think that if I had 
 been paid even a tael for each full page I have written 
 I should be almost a millionaire!" 
 
 It may be well to explain here, lest the explana- 
 tion made in the introduction be already forgotten, 
 that Li Hung Chang's favourite writing-paper — 
 if we are to judge by what he used — was extra 
 heavy, and cut to a size approximating a postal- 
 card, though not of exactly that shape. His writ- 
 ten characters were large, about a 36 point in type 
 measurement, while his emphasised or exclamatory 
 words or characters were often written much larger. 
 This, being considered, with the further fact that 
 seldom or never did he write beyond three lines to 
 a "page," will help to render this last statement of 
 his less exaggerated than it seems upon its face 
 to be. 
 
 ," I find that the matter of local or provincial pride 
 is the same the world over. Londoners, in spite of 
 the fog and damp of their great city, will tell you 
 that it is the best place on the planet to live in. New 
 Yorkers say that outside of New York there is little 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 205 
 
 to see, and they let their local pride lead them to 
 scoff at and make fun of Philadelphia. Of course, 
 the intelligent people know that this is only palaver, 
 but the ignorant get it into their heads, and wag 
 their tongues as if it were the sacred truth. 
 
 I'And this makes me think of what one of the 
 reporters said to our party when we came from New 
 York. He said that when we were in Philadelphia 
 we would be either dead or asleep. I did not make 
 reply at the time, but I have since thought that 
 there was more danger of being dead in New York, 
 with all the rush and noise overhead and on all 
 sides, than in Philadelphia. 
 
 "But was it not humorous that in all my travels, 
 however tired and worn I might be, I never went to 
 sleep in public before? I had a temptation to tell 
 the Mayor of Philadelphia, when he and the other 
 officials came to meet our party at a junction point 
 [German town?], what the New York reporter had 
 said, but I was afraid it might offend him, for I did 
 not know what a good-natured man he was. After- 
 ward he himself told me how all the country called 
 Philadelphia slow and sleepy, so I see that I should 
 not have hurt his feelings at all." 
 
 "Late, same night. — To-night I visited the Union 
 League, and was served a delightful Chinese din- 
 ner with wines and tea from Canton. It was the 
 best that my stomach has received since leaving 
 home. 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "A great number of prominent people were there. 
 I have a complete Hst, and will preserve it. But a 
 few I will mention now: the Honourable Governor 
 of the State, who was also a General in the great 
 Civil War; Mr. Wanamaker, the foremost merchant 
 of the United States, besides several leading editors 
 and writers, among them Mr. Smith." 
 
 '^ Next morning. — General Hastings, the Gover- 
 nor of this great State, called upon me this morning 
 to bid me adieu, and to present one or two young 
 ladies and several members of his staff. I gave the 
 Governor a strong invitation to visit me in China, 
 and I told him that if he would come and spend a 
 half a year in the quiet of my home in Peking, I 
 would make him so pleased and comfortable that he 
 would not ever want to return to the noise of Penn- 
 sylvania. He thanked me cordially, and said he 
 would give the matter careful thought. General 
 Stewart, who was with the Governor, asked me if I 
 could not make him the head of my provincial arJny. 
 He said he loved to fight. 'In that case, General,' 
 I said to him, 'we do not want you, for armies that 
 are always looking for battle usually get more than 
 they bargain for.' 
 
 "I am sure that Governor Hastings is by far the 
 handsomest man I have seen in all these Western 
 countries. He ought to hold the position of emperor 
 or king, or at least be duke of a duchy. It was a pity 
 that he did not appear in uniform, for he is a born 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 207 
 
 general-in-chief in appearance, and of most com- 
 manding presence. 
 
 "When the Governor stood near me I was not so 
 large as before, for I had to look up at a slant into 
 his eyes. I asked him how tall he was, and what he 
 weighed without his clothes on, and he told me; but 
 I have forgotten the figures just now. At any rate 
 at the Union League we stood back to back, and he 
 was an inch and two thirds taller than myself. 
 Together we were the biggest pair of men in the club. 
 
 v'l had several delicious American drinks called 
 'cocktails,' and I asked Salang to find out just what 
 ingredients were used, and how they were made. 
 There was just enough spice and sweetness to them 
 to suit my taste, and I do not think they would hurt 
 me if taken not too frequently. 
 
 "I feel that I shall sleep most calmly to-night." 
 
 After the above no entry appears to have been 
 made for a week or ten days ; for as Western dates 
 or places are seldom given, and Chinese dates, when 
 used, appear to be the markings of time in a num- 
 ber of different epochs, it is next to impossible to 
 know with any degree of certainty where the follow- 
 ing lines were written; but, presumably, from the 
 general tone, they were written west of the Rocky 
 Mountains : — 
 
 ^ After three days on the train. — Again I must 
 think of Russia with its vast plains and heaven- 
 reaching mountains. But here the parallel of thought 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 must end; for with Russia all the wild and newer 
 country is far to the east, while in the United 
 States it is the west that is widespreading and new. 
 Yet I must not be misunderstood, nor must I leave 
 in my records statements that I myself will take 
 wrongly in the times to come when facts, figures, 
 and impressions are not as plain as they are to-day. 
 
 '^In this wonderful Western empire of the Ameri- 
 can Union there is the same spirit of enterprise and 
 business, with all modern progress, that there is 
 along the seaboard of the Atlantic. And to think 
 that fifty years ago there was not a settlement of 
 stationary people in the hundreds of miles we have 
 been travelling since we left the great river of 
 America, the Mississippi. 
 
 "Can it be true? Can it be that all these changes 
 have taken place since I took my examinations for 
 the Han-lin? It must be, for I have heard it from 
 every one, and a whole nation cannot lie. 
 
 "For hours and hours we travel, and see nothing 
 but great ranches with cattle, or vast stretches of 
 country without a living man or woman or fowl. 
 Then there will be a small town, then another, then 
 another; until finally the train rushes through the 
 outskirts of a big city, and into a station that makes 
 one think again of New York, Chicago, or London. 
 And there are high buildings everywhere, so high 
 that men look like children when seen from their 
 roofs. Heaven help this country whenever an earth- 
 quake comes! 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 209 
 
 "I cannot see, in spite of the explanations that 
 have been made to me, what is gained by having 
 these structures built up so that they almost stop 
 the clouds going by. Yes, I can see in New York, 
 for New York is built upon an island, and the 
 shippers and others do not want to go across rivers 
 and bays to do their business. The city becomes 
 crowded, and land is so valuable that those who 
 own it send their edifices up into the air, which is 
 free to use as high as they want to go. Yes, I can 
 understand New York's 'cloud-stoppers'; but I 
 cannot understand why these Western cities, with 
 cheap land for hundreds of miles in all directions, 
 will try to see how many great buildings they can 
 crowd together in one place. Still, I suppose if I 
 should write a whole volume, and make a present of 
 it for circulation among the business men of these 
 cities, they would not even thank me for my med- 
 dling. Anyway, it is none of my concern; and, be- 
 sides, I do not expect to see the places again. 
 
 "I care nothing for mere places, unless there is 
 some charm of the mind or heart to draw and hold 
 me. And no place because of itself can have a claim 
 upon my affections. There must be some human or 
 ancestral association connected with a place if I am 
 to think about it, or dream about it, or write 
 about it. 
 
 "Moscow as Moscow is nothing to me; but as the 
 place where I witnessed such overpowering cere- 
 monials, where I saw the Czarina, and where I 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 presented to her the Sacred Ring, sent by the illus- 
 trious and ever virtuous Empress Dowager, it is a 
 place enshrined deep in my heart. 
 
 "And so with Essen — I hate its smoke and heat, 
 but I love Essen because of Herr Krupp, and admire 
 Essen because of her cannons. 
 
 "And so with Ha warden. 
 
 "And so with Philadelphia and Washington and 
 Mt. Vernon. 
 
 "And so with home — where our loved ones are! 
 'T was an American that wrote a great sweet song 
 of home. I know the air, for I heard the bands play 
 it on the warships when I was a young man, but I 
 do not know the words as they were written. How- 
 ever, the words are in the heart of each human 
 being — just as the dong-dong-dong of the Old 
 Liberty Bell at Philadelphia is in the national hearts 
 of all men, before those hearts are turned to some- 
 thing else by pride or selfishness or greed of gain and 
 power." 
 
 The great Viceroy wrote but little more of his 
 memoirs while on American soil. What he did write 
 was by way of advice to his countrymen in the United 
 States, that they should obey the laws faithfully, 
 and live in peace and concord with the people about 
 them, save their money, and eventually return to 
 the land of their ancestors. 
 
 His last paragraphs, written at San Francisco, the 
 day before his sailing for China, are as follows: — 
 
WHAT HE SAW IN AMERICA 211 
 
 // 
 ■' "To-day my friends took me far out toward the 
 
 Golden Gate, and gave me my first view of the 
 
 broad Pacific from this side of the world. 
 
 . "I could not believe it was so many thousand 
 
 miles across. For as I stood there upon those high 
 
 cliffs at one side of the narrow entrance to the great 
 
 bay of San Francisco, I strained my tired eyes across 
 
 the waters, and I thought I could see in the beautiful 
 
 distance the holy mirage of my native land. Those 
 
 about me talked and pointed; but I heeded them 
 
 not — for my very soul was reaching out to the souls 
 
 of China. I saw the Throne, and I bowed my knee 
 
 to Their Illustrious Majesties. I saw Tientsin and 
 
 Canton and Hankow — all places I love and shall 
 
 ever love. 
 
 "Returning to my apartments, I had nothing 
 
 more to say. I have seen the world in these months. 
 
 Now all I ask is the supreme joy of kissing the 
 
 earth of my native land." ./ 
 
 V 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SHORT NOTES FROM HIS DIARY 
 
 ^^ July 10, 1899. — The Empress Dowager calls, with 
 an attempt at humour, the T'wan-lien [provincial 
 militia] a 'tiger ride,' because it has got into the 
 control of the Great Sword Society. Perhaps Her 
 Majesty will yet learn that such animals and such 
 riders, when half encouraged, devour their friends 
 as well as their enemies." 
 
 ^* Nanking, 1869. — All foreigners regard China in 
 the light of a yellow corpse, buried by itself, and 
 never to awaken without the white devil's medicines. 
 When they are looking upon China these foreigners 
 all use the same spectacles; yet at home they fight 
 among themselves, and have more bitter hatreds 
 against each other than they have against us. The 
 French hate the Germans, and the Russians kill the 
 Jews, but they are all Christians when they come to 
 China." 
 
 ^^ Peking, 1900. — How idle is much of this talk 
 that we hear about overthrowing the Dynasty, and 
 substituting a Chinese family to reign in place of the 
 Manchus! Every one knows, including myself, that 
 there is no Chinese family sufficiently respected to 
 rule this country in peace and order." 
 
SHORT NOTES FROM HIS DIARY 213 
 
 (Without date.) — "Kang Yu-wei Is sometimes a 
 patriotic official, sometimes a foolish meddler, and 
 oftentimes a brainless ass." 
 
 " Suchau, August, 1864. — If the Taipings had a 
 little generalship to go along with their wild fanati- 
 cism, they would have marched north and driven 
 the Imperial family from Peking. For some time it 
 appeared as if the new so-called Emperor Tien-teh 
 [Hung Siu-tsuen] would really establish a dynasty, 
 and rule the whole Middle Kingdom. But he was 
 only an impostor in religious matters, a fakir among 
 the people, and in no sense a military leader. It is 
 true that he had a number of brilliant lieutenants 
 among the Wangs; but these men, even, came under 
 his unholy spell, and were handicapped in their 
 plans and movements." 
 
 "December, 1898. — Whenever there is trouble I 
 am sent as a doctor, yet whether the patient dies or 
 gets suddenly well I receive no credit, but always 
 blame. Whether it is the seizing of Kiao-chow by 
 the Germans, the demanding of Wei-hai-wei by the 
 British, or the bursting of the Yellow River banks, 
 I am always the physician in attendance; but, 
 instead of collecting a fee, I am usually subject to a 
 fine for my trouble and skill. 
 
 "And now with the present affair in Shantung, 
 Chang Ju-mei [the Governor] and myself receive all 
 the blame, and are denounced on all hands. Of course 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 the excuse for this is that we have not dealt properly 
 with the finances of the river improvements, but the 
 real reason is that Chang Ju-mei and myself are 
 unutterably opposed to the Big Swords being allowed 
 to meet and organise. They mean nothing good but 
 much harm, yet the Government will not consent to 
 their suppression. For his share in combating their 
 growth Governor Chang has lost his position, and the 
 hot-headed Yu Hsien, Treasurer of the Hu-nan and 
 Tartar General at Nanking, has been sent in his 
 place. Now this very appointment indicates just 
 how the Court feels toward these organised ruffians 
 who called themselves patriots and defenders of the 
 State, for Yu Hsien is one of the most bigoted of 
 officials, and has in the past allowed battles to be 
 fought against the missionaries and converts, espe- 
 cially the Roman Catholics. Perhaps our Govern- 
 ment is willing that more parts of the empire be 
 grabbed by foreign nations on account of these 
 fellows." 
 
 In 1886 the Viceroy first mentions Yuan Shih-k'ai: 
 "Yuan Shih-k'ai is one of the bravest of our men, 
 and an excellent soldier. In 1 884 he was not afraid to 
 stand up to the Japanese in Korea, and it is regret- 
 table that he did not have a large force under his 
 command. Had he been possessed of two or three 
 army corps, the story of the war I believe would 
 have been very different. He is a great admirer of 
 the Germans, especially of their military system. 
 
SHORT NOTES FROM HIS DIARY 215 
 
 Of course this is natural, for many of his troops 
 were German trained, and he did not leave them 
 behind when he was appointed Governor of Shan- 
 tung." 
 
 ''Peking, October 20, 1900. — To-day I had a long 
 conference with Sir Claude Macdonald, one of the 
 brightest and best diplomats Great Britain has ever 
 sent to China. Sir Claude and myself have always 
 been on the closest of terms, and are true personal 
 friends, although at times we do not admire each 
 other in foreign office affairs. The same could be said 
 of Sir Nicholas 0' Conor, the diplomat who could 
 make more friends for England than any minister 
 I ever knew." 
 
 (Without date.) — "It is indeed a good thing for 
 the country that Prince Ching held back his Manchu 
 troops during the siege of the Legations. I saw him 
 to-day, and we have become better friends than ever 
 before. He told me that during July Prince Tuan 
 kept urging him to make an attack, insanely telling 
 him that if the Ministers and their friends were once 
 slaughtered to the last person the Powers would 
 never dare to send representatives to China again. 
 Oh, what an insane and contemptible idea! Ching 
 knew, as he said, that such an act would be unfor- 
 givable by the Powers, and that if necessary a 
 million men would be sent to China to compel 
 reparation and seek revenge. Ching declares also 
 that it was all he could do to keep his troops in 
 
2i6 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 check, for the ferocious spirit of the Boxers had 
 entered the hearts of officers and men, and all of 
 them thirsted for the blood of the foreigners and 
 native converts. 
 
 "After my talk with Prince Ching I called at the 
 American Legation, and had a good visit with my 
 friend Major Conger. I told him what I had learned 
 from Prince Ching, without that black part relating 
 to Tuan ; and he said that he knew that the foreign- 
 ers who lived through the terrible eight weeks of the 
 siege could and did thank Prince Ching that they 
 were alive when the allies came to the relief. 
 
 "As it was, China was disgraced in the eyes of 
 civilisation, and the whole nation was humiliated 
 and scorned; but if Ching had been a weaker man, 
 and had given way either to the commands or the 
 importunities of the Empress Dowager and Prince 
 Tuan, that surrender on his part would have been 
 the vital step in the obliteration of the Chinese 
 Empire from the political map of the world. I hated 
 Ching for the words he uttered when I went to 
 Japan, but I have forgiven him with all my heart, 
 and gladly bow to him as the saviour of his country." 
 
 (Without date.) — "I have written that 
 
 during my many years' experience with foreigners 
 in the conduct of business I have become thoroughly 
 familiar with their characters, and I have found that, 
 no matter what they are engaged in, they act hon- 
 ourably, without deceit or falsehood." 
 
SHORT NOTES FROM HIS DIARY 217 
 
 *^ April, 1898. — It does not matter what my 
 enemies may accuse me of; in all my life I have been 
 on the side of law and order, and I have never 
 enquired whether those twin institutions were white 
 or yellow. Decency is like gold, the same in all 
 countries." 
 
 ^^ June II, 1887. — England has ever asserted that 
 in all my diplomatic work I have had Russia's inter- 
 ests constantly in view. England is very wrong, just 
 as she has been many times before in other matters. 
 If I have appeared to work for Russia's interest, it is 
 because in so doing I have believed that I was accom- 
 plishing the greatest good for China. The British 
 Foreign Office caused me to be berated officially and 
 through the Press over the Manchurian agreement 
 with the Czar's Government; but the British refused 
 to say that they would help us in the slightest during 
 our Japanese conflict or after; while Russia, at the 
 close of the war at least, let Japan understand that 
 China was not alone." 
 
 (Without date.) — "Bishop Favier, if I am ever 
 the sovereign of a nation, and you are without a 
 position — though men of your calibre are rare — 
 I will offer you the place of generalissimo of the 
 forces! You are a noble soldier, Favier, and you 
 saved the lives of your little army. I hope the head 
 of your sect [the Pope] will make of you the head of 
 the Church." 
 
2i8 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 The Viceroy alludes to the remarkable and heroic 
 defence of the new French Cathedral made by 
 Bishop Favier with a few French, Belgian, and 
 German marines, and his three thousand converts. 
 Though attacked for days and nights at a time, the 
 Bishop and his band nobly defended their position, 
 inflicting great loss upon the Boxer hordes which 
 assailed the church. 
 
 " Written in Canton, in early March, 1900. — 
 There can be little doubt but the southern viceroys 
 have received orders to be prepared to despatch 
 all foreigners. Who is responsible for such dastardly 
 commands? How well the authors knew better than 
 to send such outrageous documents to me!" 
 
 (Without date.) — "Foreign Governments say 
 they lease our lands. We know they are gone for- 
 ever." 
 
 (Without date.) — "Sometimes the pretensions 
 of these ' learned men ' from the West anger me, at 
 other times I feel sorry for them, and now very often 
 I sit down and laugh at them until my dinner is all 
 upside-down! To-day I was talking with a 'Pro- 
 fessor,* who came all the way from Massachusetts to 
 teach in the new University, and he was telling me 
 that he should be lost until his books arrived. 
 
 "JT have eighteen large volumes that I use in my 
 work,* he said; 'books of science, art, ethics, and 
 lexicography.' 
 
SHORT NOTES FROM HIS DIARY 219 
 
 "/Eighteen?' I asked. 'Do you need them all?' 
 
 '"Oh, yes; but they cover the whole range of my 
 work.' 
 
 t!I did not like to smile in his face, but I could 
 not help it. He asked me the reason for my apparent 
 merriment. 
 
 " * I was only thinking of hov»^ much more exhaus- 
 tive your Western wisdom must be than ours,' I 
 replied. Then I told him that King He, our literary 
 Emperor, had compiled and issued the Pei Wan Yun 
 Fu [Dictionary] in 171 1, and that it consisted of one 
 hundred and thirty volumes!" 
 
 (Without date.) — "How splendid a thing it 
 would be if our ancient motto ' King sik tsze chil ' 
 [Reverence the written word and keep it holy] could 
 be hung conspicuously on the walls of the various 
 foreign offices!" 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 HIS TASK IN THE BOXER CRISIS 
 
 According to his memoirs, Li Hung Chang, then 
 Governor of the two Kwang provinces, foresaw in 
 the early part of 1900 that China would shortly be 
 embroiled with foreign nations over the Boxers, or 
 Great Sword Society, who were becoming aggres- 
 sive in the north. In February of that year this 
 entry is found in his diary : — 
 
 "For the third time I have memorialised the 
 Throne to trample under foot the I-h o-k'uan 
 [Patriotic Peace Fists], but as no action was taken 
 upon my former memorials to put an end to this 
 organisation of ruffians and hard-hitters, I expect 
 but little attention will be paid to my later petition. 
 I have tried time and again, almost without number, 
 to impress the Throne with the idea that China has 
 nothing to gain and everything to lose by opposing 
 the so-called foreign devils. It would be utterly im- 
 possible to drive them out; and last, but most im- 
 portant, our country would be poorer in many ways 
 if the foreigners ever withdrew, willingly or otherwise. 
 
 " During my last days at the capital I made every 
 effort to impress the truth of these views upon the 
 Court. The Empress is apparently in sympathy 
 with these sentiments, and Jung-lu [one of the most 
 influential and intimate counsellors of the Dowager] 
 
HIS TASK IN THE BOXER CRISIS 221 
 
 is really a strong and abiding friend of the Christians. 
 But Prince Tuan secretly favours the Patriotic 
 Peace Fists — as I am personally aware — and will 
 use every means he can to persuade Their Majesties 
 that the society can exterminate the foreigners if it 
 is not interfered with. Tuan has a powerful follow- 
 ing ; but I fear most of all that Tze Hsi believes what 
 he says, and secretly favours the Great Swords." 
 
 In April, 1900, the Viceroy makes this observa- 
 tion : — 
 
 "I have received from the Throne the following 
 letter, which I am candid enough to believe is but for 
 effect abroad : ' The establishment by the rural popu- 
 lation in each province of militia for their own pro- 
 tection, and for the preservation of their lives and 
 families, is at bottom simply the good old ancestral 
 practice of keeping a lookout and lending mutual 
 assistance; and so long as those concerned mind 
 their own business, there is no reason why they 
 should be interfered with. All that is to be feared is 
 that amongst such persons the good and bad may 
 get mixed, and that pretexts may be taken to raise 
 trouble with native Christians. It must be remem- 
 bered that the Sovereign regards all with equal 
 benevolence, without distinction of territorial divi- 
 sion, for which reason the populations concerned 
 should obey the spirit of this idea, and refrain from 
 giving vent to their private resentments, in such wise 
 as to cause hostility and render themselves liable to 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 punishment. Let us tell Your Excellency that we 
 expect the governors-general and governors con- 
 cerned to give strict directions to local authorities, 
 to issue plain-speaking proclamations as occasion 
 may require, calling upon all persons to attend to 
 their own affairs, and always to keep on peaceful 
 terms with others, not ignoring the spirit of these 
 earnest exhortations. 
 
 » >» 
 
 The Viceroy comments: "This is all nonsense; 
 it means nothing right. I know the country will now 
 get into trouble over these ruffians. But they are 
 not numerous in my provinces, and dare not show 
 their heads." 
 
 He writes (supposedly in May, 1900) : — 
 "Hurried telegrams from the Throne have come 
 to me, urging that I suppress any lawlessness in my 
 territory. This angers me, for it is but a blind and 
 subterfuge. There is no lawlessness here ! and there 
 will be none! 
 
 " I have sent messages every day of late to Jung-lu, 
 urging him to employ all means in his power to win 
 the Empress Dowager strongly over to the side of the 
 foreigners. She is wavering, for she wants to believe 
 what both of her strongest admirers say ; while these 
 two men [Jung-lu and Prince Tuan] are on diamet- 
 rically opposite sides." 
 
 "Oh, I am sorry for China! If the Legations are 
 
HIS TASK IN THE BOXER CRISIS 223 
 
 disturbed, the foreign nations will march through 
 the land with fire and sword. Even the United States, 
 our friend heretofore, will send her armies and fleets 
 against us." 
 
 "Later [without date]. — The final blow has been 
 struck by these wretches of the Patriotic Peace Fists, 
 with the killing of the German Minister, Von Kette- 
 ler, whom I knew and whom I first met in Germany. 
 What will become of China now? Still, Heaven is 
 aware that I have urged and urged against the 
 bandits until I am weary! Prince Tuan, who was 
 born a hater of the Christians, and has grown more 
 hateful with his years, has probably convinced the 
 Throne that if the Boxers are not interfered with 
 they will clean the land of all foreigners. What hell- 
 ish rubbish! His ignorance must be paid for by his 
 country." 
 
 Though it is evident that Li was deeply aroused 
 over the troubles at the north, he seems to have been 
 sufiiciently at peace with himself to conduct an 
 ancient ceremony at Canton, for the next entry in 
 his notes reads : — 
 
 *lTo-day we performed the full ceremony of the 
 Tilling of the Soil. All my officials and myself, in 
 full court dress, went by chair to the Temple of Shen 
 Nung, beyond the East Gate, and performed our 
 obligations. The great and illustrious Shen Nung is 
 the Divine Husbandman who reigned 4700 years 
 
224 MEMOIRS -OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ago. It was he who invented agriculture, and to him 
 the world owes the most sublime reverence and 
 respect." 
 
 Some time later he writes: "It is as I expected: 
 there is war in the north, and Tuan has treacher- 
 ously persuaded the Throne to let the Imperial 
 troops join with the Boxers in an attempt to exter- 
 minate the foreigners. My heart is sick — I wash 
 my hands of the whole affair." 
 
 He next writes at Tientsin (presumably late in 
 August): "Here I am once more in the same old 
 house I occupied for so long, and where I spent so 
 many happy days and nights — and unhappy ones, 
 too, I may add; for to be Viceroy of Chihli, and 
 Grand Secretary at the same time, brought many 
 cares and troubles to my mind. Yet all the difficul- 
 ties were surmounted and many good things accom- 
 plished; therefore, as the sum total, I was happy and 
 satisfied. 
 
 "Now, my great task — perhaps the last great 
 task of my career — is to save China. Their Majes- 
 ties are in temporary exile, and the foreigners are 
 in control of the Capital. I am glad to think that 
 many of the miscreants who got our country into 
 this terrible fix are themselves in trouble, and will 
 be brought to book. I do not glory in the death of 
 any man, but there are some heads I shall be glad 
 to see chopped off. One man in particular [the Vice- 
 
HIS TASK IN THE BOXER CRISIS 225 
 
 roy refers undoubtedly to Prince Tuan] deserves 
 fully, if any man ever did, the ling-chi [the death of 
 a thousand cuts]. I hope it will be the reward of his 
 damnable meddling. 
 
 "All the foreign nations are against us, it would 
 seem. No, there is an exception, and the exception 
 may prove our salvation from being sliced up like a 
 water-melon. The Americans are, of course, acting 
 with France, Russia, England, Germany, and Japan, 
 but at the same time I have received assurances from 
 the American commander and from the Washington 
 Government that the United States will oppose 
 morally and physically, if necessary, the partition 
 of China. 
 
 "My greatest fear now is from the Germans and 
 Russians. The Germans, because of the death of 
 their Minister, are despatching regiments every day 
 for China, and are sending one of their greatest 
 field marshals to command their troops. If they 
 establish a big army in the Capital, and demand an 
 indemnity such as they did of the French, and stay 
 until it is paid, I fear they will never leave us. The 
 Russians, too, have a tremendous force in Man- 
 churia, and along the Siberian Railway; and if there 
 is an agreement between them it may take more 
 than a combination of the other Powers to make 
 them relent. My hope, however, is centred in the 
 attitude of the United States." 
 
 ^^ Later, same. — Cable despatches from our Min- 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ister at Washington are reassuring. The American 
 Government is confident that its note to the other 
 Powers, proposing a joint indemnity to be agreed 
 upon by myself, acting for China, and the foreign 
 representatives, will meet with the approval of the 
 foreign offices. Good!" 
 
 ''October 12, Peking. — I have learned from a 
 source that is beyond questioning that the Powers 
 had determined immediately after the capture of 
 the city to make a division of China between them. 
 Yet it seems that, like so many dogs over the carcass 
 of a beast, they could not agree upon their respective 
 shares. It was determined that the European 
 nations and Japan should act in concert, ignoring 
 the United States. This, however, was not found 
 to be feasible, for first England, and then Japan, 
 weakened. The trouble is that Japan wanted that 
 part of China as her sphere of influence which Russia 
 claimed as her own. Perhaps amidst the quarrelling 
 of the wolves the sheep will get away." 
 
 ''October 15. — I visited the Russian Legation 
 to-day, and had a meeting with the foreign ministers. 
 The position taken in this matter by the American 
 nation means the integrity of China. The United 
 States has won over the other Powers to her way of 
 thinking. Thanks be to the spirits of our fathers, 
 our country may yet be saved from slicing. But 
 the indemnity will be great. Yet our country will 
 
HIS TASK IN THE BOXER CRISIS 227 
 
 be left to us, and we can pay it. Japan, for an old 
 enemy, is acting most fair, and it is my belief that 
 there is a perfect understanding between Tokio and 
 Washington." 
 
 ^^^^ Peking, at U.S. Legation, October 19. — To-day 
 I received an American newspaper man, and gave 
 him a lengthy interview. I should not have talked at 
 all with him, but for two things: his paper, which 
 is one of great influence at Washington, has been 
 China's advocate in all this miserable affair; and, 
 secondly, he told me that he tried to get an interview 
 with me at the Philadelphia junction [German town], 
 but failed. So I made it up with him, and sent the 
 thanks of China and myself to those fair-dealing 
 people who live in the land of Lincoln and Grant 
 and McKinley." 
 
