Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/420

Rh press Hsiao-ch'in and Tsai-i, overruling the opposition from more enlightened officials, declared war on the foreign powers and initiated the attack on the foreign Legations in Peking. As commander of the army, Jung-lu had to issue the orders to the soldiers under Tung Fu-hsiang who made the attack. He probably foresaw the folly of these actions, but was in danger of losing his own life if he voiced strong opposition. He kept silent, obeyed the commands of the Empress Dowager, but secretly prepared for the eventuality of victory by the foreigners.

On July 9 Nieh Shih-ch'êng, who fought against the Boxers and was also attacked by the Allied Forces, was killed while defending Tientsin. Five days later the Allied Forces took that city. The Court in Peking became alarmed. Most of the time from July 15 to August 6 attacks on the Legations were suspended. The foreign ministers were invited to go to Tientsin under the escort of Jung-lu, but naturally declined to leave their barricades. In the meantime the out-spoken anti-foreign conservative, Li Ping-hêng, reached Peking (about July 25) and by agreeing to fight against the foreigners greatly bolstered the spirit of Tsai-i and the other conservatives who on July 28 ordered the execution of two high officials, and, for opposing Tsai-i's policies. The assault on the Legations was presently resumed. As the allied forces advanced northward from Tientsin (August 5), they first overcame and dispersed the army under Sung Ch'ing. Governor-general Yü-lu, who fled with the defeated army, committed suicide. On August 11 Li Ping-hêng was defeated near Tungchow and he too committed suicide a day later. On August 14 the allied forces entered Peking, thus lifting the siege of the Legations. Nevertheless, so blood-thirsty were the misguided conservatives that only three days before Peking fell they ordered the execution of three other high officials for urging the suppression of the Boxers.

After Empress Hsiao-ch'in fled from Peking to set up Court at Sian she ordered Jung-lu,, and Hsü T'ung to remain in the capital to negotiate with the foreigners. But Hsü hanged himself and Jung-lu and Ch'ung-ch'i fled to Paoting with a handful of Tung Fu-hsiang's Kansu soldiers. On August 26 Ch'ung-ch'i also committed suicide. Jung-lu was ordered to command the troops at Paoting, and later it was decreed that he should assist Prince Ch'ing (I-k'uang, see under ) and in the negotiations with the foreign envoys. But Jung-lu did not dare to return to Peking. In October Li Hung-chang warned him, and the Court at Sian, that the foreign envoys regarded him as having been in command of the soldiers who attacked the Legations. So he hurriedly left Paoting for Sian to serve in his capacity as head of the Grand Council. The negotiations were carried on by Li Hung-chang and I-k'uang. In the meantime the sponsors of the Boxers were punished; Tsai-i and his brother, Tsai-lan (see under ), were banished to Ili; Ying-nien, Chao Shu-ch'iao and Tsai-hsun, were ordered to commit suicide. Yü-hsien, who as governor of Shansi in 1900 ruthlessly killed many missionaries and Christian converts, was executed. So were Ch'i-hsiu and Hsü T'ung's son, Hsü Ch'êng-yü 徐承煜. Even those who had already died—men like Hsü T'ung, Kang-i, and Li Ping-hêng—were posthumously dishonored. Tung Fu-hsiang was deprived of all ranks and offices. Jung-lu was not condemned, but was commended for restraining Tung Fu-hsiang's soldiers during their attack on the Legations. Thus when the Court returned to Peking, early in 1902, he was made senior Grand Secretary in place of Li Hungchang who had died two months previously. Afflicted, however, by a disease, Jung-lu was inactive and died in 1903. He was canonized as Wên-chung 文忠 and was given posthumously the hereditary rank of a first class baron. His name was celebrated in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen.

Opinions differ as to Jung-lu's conduct during the Boxer War. In view of his strategic position with the Empress Dowager and his great powers and responsibility as presiding member of the Grand Council and as commander of the new army, he cannot be absolved for failing to stamp out the Boxers before they became so strong. He could have done it, as Yüan Shih-k'ai did in Shantung, if he had issued the order before the Empress Dowager endorsed the Boxers. This was possibly the only way by which the nemesis of 1900 could have been averted, though he might have lost his position in the process. Later he was praised by many writers for his attempts to stop the attack on the Legations, and for refusing to the Boxers the use of certain artillery. Others maintain that he pleaded for the lives of Yüan Ch'ang and other victims of the anti-foreign clique, but he did not press his point after the Empress Dowager threatened him for intervention. What he actually did in these instances is not known. Some statements in praise of his 408