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expectation to be in a position to meet the views and wishes of the Chinese Government with respect to the gradual restriction and ultimate suppression of the Indian opium trade with China ?
I remain, &c. (Signed)
FRANCIS WM. FOX.
8
may be taken after mutual consultation between the Commissioners themselves, acting apon
the advice of those whom they may regard as authorities.
Meanwhile the Committee will follow, with most sympathetic prayerful interest, the proceedings of its Commissioners in China, and will await with interest the Report which they will be able to present in due course, sincerely trusting that the cause of missions may thereby be furthered, and that some contribution towards the solution of the great problem which now confronts the Christian West, in the awakening of China, may be the happy result of the Commissioners' labours.
Signed on behalf of the China Missions Emergency Committee,
Inclosure in No. 1.
Draft of Instructions to Commissioners of the China Missions Emergency Committee.
THE China Commissions Emergency Committee, in dispatching its Commissioners to China, desires them to take full advantage of every opportunity which may be presented of gaining information with regard to the following points. As to-
1. Are the alleged conditions which exist in China real and permanent; if so, what is their bearing upon the question of missionary work in all its forms-evangelistic, educational, literary, medical, &c.?
2. Are the existing methods the best; if not, what alteratious should be made ? 3. What are the plans most favoured by experienced missionaries and others as specially applicable to the present emergency in connection with the recent awakening of China?
4. The possibility of further co-operation in certain departments between the various missions, especially as respects medical work and the existence of so many publishing Societies, and the advisability of one Central Bureau for the diffusion of western literature.
5. The openings which may be indicated for the employment of Christian educators in Chinese establishments--colleges not directly connected with missionary agencies--it being understood that educational points should be the main ones,
6. The possibility of securing, on the part of the Chinese bigh officials, a better understanding of the aims of the Christian propaganda, and a more sympathetic attitude towards its agents and representatives.
7. To inquire and consider whether any amendment or alteration in the Treaties between Great Britain and China would facilitate mission work in China by removing some of the wrong impressions produced in the minds of the Chinese people.
8. To inquire in what ways the Chinese Government may be made to understand and realize the desire of this country that China should be held exclusively for the Chinese themselves; and by what means the British Government could give assurance that this is the desire of the English people.
9. To make inquiries amongst Chinese officials and leaders of Chinese opinion whether there is anything in the conduct of missionaries or their methods which disposes the Chinese officials and people to receive them and their teaching in an unfriendly spirit,
10. To make inquiries as to the influence and work of the Young Men's Christian Associations at various important cities in China and in Japan, especially at Tokið.
To this end it is hoped the forthcoming Conference in Shanghae, and the facilities that will be there afforded by the presence of so many missionaries from various quarters, will be fully availed of, and that visits to important centres may be also arranged on the invitation or with the advice of competent judges on the spot.
The Committee is also of opinion that the testimony of residents in the Far East, other than missionaries, should be carefully noted, and that questions raised by official persons and representatives of commerce, European and Chinese, should be given a fair hearing and a place in the Commissioners' Report.
The Committee desires that a full report of the experiences of the Commissioners, and of the information they shall have gained, and any general view they may have arrived at, should be prepared by the Commissioners for submission to the Committee as soon as possible after their return to England.
It is possible that some members of the Commission may be able to extend their visit so far as to admit of a short sojourn in Japan, where the condition of the Chinese Residents at Tôkið, and the educational methods which Japan is proposing to apply to China, may form the basis of a useful supplement to the Report.
In all these matters the Committee desires to give to its Commissioners a perfectly free hand to take whatever action may seem to be indicated, and hopes that such steps
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