 The American newspaper man referred to in this 
 paragraph of the Viceroy's memoirs is the editor of 
 the present work. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CALLED TO THE THRONE' S AID 
 
 Because of his well-known tendencies in favour of 
 the foreigner, tendencies which made him a "thorn 
 in the flesh" of the reactionaries, who were in almost 
 undisputed control of the Peking Government, and 
 who were responsible for the coup d'etat of 1898, by 
 which the Empress Dowager resumed the active 
 throne, and the young Emperor Kuang Su was com- 
 mitted to a palace prison, it was desired by those in 
 power that Li Hung Chang be induced to quit the 
 Capital; and so, late in 1899, he was sent for by Hze 
 Tsi, and asked to name what office outside the 
 Capital he would consider most to his liking. 
 
 He wrote on December 12, at two o'clock a.m.: — 
 ''Within the hour I have returned from an unpub- 
 lished audience with old Buddha [the Empress 
 Dowager], and I am ill at ease, for Her Majesty 
 intended that I should go south, intimating that 
 affairs were such in that quarter that I was needed 
 there. I did not dare tell her so outright, but all 
 this is the merest subterfuge, for while I may count 
 my best friends right here in Peking, these very 
 people are desirous that I be away in case of serious 
 disturbances. Serious disturbances ! Indeed, if there 
 are such they will be of their own making and 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 229 
 
 desiring — and against wishes of mine which are 
 well understood. 
 
 ''I am an aged man now, nearing my seventy- 
 seventh year, and perhaps they think my mental 
 vision is dimmed so that I cannot see the real trend 
 of affairs. It is known to the Court, and to the 
 Grand Council, and to all who are conversant with 
 my life that I am not seeking active office at this 
 time. No one is better aware of this than Her 
 Majesty, yet she pretends to think she would be 
 honouring me further by sending me south. 
 
 " However, I will utter no further protest against 
 this wicked policy, which, if pursued to its logical 
 conclusion, can have but one end: the disastrous 
 wrecking of the country and the humiliation of the 
 Throne, if not the complete abolition of the Dynasty. 
 I shall make a final appeal to Jung-lu, to Yuan 
 Shih-k'ai, and even to the impetuous and calamity- 
 seeking Prince Tuan. If this is without the desired 
 effect, once more on my old knees I will ask Her 
 Majesty, for the good of herself and her people, to 
 drive the Boxer influence from the palace. But I 
 fear Tuan has her ear, and that she is already con- 
 vinced that all the foreigners will be driven into the 
 ocean. Oh, if these great personages could have but 
 seen the armies and navies I saw, and the giant 
 strength of Europe and America, they would no more 
 dream as children If 
 
 The memoirs of the aged Viceroy do not disclose 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 whether he ever made these final appeals to the 
 Powers within the Forbidden City, to the end that 
 the complications he so plainly saw might be averted, 
 nor do the official records indicate that he memorial- 
 ised the Throne upon this subject. His diary does 
 contain, however, a number of very brief references 
 to his contemplated departure for the south, the 
 last one of which reads : — 
 
 " I am being sent away from the trouble which is 
 sure to descend upon this capital, and I am bidding 
 good-bye to many friends as though something told 
 me I should not see them again. As I was given my 
 choice, I have chosen the Canton Viceroyalty." 
 
 ''My old Palace, Canton, March ii, 1900. — My 
 old-time friend Wu Ting Fang writes me the most 
 earnest letter I have seen for years, a communication 
 full of wisdom and high patriotism. I am making 
 copies of it, and will send them as fast as I can to a 
 number of leading spirits in the north, hoping that 
 Dr. Wu's strong and sensible words will be followed. 
 Our excellent Minister knows to a dot how the 
 Government at Washington feels, and the general 
 trend of American opinion, and it will be well for 
 Prince Tuan and others to heed his warning." 
 
 "March 17. — A letter from Bishop Favier says 
 that all friends of enlightenment at the Capital be- 
 lieve it was a mistake for me to leave it. I am agree- 
 able to this opinion, but this last mistake is only one 
 of many that I have made in life under duress." 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 231 
 
 ^' March 26. — I am sorry that when I made the 
 Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1895, I did not agree 
 to let them have the Province of Shantung along 
 with the other concessions ; for then China would be 
 rid of this turbulent territory where these fanatical 
 Big Fists are bred like rats on a grain ship. It was 
 there that Yu Hsien, he of the Manchus, and an 
 alleged friend of the Dynasty, put swords into 
 their hands and greater ferocity into their hearts. 
 If it were mine to say — as it is Jung-lu's now — I 
 should soon finish Governor Yu for the ignoble part 
 he has played up to this time. I well know person- 
 ally the ignorant and fire-eating Yu, and I would 
 not let him assist in the carrying of my chair." 
 
 ^^ March 2'j. — Reports from all the northeast 
 country indicate that the Boxers are everywhere 
 rising and committing depredations. Paoting-fu, 
 Tientsin, and many of the smaller heins are threat- 
 ened by them, and Peking itself is trembling. I can 
 do nothing more. It shall be my attempt from this 
 time on to write much and sleep more. I have spent 
 many sleepless hours since my arrival here. But the 
 time is not very remote when I shall sleep undis- 
 turbed through the ages." 
 
 ^^ March 29. — A telegram from Jung-lu says the 
 old Buddha is completely in sympathy with the 
 Boxer movement, but will not consent to turn over 
 any Government arms to them. I credit only the 
 first part of his despatch." 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ^^ April 5. — It is regrettable that such a man as 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai should listen to the song of anarchy 
 that is being sung by the Boxer rufhans, as I under- 
 stand he is doing. He has wide experience, and in 
 Korea showed himself an able man and a high- 
 minded patriot. 
 
 "But he seems to be carried away by the wild 
 clamour of the hour, when he should know that the 
 foreigners, even the Germans alone, are able to lay 
 waste the entire kingdom if they but take the notion. 
 He does not reply to my communications ; therefore 
 I shall not trouble myself to address him again. With 
 Jung-lu it is different ; he will always write in answer, 
 though it is never possible to tell by his words just 
 what he means. I think that he realises the complete 
 ascendancy of Tuan over Her Majesty, and is fearful 
 of getting himself into disfavour." 
 
 ^^ April 5. — It is now high time that the author- 
 ities patch up things before the rain comes, and 
 diminish the fuel before the fire rages." 
 
 "April 7. — ^I have written Major Conger that 
 he had better send warning to the United States 
 Government of approaching trouble, and then leave 
 Peking with his family. I have the highest respect 
 for this fine diplomat, who is a most worthy repre- 
 sentative of a worthy people." 
 
 ''April 16. — 1 Perhaps, after all, the Empress 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 233 
 
 Dowager is the best personal friend I have in the 
 world outside my own family and domicile. This I 
 say because, with the reports coming in from all quar- 
 ters that the so-called Patriotic Peace Fists [Boxers] 
 are everywhere committing crimes against the for- 
 eigners, their persons, and their properties, I could 
 not remain inactive or silent if I were in Peking; 
 and that would mean that Prince Tuan would see to 
 it that I was put out of the way. Still, to cut short 
 this life of mine a year or two would do no great 
 harm, unless it might be to make Lady Li a widow 
 ahead of season. But, regardless of consequences, I 
 should prove that in my later days I was as true to 
 my country as I was thirty or forty years ago in the 
 hard, long, and discouraging battles with the Taiping 
 hordes that hoped to overthrow the empire. Never- 
 theless, the Long-Haired Rebels were not greater 
 enemies of the State than some of the oily-tongued, 
 richly-robed counsellors at this very moment bask- 
 ing in the smiles and confidence of Her Majesty 
 beneath the palace roofs. 
 
 "No, I did not write in this manner while I was 
 at the Northern Capital, and I did not utter such 
 words, but I spoke plainly to all who had a right to 
 listen ; and if my advice is already forgotten — as it 
 went unheeded — it will not be many moons before 
 it is recalled again, perhaps in bitterness and sorrow. 
 
 "However, I must call a halt to myself in all 
 this matter. My hand shakes like that of a fever pa- 
 tient, and my tired eyes are as those of a mummy, 
 
234 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 glazed with varnish ; for I do not sleep one twelfth of 
 each day, and my household declares that never 
 before have I acted the double part of tyrant and 
 ass. Yes, I am both; but in the future I shall en- 
 deavour to mend all my ways. Only this : I hope and 
 pray that seven times seven scourges and torments 
 will fall upon the heads of the Patriotic Peace Fists! " 
 
 ^^ June 10. — I do not like the news from the 
 north. A telegram from Shan, which I asked him 
 to send, indicates that already in Peking the de- 
 struction of foreign property has begun. I presume 
 some of my own buildings, leased by foreign firms, 
 will not be spared. Anyway, I do not care. I only 
 regret that there are so many English, German, and 
 Japanese business places in the city." 
 
 ''June 14. —And so the wild ruffians have killed 
 the Chancellor of the Japanese Legation. This 
 means war with Japan, at least. Some one else 
 will have to go as peace commissioner, for I am 
 done with making apologies, and then standing 
 about while brickbats of abuse and contumely are 
 hurled at my head." 
 
 ''June 15. — '^Prince Tuan is surely in command 
 of affairs at the Northern Capital, and leading the 
 Throne on to sure destruction. He should hide his 
 head in shame, a head that is filled with a mere 
 molten slush of hatred, and is devoid of real brains. 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 235 
 
 If I were now in Peking I would brand him as the 
 worst enemy of China in all her history. It would 
 cost me my head to speak this way, but the satisfac- 
 tion of telling the truth to the arrogant and ignorant 
 Tuan would be worth the loss by decapitation." 
 
 ^^ Midnight. — -My wife declares that I will be- 
 come insane over these national troubles. She is 
 wrong, just as she often is. I should go insane if 
 I had nothing to bother me. My normal mental 
 state for half a century has been that of perturba- 
 tion. Perhaps it is well that the Patriotic Peace 
 Fists are giving me something to worry over, thus 
 keeping my mind in its normal state." 
 
 ^^ June 22. — A telegraphic message tells me of 
 the outrageous killing of the German Minister! 
 In the name of hell and purgatory and all the black 
 valleys, what are the national miscreants thinking 
 about? Oh, they call their leader the great Jade 
 Emperor, and they make offerings to him, but I hope 
 he will smite their twisted heads ! 
 
 "Now it will not only be war with Japan but 
 with the German Empire. Indeed, the Boxers have 
 gone so far that they have committed the Throne 
 to their conduct, and the Government of China will 
 be held in strict accountability to the Powers. The 
 whole Christian world will unite against us, and 
 reach for the neck of China as a farmer grabs the 
 feast-goose in the pen. 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 'lAll my warnings have been and are in vain. All 
 my words have gone for naught, and the Dynasty 
 is forever doomed. I saw the trend of events, but 
 in my most hopeless hours I could not foresee that 
 the ambassadorial officers of the Powers would not 
 be safe within their own compounds. Tuan will say 
 that these outrages were not committed by Imperial 
 troops, and that, according to my reports, is true. 
 But this will by no means relieve the Government 
 of responsibility in the eyes of the outside nations. 
 Japan is undoubtedly this minute rejoicing because 
 of the death of her Legation Chancellor. It is the 
 excuse they have long awaited, burning under their 
 chagrin and disappointment, since their undeserved 
 fruits of the war with China were taken from them. 
 And Germany will take no apology for the murder 
 of her Minister ! If she took Kiao-chow from us for 
 the lives of two missionaries, what will she demand 
 for the life of Baron von Ketteler? I tremble for the 
 consequences of all this folly! 
 
 '{1 did not know the Japanese official, but Baron 
 von Ketteler was one of the last to say good-bye 
 to me in Peking. And upon that occasion he spoke 
 happily of our meeting in Germany four years before, 
 when I was the guest of his own great nation. And 
 now, my fellow-countrymen kill him in the streets of 
 our capital! What will the Germans think now of 
 the fine China I spoke so proudly of, and which I 
 endeavoured to represent so worthily? And all the 
 Christian world will more than ever look upon us 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 237 
 
 as a vast aggregation of barbarians, who are not 
 possessed of the first principles of international 
 dealing, nor deserving of the first advances of inter- 
 national comity. 
 "I am ill." 
 
 '^ June 23. — In spite of my illness I sent urgent 
 telegraphic messages to Prince Tuan, Jung-lu, and 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai, telling them if they would save 
 the nation from being sliced like a watermelon by 
 the foreigners, they must turn all the strength^of the 
 Throne against the ruffian society. I sent also a long 
 despatch to Prince Ching. He does not admire me 
 much since the Japanese war, but he is a strong, 
 sensible patriot, and undoubtedly sees the terrible 
 chasm into which the country is likely to fall." 
 
 ^^ June 24. — Sing brings me news from the city 
 that a telegraphic despatch to the press says the 
 Boxers are in complete control of Peking, but that 
 Prince Ching has refused to join them with his 
 troops. If he would but fight them with his Manchu 
 warriors, he would save the situation. I am ill and 
 weak." 
 
 ^^ June 25. — There is an unconfirmed report in 
 the city that the Tsung Li Yamen has sent word to 
 the Legations that a state of war exists since the 
 firing upon the Taku forts. If this is true, then the 
 Government is irrevocably committed to its own 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 destruction. I can scarcely believe that such a 
 height of political insanity has been reached by the 
 Court." 
 
 ^^ June 29. — To-day I received from the north 
 a copy of an edict in the name of the Emperor, but 
 written, I know, by Her Majesty : — 
 
 '\'Ever since the foundation of the Dynasty, 
 foreigners coming to China have been kindly treated. 
 In the reign of Tao-Kuang and Hein Fung they 
 were allowed to trade and to propagate their religion. 
 At first they were amenable to Chinese control, but 
 for the past thirty years they have taken advantage 
 of our forbearance to encroach upon our territory, 
 to trample on the Chinese people, and to absorb the 
 wealth of the empire. Every concession made seems 
 only to increase their insolence. They oppress our 
 peaceful subjects, and insult our gods and sages, 
 exciting burning indignation among the people. 
 Hence the burning of chapels and the slaughter of 
 converts by the patriotic braves. The throne was 
 desirous to avoid war, and issued edicts enjoining 
 protection of legations and pity toward converts, 
 declaring Boxers and converts to be equally the 
 children of the State. With tears have we announced 
 in our ancestral shrines the outbreak of war. Better 
 it is to do our utmost and enter on the struggle than 
 to seek self-preservation involving eternal disgrace. 
 All our officials, high and low, are of one mind. 
 There have also assembled, without official sum- 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 239 
 
 mons, several thousands of soldiers. Even children 
 carry spears in the defence of their country.' " 
 
 ^^ July 12. — After nine days in bed with little 
 sleep and less food, I am aroused by a report which 
 is repeated in the city, saying that I have been 
 reappointed to the Chihli Viceroyalty. This cannot 
 be true, for several reasons. Anyway, I shall stay 
 where I am, in office or out. Almost to repeat the 
 unkind words said to me fifteen years ago [Li refers 
 to Prince Ching's remark when the former started 
 for Japan as Peace Envoy] : ' They have started the 
 trouble, now let them finish it.'" 
 
