4. Compensation for all property destroyed; 5. Punishment of officials in fault. I shall look to the Yamên and see that these demands are fully satisfied and with the least possible delay." {98} But urgency from both England and France failed to stimulate action on the part of the Chinese government, energetic enough to stop this anti-missionary movement in Central Szechuan. What seems to have been a riot at first became a formidable revolt. "The action of the Provincial Government was paralysed by the fact that Father Fleury was still in Yü's hands, and would be killed if a move was made against the brigands. On the other side the Viceroy was informed by M. Haas, the French Consul, that if anything happened to the Father the consequences to China would be disagreeable. The Taotai was in consequence making efforts to secure the release of the prisoners by paying blackmail." In September it was reported that "Yü's power was increasing, his emissaries were scattered about in places beyond his immediate sphere of influence, and were attempting to stir up Secret Societies, and he had issued a manifesto. A riot took place at Ho Chou, 60 miles north of Chungking, on the 14th September, the American mission hospital being partially looted and a Roman Catholic establishment destroyed by fire. The Provincial Government was acting weakly and unprofitably." Towards the end of September, "Yü marched with about 2,000 uniformed men and took up a position on the Ch'êng-tu road; thence he moved east to Tung-Liang, pillaging and burning the houses of Christians, and levying contributions on the rich. The Viceroy, at the request of the Consuls, was said to have sent 4,000 troops from Ch'êng-tu, Lu-chou, and Ho-chiang to converge on Chungking. Twelve of the rebels, who had been seized at a place only 30 miles south of the port, were publicly executed with torture in Chungking on the 30th September." In October the report was that "fresh troops were arriving, and were taking up positions along the Ch'êng-tu road, and the passes north of Chungking. Further executions had taken place. … The Procureur of the French Mission estimated that up to date the total damage done by Yü Mau-tzu was twenty persons killed, the houses of 6,000 Christians burned and their property stolen, and twelve Missions destroyed." _Great Britain, Papers by Command: China, Number 1, 1899, page 249, and Number 1, 1900, page 152._ On the 12th of October the United States Minister, Mr. Conger, sent to the State Department at Washington the following translation of a decree issued by the Empress Dowager on the 6th: