259
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
front door of the yamen, others at the east and | Tartar-General's yamen. The crowd in the west sides, for its protection, large mat-sheds being erected there for their accommodation.
THE TROOPS SHORT OF ARMS.
LOCAL DISTURBANCES INCREASING.
|
[September 29, 1900.
THE FALSE EDICT.
verts, mostly Roman Catholics, were grossly streets near by was in a great state of excite insulted, ill-treated, and rendered homeless and ment, and it was not till a late hour at night penniless; and the privations and hardships that it dispersed. The facts of the matter suffered at the hands of their inhuman tormen- The export of arms from foreign countries were these. A Manchu graduate, by name having been prohibited and the Chinese regi-Ching On, was educated in the Tung Wen Kwan describe. Thousands of them have been obliged tors were such as are easier to imagine than ments being very much in need of them, a wei- Government School. One of his countrymen, to yuin, Tang, has fallen upon the expedient of
seek an asylum either in Hongkong, manufacturing blunderbusses of the oldest fa- because he was a student of English, spread the from the infuriated mobs. It was by an ar a Manchu, had an old grudge against him, and Macao, or Canton, to escape with their lives shion, and long match-lock muskets, each to be carried by two men, for the use of the native
news that he had a good deal to do with foreign-rangement with the Chinese authorities that armies. Patterns of the same have been sub-associates, went into the house of Ching On the mandarins, soldiers, and boats to the scene ers. So this Manchu, together with a number of the French gunboat Avalanche went up with mitted to the Acting Viceroy Tak Sow, who and committed an assault upon him, his family of disturbance to preserve order and rescue the gladly approved of them, and ordered a large and servants, and smashed all his furniture. persecuted Christians. quantity to be made as quickly as possible. Being himself a Manchu, Ching On brought the matter to the notice of the Tarter General. The latter ordered an officer of his army to arrest and bring the chief perpetrator of the crime, together with his associates, for trial. The officer, being afraid of provoking public resentment and ill-feeling against himself, went and tried to patch up the matter by payment of 1,000 taels for damage done to persons and pro- perty. At first Ching On agreed to the offer, but the neighbours, consisting mostly of Man- chus, strenuously opposed it. (hing On thus could not do otherwise but go straight to the Tartar-General, and appeal for justice. The Tartar-General again gave peremptory orders to his officer to have the offender arrested and brought to trial. The Manchus were very much dissatisfied, and indignantly threatened to pull down the Tartar General's yamen. The troops wore accordingly placed there for its the populace to visit or go into the yamen to protection. Further no officials were allowed by
transact any official business.
It was said that after the departure of Li Hung-chang robbery would increase, and in fact it has increased daily. A rising of local banditti is said to have broken out in Kit Sheak in the province of Kwangtung, which necessitates the officials sending troops to suppress it. The destruction of all the mission houses and chapels, and the houses of the native converts in Satow, Tai Lisk, and Yung Ki, was reported during the last two days, and the aspect of affairs in Shon Tak is not much improving. It is said that the disturbances were incited and connived at by the officials and gentry because of the rumours which have been spreading for some time from Canton to the interior, that the Chinese troops at Peking had gained a victory over the allied forces.
A SUCCESSFUL RAID.
On the night of the 19th. ult. some two or three hundred armed Landits went by boat and by land, and attacked four or five dye-shops near Fatee public gardens. The alarm was given, but no assistance was forthcoming, owing to the large number of the bandits, whom the few soldiers stationed there were afraid to encounter. It is said that only one thief (perhaps some innocent man) has been arrested after all the rest had decamped. The property lost amounted to a few hundred dollars.
8
OUTRAGE NEAR SHAMEEN.
ac-
On the night of the 20th inst. four persons were shot dead somewhere near the eating houses opposite the north and west sides of Shameen, known as Santin Fee (a new reclamation ground). The singing girls there are customed to go to the eating-houses to sing andaccompany their guests at tiffin, dinner, or Enpper. It so happened that on the night of the 20th two or three girls went with their servants to an eating-house. On their way a Chinaman inadvertently trod on the foot of one of the girls; she screamed and scolded him, and the servants, who are always armed with revolvers when on these expeditions, joined in and fought a pitched battle with the offending Chinaman and his party, four being killed and a few wounded. Then some soldiers came up and put a stop to the affair.
MORE RIVER PIRACIES.
The port of Sai Nam lies between the North and West Rivers and is under the jurisdiction of the Sam Sui district. Steam-launches with boats in tow and stern-wheelers are running daily between there and Cantonjand Fatshan. Some time last month a stern-wheeler, the Hung Fat, laden with cargo and passengers, on her way to Canton, was attacked by pirates. Upon the complaint of her captain to the Magistrate of Na Hoi the matter was investigated, but to this day no arrest has been made, and the case is still pending. The boat ceased travelling for some time until the 14th ult., when she started on her voyage again from Canton to Sai Nam. Just in the middle of her journey, near Sew Tong, she sighted several " snake-boats" rapidly approaching. Upon a certain signal being given by some pirates on board, disguised as passengers, the pirates in the "snake-boats boarded her. They produced revolvers and overawing the captain and crew proceeded to overturn and ransack all the boxes and luggage of the passengers, took away whatever valuables they could lay their hands upon, and then de- parted. The property lost was worth over a thousand dollars and the case has been brought to the cognisance of the local authorities.
