At the Spanish Legation in Pekin on Christmas Eve (Monday)
the Joint Note of the Powers was presented to Prince Ching, who accepted it, to be forwarded to the Emperor. Li Hung Chang, who is still ill, sent an apology for his absence. The substance of the Note, as telegraphed by the Times correspondent, is as follows. After a preamble reciting as the chief crimes the murder of the German Minister by Imperial soldiers and the attacks on the Legations, denouncing the treachery of the Chinese Government in declaring by its representatives abroad that it was protect- ing the Legations while it was actually besieging them, and recalling the rest of the outrages, the Note declares that the Allies consent to the petition of China for peace on certain " irrevocable " conditions :—(1). An Imperial Prince to convey to Berlin the Emperor's regret for the murder of Baron von Ketteler, and a monument with an inscription in Chinese, German, and Latin, and also expressing the Emperor's regret, to be set up in Pekin. (2) Severe punishment to be inflicted on the persons named in the Imperial decree of September 21st—including Prince Tuan—and also on other persons to be designated by the Allies, and, in addition, examinations to be suspended for five years in the cities where outrages took place. (3) Honourable reparation to be made to Japan for the murder of M. Sugujama. (4) Expiatory monuments to be erected in all the foreign cemeteries where graves were desecrated.
