Jane 18, 1898.] Chinese what His Majesty had said, and this was then translated into French by the doyen of the interpreters.
On the 17th May M. Pichon presented his oredentials and at the same time M. Gerard's letters of recall. The three salutes having been duly made, M. Pichon ascended the estrade, mounting the five steps, and then, standing close to the Emperor, he pronounced in a firm voice a speech excessively concise but of which each sentence was of weight. M. Leduc, the interpreter of the Legation, translated it into Chinese. His Majesty the Emperor, speaking directly to M. Pichon, replied in Chinese, and asked, “Have you good news of the President of the Republic P" After M. Pichon had replied, thanking His Majesty for the in- terest he showed in the head of the executive, His Majesty read in Chinese his speech, which was immediately translated by M. Leduo. Without rising, His Majesty then saluted several times in a very courteous manner. There was no other prince on the estrade.
Another detail must be noted, one which was much remarked and to which Their Excellencies Li Hung-chang and Chang Yu-wen specially drew the attention of M. Pichon. HM the Emperor wore the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour in proof of respect and sympathy.
When M. Pavloff, the Russian Chargé d'Affaires, recently presented a telegram from H.M. the Czar to H.M. the Emperor of China, the incident caused much talk, because the diplomat himself presented his despatch, and for this ascended the first step of the Imperial estrade. Without play of words, it may be said that the first step was then taken, but it is thanks to the definitive advanes of M. Pichon that direct audience has been established. For the first time H.M. the Emperor of China has spoken directly to a foreign ambassador.
THE MURDEr of frenc{1 MISSIONARIES,
:
The Echo de Chine (Shanghai) of the 1st June publishes the following from a Kwangsi correspondent, apparently a missionary :-
"Almost everywhere the Chinese are becom- ing excited. The demands for ports and con- cessions are reflected in troubles and vexations in the interior, as might have been foreseen. On the 22nd March, pillage of the oratory and school at Pinnanshien. Nine Christian families were also robbed. The 14th April, in Wusi- nenshien, demolition of a causeway constructed by Father Herand. The 16th, theft of buffa- loes from the farm-school directed by the same Father. The 21st, murder of Father Bertholet and two Christians. These crimes were com. mitted, with flags flying, by the national guard, at the instigation of a military graduate."
In its issue of the 6th June, the latest date received, the same paper has a letter from Nanningfu, dated 21st April, giving the first instalment of an account of the munder of Father Mazel, which we trauslate as follows
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
about three o'clock in the afternoon, with out incident. A little before reaching the town, however, he had met some muleteers who were going back the way they had come because half a league beyond Loli their mules and horses with their packs of European merchan dise had been seized by a band of brigands. The first care of the missionary was to send his card to the petty military mandarin of the district. As he had to change his bearers, and as it was moreover imprudent to proceed with out an escort along a road where pillage was openly practised, he decided to tarry at Loli. There he had nothing to fear; the place was quiet, trade was proceeding as usual, and a few hundred soldiers from Posé provided for the public safety. Not being able to obtain bearers at Loli, M. Mazel wrote to M. Lavest, who resided at a distance of three days' journey asking him to find him some amongst his Christians and to obtain an escort for him. Unfortunately M. Lavest was not at home, having gone to Sylinhien. Hence there was a considerable delay. The courier, obliged to go on from Chali, the ordinary residence of M. Lavest, to Sylinhien, did not return to Loli | until the morning of the 1st April, bringing with him instructions from M. Lavest and a letter from the sub-Prefect of Sylinhien ordering the military mandarin of Loli to give M. Mazel an escort to enable him to continue his journey. It was too late.. That same morning our confrère had been killed with one of the men who accompanied him. During his sojourn at Loli M. Mazel had found himself surrounded from morning to night by a crowd of people attracted by the desire to see the "foreign devil," and all using the most blood- thirsty expressions with regard to foreigners.
Here the account breaks off with the words "To be continued.”
The news of the murder of M. Maze! was confirmed to me the day before yesterday by one of the two couriers that accompanied our con- frère and who succeeded in escaping death. It is from his narrative that I am unable to give you the following details of the tragedy of which he was an eye-witness. M. Mazei arrived at my house. Nanningfu, on the 19th November, 1896. After a few days' rest he lefton the 24th Nov, by boat for Posé. He was going to Sylinhien, in the north-west of the province, to study the language while awaiting assign- ment to a district. Hardly had he reached Pusé when a severe attack of fever compelled him to return to Nanningfu. I succeeded in ouring him. On the 5th March last he again left for Nanningfu. He was quite well and
work earnestly desired commence early as possible for the salvation of souls. With his good spirits and piety he promised to make an excellent missionary. On the 15th March he arrived safely at Posé. On the 17th he sent his card to the Prefect, but the latter did not deign to acknowledge the politeness. On the 19th our confrère left Posé by chair, following the Yunnan Road, which passes the market town of Loli, where we have a rest house for our travelling confrères, which is usually occupied by a caretaker. M. Mazel arrived at Loli on the 22nd March,
to
88
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN GRIDLEY, OF U.S.S. " OLYMPIA."