A MANCHU EMEUTE,
**
On the 17th ult., in the afternoon, there were large forces of native soldiers, cavalry, the Eighth Banner regiment, and the foreign drilled infantry drawn up in line in front and surrounding the east and west sides of the
Canton, 23rd September.
BIOTS NEAR CANTON.
out in the Ping Po village somewhere near the It is said that grave disturbances have broken Macao Fort, & short distance from Canton. The Pun Yui Magistrate, under whose juris- diction the locality lies, by order of the Acting Viceroy took a large number of troops and suppress the rioting. proceeded thither at once on Saturday night to
THE TRIADE ACTIVE.
from Canton, there are already 20,000 men In the Chung Chuin village, also not far of the Triad Society, who use this place as their basis for collecting more men preparatory to rebellion.
The pretended Edict was set forth as follows: the 8th moon (3rd Sept.) says that since the An Imperial Edict received on the 10th of Japanese rebellion against this Empire in 1894 the Minister Kang (Yu-wei) did things that the foreign nations despised and ill-treated so derogatory to the dignity of our country us, so that our ministers and people alike with one mind hate them. Fortunately this time the miraculous manifestation of our ancestors, we have gained a great victory, which is really through the joint efforts of our soldiery and people. We might have joined ourselves in one body for a last effort to make a clean sweep of the foreigners, so as to give vent to our feelings country. We had wished to avail ourselves of of indignation and uphold the dignity of our this victorious opportunity to destroy the evil races once and for all, but that our Government is still liberal and benevolent, that we have had commercial intercourse with the different coun- tries for several decades of years, that the for- eigners in the concessions are mostly wealthy, and that if we make a wholesale slaughter
harmony. of them it would be injurious to our universal
So we have ordered Viceroy Yu Lu-and the Viceroys and Governors of the provinces to communicate this Edict to the Consuls of the different nations, to inform their
ministers
that if they be repentant and ashamed of their former acts, they will be still allowed to trade peacefully in China, on condition that they agree to the following five Treaty articles within one hundred days. If any nations agree not to this Treaty, General Tung Fuhsiang has orders to lead troops and chase them beyond our boundaries; if they resist they shall be totally destroyed. We send this Edict, together with the Treaty, from six hund- In Nam Kong, near Sun Tong, in the neigh-red miles off post haste for your information. bourhood of Whampoa, the inhabitants are ill-treating the native converts and have ob- literated the names of the chapels. General Ma Kai Tong took 4 000 soldiers and proceeded thither to preserve order.
ATTACKS ON CONVERTS.
THREATS AGAINST A FRENCH GUNBOAT.
Report says that the French gunboat Aral- anche remains at anchor at Kumchuk, and that the Chinese threaten that if she does anything they will use all their forces to destroy her.
These, of course, are rumours, but as was the
serious. case in the north, rumours sometimes turn out
Canton, 25th September.'
THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN RIOTS.
This Edict
There are in Canton a large number of bad characters who make it their business to fabri- cate and circulate freely false rumours, with a view to incite the ignorant mob to disturbance. So much is this so that they have invented and put into circulation a false Imperial Edict, of which I give below a translation. was the cause of all the recent local troubles, and the printer and publisher of it has been traced out and arrested by the Namhoi Magis- trate. The guilty party is Chang So, of the Kung Son printing office, Canton, and his busi- ness is to print and publish the Peking Gazette. Incited by such wilful, malicious and seditious publications the inhabitants of the villages of Wong Lin, Luk Luo, Kanka Wai, Lung Ngan, Kum Chuk, Mak Chün, U Chung, Tong Lee, Hang Tan (in Shon Tak), Tai Yap. Tai Fan. Sai Wa, Satow, Lung Kong, and Lung Shan, and rogues, only too glad to avail themselves of all in Kwangtung, who are mostly thieves this opportunity to enrich themselves by the misery of others, broke into and pulled down all chapels, mission-houses, and dwellings of the native converts and carried away whatever valuables they could lay their hands upon. Not to mention any individual case, it may be gener ally said that the missionaries and their con-
THE TREATY.
pay China an indemnity for military expenses 1. The thirteen countries together must
of 1,300 million taels.
2. Kang Yu-wei must be handed over to China. 3. Any territorial concessions that have been granted to foreign nations for commercial pur- poses must be converted into public international territory where a Consul of each nation shall be appointed to reside to take care exclusively of foreigners, and all cases where Chinese are con- cerned in the matter of this Treaty shall be adjusted according to Chinese law.
4. Every national is allowed merely to trade in China, and no missionaries shall be permitted to go into the interior to preach the gospel. If any Chinese who have been converted to Chris- tianity shall repent of their faults they shall be allowed to change their religion and follow Con- fucianism again, and no further investigation shall be made about the matter.
A
5. Any territorial concessions that have been exacted by any foreign nations since 1894 shall be returned to China within three months.”
STRONG OFFICIAL MEASURES. With reference to the above the Nam Hoi and
Pun-yu Magistrates on the 20th inst, jointly issued a proclamation, stating that on account of the great number of rumours which have caused a wrong impression on the people's minds, the newspapers have been suppres ed by order cf the Viceroy; that of late it has been found cut that some people have been audacious onough to print and publish a false Edict; that certain man, by name Chang So, of the Kung Son the printing and publishing of it was traced to a office, whose business was to print and publish Peking Gazettes; that he on trial confessed that it was printed by mistake; that the Magistrates have ordered his type and blocks to be destroy- ed, and himself to be kept in prison for farther investigation. That according to Chinese law any person or persons that print or publish any
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