 ^^ July 13. — The local press publishes papers 
 confirmatory of the report that I have been named 
 Viceroy of Chihli. I am not well enough to go north. 
 I shall not go. That part is settled." 
 
 ^^ July 14. — My entire household is in tears, 
 because the report of my appointment is confirmed 
 in the press to-day." 
 
 ^^ July 17. — JShe Empress Dowager's communi- 
 cation arrived this morning, and the dumbfounding 
 truth is known at last. She directs that I proceed at 
 once to the north, saying that I am urgently needed 
 in the present great crisis. Urgently, indeed ! I was 
 not urgently needed in Peking a few short months 
 ago, when I was virtually told that if I had any 
 
240 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 'loyal' advice to give I might do so, but if I was 
 opposed to the 'sacred policy' I should hold my 
 peace. I have decided not to go, even though it may 
 cost me much to remain." 
 
 ^^ Later, same day. — I have just forwarded to 
 Her Majesty a telegram as follows: 'Your Majesty's 
 confidence in me is, indeed, a very great honour, and 
 I beg to say that I am sincerely grateful, more so 
 than I am able to express. Yet I cannot fail to recall 
 the folly that has now suddenly destroyed that 
 structure of reformed administration which, during 
 my term of more than twenty years of office as 
 Viceroy of Chihli, I was able to build up not unsuc- 
 cessfully. I fear that in the present state of my 
 mental and physical health it will be quite im- 
 possible for me to resume that difficult post. The 
 present time of crisis requires a different and a 
 stronger hand than mine.'" 
 
 "Later. — I have sent another message to Her 
 Majesty through Yuan Shih-k'ai, asking what may 
 be the chances for the safe escorting of the foreign 
 ministers from Peking to Tientsin. I said also to 
 him that he might inform Her Majesty that I would 
 probably start north as soon as my health permits." 
 
 " Shanghai, July 22. — ^^It appears that there is 
 nothing for me to do but to obey the decree of the 
 Throne, and again bow and scrape and apologise 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 241 
 
 to the foreigners for the murderous doings of a 
 class with which I am not at all in sympathy. I 
 had fondly thought that I was done with all this 
 sort of thing, but the truth seems to be that I am 
 face to face with difficulties and complications such 
 as have never confronted us before. Of course, for 
 these very reasons I should be the readier to take 
 upon my shoulders the task; but when I consider 
 how absolutely unnecessary all this trouble is, and 
 that my sincere and unselfish advice was so wholly 
 scorned, I have little heart for the work." 
 
 "Shanghai, July 23. — This message came from 
 the old Buddha this morning: *Li Hung Chang is 
 to obey without question our earlier decree, and to 
 hasten to the north, regardless of other considera- 
 tions. He must know that the crisis is very serious, 
 and that he can, therefore, offer no further valid 
 excuses.'" 
 
 " Midnight, July 22). — I have just finished a 
 memorial to the Throne, which I shall forward to 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai at the earliest hour of the morning 
 by swift couriers. Though lengthy, I am keeping a 
 copy, that at least my own children, if denied access 
 to the Records, will know my words : — 
 
 '^It is to be remembered that between this our 
 Empire of China, and the outer barbarians, hos- 
 tilities have frequently occurred since the remotest 
 antiquity, and our national history teaches that 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 the best way to meet them is to determine upon 
 our pohcy only after carefully ascertaining their 
 strength as compared with our own. Since the 
 middle of the reign of Tao-Kuang, the pressure of 
 the barbarians on our borders has steadily increased, 
 and to-day we are brought to desperate straits 
 indeed. In i860 they invaded the Capital, and 
 burned the Summer Palace; His Majesty Hsien- 
 Feng was forced to flee, and thus came to his death. 
 It is only natural that His Majesty's posterity should 
 long to avenge him to the end of time, and that your 
 subjects should continue to cherish undying hopes 
 of revenge. But since that time France has taken 
 from us Annam, the whole of that dependency being 
 irretrievably lost; Japan has fought us and ousted 
 us from Korea. Even worse disasters and loss of 
 territory were to follow ; Germany seized Kiao-chow ; 
 Russia followed by annexing Port Arthur and Talien- 
 wan ; England demanded Wei-hai-wei and Kowloon, 
 together with the extension of the Shanghai Settle- 
 ments, and the opening of new treaty ports inland; 
 and France made further demands for Kuang- 
 Chou-wan. How could we possibly maintain silence 
 under such grievous and repeated acts of aggression? 
 Craven would be the man who would not seek to 
 improve our defences, and shameless would be he 
 who did not long for the day of reckoning. I myself 
 have enjoyed no small favours from the Throne, and 
 much is expected of me by the nation. Needless for 
 me to say how greatly I should rejoice were it possible 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 243 
 
 for China to enter upon a glorious and triumphant 
 war; it would be the joy of my closing days to see 
 the barbarian nations subjugated at last in submis- 
 sive allegiance, respectfully making obeisance to the 
 Dragon Throne. Unfortunately, however, I cannot 
 but recognise the melancholy fact that China is un- 
 equal to any such enterprise, and that our forces are 
 in no way competent to undertake it. Looking at the 
 question as one chiefly affecting the integrity of our 
 empire, who would be so foolish as to cast missiles 
 at a rat in the vicinity of a priceless piece of porce- 
 lain? It requires no augur's skill in divination to see 
 that eggs are more easily to be cracked than stones. 
 Let us consider one recent incident in proof of this 
 conclusion. Recently, in the attack by some tens of 
 thousands of Boxers and Imperial troops upon the 
 foreign settlements at Tientsin, there were some two 
 or three thousand soldiers to defend them ; yet, after 
 ten days of desperate fighting, only a few hundred 
 foreigners had been slain, while no less than twenty 
 thousand Chinese were killed and as many more 
 wounded. Again, there are no real defences nor 
 fortified positions in the Legations at Peking, nor 
 are the foreign ministers and Legation staffs trained 
 in the use of arms; nevertheless, Tung Fuhsiang's 
 hordes have been bombarding them for more than a 
 month, and have lost many thousands of men in the 
 vain attempt to capture the position. 
 
 " ' The fleets of the Allied Powers are now hurrying 
 forward vast bodies of their troops; the heaviest 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 artillery is now being brought swiftly to our shores. 
 Has China the forces to meet them? Does she pos- 
 sess a single leader capable of resisting this invasion? 
 If the foreign Powers send 100,000 men they will 
 easily capture Peking, and Your Majesties will then 
 find escape impossible. You will no doubt endeavour 
 once more to flee to Jehol, but on this occasion you 
 have no commander like Sheng Pao to hold back the 
 enemies' forces from pursuit; or, perhaps, you may 
 decide to hold another Peace Conference, like that of 
 Shimonoseki, in 1895? But the conditions to-day 
 existing are in no way similar to those of that time, 
 when Marquis Ito was willing to meet me as your 
 Minister Plenipotentiary. When betrayed by the 
 Boxers and abandoned by all, where will Your 
 Majesties find a single prince, councillor, or states- 
 man able to assist you effectively? The fortunes of 
 your house are being staked by a single throw; my 
 blood runs cold at night at the thought of events 
 to come. Under any enlightened sovereign these 
 Boxers, with their ridiculous claims of supernatural 
 powers, would most assuredly have been condemned 
 to death long since. Is it not on record that the Han 
 Dynasty met its death because of its belief in magi- 
 cians, and in their power to confer invisibility? Was 
 not the Sung Dynasty destroyed because the Em- 
 peror believed ridiculous stories about supernatural 
 warriors clad in miraculous coats of mail? 
 
 "'I myself am nearly eighty years of age, and my 
 death cannot be far distant; I have received favours 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 245 
 
 at the hands of four emperors. If now I hesitate to 
 say the things that are in my mind, how shall I face 
 the spirits of the sacred ancestors of this Dynasty 
 when we meet in the halls of Hades? I am compelled 
 therefore to give utterance to this my solemn prayer, 
 and to beseech Your Majesties to put away from you 
 at once these vile magic workers, and to have them 
 summarily executed. 
 
 "^' You should take steps immediately to appoint 
 a high official who shall purge the land of this vil- 
 lainous rabble, and who shall see to it that the foreign 
 ministers are safely escorted to the headquarters of 
 the Allied Armies. In spite of the heat I have hur- 
 ried northwards from Canton to Shanghai, where 
 Your Majesties' decrees urging me to come to Peking 
 have duly reached me. Any physical weakness, 
 however serious, would not have deterred me from 
 obeying this summons, but perusal of your decrees 
 has led me to the conclusion that Your Majesties 
 have not yet adopted a policy of reason, but are 
 still in the hands of traitors, regarding these Box- 
 ers as your dutiful subjects, with the result that un- 
 rest is spreading and alarm universal. Moreover, I 
 am here in Shanghai without a single soldier at my 
 command, and even should I proceed in all haste in 
 the endeavour to present myself at your palace gates, 
 I should meet with innumerable dangers by the way, 
 and the end of my journey would most probably be 
 that I should provide your rebellious and turbulent 
 subjects with one more carcass to hack into mince- 
 
246 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 meat. I shall therefore continue in residence here for 
 the present, considering ways and means for raising 
 a military force and for furnishing supplies, as well 
 as availing myself of the opportunity of ascertaining 
 the enemies' plans, and making such diplomatic sug- 
 gestions as occur to me to be useful. As soon as my 
 plans are complete I shall proceed northwards with 
 all possible speed.' " 
 
 During the following weeks the aged Viceroy wrote 
 but little in his diary, for physical ills sorely beset 
 him ; and at the same time he was unwilling to pro- 
 ceed to the north until given assurances by the 
 Government not only that the persons and prop- 
 erties of the foreigners in Peking would be given the 
 fullest protection and security from that time forth, 
 but that those who were responsible for the outbreak 
 would be summarily and adequately punished. 
 
 "August 2. — I think too much of my good name 
 to have it associated with those of the inciters in this 
 outrageous matter. I will not go north until certain 
 promises I have asked for are made by Her Majesty 
 and those about her." 
 
 "August 8. — A sick man has been appointed 
 Peace Plenipotentiary to treat with the Powers. 
 How can I hold my head up and demand considera- 
 tion in this matter when my limbs are almost too 
 weak to support my body?" 
 
CALLED TO THE THRONE'S AID 247 
 
 The last lines in Li's diary in relation to the Boxer 
 outbreak appear to have been written at Tientsin 
 on August 18: — 
 
 ►^* A rest of a few days, and then I will proceed to 
 Peking to stay the hand of the Powers as much as 
 in me lies. Oh, if my own hand were not so weak, 
 and my cause so much weaker! The Court is in 
 hiding, and the people are distracted. There is no 
 Government, and chaos reigns. I fear the task 
 before me is too great for my strength of body, 
 though I would do one thing more before I call the 
 earthly battle over. I would have the foreigners 
 believe in us once more, and not deprive China of 
 her national life; and I should like to bring old 
 Buddha back to the palace, and ask her if she had 
 learned a lesson." 
 
 vThe "Grand Old Man of China" indeed did 
 accomplish the restoration of China in his long- 
 drawn-out negotiations with the representatives of 
 the ten foreign Powers directly interested, and on 
 every side it was admitted that in his seventy-ninth 
 year the one-time wisher for the poet-laureateship 
 of China had at least won the freshest and greenest 
 laurel wreath among her statesmen and diplomats of 
 all time. 
 
 But the ill and aged Peace Plenipotentiary was 
 not to be granted the wish that he might again see 
 the Empress Dowager face to face in the palace. 
 Though she had undoubtedly "learned a lesson," it 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 was not to be Li Hung Chang's privilege and pleasure 
 to ask her if she had; for while the old Buddha, as 
 she was familiarly and endearingly called by those 
 who knew her best, was on her return journey 
 to Peking, ten months after her unceremonious 
 flight from the Forbidden City, his last illness came 
 upon the famous Viceroy, and his death occurred on 
 7th November, 1901, at his Peking residence, Tze 
 Hsi arriving at her capital on 6th January following. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 
 
 "March, 1882. — It would appear as if the Palace 
 intended to lay the entire burden of Korean troubles 
 upon my shoulders, and I presume there is nothing 
 for me to do but use every means in my power to 
 balk the plain designs of the Nipponese. My reports 
 indicate as plainly as the sun in the sky that it is the 
 hope of the Islanders to bring affairs at Seoul to such 
 a crisis that China will either be compelled to assert 
 suzerainty without equivocation, or forever hence- 
 forward pretend to no claims in that quarter." 
 
 "March 17, 1882. — Without edict the Throne 
 has commanded me to assume sole and complete 
 charge of our interests in the Hermit Kingdom, and 
 it now behoves me to prepare for such emergencies 
 as may arise in that troubled and troublesome coun- 
 try. With scarcely a tribute that was worth while 
 in all these hundreds of years, Korea has ever been 
 independent and even resentful of our influence or 
 interest; but just so soon as trouble looms up on the 
 horizon, from causes having their source either within 
 or without the kingdom, she comes begging for help. 
 And help has never been denied, for the people of the 
 country are our people, and they share with us the 
 everlasting dislike for the pygmy Nipponese, with 
 
250 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 their strutting ways and ignorant presumptions. We 
 taught the Nipponese what little they knew in the 
 beginning, which they speedily unlearned, supplant- 
 ing that knowledge with a vain assumption of supe- 
 riority in most matters. They treat the Koreans as 
 rank inferiors, and have come to believe that because 
 of its proximity Korea is a vassal state. 
 
 '* I regret to learn that the Tai Wen Kun is stirring 
 up internal trouble at a time when he should be giving 
 all the support of which he is capable to his son, and 
 thus more effectually circumventing the machina- 
 tions of the Mikado's agents. I must see to it that Li 
 Hsia Ying [the Tai Wen Kun, or Chief Court Lord] is 
 communicated with at once, to the end that he will 
 not bring disagreeable matters to a head too soon. 
 
 "The Imperial Resident [at Seoul, Yuan Shih-k'ai] 
 sends by special messenger for instructions as to what 
 it is best to do in the event of a renewed outbreak 
 against the Japanese. The details of the former 
 outbreak have not yet been reported to me, and I am 
 quite in the dark as to how great is the damage. If 
 I did not believe affairs would be forced to a critical 
 point, I would order a thousand of my men to go 
 secretly to the support of the Imperial Resident to 
 be ready for his call." 
 
