Page "Boxer Rebellion" Paragraph 18

On 16 or 17 June 1900, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager held a mass audience for high officials to hear their opinions of whether the strategy towards the Boxers should be to pacify them or to suppress them.

In response to a high official who doubted the efficacy of the Boxers ' magic, Cixi replied that, " Perhaps their magic is not to be relied upon ; but can we not rely on the hearts and minds of the people?

Today China is extremely weak.

We have only the people's hearts and minds to depend upon.

If we cast them aside and lose the people's hearts, what can we use to sustain the country?

" Both sides of the debate at court realized that popular support for the Boxers in the countryside was almost universal and that suppression would be both difficult and unpopular.