What essay by Mark Twain criticized Western imperialism during the Boxer Rebellion?

Mark Twain’s essay criticizing Western imperialism during the Boxer Rebellion was “To the Person Sitting in Darkness.” Twain published the satirical essay in the North American Review in February 1901, amid fierce international debate over Western intervention in China.

The title alludes to missionary language about bringing “light” and civilization to supposedly uncivilized peoples. Twain turned that language against imperial powers, arguing that conquest, violence, and financial exploitation were being presented as benevolent progress. The essay discusses the Boxer Rebellion and its aftermath, along with imperial actions in the Philippines, South Africa, China, and elsewhere.

Twain was especially angered by reports involving missionary William Scott Ament, who helped collect indemnities from Chinese communities after the uprising. The piece is often regarded as Twain’s most prominent anti-imperialist essay. It is not The War Prayer, which is another antiwar work, nor The Mysterious Stranger, a later philosophical and unfinished fiction.