January 8, 1906. J
A BOOK BY A MURDERER.
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A YELLOW PERIL PRODUCTION.
Probably very few of our readers remember the affair of two or three months ago, in which an Englishmen went into the Chinese quarter at Wellington, New Zealand, and deliberately shot an aged Chinaman, in order to advertise a book he had written against Alien Immigration. This misguided young man (he was 36 years old) was named Lionel Terry; he was born in Kent, educated at Eton and Oxford, served in the Matabele campaign, and has travelled and laboured in various capacities all over the British Empire.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
CHOU FU.
15.
to
knife, or shooting him with a gun, than to kill A PROCLAMATION OF VICEROY his spirit, to crash out every spark of hope that is in him, and to render him a mere soulless, aimless derelict, with no feeling save one of burning hatred against bis murderere." That the glorious traditions of the British race may not be embodied in a nation of bastards, that British children may not become the slaves of Asiatic aliens, he strives to emphasise "the urgent necessity for immediate action.”
Then follow two poems, one showing "the over Britain in A.D. 2,000, after we have opened wide the gates
shadow"
For all the plague-fraught offal of the earth, For thugs and thieves and vicious profligates, Who fled the law of land that gave them birth!." He shot twice at the Chinaman, to make sure of killing, then went to a bookseller, remarked From one who takes such interest in "The two that there ought to be an increased demand glorious traditions" of Britain these now for the book, and surrendered to the police.stanzas seem somewhat inconsistent;~ He was tried and condemned to death.
The book, a thirty page pamphlet, was sent to us for review, and in May last year we spoke of it as a mass of remarkably foolish twaddle. It looks now as if we might have described it as Before giving the ravings of a madman.* extracts, we may mention that a bri f inscrip- tion in the author's handwriting seems to afford confirmation of some of the theories of those who believe in graphology. The writing has a pronounced slope; the capitals are redun. dant and eccentric, the writer changing from ornate curves to the most severe forms, and
being given to sublineation with extra emphatic- looking dots. This writing, according to the graphologists, denotes a very impulsive tem- perament, artistic, egotistic, and disliking
restraint or sustained effort.
The "work" is dedicated "to my Brother Britons," and the author declares "that every statement contained herein is the truth; that this work is the result of many years of personal research in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the United States of America, and many minor parts of the world. In order to obtain facts, I have visited slums, worked side by side with aliens of various nationalities in stone quarries, coal mines, fruit plantations, saw mills, and mi ny other industrial enterprises; I have studied the methods of living and general characteristics of savage races and the effects produced upon them by civilizatiop."
He says it is the capitalist who is chiefly responsible for alien immigration, and its "terrible ravages; that "the natural hatred existing between the various races of the world without the can never be eradicated sacrifice of racial purity." With regard to the mixed marriages thus indicated, he says "the punishment exacted Ly nature has be-u signally severe, as is evidenced by the moral, mental, and physical ill-health of cross-bred Alien im- people throughout the world.”
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migration into British Possessions, he says, bas a tendency to produce degenerate habits, and to lower the moral standard of the whites. Their presence destroys patriotism. Their employment is “ a criminal injustice to the British workman," and "the chief cause of the poverty, crime, and general degeneracy existing throughout the empire." He goes on: declare that the Government of the British Empire is Jew-ridden and corrupt," and declares that "certain members of the House of Rothschild are, and have been for many years past, the private advisers of the British Cab- inet.' They have turned the British Empire into an unlimited company, which imports "undesirable aliens, cheap labour, poverty, misery, crime, vice, disease, plague, and gold. Its chief exports are truth, purity, honour, health, justice, patriotism, and British blood." Our dependencies on the continent of America are "haunted by the outcast of Asia," in which he includes both Japanese and Chinese. repeat now," he says, "what I stated before the Commission "a Royal Commission appointed by the Dominion Government to enquire into the effect of Chinese and Japanese immigration into British Columbia " there is only one method of ridding the Empire of the alien scourge, and that is revolution"! British Columbia-"
-“ife true name is Chinese Colum bia.
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The following sentence is strangely suggestive of the state of mind leading to the author's orime: "It is a thousand times more merciful to kill a man by stabbing him with a
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"Dost thou remember, Britain, how thou didst obtain
crime !
assume
Be it known to all that I have come to Shanghai by Imperial instructions investigate matters in connection with the Mixed Court affair. On my arrival here I at once received the local officials and gentry and made minute enquiries as to the causes of the disturbance and about the riot which followed the former. I find, however, that in the latter instance the stoppage of trade was not of the merchants and due to the desire people of the port, but they were forced to do so by rowdies and desperadoes, who had suddenly combined and coerced merchants and traders into closing their shops. Even- tually, Yuan Taotai and certain gentry and heads of guilds appeared, and personally exhorted the said merchants and traders to reopen their doors to business, which was obeyed by them without delay, while, on the other hand, the rowdies and desperadoes also fled and separated.
