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. Never should the word 'Peace' fall from the mouths of
our high officials, nor should they even allow it to rest for a
moment within their breasts. With such a country as ours, with
her vast area, stretching out several tens of thousands of li,
her immense natural resources, and her hundreds of millions of
inhabitants, if only each and all of you would prove his loyalty
to his Emperor and love of country, what, indeed, is there to
fear from any invader? Let no one think of making peace, but let
each strive to preserve from destruction and spoliation his
ancestral home and graves from the ruthless hands of the
invader."
One of her critics, referring to the last sentence of the above
edict, asks: "Do not these words throw down the gauntlet?" And we
answer, yes. Did not the thirteen colonies throw down the
gauntlet to England for less cause? Did not Japan throw down the
gauntlet to Russia for less cause than the Empress Dowager had
for desiring that "each strive TO PRESERVE FROM DESTRUCTION AND
SPOLIATION HIS ANCESTRAL HOME AND GRAVES"? It was not for
conquest but for self-preservation the Empress Dowager was ready
to go to war; not for glory but for home; not against a taunting
neighbour, but against a "ruthless invader." Her unwisdom did not
consist in her being ready to go to war, but in allowing herself
to be allied to, and depend upon, the superstitious rabble of
Boxers, and to believe that her "hundreds of millions" of
undisciplined "inhabitants" could withstand the thousands or tens
of thousands of well-drilled, well-led, intelligent soldiers from
the West
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