 "The Imperial Resident writes me that the 
 Japanese Minister [Hanabusa] is doing all in his 
 power by underhand tricks and secret games to bring 
 about an attack upon his own legation, and that I 
 
HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 251 
 
 must be prepared for an outbreak to occur at any 
 time. Shih-k'ai declares that many Korean traitors, 
 in the pay and service of the Mikado's agents, are 
 ready at the word from their masters to make 
 trouble about the Japanese legation, thereby offer- 
 ing an excuse for Hanabusa to appeal to the Tokio 
 authorities." 
 
 "I have despatched one hundred and twenty of 
 my most trusted men from Paoting-fu to report 
 directly to the Resident and ferret out the black- 
 guards. Mong is in command, and that alone means 
 that the traitors will be located promptly, and their 
 names and persons made known to the King's police. 
 I expect excellent returns from the mission, and the 
 Resident is to be highly commended for the thor- 
 oughness of his information." 
 
 "August II, 1882. — The news from Seoul is very 
 satisfactory, at least in one important respect, and 
 I shall soon have as a guest an old devil I have much 
 longed to see — dead or alive ; for a courier from our 
 strong man in Korea [Yuan Shih-k'ai] informs me 
 that he has succeeded at last in throwing the bag 
 over Li Hsia Ying's troublesome head, and that 
 under proper escort he is on the way hither." 
 
 "Later, same date. — A second messenger from 
 the Resident has arrived. He hurried on ahead of 
 the Tai Wen Kun's party, and believes he is at least 
 
252 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 thirty li in advance of them. The old devil was 
 landed at Shanghai-kwan, and is being hurried along 
 on the lower coal road. 
 
 "If this man were not such an inborn detester of 
 everything that pertains to Nippon or the Nip- 
 ponese, I should be tempted sorely to make his head 
 a decoration upon the Yamen walls. The Throne 
 does not as yet, at this hour, know of the success of 
 my plans with reference to Li Hsia Ying, but all the 
 officials will be glad to know that he is no longer at 
 Seoul." 
 
 t' My Bedroom. [Without date, but probably 
 written a few days after the foregoing.] — Even in 
 times of stress and strife it is given to the thinking 
 man to have moments, if not hours, during which he 
 may retire to the company of himself, and think 
 quietly and soberly upon what fate has done or may 
 do for him. Oftentimes — though I have few hours 
 which are not given to official, family, or business 
 cares — I find excellent recreation for the mind in 
 traversing back the years and noting their mistakes 
 and victories, or in attempting to peer into the future, 
 and see in the dim light of the yet-to-be what fate 
 or the gods may have in store. 
 
 "Yesterday, upon returning from Peking, weary 
 of body and spirit, I retired early to my bed and 
 slept and slept. Though there were several promi- 
 nent foreigners in the city to see me, among them 
 Captain Wise, of the United States Navy, and 
 
HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 253 
 
 though Baron Mollendorff [a confidential and busi- 
 ness agent of the Viceroy's] left word that he had 
 urgent matters to lay before me, I gave strict 
 injunctions that I was to be disturbed on no consid- 
 eration. As I say, I slept and slept; therefore to-day 
 I feel at least half a dozen years younger, and shall 
 undoubtedly be able to meet all callers in good 
 humour. 
 
 "In the hour since the morning meal — which 
 here in Tientsin all the Americans and English call 
 'tiffin,' while at home they call it by some other 
 name — I have thought much of my friend Li Hsia 
 Ying, who is now safely stored away in the for- 
 tress at Paoting-fu. 
 
 "I was compelled, indeed, to laugh at the old 
 fellow who has been such a mischievous old devil 
 at Seoul for years past, and who, in his own stone- 
 hearted way, was hurrying us on to war with Japan. 
 He is not the Tai Wen Kun, the Chief Court Lord, 
 now; but a very meek and humble prisoner, who 
 spends much of his time in wondering when his head 
 will be severed from his body ! I did not desire that 
 the old man should suffer mentally, and, upon his 
 first entrance to the Yamen, took occasion to tell 
 him that no trouble whatever would befall him unless 
 he were foolish enough to attempt to return to Seoul. 
 
 '"But I belong in Seoul, in Korea,' he exclaimed. 
 'Why was I put into a bag [kidnapped] and brought 
 here to China? ' 
 
 "I told him in plain language that he had been 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 a seriously disturbing element in Seoul, and that for 
 that reason we had thought it best to remove him 
 to a place where he could do no harm. 
 
 "'But I am of royal blood,' he exploded upon 
 gaining his second breath, 'and neither Your Ex- 
 cellency nor any one else has the right to kidnap 
 me!' 
 
 "In one way it was quite serious, and in another 
 most laughable, and I could not help saying to the 
 one-time Chief Court Lord that history was full of 
 instances in which royal blood, when its owners were 
 not careful, had the habit of running the wrong way. 
 This appeared to quiet the old fellow, if not his fears, 
 at least his voice, and he immediately began in 
 whispers to ask what the Court intended doing with 
 him. 
 
 "I have arranged that the former Chief Regent 
 spend some time in the fortress of Paoting-fu, 
 where he will be treated with every consideration due 
 his former and present positions, and be kept out 
 of mischief; for he is, indeed, a mischief-maker in 
 a political way. We have just now enough to con- 
 tend with in Korea ; but a man can always watch his 
 enemies, while he is never able to say what next 
 folly his friends will accomplish. Thus it is with our 
 good friend Li Hsia Ying. But he is safe now." 
 
 ^^ December 19, 1882. — The Hong-Kong journals 
 print an American despatch which says that the 
 editors in the United States regard my removal of 
 
HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 255 
 
 the Tai Wen Kun from Seoul to China as a very 
 high-handed outrage; and these American papers 
 speak of Tai as being the great friend of the United 
 States, saying that it was he and he alone in all 
 Korea who exhibited enlightenment sufficient to 
 receive the American expedition in 1867. 
 
 "This is clearly a mistake, for the expedition of 
 1867 was not received in Korea at all, nor in all 
 likelihood would there to-day be a treaty between 
 the United States and Korea but for the writer of 
 these lines. Last year, about this time. Com- 
 modore Shufeldt, of the United States Navy, who 
 led the futile expedition of 1867, came to me here 
 in Tientsin. And in this very room we two discussed 
 and went over the subject of a new mission to Korea. 
 Between us we wrote the draft of the treaty that 
 was finally agreed upon at Seoul between the Tai 
 Wen Kun and Commodore Shufeldt. 
 
 ''Furthermore, let it be noted for the benefit of 
 history that an escort of my own men accompanied 
 the American naval officer to Chemulpo, the entire 
 party being carried in a ship belonging to me per- 
 sonally, and Commander Shufeldt carrying from me 
 one of the strongest letters I have ever written. That 
 letter was directed to Li Hsia Ying, acting King of 
 Korea, who was urged — if he cared for the friend- 
 ship of the Viceroy of Pechili — to bring his Govern- 
 ment to the signing of the document carried by the 
 American naval officer. The treaty was signed ; and 
 now the Americans, because I invite the Tai Wen 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Kun to be the guest of China, call my action high- 
 handed — because he was the Americans' friend!" 
 
 In the Viceroy's manuscript is reference to a 
 further treaty, modelled upon the one he and Com- 
 modore Shufeldt had prepared, as having also been 
 signed by the Tai Wen Kun and his ministers, and 
 by [the document is here torn and the names ob- 
 literated] ... on behalf of Great Britain. 
 
 *' Paoting-fu, 1883. — To-day I had as my guest 
 at two meals my old friend Li Hsia Ying. He is 
 chafing under the mild restraint imposed upon him, 
 and declares that if his life would be prolonged he 
 must be allowed to return to Korea, in order, he 
 says, that he may be with his family. When I told 
 him that the Throne had decided that he must 
 remain in China, at least for some months longer, 
 he became at first excited and afterwards depressed, 
 finally declaring that he would make away with him- 
 self if some change in his position were not brought 
 about. I asked him if he desired more servants or 
 less. And he replied excitedly : — 
 
 '"Less! Less! Take the whole damned lot away 
 and I shall be happy.' 
 
 'LThus some men, even with every earthly need 
 provided them, are not contented." 
 
 The Viceroy's diary does not contain any further 
 reference to the enforced visit of the Chief Court 
 
HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 257 
 
 Lord of Korea, with the exception of a single brief 
 entry, unaccompanied by a date, which simply re- 
 marks: "I hope His High Excellency Li Hsia Ying 
 is now satisfied," leaving the searcher in doubt 
 whether at the time of its making the old ex-king 
 had, as he threatened, "made away" with himself, 
 or had been allowed to return to his longed-for 
 Seoul. 
 
 (Without date.) — "Affairs in Korea have come 
 to such a pass that it is necessary at this juncture 
 to announce fully our position, and I have sent to the 
 Imperial Resident, for presentation to the Japanese 
 Minister, and through him to the Government of 
 Japan, a statement of Imperial claims with reference 
 to the political status of that country. I have com- 
 municated the matter fully to Peking, and my 
 action is already given hearty accord. 
 
 "The Japanese have no claims, inherited or ac- 
 quired, in Chosen [Korea], and we deny the right 
 of the Mikado's representative, or representatives, 
 or subjects, to interfere with the internal workings 
 of that vassal kingdom. Nor has any other Power 
 whatsoever, outside China, the right to partake 
 in the affairs of that country, internal or external. 
 There can be no question of the absolute right of full 
 suzerainty, if not of actual sovereignty, of the 
 Throne [China] in Korea; and it is high time that 
 the Japanese understood our unequivocal position 
 in this regard. 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 "I have directed that my proclamation on behalf 
 of the Throne be delivered to the King [of Korea], 
 and that it be published upon the walls of the city 
 [Seoul] and at other cities and ports of the tributary 
 kingdom. 
 
 " It is a gauntlet thrown down to the pygmy and 
 presumptuous Japanese; but the various foreign 
 Governments represented at Seoul, including the 
 Russian, the American, and the British, have asked 
 for a definition of our position. 
 
 "From all my correspondence during five or six 
 years, but more especially from personal interviews 
 with the ministers and special representatives of 
 the Powers within the past year, I am convinced 
 that Japan s pretensions in Korea are viewed with 
 great disfavour throughout the world; and I am 
 confidently of the opinion that China has and will 
 continue to have the moral support of the leading 
 nations so far as her claims to suzerainty in Korea 
 are concerned. Some of them may not fully acquiesce 
 in our present partial claim to sovereignty, but none 
 of them will give moral backing to Japan in any of 
 her new-formed pretensions." 
 
 ''May, 1883. — With the entire approval of the 
 Treasury and the Council, and in full personal 
 belief that it is the only correct course to pursue in 
 the present unsatisfactory state of Korean finances, 
 I have appointed Baron von MoUendorff head of the 
 Customs Service, and he will proceed again to Seoul. 
 
HIS FIGHT TO HOLD KOREA 259 
 
 His several visits to the country, his able under- 
 standing of the language and the people, and, above 
 all, his keen ability in the realm of finance, make 
 him well suited to the place. I look for better 
 results in every way, and am confident the King's 
 financial affairs will shortly be at least upon a credit- 
 able basis. 
 
 "M Ollendorff will also act for me as Foreign 
 Adviser to the King, and thereby prevent any 
 unwise moves on the part of His Majesty." 
 
 Baron von MoUendorff, who had long been in the 
 confidence of Li Hung Chang, was, prior to his ap- 
 pointment as head of the Korean Customs, in the 
 personal employ of the Viceroy. It appears from va- 
 rious entries in the latter's diary that he had great 
 admiration for the business ability and integrity 
 of the German, admitting him to an intimate knowl- 
 edge of his own industrial and political affairs. As 
 appears in the last entry, the Viceroy placed great 
 hopes upon the Baron's expected accomplishments 
 in Seoul; but subsequent notes in his journal, made 
 in 1884 and 1885, tell mildly of his disappointment 
 in MoUendorff 's conduct, personal and official, while 
 in the Korean capital ; and finally of his vindictive- 
 ness against the German, when it was brought to the 
 Viceroy's attention that during the former's term 
 of service at Seoul he was secretly in correspondence 
 with other Governments relative to the affairs of 
 the Hermit Kingdom. It appears that MoUendorff, 
 
26o MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 fearing his duplicity had been discovered, — which, 
 in fact, was not the case, — quickly left Korea, 
 taking with him an unknown amount of the public 
 moneys. 
 
 In 1885 the Customs Service of the country was 
 taken in charge by Sir Robert Hart, then and for 
 many years the highly able and conscientious head 
 of the Imperial Chinese Customs and Telegraphs. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 
 
 In one of the longest of his single political manu- 
 scripts, sufficiently lengthy in itself to make a fair- 
 sized pamphlet, Viceroy Li deals with the cession 
 of Formosa to the Japanese. He calls the island by 
 its ancient Chinese name, Taiwan, but in a number 
 of places refers to it variously as the "Land of 
 Pirates," the "Island of Brown Robbers," etc. The 
 monograph was written probably during the year 
 1897, for in it he refers to "my excuses to the 
 Throne" (on the same subject). In the monograph 
 he quotes from the last mentioned as "sent in the 
 ninth moon of 1896": — 
 
 's^It will some day be seen that I rendered my 
 country a distinct service when I gave over Formosa 
 [Taiwan] to the Japanese enemy. I do not expect 
 that the country generally, or the world, will recog- 
 nise this for many years to come, for political preju- 
 dices linger long in the minds of people, especially 
 those most intimately concerned. We of to-day bless 
 Ping Ti [an emperor reigning about the beginning 
 of the Christian era] for his encouragement of sweet 
 ballads and his cultivation of the graces. But, as 
 Ha-Po tells us, there were thousands and thousands 
 of people of his time who said that he was a Woman- 
 
262 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 King, and should be ruhbing oil upon the h^ad of^ 
 husband. 
 
 ''From my earhest knowledge of things relating 
 to the whole country, I was most stoutly of the opin- 
 ion that this Land of the Brown Robbers was a vile 
 spot, in which no man, even if he had the swiftest 
 of the running sicknesses [reference is made to 
 leprosy], would ever care to live. My father, after 
 one of his journeys to the sea, told me of having seen 
 many of the brown pirates brought to land and cut 
 in small pieces, and the pieces, he said, were scat- 
 tered far apart in order that these fierce fellows 
 would never be able to grow together again. 
 
 " But while such tales impressed me in my younger 
 years, I did not let them influence my opinions when 
 I could study these matters from facts and reports 
 and common knowledge. I knew that while the 
 island, like Boko-To, the Pescadores, paid some 
 tribute to the Throne, and paid the tribute regularly 
 every seven moons, this was only to throw sand in 
 the eyes of the people so that the cut-throats might 
 better rob and plunder. It was as if one of my 
 servants would bring me a wild duck as a present, 
 making me think well of him, while his whole object 
 was to plunder my own fine fowl ponds. 
 
