August 25, 1900.]
vince, of another Roman Catholic Bishop and | three of his co-workers. It seems that Monsignor FANTOSALI, and the members of the Italian Mission at this place, were suddenly attacked and the bishop and three priests, together with a number of their converts were brutally murdered. Father SETTE, who was at an out-station at the time, was warned by a convert, and, by the aid of some of the Christians, made his escape by travelling inside a coffin, in which strange shelter he ultimately reached Canton. A telegram was received a few days later to the effect that five more missionaries had been massacred at Hsian- fu in Shansi, but only the bald fact was recorded. About the same time came the distressing intelligence that Miss WHIT- CHURCH and Miss SEARELL, of the China Inland Mission, had been cruelly murdered at Hsiao-I-hsien, in the same province, but how these poor women met their death has yet to be ascertained. Meantime the epidemic of hate and thirst for Christian blood had spread southwards, for on the 28th July a furious mob assailed the China Inland Mission station at Chuchou, in Chekiang province, and despite the efforts of the local officials (some of whom are said to have been killed by the rioters) broke into the premises and massacred nine of the missionaries. This is, so far as we know and we only wish we were in a position to say we knew the worst-the tale of slaugh- ter for July, but it has been already sup- plemented during the present month. Early in August the murder of Fathers GEORJON and LEBAY, of the French Mission, was announced from Northern Manchuria, where those who failed to escape to the Treaty ports seems to have been hunted down with ruthless pertinacity; and later the massacre, at Taining-fu, in south-east Chihli, of the Rev. Fathers FINCK, GAUDISSART, NEVEUX, CEZARD, GISSINGER, and KIEFFER was reported. It is too much to hope that we have received even the bare list of casual- ties in this crusade; and the details are, it is to be feared, wholly sickening and heart- rending.
Naturally, the Powers representing the various victims will exact an account from the Chinese Government for these shameful barbarities, but the satisfaction to be gained by the usual execution of more or less innocent coolies or irresponsible rioters must necessarily be of a very modified charac- ter. The indemnity to be paid for destruc. tion of premises and as compensation to sufferers or survivors is also hardly worth consideration. It cannot recall the lives
that have been sacrificed; it cannot atone for the suffering that has been caused to the victims and their friends. The question arises, or perhaps will arise, when a settle- ment is being negotiated-What guarantees can be obtained from any future Chinese Government against the recurrence of these outrages against missionaries, which have for the past thirty years been so frequent and so shocking? It is often stated, and with more or less truth, that the populace can be restrained if the mandarins wish to restrain it. It is notoriously the fact that the mob have in almost all cases been incited to riot and bloodshed by scandalous slanders scattered broadcast over the country by evil-disposed literati, and that many attacks upon missions have been first engineered by the local gentry. There are undoubtedly cases in which it has been clearly proved that the local officials were not directly to blame, and in some instances they have endeavoured to disperse the mob, while they have personally protected the missionaries. These instances are not common, we regret to say, and it must be
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
admitted that both the missionaries and their converts are disliked by the officials generally. This matter of the protection of missionaries and their converts is one of the problems that will have to be solved when the day of reckoning with the Chinese usurpers comes. It is not an easy one. The relentless persecution of Christians, which has been carried on of late, has unquestionably embittered the na- tives, and it may be found difficult to ar- range for the safety of the missionaries in the interior. We are loth to advise any- thing that would even savour of a backing down, for the present is certainly not the time to make concessions of any kind to China, either to save her face, respect her feelings, or allow for her prejudices. But for the sake of our common humanity, would it not be better, for the present at least, for the missionaries to withdraw from all parts of the Central Kingdom which are more than a day's journey from a Treaty Port? Is the desire for the martyr's crown so laudable after all? Its attainment can only be reached by the blood-guiltiness of others, and why put temptation in the way of miserable creatures who might otherwise go through their common daily rounds without ever commiting the capital offence? Let the eager missionary pioneer wait a little, until a Government founded on a really stable basis and dispensing just laws has been established in China. The work could go on all the same. The missionaries could train their native catechists and preachers in the Treaty Ports, and send them all over the interior with the same message which they themselves deliver, and possibly with greater success, since the converts would probably arouse less animosity and distrust. This withdrawal would relieve the Foreign Minis- ters of a vast amount of responsibility, and might clear the way for more harmonious intercourse with the Chinese people.
