The " Spirit Boxers."

Manawatu Herald, 2 June 1900, Page 3

The " Spirit Boxers."

A cable message in Monday's issue stated " the Powers have represented to the Tsung-li-Yamen the necessity of supressing the bands of rebels, locally known as ' Boxers,' who for a considerable time have raided and tenorised portions of north-eastern China." To-day we are told that they are marching on Pekin. The " Boxers," or to give * then their , full .title, •t Spiritual ßoxers "-are a strange people in a land full of strange things. The only body at all approaching them in their methods that we can compare them to are the old Thugs of India. They are a religious sect and every now and then they work themselves into a state of frenzy, and then they loot and murder indiscriminately. Their special detestations, however, are the foreigner and foreign ways. They have to be reckoned with as a materal factor in the Government of Northern China, and have friends in high quarters. The brother of the Dowager Empress, and father of the boy who is destined to be the next Emperor, is said to be at their head. Every now and then some outrage on a foreigner causes representations to be made to the Government. The Governor of the Province is called upon to punish the Boxers. He hands the order to his deputy Governors, -who in their turn pass it on to the military authorities. The so-called ."soldiers" are called out and sent against the Boxers. Very often they are in league with them, and when not they generally contrive to hunt in the wrong place. But the military authorities report a glorious victory, and much gore lost by the Boxers. Perhaps the deputy Governor does a little embellishment on his own account before sending the report to the Governor, and when it reaches Pekin a copy is sent to the Embassy of the Power making the complaint, and that Is the end of it. Every large village in north-east China has a "camp" (literally " fist ") of the Boxers. The Spirit Boxers are a clairvoyant sort of people. They have a way of being preternaturally sensitive to things that are "in the air." They have but little knowledge, but a great deal of instinct ; the instinct that can tell that some tremendous invisible forces are aboard in the world which protend in. evitable changes. But Dr. Arthur Smith, who has lived among them for 20 years, and who is a discerning writer on the characteristics of the Chinese, refering to conditions in the province of Shantung, says the whole framework of society quivers with excitement. The air is alive with ominous possibilities. Tens of thousands of men are banded together for objects which even to their own minds are vague and indefinite, led, it is difficult to say, by what common impulse. A wild desire to do something for their country, and to injure and even exterminate foreigners, is openly expressed on their banners. Here is a recent edict sent forth: "Exalt the Manchoos! Down with the ' foreigners 1 Kill the foreigners ! The Universal Boxers' Seciety demands yours presence on the 7th of -the next month. Refusal to obey the summons means the loss of your head."— H.B. Herald.