 "In after years I made considerable study of this 
 possession of the Throne which was the cause of so 
 much worry to all the Canton river-men, and even 
 up and down the coast from Macao to Shanghai. 
 More than that, by preying upon the vessels of 
 
THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 263 
 
 foreigners they were bringing the Viceroys and even 
 the Government at the Northern Capital into wars 
 and money troubles. Yet all this time they were 
 paying tribute, and this tribute was being received 
 with smiles and gladness. 
 
 "It may not be known generally, but as early 
 as 1873, when complaints came to Tientsin from 
 British traders, I earnestly memorialised the Throne 
 to offer Taiwan to the English Government to do 
 with the wretched island as they saw fit. 
 
 \It was the first memorial of the kind I had 
 addressed to the Sacred Car, and it nearly cost me 
 my position as well as my head. Being summoned 
 to Peking, I was asked by the Grand Council what 
 I meant by advocating that a part of the Imperial 
 territory be given away; to which I replied that I 
 was satisfied it was a hindrance rather than a benefit 
 to the nation. If the great island could not be sold, 
 I advocated that it be made a present to England. 
 I told the Council that as England had been so ready 
 to grab Hong-Kong we might in a measure get even 
 with her by making a gift of Formosa. All manner 
 of threats were made to me at the time of this visit, 
 and I was requested to mind my most personal and 
 provincial business. At that time I did not know 
 that my words were striking so near the tribute- 
 getters, but I learned afterward that while some of 
 the same Grand Council agreed with me secretly as 
 to the utter worthlessness of the possession, there 
 were some reasons why they would not have the 
 
264 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 brown sea-rovers disturbed. I returned to Tientsin 
 determined truly to be not too anxious regarding 
 affairs outside my own sphere; and I believe that 
 that one high reprimand was perhaps responsible for 
 keeping me from more serious meddlings during the 
 years when I still had not an army behind me, nor 
 money in my chests, nor rice in my warehouses. 
 
 "vA poor man is ever at a disadvantage in matters 
 of public concern. When he rises to speak, or writes 
 a letter to his superiors, they ask: Who^is this fellow 
 that offers advice? And when it is known that he is 
 without coin they spit their hands at him, and use his 
 letters in the cooks' fires. But if it be a man of wealth 
 who would speak or write or denounce, even though 
 he have the brain of a yearling dromedary, or a spine 
 as crooked and unseemly, the whole city listens to 
 his words and declares them wise. 
 
 '-And just so it is with the man in office who is 
 not yet possessed of sufficient bannermen or stored 
 wealth to make him strong. He may obtain his 
 office through his learning or ability, but he holds 
 it always at the mercy of some one who is higher 
 than himself. 
 
 .''We all crave office of some kind, if that only 
 of a village headman or an inspector of canals; but 
 that man who is the holder of a small office is for- 
 ever on his back [i.e., in hot water]. Of course we 
 must all begin in the lower grades, and prove by 
 ability and learning that we are worthy of the higher 
 ones ; but during my years of small tenure I was con- 
 
THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 265 
 
 stantly miserable at heart, and I am sure, even with 
 the wealth my father gave me, that had it not been 
 for the friendship of Tseng-kofan, and the chances 
 for advancement that came through the military 
 branch — which I once so despised — I should have 
 turned to agriculture and horticulture alone as my 
 life's work." 
 
 Tseng-kofan, of whom Li here speaks, was the 
 great Viceroy of Nanking, who gave the author his 
 first opportunity as a military leader, and to whom 
 extended references are made in other parts of the 
 memoirs. 
 
 "That former memorial made to the Throne was 
 cast into my face when I returned from the peace 
 negotiations with Japan, and for one reason I was 
 glad that it was; for it entirely disproved the words 
 of the carpers, who were maintaining, on the one 
 hand, that our enemies had bribed me into turning 
 Formosa over to them, and, on the other hand, that 
 I was browbeaten by the Japanese, and had no 
 bravery of heart nor strength of mind. 
 
 "Last year, in the ninth moon, in writing my 
 free and full excuses to Their Majesties, I wrote in 
 part as follows regarding the cession of Formosa: 
 'The records of the Grand Council will show, I 
 believe — if they are as truthfully kept and preserved 
 as it is important they should be — that as much as 
 twenty-three years ago I memorialised the Throne, 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 or at least attempted to, to the effect that Taiwan 
 was a black ulcer spot upon the beautiful and sacred 
 body of the empire, and that to cause its removal, by 
 whatever means, would be a blessing to the country. 
 It cannot be said that at that time I was in any league 
 with our enemies the Japanese. My heart was as 
 full of hatred for them at one time as at another, 
 and no one — excepting my own countrymen — can 
 accuse me of a fondness for Nippon, the Japanese 
 least of all. In 1873 I nearly lost my office because 
 I would advocate the giving away of a worse than 
 worthless possession, and now I am accused of a 
 weakness of spirit because at Shimonoseki I agreed 
 to give them something that I was certain China did 
 not want.* 
 
 ''It is true that when Marquis Ito stipulated, as 
 one of the chief terms of peace, that Formosa should 
 be ceded, I immediately declared that I was will- 
 ing to agree to almost anything but that ; yet, had I 
 been in another apartment, all alone, I should have 
 danced for joy in spite of all my infirmities. As it was 
 my heart was indeed glad, but I requested the chief 
 plenipotentiary to say at least that the Mikado 
 would not insist upon having the big island. His 
 Excellency agreed to put the question over until 
 the next session of the commissioners, and dur- 
 ing the intervening time I was sore afraid he 
 would change his mind and announce that his 
 Government did not want it. On the contrary, 
 however, upon the reassembling of the negotiators, 
 
THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 267 
 
 the Japanese members insisted that Formosa be 
 ceded to the Mikado, and, after much parley, I 
 reluctantly agreed. All the members of our party 
 fully agreed with me that we were doing particularly 
 well in getting rid of the possession, and it was 
 my expectation that the Throne and the Minis- 
 ters would also look upon the matter in the same 
 light. 
 
 yBut I have found that you cannot hope always, 
 even when you are doing your best, for the appro- 
 bation of others. More times than many during the 
 past two years have I heard it said in high quarters 
 that I traded away a most valuable possession, yet 
 I will tell my countrymen, that they may know it 
 now and remember it in the future, that at that 
 peace conference I should almost have been willing 
 to add Formosa to any demands the Mikado should 
 make — if those demands could have been agreed 
 to at all — and to pay him something additional for 
 taking the island off our hands. 
 
 N What could China want of such an ulcer pos- 
 session? In the first instance, had Formosa been 
 of any real value, England or France would have 
 made pretensions to it years ago, and we should have 
 lost it by force of arms, just as we have lost other 
 territory along that coast. But these Westerners 
 knew its real value, — or its real worthlessness, I 
 should say, — and the island was left in our un- 
 disturbed possession. If we were a naval power, 
 as years ago I urged we should be, declaring myself 
 
268 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 ready to spend millions of taels of my own money 
 in the building of a Chinese navy that would give us 
 some real strength at sea, we might find some little 
 use for Formosa as a naval base; but as a colony, a 
 possession, or a province, it was a distinct injury to 
 China from the first day it owned allegiance to the 
 Throne. 
 
 ^It is not as if the Formosans were really people 
 of the Mongolian race. They are neither of us 
 nor with us, and we praise all the ancestors that 
 this is so! In all Asia, in all the world, I believe, 
 there are no tribes of animals called men more 
 degraded and filthy than these people of Taiwan. 
 And have we not enough of criminals and low crea- 
 tures to deal with on the mainland? These people 
 are not farmers, they are not hill-men, nor hunters 
 of wild beasts whose skins bring in money and keep 
 men's bodies warm in the cold winters. No, they are 
 not even fit to be soldiers in trained armies, for they 
 have no discipline, nor could they be taught. Neither 
 would they make good sailors on regular ships, 
 though many of the coastmen are good enough as 
 wild pirates and buccaneers of the sea. They are 
 cut-throats, all of them, along the coasts and back 
 in the jungles. And so they have been from the 
 days of Chia-Ch'ing to the present time. 
 
 **No, they are not all even of so good a class as 
 that! For what are opium-smokers, head-hunters, 
 and filthy lepers? I know from all I have learned 
 in official and commercial quarters — the latter 
 
THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 269 
 
 when I was President of the North Sea Trade — 
 that a very large number of these people are opium- 
 users of the lowest kind, and those who do not use 
 the hellish concoction only abstain from it because 
 it is not within their power or means to obtain that 
 dirtiest of evil drugs, which England has for fifty 
 years forced upon the people of China. If the opium 
 could not be obtained from the near-by coast ports, 
 if our own merchant seamen were not compelled to 
 carry the vile stuff, neither could the islanders of 
 Formosa have obtained it and made themselves so 
 low in the moral scale. 
 
 " I am perfectly well aware that some of our states- 
 men have expressed great expectations regarding the 
 future of the island ; and by some the building of the 
 Tainan railway-line was regarded as the beginning 
 of real industrial and financial progress. But I my- 
 self talked several times with Lin Ming Ching about 
 that railroad enterprise, as well as other proposed 
 industrial undertakings, and Ching — who had for- 
 merly been an enthusiast — declared finally that 
 he had lost faith in the island as a place of invest- 
 ment. This was in strange contrast with his lan- 
 guage of former years, when he came to me and 
 proposed that I furnish capital for some mining 
 projects in the interior. As a matter of fact I had, 
 and still have, small amounts invested in properties in 
 Takow and Tainan; but I shall look for no greater 
 returns from them than I believe Japan will receive 
 from her political investment. 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 y If China did not have hundreds of millions of 
 acres in the west, millions of them in Mongolia, 
 millions in Kiangsu and Shensi, untold millions even 
 in the far western provinces and in Tibet, that are 
 as yet unpeopled, we might be drawn to this great 
 island and attempt its regeneration. But with these 
 vast areas unpeopled and untilled, what do we want 
 of the wild forests of Formosa, filled as they are with 
 head-hunters and opium-eaters? 
 
 '^The island is unsavoury in history, even from 
 the time of Chia-Ch'ing and beyond; and great 
 outlays of money and means have been necessary at 
 various times to put down millions of these vile 
 robbers. Think of the great Kashgaria outbreak and 
 what it cost! And in the good Chien Lung's reign 
 many lives and much treasure were exhausted in 
 quelling the wild rebellions that broke forth. Can 
 any one name a single man born in Formosa who has 
 brought either glory or treasure to China? Some will 
 answer, 'Yes, Koxinga'; and perhaps I will agree, 
 for Koxinga did do one good thing, — at least good 
 for the Dutch, — he drove them from the island! 
 
 1' It will be said by those who are my enemies — - 
 and perhaps not denied by my friends — that this 
 paper is written wholly with the idea of defending 
 my personal name in this matter. In a sense, of 
 course, this is true ; but in a very much larger sense 
 it is not true, for the principal object of this writing is 
 to convince my countrymen that in the ceding of 
 Formosa to the Japanese, China has really not lost 
 
THE CESSION OF FORMOSA 271 
 
 anything of value; instead, she will eventually be the 
 gainer thereby. We never have been in a position to 
 defend the possession, were it worth defending, from 
 any Western Power, nor even from Japan in later 
 years. And in all times of necessity must it have 
 been a menace to our international relations. Eng- 
 land, entrenched forever at Hong-Kong, would have 
 been no stronger in possession of Formosa; yet for 
 the balance of power in Eastern waters I should much 
 prefer to see the island in possession of the Japanese. 
 They, in course of time, may find some use for it 
 in their sea operations, or as a dumping-ground for 
 millions of their coolies, who, otherwise, must even- 
 tually overrun Korea and the mainland. But I am 
 sure that in the years to come they will not re- 
 gard me in the light of such a noble giver as some of 
 my critics would have China to-day believe." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ESTIMATES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 
 THE CZAR OF RUSSIA 
 
 (Written at Peking in August, 1897.) — "The 
 mails brought me a handsome new portrait of the 
 Czar and Czarina of Russia to-day, richly framed 
 and accompanied by a long personal note from His 
 Majesty. It is already hanging in my own room 
 beside those other portraits which Their Majesties 
 were pleased to present to me during my visit to 
 Moscow. 
 
 '> I shall never cease to think most happily of the 
 Czar, nor forget the very great consideration he 
 showed me in Russia. There were, of course, many 
 vital questions regarding Eastern affairs upon which 
 he desired to obtain my views; and I was quite as 
 anxious to learn what were his intents and purposes 
 with reference to matters of great interest and im- 
 port to China. But, aside from all political considera- 
 tions. His Majesty treated me quite as a visiting 
 sovereign at St. Petersburg and Moscow rather than 
 as a mere Special Ambassador to his coronation. 
 The good Czarina, too, — I could tell by her face 
 that she was a good woman as well as a good Em- 
 press, — treated me with a consideration that is 
 pleasing to a man of my years. 
 
ESTIMATES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 273 
 
 '-II am not sure whether it was five or six audiences 
 I had with the Czar during my stay. I use the word 
 ' audiences,' but they were not that. Only one or two 
 were of the formal or ceremonial kind, and at these 
 other envoys were present. But the others were 
 simply face to face visits, with good tea, good wine, 
 and, I suppose the Europeans would call it, good 
 music. 
 
 'iOf course, it gave me great pleasure to thank the 
 Czar for having especially requested the Throne that 
 I be sent as China's representative to the coronation. 
 Another, whom I need not now name, had been 
 chosen to represent the Sacred Car [Their Chinese 
 Majesties] at the great ceremonies; but almost at the 
 last hour Nicholas himself sent word by telegraph 
 that my appointment would be most pleasing to him. 
 There was nothing then for the Palace, especially in 
 view of our recent negotiations with the Russian 
 Government, but to send me instead. I had never 
 intended to leave China, that is, as a mere sight-seer 
 about the globe ; but the Czar's request gave me good 
 opportunity for viewing some of the other great 
 countries of the world, especially Russia, Germany, 
 France, Belgium, and England in Europe, and the 
 great United States in America. 
 
 " During one of my evening visits to the Czar the 
 conversation was almost wholly upon the trip he had 
 taken to the Far East when Crown Prince of Russia. 
 During that journey he had learned quite a number 
 of Chinese phrases, some of them quite long and 
 
274 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 involved; and these he repeated to me at intervals 
 during the evening. He referred laughingly to the 
 attempt that had been made on his life by one of 
 my own countrymen ; and remarked that now, after 
 being a Czar, he was getting accustomed to such 
 things. At this remark the whole company — there 
 were perhaps a dozen persons in the room — 
 laughed; all with the exception of Count Witte and 
 myself, for I see no humour in assassination. 
 
