183
such another sight. Whether the four were the remains of sisters of Chinese it is impossible to say. The six/coffins were placed side by side with the other seven, one large mound covering the whole thir- teen coffitus, The Chinese who brought them said the four were Sisters; they lay close to the gates, first one, then two, then one; there were also Chinese bodies there which they had instructions not to touch; but there were no other foreign bodies there. 27th.-Word has been sent down to the effect that no more foreign bodies are to be found; thus five sisters are still missing, allowing the four coffins sent to have con- tained the remains of four of them.
A gentleman who has seen the whole of }! the bodies has kindly given me the follow- ing account of their condition.
M. H. Fontanier.-Head and face cloven to pieces with sword cuts. One spear wound through the chost.
M. Simon.-Head and face covered with sword cuts; body covered with numerous wounds; bowels protruding.
M. Thomassin.-Head and face covered with sword cuts; a few spear wounds on the body.
Madame
Thomassin-d
through the back of neck.
sword cut
M. de Chalmaison.-Left side of the face cut away; eyes scooped out; numerons wounds in the body and extremities.
Madame de Chalmaison.-A deep sword cut across the face, just below the eyes; left arm and side hacked with sword cuts.
Father Cheverier.-Scull cloven in seve- ral places; chest and abdomen laid open; bowels protruding.
The cofius supposed to contain four of the sisters were filled with charred pieces of flesh and bone,
Mr Protopopoff, Russian.--Sword cut 5 inches long on the left side of head; a spear wound through the chest, and one! on the left hip,
Mrs Protopopoff.-- Body literally covered with sword outs and spear wounds.
Mr Bassoff, Russian.-- Head covered with aword cuts, chest pierced with numerous
spear wounds.
Most of the bodies were in an advanced stage of decomposition, having been proba.. bly a good deal exposed to the sun on the banks of the river. They were all more or less naked, except Mr Thomassin and wife.
1 con-
It is reported that 180 children were brought to the yamên the day of the mas sacre; 30 children were found smothered in vaults, supposed to be those either of the church, or European Hospital. sider that between 50 and 60 people must have perished in the sisters' places alone.
As a proof that the Chinese general knew of the intended attack, it may be mention- ed that for several days previously parents had been coming by day and night to take away their children from the schools; so that out of about 450, only about 200 remained on the day of the tire. The 30 who were found smothered must have run into the vaults on the first alarm being given. The shop-keepers about the Sisters'
place also had for some days been removing from their shops. The Chifoo or head city magistrate, had posted a proclamation similar to those at Chinkiang and tending to excite the people against the foreigners. H. I. M's. Consul called attention of Chung How to this proclamation on the 18th, three clear days before the outbreak, requesting him to pacify the people as the Chifoo's proceeding were creating great dis- turbance in the city. On the 20th he again wrote to Chung How, and for the third time, on the morning of the 21st. the Con- aul addressed an urgent despatel to Chung How, but received no reply to any of his communications,
I have noticed Chung How's statement to the effect that he accompanied M. Fon- tanier on his way back to the Consulate. At the meeting of the Consuls he stated that M. Fontanier had twice fired on him. Another Mandarin told a foreign reisdent here that he was one of two who were deputed by Chung How to accompany M. Fontanier to the Consulate, that on the way M. Fontanier said he did not waut them, but 200 soldiers to drive away the mob. A disturbance here arose close to the Cathedral and Fontanier and Simou were both killed. The story of Fontanier firing on Chung How looks extremely like a fabricat ou of the last named 'excellent' gentleman.
There can be no doubt at all about the connivance of the authorities at this dread. ful massacre, for even if it did not originate with them, it was perfectly within their power to put down all display of bad feeling when they were first requested to do so. They did not choose to move a finger in this direction, but treated the urgent appeals of the British Consul with supercilious con. tempt. No sooner, however, had the atro- cious deed been done than the authorities began to awake to a sense of what they had done, and to dread the consequences. This was first shown when they sent down the five coffins containing bodies, and with them three empty coffius. The Mandarin who brought them requested from the British Consul 2
receipt for bodies, naming the Consul's as one of them. Again on the following day Chung-How sent a special messenger to request a receipt for the six bodies, also mentioning the Conent's as being one of them,the request being of course still refused. Once more the demand was made, and the Mandarin on this occasion received for answer that the body of the Consul which he prefessed to have brought, had actually been picked up in the river on the pre- vione evening; that it had been recog nised by several of the deceased's friends, as well as identified by the initials H. F. ou the sucks. The Mandarin feebly at- tempted to maintain that the Consul's body was nevertherless one of the five which he had brought and for which he was ordered to bring back a receipt to Chung-How. It must be remembered that Chung-How bad said the Consul was killed by his side, and that he had the body in his keeping
DG.