|
Kobe, 6th June. At half-past nine yesterday morning Captain Gridley, of the U.S.S. Olympia, died on board the 8.8. Coptic in the harbour. The deceased cfficer had been suffering from dysentery for some time. After the engagement at Manila the complaint took a serious turn, and it was thought advisable to invalid him home. On the passage up from Hongkong he seemed at first to revive, and his friends felt hopeful that he would pull through the attack. On Saturday evening, however, he had a relapse, and notwithstanding all that could be done for him, he passed quietly away yesterday morning. Captain C. V. Gridley was con- sidered one of the most efficient officers in the service. Joining in 1861 he rapidly rose, and went into active service during the Civil War. He was one of the very few in the Asiatic Squadron who had seen service in the sixties, during which he was promoted to a command shortly before the close of the war. He was 53 years of age, and leaves a wife, two daugh- ters, and a son to mourn his loss.
Paymaster Gault of U.S.S. Raleigh, who was accompanying the deceased officer, has had the body embalmed and placed in a casket. It will be taken on to San Francisco, where it will be interred with the usual naval honours. Cap. tain Gridley was a native of Michigan, but had lived for many years in Pennsylvania, where his wife and family now reside.-Chronicle.
THE PORTUGUESE AT MANILA. BEING REFUSED BRITISH PROTECTION THEY
ARE PLACED UNDER GERMAN
PROTECTION.
491
seeing that England is, and calls herself, the firm friend of Portugal, and seeing that Eng. land has ships of war here and Portugal has none. The British Consul replied, however, that he regretted being unable to accede to the request, on account of the British residents · in Manila being numerous (including the Chinese.) In view of this I told him I would be under the painful necessity of soliciting the protection of some other power (although the number of Portuguese here is limited, twelve in all), with which he agreed. I imme- diately approached the German Consul, re- questing his protection, to which he at once, in the name of his Government, assented, and offered to receive all the Portuguese on board the vessels chartered expressly for the reception of Germans. Portuguese who desire to avail of this permissiou can go on board immediately, upon obtaining a note from myself.
The Echo Macaense publishes the following extract from a letter dated Manila, 2nd June:
The Portuguese Consul yesterday called the Portuguese residents of Manila together and addressed them, more or less, as follows:-
L
The Portuguese warmly thanked the Consul for the trouble he had taken and expressed their hopes for the triumph of the Spanish arms.
THE FATE OF THE PHILIPPINES.
Mr. H. W. Bray writes to the Singapore Free Press :-
The author of the Spectator article, quoted in your yesterday's isane under the above heading, has put forward one sensible proposi- tion; his theories on other points may be all right, but I am afraid he has reckoned without his host. America has not yet conquered the Philippines-not by a long way but will occupy them with the assistance and good-will of the Philippinos. The possession of Manila no more means the possession of the Philippines than the possession of New York means the possession of America, and without this good- will and assistance of the inhabitants, I must beg leave to state that neither the United States nor any other nation could ever hope to take the Philippines, except with an army of 200,000 men or more, if even then, no matter what theorists may say to the contrary. The solutions which the European papers have been kind enough to put forward re the disposal of the Philippines may be dismissed with the words of General Augustin's proclamation, "vain designs, ridiculous boasts !" When the time comes, I am inclined to think the in- habitants themselves are going to have the biggest say in this question, especially after the events of 30th May to 1st June last.
Spain, with an army of 35,000 men fully armed, has been able to do nothing against an army of imperfectly organized Philippinos, who have never disposed of more than 600 rifles. Yet nobody can taunt the Spanish soldier with want of valour, whilst his patient endurance of hardships and privations, indifferent food, and entire absence of personal comforts, give him the advantage over other European soldiers, who require an efficient commisariat and trans- port department. In a country like the Philip- pines a soldier to be effective must be able to skip from crag to crag like a goat, without hindrances or paraphernalia, to be evenly matched with the inhabitants.
The Tagals will feel very much insulted if they try to garrison their villages by troops of the type proposed by the writer of the article under review. It would be a dangerous experi- ment. I would not advise the Americans or any one else to try. Such crass ignorance on the state of the Philippines and its inhabitants exists on every side, that it is almost useless to try and explain to outsiders that the Philip pines are as different from British India, Ceylon, Burma, The West Indies, etc., as light- is from darkness. The people are the most enlightened and vigorous branch of the Malay race, and have been Christians for centuries, in fast longer than the principles of the Reforma. tion were established in Great Britain, and are the nearest akin to Europeans of any alien race, and it is simply ridiculons to imagine that eight to ten millions of such people can be bought and sold as an article of commerce, without first obtaining their consent. Let all those who are greedy for a slice of the Archi- pelago ponder well over this, before burning their fingers.
Under existing oircumstances, although I do not wish to appear as a pessimist, Manila may at any hour be bombarded or attacked by
rebels, the
and in order that the security of the Portuguese residents might To put them on a level with Sikhs and be provided for I requested the British | Afridis is simple nonsense. The much over. Consul to take them under his protection,' estimated Sikh would find his match pretty
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.