 " During all my personal visits to His Majesty he 
 was as a very approachable and democratic man, 
 although I knew, of course, that not many of Ihis 
 subjects could get as near to him as I had. Yet his 
 manner was free and unrestrained, though he was 
 ordinarily most quiet if not actually modest or 
 'backward.' At first I was very ill at ease in his 
 presence, but when he offered first cigars, then ciga- 
 rettes, with his own hands, and touched glasses over 
 fine wines, I felt that I was simply the guest of a 
 Russian gentleman, and not an envoy to the great 
 Czar of the most extensive empire of the world. 
 
 ** Before leaving St. Petersburg His Majesty 
 loaded me with many personal gifts — for the 
 Dowager Empress and the Emperor, the ladies of 
 the Forbidden City, and for Lady Li and myself. 
 Among those for myself was a rich robe of sable, 
 lined with purple satin, which I am told is worth 
 at least 15,000 taels. This I shall wear only when the 
 most auspicious occasions fall upon the coldest 
 days."_^ 
 
I ESTIMATES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 275 
 
 SIR ROBERT HART 
 
 (Without date.) — "The entire finances of the 
 Customs have been placed in the hands of a foreigner, 
 Sir Robert Hart, and it is predicted there will not 
 hereafter be a stringency in official circles. Let us 
 hope that it may be so, although I am firmly con- 
 vinced that we have native bankers, among them 
 [here many Chinese names are given] . . . who could 
 as well administer the office. Sir Robert is highly 
 commended by the British Government; a very 
 natural thing since the Britishers are always worry- 
 ing lest they lose a few pounds in their Oriental 
 investments." 
 
 " 1883. — It has been suggested that I turn over 
 the Korean finances to the administration of Sir 
 Robert Hart, but I am not quite prepared to do this. 
 Personally I have large sums at stake in connection 
 with Korean affairs, and I should prefer to obtain 
 my own before trusting all to this administrator, 
 whose methods are sometimes to be questioned." 
 
 t! December, 1890. — Perhaps of all the foreigners 
 who have taken service under the Government there 
 is no man of as clean and honourable record as Sir 
 Robert Hart, who was my visitor and dinner-guest 
 yesterday. In the first years of our acquaintance, 
 nearly a quarter of a century ago, I was inclined to 
 distrust him — but I distrust all men until I know 
 them ; yet as I have come to know him better, and 
 
276 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 to study from year to year what he has accom- 
 plished, I do not hesitate to say that in this Irish- 
 Britisher the empire has found one of its truest 
 and most loyal friends, as well as an administrator 
 of finances who is as honest and painstaking as he 
 is brilliant and pleasing." 
 
 MR. GLADSTONE 
 
 \' As I wrote during my world journey, if I could 
 not be Li Hung Chang I should next prefer to be the 
 Prime Minister of England. It is true I should not 
 want to have his ailments, and I presume he would 
 not like to possess my rheumatism and heart trou- 
 bles; but Mr. Gladstone made a deep impression 
 upon me during the few hours I was at his home. 
 He appeared to me as a man not only of great men- 
 tality but of wonderful strength of will and courage 
 of conviction. His face looked to me more honest 
 than any other I had seen in all Europe, and I believe 
 if such a man as he were at the head of England's 
 affairs no great wrong would ever be done by that 
 Government." 
 
 GOVERNOR HASTINGS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 "They tell me that Napoleon was a very small 
 man, who did not at all look like an emperor. 
 When I saw General Hastings, in Philadelphia, it 
 occurred to me that Napoleon, with all his armies 
 and territories, should have looked like this gallant 
 American ! 
 
ESTIMATES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 2^'] 
 
 "I have heard that he is since dead, but I hope 
 that it is not so, for I had intended writing him upon 
 my return to China, and I also very much wished 
 to send him enough of the finest tea to last his family 
 all their days. 
 
 "Though he looked so like what an emperor 
 ought to look, or as a fine general-in-chief of a tre- 
 mendous victorious army. General Hastings was 
 indeed a warm-hearted, jovial man, with pure hu- 
 mour all over his handsome face. We sat together 
 for some hours in a semi-ofiicial hotel or club in 
 Philadelphia, and it was most unfortunate that 
 we could not converse in a common language with- 
 out the use of interpreters. These latter are most 
 annoying to me when social matters are under dis- 
 cussion. They spoil one's remarks, and oftentimes 
 do not understand the point themselves. In political 
 or business life they may be tolerated; in fact, they 
 are sometimes very useful as witnesses." 
 
 PRESIDENT CLEVELAND 
 
 'Jit was a source of regret to me that I could 
 not get from President Cleveland a promise to visit 
 the Far East as his illustrious predecessor General 
 Grant — who put down the American rebellion 
 during those years when I was ridding China of the 
 Taipings — had done seventeen years before. If 
 Mr. Cleveland had said he would make a visit to 
 China it would have been my great honour and 
 pleasure to arrange for him the most elaborate and 
 
278 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 distinguished reception ever accorded a great man 
 in China. But the American President would not 
 give me the faintest hope in this respect, declar- 
 ing that when his days of office were finished he 
 hoped to go to some quiet place in the country, and 
 no more take an active part in the public affairs of 
 the United States. 
 
 '"There will be younger, better, and abler men 
 to look after the country's well-being,' he said. 
 
 " It was and still is difficult for me to understand 
 this attitude, for, after all his years of power at the 
 head of a great people, I could not see how he should 
 want to relinquish so much and go voluntarily into 
 private life. It is not the way with us here in China. 
 
 "I asked the President what his age was, and he 
 told me, but I have forgotten just the number of 
 years. I believe they were as many as fourteen or 
 fifteen less than my own. He said that he had no 
 infirmity of moment, and that he enjoyed the woods 
 and the fields, boating, hunting, and fishing. (How 
 the people of China would stare if they should see the 
 Emperor, or even myself, fishing!) Mr. Cleveland 
 looked to me like one who had spent much of his life 
 outdoors; a strong, heavy man, who reminded me 
 much of Bismarck, except that his face was not so 
 florid, nor his voice so loud." 
 
 SIR NICHOLAS O' CONOR 
 
 \" In all my dealings with this fine British Minister 
 I have found him above the slightest reproach. 
 
ESTIMATES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 279 
 
 During his time in Korea I was in close touch with 
 iall his movements, and it was with great pleasure 
 that I heard of his transfer to Peking. After he 
 came here we became warm personal friends; but 
 that did not at any time interfere with the battles 
 we were almost constantly, for a number of years, 
 compelled to wage." 
 
 MARQUIS ITO 
 
 vHe was always a hard man to make a bargain 
 with, but this perversity and stubbornness was not 
 personal. It belongs to the nation of which he was 
 so distinguished a representative. Kind at heart, 
 and a gentleman by nature, he was forever driven 
 by those behind him at Tokio to present a front of 
 almost unrelenting severity. He served his country 
 well — much better than she deserved." 
 
 UNITED STATES MINISTER CONGER 
 
 "J have come to know His Excellency Major 
 Conger, of the United States Legation, as I have 
 known few Americans; and Madam Conger and 
 Lady Li are well known to each other. Major 
 Conger was here [Peking residence] yesterday, and 
 together we went over the events of the late [Boxer] 
 outbreak; not as opposing diplomats endeavouring 
 to learn secrets from each other, but as friends who 
 have seen one of the most dangerous incidents in all 
 Chinese history lose its terrible importance and be 
 smoothed over. Minister Conger, backed by the 
 
28o MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 United States, was a strong friend of my country's 
 during those fearful weeks. I tremble to think of 
 what rriight have been China's fate but for the stand 
 taken by the American Government." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 
 
 If the expression is permissible, the diary of Viceroy 
 Li is as thickly dotted with references to the opium 
 habit and traffic as are the poppy-fields with the 
 bloom of the drug-giving plant in the June days. 
 He appears to have been a violent hater of the devas- 
 tating narcotic and its votaries from youth to old 
 age, yet he frankly tells of his own engagement in 
 opium culture, "for the sake of medicine and medi- 
 cine alone," and does not hesitate to say that some 
 parts of his estates in Hupeh were "leased for its 
 culture." Altogether, those parts of his diary and 
 memoirs relating to the subject, especially in view 
 of the heroically drastic measures adopted by the 
 Chinese Republic for the suppression of the use of 
 and traffic in opium, are without doubt among the 
 most interesting of all his writings. 
 
 The earliest reference found in his diary proper 
 appears to have been written in 1845, when he was 
 still a student at Hofei, about, indeed, the time of 
 the so-called Opium War. It follows. 
 
 -"It is not only for weeks but for many months 
 that I have laboured with my good friend Ho-Kai 
 to prevail upon him to abstain from the vice which 
 has found its way into the neighbourhood ; but with 
 the quitting of his interest in all things I fear my 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 words and counsel have been wasted. Yet I blame 
 his father more than any one else, for the old swine- 
 raiser brought the habit into the family, and all his 
 sons make use of the terrible extract. 
 
 \' To-day I sought out Ho-Kai in his home, but his 
 mother told me he was seldom there now, for he 
 spends much of his time in the walled village in 
 drunken stupor. His father does likewise, and at 
 least one of his brothers. It would seem as if, when 
 the scourge attacks one of a family, it does not spare 
 many of its members, and that in the second gener- 
 ation its hold is worse than in the first. Oh, how 
 thankful I am that Heaven has spared our family, 
 that my father taught us to avoid this evil ! Why will 
 a man like Ho-Kai, senior, bring corruption directly 
 to his own home? Does it not show how low the 
 victim of this vice will fall? 
 
 vThis day, though my father has warned me 
 strictly to avoid his company, I went into the high 
 village in search of Ho-Kai. It was no trouble to find 
 him, for the vile place where he spends most of his 
 time is now known to all the neighbourhood, since 
 it is said that more than two hundred in this district 
 are users of the foreign drug. My friend, whom I 
 met outside the place on his way home, grew angry 
 with me when I protested at his unseemly conduct. 
 But I was willing to stand his anger for his sister's 
 sake, and for his mother's, for the family is of the 
 shan-sz [the local gentry], and we have ever been 
 on most intimate terms with them. Besides, a 
 
THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 283 
 
 good aunt of Ho-Kai's is a secondary wife of my 
 father's, and a much-respected woman. Yet my for- 
 mer friend and schoolmate would not listen to my 
 words, declaring that he now loves the foreign drug 
 more than he ever did the classics. Is it not won- 
 derful how a good man, though not greatly tal- 
 ented, will put his head into the fu-nun, the tiger's 
 mouth?" 
 
 ^^ Later [without date]. — Ho-Kai's father is dead; 
 it is the foreign drug which killed him, though some 
 believe that he took too much, knowing that the 
 respect in which his former associates held him was 
 forever gone, and his property in the hands of the 
 usurers. Ho-Kai, himself, is no longer at his home, 
 but one of the miserable beggars of the highway. His 
 eyes are nearly blind, though he is some years 
 younger than myself. When I went along the road 
 yesterday he did not know me. I should be glad 
 to see him die, too ; and I believe it will not be long 
 before he follows his father." 
 
 A dozen years later, when Li Hung Chang was 
 the commander of the victorious Imperial troops 
 at Nanking, he wrote : — 
 
 ~l!We found the great city full of the opium evil, 
 and hundreds who had not had solid food for many 
 days were still sufficiently supplied with this terrible 
 curse, so that they slept and dreamed through the 
 riot and battle about them. To General Ching I 
 
284 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 gave orders that all persons found with the drug in 
 their possession, all persons under its baneful influ- 
 ence, and all persons, of whatever force they had 
 been or were allied to, who sought the drug either for 
 their own use or to engage in the profitable business 
 of trafficking in it, should be decapitated. 
 
 "Immediately upon receiving these orders, Gen- 
 eral Ching was indiscreet enough to enter into argu- 
 ment with General Gordon, though I have forbidden 
 the former to arouse the Englishman. After I had 
 severely reprimanded him he went upon the errand 
 assigned him, and this morning reported that he 
 had executed more than twelve hundred users and 
 retailers of the drug. It is good work, and it further 
 commends Ching in my sight. 
 
 "Once, without intending in the least to hurt 
 the English gentleman's feelings, I spoke of his 
 countrymen as being largely to blame for the importa- 
 tion of opium into the land. The occasion for the 
 remark was the giving of the order by myself for the 
 death by ling-chi [cutting to bits] of an officer of the 
 Shantung bannermen, who had sold the drug among 
 the officers of our force, but who himself neither 
 smoked nor ate it. 
 
 "General Gordon flew into a terrible fit of anger 
 without waiting for me to explain that I but uttered 
 the words in jest so far as he was personally con- 
 cerned, and declared that he should not be surprised 
 if it were true that a few low Englishmen could be 
 found willing to engage in the trade ; but, he added, 
 
0^ 
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 285 
 
 there were millions of low Chinese ready for it when 
 it was brought to them. I did not like his remark, 
 and told him so ; but the subject was not spoken of 
 again between us, for he was quite as great an opium 
 hater as myself. It was because of my knowing this, 
 as well as of his very sensitive national pride, that 
 I had warned Ching. 
 
 ,^" Viceroy Tseng-kofan used the drug somewhat 
 during his younger days, though not to excess. His 
 mind is wonderfully strong, and it is not difficult for 
 me to believe that even with great temptations about 
 him he would not fall victim to this abuse as easily as 
 other men. If I remember rightly, he once told me 
 that for a while, during his younger scholastic days, 
 he felt that the foreign curse was getting the better 
 of him, and that his great devotion to mathematics 
 saved him from ruin. Yes, I am sure it was Tseng- 
 kofan, but whether he told me directly, or I heard it 
 concerning him, I cannot now remember. However, 
 he knew that his power of solving problems of as- 
 tronomy and mathematics was leaving him, and 
 he determined forever to abandon the drug." 
 
 ^Viceregal Yamen, Tientsin, 1893. -^A statement 
 has been translated to me from one of the London 
 papers, in which I am quoted as saying to the 
 Honourable George N. Curzon that I do not, in 
 common with most Chinese, hold Great Britain 
 responsible for the importation of opium into China. 
 
 "In the first place, I never in my life made such 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 an outrageous assertion; in the second place, I feel 
 sure that Mr. Curzon never said I did; and, in the 
 third place, both Mr. Curzon and myself, as well as 
 every well-read and intelligent Britisher or Oriental, 
 is aware of the unhappy and disgraceful fact that 
 but for Great Britain there would not be a picul of 
 opium sold in China to-day for illegitimate use; by 
 this I mean for use outside the legitimate practice 
 of medicine. 
 
 '(This may appear to be a strong assertion, and I 
 have no doubt it will be as strongly denied and con- 
 demned; but it is a true one, nevertheless, and the 
 entire history of trade and traffic in the Orient will 
 substantiate my every word. 
 
