led to the throne by the
demise of the Emperor, he put on all the airs of a _Tai-shang
Hwang_, or "Father of an Emperor."

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

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

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

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

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

"We Boxers have come to Tientsin to kill an foreign devils, and
protect the Manchu dynasty. Above, there is the Empress Dowager
on our side, and below there is Junglu. The soldiers of Yulu and
Yuhien [governors of Shantung and Chihli] are an our men. When
we have finished killing in Tientsin, we shall go to