RUSSIA AND THE CRISIS.
(Daily Press, 24th August.) The Paris correspondent of the Rossia last month sent to that journal the report of an interview which he had with Count CASSINI, formerly Russian Minister at Peking. The Count is credited with some extraordinary remarks in the course of this interview, which, if correctly reported, should go a con- siderable way toward destroying his reputa- tion as an authority on Chinese affairs. Much of what he said was interesting, and we quote elsewhere what he had to say on the subject of the dangers attending the life of a foreign Minister in Peking. Even there, however, we should like to know the basis for his assertion that at one period during his tenure of office at Peking a party of Russian marines "marched in gaily" to guard their Legation, while "the English were subsequently obliged to smuggle in their soldiers disguised in Chinese dress." But it is when Count CASSINI discusses the question of the causes of Chinese discontent that he lays himself most open to criticism. "The insurrection," he says, "began in the province of Shantung, where the Germans "have settled. They are bad colonisers, "and do not understand the Far East. "The Chinese must be treated kindly and politely, for they themselves are, in the highest degree a polite people. They "should never be frightened or threatened. They know very well the barking dog "never bites. Words with the Chinese should be accompanied by acts. But the English are no better than the Germans:
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the policy of both in China is based on "violence and menace. Hence naturally the hatred of all classes of Chinamen for every- thing European." We suspect that Count CASSINI was merely playing to the gallery when he ventured on this absurd statement. It would certainly be strange that it is in the sphere in which Russia is mainly in- terested that some of the most ferocious attacks on everything foreign have been made; were it the Germans and English who are primarily responsible for the anti-foreign crusade. No doubt Shantung was a hot-bed of the so-called "Boxer " movement, but the German occupation of Kiaochow is quite a recent act compared with the age of the anti-foreign feeling. As for British coloni- sation, it is certain that the feelings enter- tained towards the British here will compare favourably with those towards the Russians in Manchuria. However, it is safe to dismiss the late Russian Minister's remarks on this point as mere rhetoric, suitable, for the columns of the Rossia. He goes on to speak of the missionaries as another chief cause of the hatred of the Chinese for foreigners, and he does not add much to what has already been said on the subject. His contempt for the native Christian is great, but we fear, not altogether unjustifiable. He adds an- other reason for the present agitation of China in the discontent with the present dynasty. From time to time," he says, "a change of the ruling family is a necessity." As was but natural, the subject of Japan came up in the course of the interview. In regard to the question of trusting that country with the task of pacification, the Count remarked that if the interests of the different countries in China were expressed in figures, then the interest of Russia must be put down as 90 per cent., and the interests of all the others together as only 10 per cent.-surely one of the most astounding statements ever made, even by a statesman ! He continued:-"If Russia stultified herself in such conditions, and ceded the place to Japan, her prestige in the Far East would "be lost. And in that part of the world 'prestige means 50 per cent. of power. If "there is any country whose influence should "be prevented from gaining ground in China it is certainly Japan, which is the one Power capable of realizing the ideas "of Pan-Mongolism to the terror of all Europe." Obviously this terror of "Pan- Mongolism" is Russia's best card at the present time. She has fortunately, however, failed so far to play it to her advantage, in spite of the unsolicited assistance of a number of alarmists of all nations. In view of the ever-threatening Corean question it serves Russia very well to keep the "Yellow Peril "prominently before the eyes of Europe. But there are fortunately enough clear- sighted men left to see that there is more than a disinterested anxiety for the welfare of the Western world in Russian diplomacy, Japan does not improve the situation by re- iterating such expressions as those of the war correspondent of the Nippon, quoted in the N.-C. Daily News Japanese correspond- ent's letter of the 11th inst., where he says:-"Formerly the Japanese feared and hated Russia, now they simply despise her." Japan has so far in the present crisis acted honestly and deserves the testimony borne by the Times, which Reuter's telegram of the 20th inst. reported. But were she to allow the Jingoism of certain extremists to develop into a national cry she would cer- tainly alienate the sympathy which is at present hers and make it look as if there were some foundation of fact in the Russian cry about "Pan-Mongolism." Japan has little enough cause to despise Russia, and her best men know this well. -
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