 \ A great many fine Englishmen have been friends 
 of mine, and I number to-day many of that race 
 among my intimates: ministers and consuls, army 
 and navy officers, engineers, and hundreds and hun- 
 dreds of merchants. These men know that I have 
 great admiration for them and their race, and, in all 
 seasons and times, for their sacred and virtuous 
 Queen. But for the Government, so far as it has 
 made itself not only the agent but the guardian of 
 the vicious opium trade, I have a very sincere dislike. 
 
 "I know that, because of this money-grasping, 
 trade-compelling feature of England's dealings with 
 my country, millions of wretched people of China 
 have been made more miserable; stalwart men and 
 women have been made paupers, vagrants, and the 
 lowest of criminals; and hundreds of thousands of 
 
THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 287 
 
 the weaker ones of my race — mainly among the 
 women — have been sent to suicide graves. 
 
 xAnd all this because otherwise India might not 
 prosper ! 
 
 "And all this because otherwise British trade 
 might not flourish in Chinese ports! 
 
 "AH this because gold and territory are greater 
 in the eyes of the British Government than the rights 
 and bodies of a weak people. 
 
 "Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! We Chinese have been laughed 
 and sneered at in the streets of London itself, and 
 have been called 'Pig- tailed Opium-Eaters,' when 
 for years and years it is the Government of these 
 same Londoners which has been responsible for the 
 millions of human wrecks throughout the length 
 and breadth of the Middle Kingdom. 
 
 "I was asked once by a British admiral at Amoy 
 what my estimate of the number of opium-users in 
 China would be. I did not reply directly, but ques- 
 tioned him as to the population of England; and 
 when he told me in the neighbourhood of 27,000,000, 
 I said: 'Admiral, that is about the number of opium 
 fiends in China.' 
 
 "He said he did not get my meaning. 
 
 ^'Then I told him that, as his country was respon- 
 sible for the vicious traflic, each man and woman 
 and child in England might well feel that there 
 was at least one wretched being in China as a repre- 
 sentative. 
 
 "In this relation I have often taken my pen and 
 
288 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 from records before me made estimates of the num- 
 ber of unfortunates in this great empire of ours ; and 
 each time have my figures told me that about one 
 tenth of our people are victims of a vice that has 
 no parallel anywhere on earth. I could wish that I 
 might make the figure smaller, but as I have gone 
 over my calculations time and time again, and as 
 they include the most wretchedly diseased prov- 
 inces of Yunnan and Szechuan, I feel that my esti- 
 mates are too low rather than too high. 
 
 \' It must not be imagined that I am so ignorant of 
 history as to claim that England or any other of the 
 Western nations was responsible for the introduction 
 of the cursed drug into China. No, it came' from the 
 island of Java two hundred years before the 'j3pium 
 War,' gaining its strongest hold along the coast and 
 in Formosa. Kang H'sai sent an official to enquire 
 into the evil in Formosa, and he died there. Others 
 followed, became addicted to the curse, and died 
 also. Later, travellers and traders, crossing from 
 India and the Mohammedan countries, introduced 
 it into the western provinces; and, still later, this 
 devil's extract entered the country as gifts to princes 
 and others in high places. 
 
 V I am fully aware of the growth of the vice in 
 China, for even as a boy at school I saw its ravages, 
 and I enquired whence it came, and why it was 
 brought. Even a bosom friend and student — whose 
 name I do not just now recall — became a victim 
 of the habit, left his home, and was finally stoned to 
 
THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 289 
 
 death by order of the magistrate because he had 
 become entirely bereft of reason and decency. 
 ^" Yes, in all my years — in my studies, in the 
 army, during the wars and the famines, in all my 
 political and business lifei I have studied and com- 
 bated this devouring evil ; and the more I know and 
 see and learn of it the greater does England's crime 
 become in my eyes. England — proud and mighty 
 and rich England — England with her great armies 
 and navies and great men — is shamed and covered 
 with ignominy because of the crimes of her Indian 
 poppyl 
 
 X "It has been stated times without number, and 
 upon several occasions directly to my face, that 
 while I was seemingly opposed to the traffic, I my- 
 self, personally or through agents, had dealt in the 
 drug, having grown poppy upon my own lands, and 
 having leased lands both in Hupeh and Pechili for 
 its cultivation. I have never denied the truth of 
 these statements, and in this writing (a copy of 
 which I intend to send to the 'Times' correspond- 
 ent at Peking and another to the Honourable Mr. 
 Curzon) I shall acknowledge that the foregoing 
 assertions are true. 
 
 /* But I will immediately say, in order that my 
 honour and my conscience be satisfied, that to my 
 knowledge not one farthing's worth of the opium 
 in which I dealt ever went for smoking purposes. 
 I would have my secretary prepare, if such were 
 necessary, a list of the high medical firms and men 
 
290 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 with whom I have had business dealings in opium, 
 and it could easily be shown that they are not only 
 of the best medical repute in China, Japan, and 
 Russia, but that they, almost without exception, — 
 I speak particularly of Chinese doctors and concerns 
 where I have had dealings, — are as bitterly opposed 
 to the habit and traffic as I myself am, such men and 
 firms as could not be approached by users of the 
 drug, or by users' agents in any way. Of course, so 
 far as concerns what has become of the commodity 
 sent to Japan and Russia, I cannot say; only I feel 
 certain from the price and the grade dealt in that 
 very little if any has ever reached the so-called drug 
 fiend. As to the lands I have leased for agricultural 
 purposes I can only say that never has there been 
 a stipulation for or against the poppy; but where I 
 have found the plant growing upon my lands I have 
 always endeavoured as a mere matter of business to 
 have the crude product sold to myself. 
 
 v^" And still another view of this question has been 
 taken. The Chinese Government has, on more than 
 a few occasions, been asked almost directly this 
 question: * If you regard the importation of opium 
 into your country in the light of such a dire evil, 
 why is it that you do not make and enforce laws pro- 
 hibiting the growth of the poppy within your terri- 
 tory?' And our Government has always replied: 
 
 'Of what avail would it be when we are still 
 
 ^^ compelled'' to open our ports to the drug from 
 
 India?' 
 
THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 291 
 
 ^' Could any question, really a question from one 
 Government to another, be more ridiculous and 
 could any answer be more to the point? 
 
 >i^'I know that for more than twenty years there 
 have been repeated attempts made by outside inter- 
 ested parties to have the sternest edicts issued from 
 the Northern Capital against the growth of the 
 poppy throughout China. Mark me, not against 
 the use of the drug, the deadly and benumbing drug, 
 but against the cultivation of the plant from whose 
 pod the poison is extracted f, 
 
 ^* I know, furthermore, that large sums of money 
 were ready to fall into the hands of certain high 
 officials if they could secure such an edict from the 
 ^/Palace. 
 
 "What would the object of this be? 
 
 vThe man who could not grasp the meaning of 
 this knavish attempt would, indeed, lack the men- 
 tality of a blind toad^ 
 
 ^No; the rich Indians, backed by the diplomatic 
 force and physical strength of the British Empire, 
 would not alone rob millions of degraded Chinese of 
 their mental and bodily strength, but they would sap 
 the last cash from the land of their victims. They 
 would drain our beloved country in every way, and 
 leave us helpless dupes of the poppy farmers of 
 India. 
 
 \"I want to say that I am not of those of my 
 countrymen who have been in opposition, either 
 openly or secretly, to the advance of the Western 
 
292 MEMOIRS OF LI HUNG CHANG 
 
 Church in China. On the contrary, I have from 
 very early days welcomed the missionary of the 
 West as well as the merchant or the engineer, and I 
 hope to continue in this attitude to the end of my 
 days ; for it is my earnest belief that the sooner China 
 awakens her vast body to all that is good in the 
 West, without sacrificing her own virtues and high 
 qualities, without neglecting her own splendid phi- 
 losophy and beautiful literature, — the gifts of her 
 sages and poets for centuries and centuries, — the 
 sooner will she take her place among the Powers 
 of this age, and the sooner will her people rise to a 
 higher and better plane. 
 
 ','But it must be understood by all the Western 
 peoples that Christianity has suffered a much 
 slower growth among the Chinese because of this 
 one curse of opium. Indeed, what are our people, 
 mandarin and coolie, rich man and pauper, scholar 
 and unlettered man, to think, when they all know 
 that the blackest and most deadly virus that has 
 been injected into the nation, year after year, decade 
 after decade, has been forced upon it by a Christian 
 Power? It is not the scholarly and high and powerful 
 who become converts to the Church of the West. 
 No. Neither do these classes as a rule go into the 
 gutters and to the prisons on account of the opium 
 curse ; but they see the vice all about them : the grov- 
 elling wrecks, the opiated bodies in the execution 
 places, the wretched criminals, the deserted wives 
 of the victims, and the unburied suicides upon the 
 
THE OPIUM HABIT AND TRAFFIC 293 
 
 plains and along the paths. And they know that a 
 great nation, a Christian nation above all things, 
 has given this awful blight to the Middle Kingdom. 
 "What are they to think?" 
 
 THE END 
 
APPENDIX 
 LI HUNG Chang's poetical writings on opium 
 
 ODE TO THE POPPY 
 
 {Date of writing unknown) 
 
 Who would think to look upon you, 
 
 Nodding sweetly in the fields, 
 That the scented heart within you 
 
 Our soul's vilest passion yields? 
 
 Who would think to see your verdure, 
 
 In the Springtime lovely green, 
 That the garment nature gives you 
 
 Clothes such wickedness and spleen? 
 
 Who would think to note your sprouting 
 • As a nurtured, tender child, 
 That the blood that ran within you 
 Carried visions fiendish wild? 
 
 Who would think to see your bowing 
 
 To the soothing winds of Spring, 
 That you sheltered in your bosom 
 
 Every bitterness and sting? 
 
 Who would think to see you pluming, 
 Like the peacock vain and proud, 
 
 That beneath your gorgeous feathers 
 Is a note discordant, loud? 
 
 Who would think that in the June-time, 
 
 When in myriads o'er the plain 
 You do look your brightest, sweetest. 
 
 That your smile was hidden pain? 
 
296 APPENDIX 
 
 Who would think that we who plant you, 
 And who love to watch you grow, 
 
 Hate you, curse you, trample on you. 
 When you bring us heart-deep woe? 
 
 Who would think that tender flower, 
 Watched by children of the land, 
 
 Should return the fond love given 
 By a stroke of foulest hand? 
 
 Who would think that in our garden, 
 Where our eyes may ever see, 
 
 In disguise would grow a hell-weed. 
 Deadly in its misery? 
 
 Who would think that in our day-dreams 
 
 Of a home all undefiled 
 We should rear — O heaven spare us ! — 
 
 Such, in truth, a demon child? 
 
 THE SHAME OF GREAT ENGLAND 
 
 (Written in 1881) 
 
 Great England says she rules the widest sea 
 
 In might and right and white man's liberty. 
 
 Her armoured ships and regiments of war 
 
 Span seas and lands 'neath many skies afar. 
 
 She sends her learned sons (in Western ways well-taught), 
 
 Where'er her flag has been, her sons have fought; 
 
 And vast the good these Church and school men do — 
 
 If all Great England claims for them is true. 
 
 But has Great England in her lordly boast 
 Surveyed her pirate traders on our coast? 
 Or has she, while aloft her pride has tossed. 
 Vouchsafed one thought to what her fame has cost? 
 Her traders, sailing here from India's strand 
 In quest of gold and measures great of land. 
 Have brought within their greedy hands no good, — 
 But vessels large for China's ebbing blood! 
 
APPENDIX 297 
 
 Shame! shame! upon Great England of the West, 
 Upon her bristling guns and all the rest, 
 For know we not that in this grand array- 
 Is sceptre grim to lure our souls away? 
 Not as a friend comes England to our shore. 
 But with a cry for blood and gold, and more: 
 The lives of countless thousands, steeped deep 
 In her vile drug, in shameful homage creep. 
 
 TO ALL WHO WILL LISTEN 
 
 (An early composition) 
 
 To all who will listen I would warning give 
 
 Against the vile poppy juice. 
 
 But if you will not heed 
 
 Upon your own heads will fall calamity; 
 
 For in all the Middle Kingdom, 
 
 Even from the Yellow on the North 
 
 To the Pearl on the South, 
 
 And along the banks of the Great River 
 
 Back to the granite mountains of the West, 
 
 There is no evil such as this. 
 
 In the fields we see the poppy growing, 
 And the great fields are sights of gladness. 
 For the eye is pleased with the flowers. 
 And the scent is sweet to the nostrils. 
 And the birds are happy in their homes, 
 And the ground mice sport and play. 
 All is so innocent and good. 
 That we think of the rice and the maize, 
 And the orchard and the grasslands. 
 And they do not surpass the poppy. 
 
 Yes, and it would be so 
 
 If only we might let the flowers 
 
 Bloom and die to grow another year. 
 
 But men will not let it be so, 
 
 For from the flower the poison is drawn 
 
 And given to men to take away their minds. 
 
298 APPENDIX 
 
 O my brothers and all my friends, 
 If you would hearken to good advice, 
 Avoid the poppy juice forever and aye, 
 For it is a plague most noxious and vile! 
 It will eat out your minds. 
 It will rot away your vitals. 
 It will shrivel up your bowels. 
 It will make you walk as a leper, 
 It will cast you into prison. 
 It will send you to your death ! 
 
 But not only you, my friend, will be cast down! 
 
 No, look about you with clear eyes to-day: 
 
 See the misery and ruin it has wrought; 
 
 See the human wrecks on every side. 
 
 Lower than the swine of the far fields; 
 
 See the women bereft of home and all. 
 
 Now toiling in the hot sun of the day, 
 
 Each day of the long, long year. 
 
 That they may buy rice for their babies, 
 
 And give food to their own bodies! 
 
 Think of the graves of every village, 
 
 The graves you cannot see for want of care ! 
 
 Do some care lightly for the palsied. 
 
 Or those whose veins do hold the plague? 
 
 Yes, in all hearts there is pity 
 
 For all that suffer other ills. 
 
 But for the user of the vilesome juice, 
 
 The smoker of the demon's pipe. 
 
 There is no pity in any heart. 
 
 No welcome in e'en the lowest home; 
 
 There is no shame too great for him, 
 
 No suffering he must not bear alone. 
 
 No depths too deep for him to sink into. 
 
 He thinks he lives in some sweet heaven, 
 
 Yet wakes to find that fearsome hell 
 
 Has been his own abode 
 
 And e'er will be. 
 
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 U . S . A 
 
OCT 13 1913 
 
o. 
 
 ^°°«. 
 
 
 '■■■ '■ ^ "f -sr^ A\ <• 
 
 
 
^o a^'