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464
ANTI-FOREIGN RIOTS IN
SZECHUEN.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
tian proclamations, studiously calonlated to fire the passions of the baser sort, for which this Viceroy is directly responsible.
On the 29th, 30th, and 31st of May the whole of the missionary property at Chêngtu, Szechuan -English, American, and French (Catholic)-threatened. was destroyed by rioters. The missionaries are all safe in the yamens of the officials.
These brief particulars relate to an outrage which there is little reason to doubt has been incited by the highest officials, from Liu Ping chang, the Viceroy of Szechuan, downwards, and which in extent, we are assured, is the most serious experienced by foreign missions for a hundred years.
[June 20, 1895,
foreign men from the countries further West. In the absence of all information it is needless to speculate on the causes of this riot, but this much may be said considering the official and commercial character of Chêngtu, its hitherto peaceful record, its remoteness from the scene
the part of the missionaries, it was the very last place where such a disturbance was naturally to be expected.
the war, and the freedom of all apprehension of N
From what he knows of the armament of Palm Island and the accounts he hoard in For mosa Mr. Waters is certain that the Japanese loss was heavy in taking that place. But his Later native news from Chêngtu concerning opinion of the fighting qnalities of the Chinese the recent riot against the missionaries estimates was much changed when he heard of the three the damage done to property at a little over thousand soldiers and several thousands marau- Tls. 3,000,000. In some cases resistance was ders being driven out of Twatutia by 50 Japa-offered by the Roman Catholic converts against nese, who, he was told, had been sent at the the mob, resulting in some loss of life on both argent request of two foreigners, who went to the sides. Japanese head-quarters to ask them to hurry up
Shanghai, 12th June.. It is more to the point to enquire what is the and drive out the Chinese, who were looting There were some who hoped that the reported main cause of such outrages, and if they can be everything.
anti-Christian outbreak at Chêngtu would turn by any means prevented. It seems to me that out to be not so serious as was at first feared; much light is thrown on this question by a but day by day, as news comes in, it is found careful consideration of some of the facts of that we did not know nearly the full extent at previous riots. We have had five vory serions first. At no less than five cities has all the
ones on the river in recent years, namely, missionary property been destroyed, and three Chungking, Wahu, Wusueh, Ichang, and other cities, one of them a treaty port, are Sungpu, so that by this time we should be It is not known so far, happily, learning something. Now, one feature which that any lives have been lost, but some of the was common to all of them was this: no matter missionaries are missing. Surely the Ministers how great was the loss of life and property, at Peking of the three Powers concerned will or what was the particular Government chiefly begin to understand that it is no use any more involved, the Chinese version of the story was to deal with China as if she were a civilised always accepted as the truth of the matter, and Power. We trust that there will promptly be a no independent enquiry was made. Whatever gunboat at every river port, Iohang included. merits the account of a riot as drawn up by the Peking does not seem now to have the power to responsible Chinese officials may have, trath. control the provinces, and it is sheer madness to fulness is hardly to be looked for as one of them, leave the protection of foreigners to the pro-and granting full liberty to tell any story they vincial authorities, who in Szechnen have not pleased was hardly the way to make them more careful next time. Further, it was apparently attempted to stop the outrages.
The following telegram was received last a notorious feature of all the above cases night from Hankow The English, French, that the really guilty parties were never when, as in the Canadian, and American missions have been brought to justice; even
names and proofs wrecked at Chengtu, Kiating, Yachon, Ping case of Sungpu, the shap, and Sinking. Some of the missionaries of guilt were supplied, nothing was done to are missing, but it is not known that any lives them. Those punished were insignificant, in- have been lost. Suifu and Luchou are threat-nocent, and sometimes friendly natives, while ened. At Chungking a riot is certain. All in one case where a whole British settlement foreigners left Chêngtu yesterday."
was destroyed (Ichang), no one was ever punished at all. And still further, all those ofses were settled by the acceptance of a monetary pay- ment, so many dollars for so much damage, and a regular tariff for European heads, with the result that the collection and disbursement cash actually became source of of the
profit to tho very officials under much whose auspices the riots occurred. When one considers these things-no questions to ba asked, no punishment to be dreaded, but an in- tense hatred to be gratified, and a sang sum of taels to be netted, the wonder is, not that there should be occasional anti-foreign riots in China, but that they should not be very much more numerous. Of course the Chinese Government cannot be held free from blame in the matter, but the main responsibility for riots really rests on the Foreign Powers themselves, who persist in dealing with China in respect to such as if she were a highly civilised Power, while in truth she does not rise much above the level of any painted savage chief. There will be no freedom from riots till the Powers reconsider their policy in dealing with them.
Details are necessarily meagre at the time of writing, but on Saturday last, 1st June, a tele- gram was despatched from Chôngtu stating that on the previons day the American mission there was looted, and that on that day the English and French missions had also been attacked. On Sunday a telegram was received that all the missionary buildings in the city had been entirely destroyed, the work of destruction being terribly complete. Bishop Dunand, in charge of the Ro- man Catholic mission, was wounded, and it was feared that some other missionaries have been injured. The Roman Catholic mission, which belongs to the Missions Etrangères de Paris, has been working in the district for 150 years and reckons 30,000 Christians under its charge. For some months it has been evident that trouble was brewing, and proclamations have been issued by the Viceroy, who is a notoriously anti-foreign official, bearing his official seal and inciting the populace to acts of hostility against the Christians. The existence of these proclamations is not to be oubted, as copies have been procured and brought to the notice of the foreign representatives.
