Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/299

 Government, the memorialists reminded the Throne that the foreign Powers had promised to vacate Peking, and to refrain from annexing any territory if the Court will return. These ends, they said, would not be attained should the Court persist in its intention to proceed further westwards, since it was now the desire of the foreign Ministers that China’s rulers should return to Peking. In the event of a permanent occupation of Peking by the Allies, the loss of Manchuria would be inevitable. The memorialists predicted partition and many other disasters, including financial distress, and the impossibility of furnishing the Throne with supplies at Hsi-an or any other remote corner of the Empire. if the Court’s decision to proceed to Hsi-an was irrevocable, at least a Decree should be issued, stating that its sojourn there would be a brief one, and that the Court would return to Peking upon the complete restoration of peaceful conditions, “The continued existence of the Empire must depend upon the Throne’s decision upon this matter.” The Memorial con- cluded by imploring Their Majesties to authorise Prince Ch’ing to inform the foreign Ministers that the withdrawal of the allied armies would be followed by a definite announcement as to the Court’s return,

In a further memorial from the Viceroys and Governors, it was stated that the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs had suggested to the Chinese Minister in St. Petersburg, that the location of the capital at Hsi-an would certainly prove undesirable, in view of the poverty-stricken condition of the province, and that Their Majesties would no doubt, therefore, proceed to Lan-chou fu, in Kansu.

Before coming to a decision, however, Tzit Hsi required to be fully assured that the forcign Powers would not insist on her abdicating the supreme power as one of the condi- tions of peace. Convinced on that point, the hesitation which she had previously shown in regard to returning to Peking dropped from her like a garment. It had been freely predicted by conservative officials and the literati that the Old Buddha would never again wish to sce her desecrated capital or to visit the polluted shrines of her