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All these possessions thou hast named thy Britaina? How thou didst take upon thyself the Brand of Cain
My coming here is primarily with the To satiate a horde of grasping gluttons ? important object of preserving order and en- For thou didst go unto the heathen lands
suring the safety of the district, and the lives To preach the gospel of the gentle Christ;
and property of all Chinese and foreign officials, Yea, with the Holy Bible in thine hands
merchants, literati, and inhabitants must be Didst thou set forth to wreak revolting adequately protected. I have already issued Students of Lombroso will note in this instructions to the officers commanding thɔ troops quartered round about here to station human document" how the author harps on the theme of murder, and "the Brand of Cain."troops at various importan' poin s on land and It is also symptomatic that once embarked river, with strict orders Lot to permit a single on denunciations of the Government, he forgets outlaw to pass through the lines, and that if any one be found carrying weapons for the his antipathy to aliens, and speaks of them as "simple, trusting, free, lavish of noble hos- purpose of finding occasion to rob, or to pitality, children of nature, chivalrous and spread rumours or disseminating expresses with the object of creating riots and disturbances, bold," while John Bull is told,
"Because that they were black thou didst such men, upon being discovered by the local mandarin and officers commanding troops, are to be arrested at once, tried, and summarily decapitated. Should resistance be made against those sent to make arrests, permission is given to slay, the resisters without mercy. arrest by mistake and consequent imprison- As to Mrs. Li Wang-shih, whose case of
ment in the foreign gaol caused universal indignation among the merchants and people, in order to avoid a repetition of such things I have instructed the Shanghai Taotai to con. for with the Consuls of the various Treaty Powers to try to arrive. at some equitable basis of action so that there may be no infringements on the rights of one another, thereby maintain- ing mutual friendship between ourselves and foreigners and avoid for ever mutual distrust and suspicion. It is necessary, therefore, that all gentry, merchants. literati, and people concerned shall take this into consideration and and be careful how you suffer yourselves to peacefully pursue each on 's avocation as usual,
wrongfully believe rumours and BO create suspicion and distrust amongst yourselves. Let all take this to heart and obey. A special proclamation.
Thyself superior, entitled to condemn them." The author has gone further than that, and assumed himself superior, entitled to murder them. He, of course, means that black aliens better than yellow aliens. His feelings towards the Chinese (or is it Japanese?) are patent.
are
"Thus hast thou wrought, O Britain, and with these Mongolian slaves, defiled beyond salvation, Who thus infest thy land, the very lees Of earth's most sunken and degraded nation; These craven knaves who cringing friendship feign Whilst bitter hatred seethes in every vein; Who, fawning, suck thy blood, the while they scheme
To
pour their yellow millions o'er thy land, O Britain dost thou dream thine honour to redeem
With these, these plague-fraught, sin-spawned fiends, who stand
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A ghastly monument to ancient shame, The fell embodiment of all that doth proclaim The dreadful frailty of the human frame." The other poem is an exhortation to the who hold the rein of King, to frustrate them commerce, spurred by wolfish lust for gold," who would sell their brothers' birthright to "Mongol, Ethiop, nameless horror, human brute from many a clime." He is forbidden to "cherish craven Mongol, cringing slave of Mammon bred," and advised, "Strike! O King 'tis God or Mammon! Strike ! O King! 'tis life or death!" The italics and exclamation marks are also symptomatio. An attempt was being made to save the condemned man's life, on the plea of insanity, but with what result we have not yet learned.
FIRE AT WEST POINT.
Early on New Year's eve, fire broke out in a 1ea and tobacco shop at No. 293 Queen's Road West. The detachment of the brigade under Inspector Collett were quickly on the scene, and, before the firemen could arrive from the Central, managed to get the fire in hand; their assistance on arrival, however, proved of service in extinguishing the outbreak. The damage is estimated at $2,500, while the stock was insured in l'Union of Paris for $6,000, and for another $500 in the Chan On Insurance Co. The building, which was slightly damaged, was insured for $3,250 in the latter insurance office
22nd December.
The foregoing was specially translated for the N.-C. Daily News, which adds the following comment:-
One who understands well the Chinese
language and usage writes us as follows con- cerning the proclamation issued by the Viceroy last Friday: "This proclamation shows more than the usual amount of Chinese finesse. It is aptly worded, and tends to deceive, or what the Chinese understand as hu lung. "Face" is given to the Chinese, while the situation is misconstrued. Few, perhaps, would think there was anything wrong with the statement of the case made by the Viceroy He knocks from under the foreigners in Shanghai all they have been resting upon, and this is done so slily that the innocent foreigner will not know it. I hope yon will cast your light on this document, which ranks Chou Fu as a master diplomat.”
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This proclamation is indeed worthy of study. There are certain things in it which are so. apparent that the average resident in our Settlements can hardly be deceived. plainly shows that the evidence he took was ez parte, for he acknowledges that on his arrival in Shanghai he only consulted the Chinese officials and gentry as to the origin of the dispute and the character of the riot. Natur- ally he, concludes that the strike did not result from the action of the merchants, and people,
!