The series of outrages which will make the three last days of May, 1895, infamous in the annals of mission work in China has not, as far as the value of the property destroyed is con- oerned, been paralleled in this century, if ever, in China. In Chêngtu there were four Pro- testant establishments, one belonging to the Canadian Methodist Mission, under the pre- sidency of Dr. Virgil Hart, one to the China Inland Mission, and two others; while the Mis- sions Etrangères have been established there for a hundred and fifty years, and number thirty thousand converts in their fold. There are several ladies among the missionaries at Chêngtu, and the missions, the French especially, had a large amount of property, which it will cost a vast sum to replace, as far as replacement is possible. Oa Wednesday, Thursday, and Fri- day this property was entirely destroyed by mobs. That it was an organised and systemátio attack on the Christians is obvious, and there is very good reason to believe that the. organiser was no less a personality than the retiring Viceroy of Szechuan, Liu Ping-chang. It is just nine years since Liu Ping chang was appointed Viceroy of Szechuan, and he has con- stantly opposed the spread of Christianity and foreign ideas in his viceroyalty. He has always put every obstacle in his power in the way of the settlement of claims for outrages on the Catholic missions in Szechuan, and he was a bitter opponent of the opening of the Upper Yangtsze to steam traffic. His avarice and mis- government of his province reached such a pitch that last year a special commission was sent from Peking to investigate the numerous charges made against him. The commission threw a thin coat of whitewash over Liu himself, but he was superseded, though his successor has not seals. yet,
believe, taken over the The destruction of all the foreign-owned pro perty in Chengtu, the capital of 'zechuan, is probably his last protest against the detested foreigner and his doctrines. It is not a hypo- thesis that Liu is the organiser of this outrage: there are now in Shanghai copies of anti-Chris-
WO
Shanghai, 13th June.
The following telegram was received by H.M.'s Consul-General here last night from Sir Nicholas O'Conor, H.M.'s Minister at Feking :-
Inform the China Association and the Press that I received last night a telegram from II.M. Consul at Chungking, dated the 8th inst., stat. ing that so far no lives had been lost. but the situation was very grave. Tachow and Kiating had been wrecked and Hsuchou was in danger. I am insisting upon the utmost energy, and holding the officials responsible.”
H.M.S. Porpoise, Capt. Pelly, leaves the first thing this morning for the Yangtsze ports as may be required, disturbances being threatened at Hankow and Nanking. HM.S. Firebrand has beeu directed to proceed to Ichang.
We learn that strict orders have been issued
by wire from Peking to the Viceroys of the Hukuang and Liangkiang provinces that no fresh anti-Christian riots are to take place in the Yangtsze Valley.
Shanghai, 14th June.
Mr. Jernigan, U.S. Consul-General, received yesterday from Mr. Lewis at Chungking the following telegram "Missions at Chêngtu, Kioting, Yachow, Suifu, Luchou, and many other places wrecked or abandoned. No place in the province safe. Apparently wide-spread con. spiracy: Scores of missionary refugees descend- ing Yangtsze. Some narrow escapes, but no lives reported lost. Chungking still holds officials vigilant."
Hankow, 7th June.
No more news has as yet come over the wires from the West, so we are still in the dark as to the particulars of the Chengtu tragedy, but the opinion gains ground here that it will prove to be one of the most serious of all the riots of re-
cent
years. The Protestant Missions involved are the Church of England, China Inland, Cana- dian Methodist, American Methodist Episcopal, besides a very strong Catholic Mission. The total number of foreiguers usually resident there is about fifty or sixty.
Chengtu itself has hitherto borne the best re- putation for friendliness to foreigners. It is the largest and wealthiest city of all the West, with an estimated population of a million. As the capital of Szechuan it is the residence of the Governor-General, and is filled with civil and military officials of all classes, with soldiers enough made a riot there impossible. Besides, there was to control the province-all of which should have there the additional security that Chôngtu is a great commercial centre, where the only interest is peace, and where people from all parts of China reside, as well as many outlandish and
The
There have been two cases in Kiukiang re- ceutly which contain in them a whole education on this subject. One of the gentry there ap- propriated a piece of land belonging to the Catholic Mission, and built a wall round it. Mission appealed to the French Consul, who ex- hausted all the resources at his disposal in the line of writing despatches, without having the slightest attention paid to him. At length French gunboat visited Kiukiang, when the Consul sent word to the officials that unless the wall were immediately removed, he would come in force and have it removed himself. That wall disappeared like magio.
Next is the Kuling oase, which has had a his- tory so curiously like the recent history of ror- mosa, as to suggest the idea that both must have been writted by the same hand. First, during the war time, the officials after due discussion resolved that foreigners might be allowed to have a piece of waste land on the top of the Lushan. as a site for bungalows-just as they agreed that the Japs would be allowed to have Formosa. Next they executed a deed with all due formalities, properly sealing and registering it, by which this property was handed over to foreign ownership, just as they executed and ratified the treaty which transferred Formosa to Japan. Next, their action, and begged for delay in the new the war being now over, the officials repented of
owners taking possession, just as was done with Formosa. Next, to make sure of carrying their point, they proceeded to stir up the people with the object of making it too hot for the new
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