Hawke's Bay Herald MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1895. CHINESE OUTRAGES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 10071, 12 August 1895, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1895. CHINESE OUTRAGES.

The savage demonstrations against the missionaries la China are not only revolting but may bef rough t with theiECHbserioua consequences In the fatare. Infuriated with (ho growth of the civilizing and Christianising element in their midst, the Chlnfise as ft whole have loDgbeen known to desire an opporbnnlty for revenge, and at last! the most fanatical of these pagan fanatics have descended upon tbe devoted missionaries and commenced the work of bideona slaughter. Tbat niiny of the mandarins fnvor this outbreak seems 1 obvions enough, and the fact; that a body of soldiery stood motionless and allowed a horrible butchery to be perpetrated under their very noses bespeaks the universal detestation with which they regard the, to them, "foreign devils," who have come to educate and elevate the heathen, and convert him to the worship of a God to him nnkaowD, There Is do bitterness like uuto that of the participants in a battle for conscience sake, and if we mistake not it will seed something more than a threat from Britain, or from tbe combined Powers for that matter, to stifle the zealots who have entered into this campaign against the men and women who have devoted their lives to the regeneration of the yellow race. Life la not prized much by the native Chinaman — death has no terrors for him, as Is proved by the faot that an inferior has no compunction in dying for a superior for the reward of a modest. Immediate gratification. Catting down the leaders will, we fear, bad strengthen the main body in their unholy fanaticism and desire to tld themselves of the white intruders. Having little to live for— existing amidst tbe most degrading oiroumstances, and under the most loithsome conditions — the Mongol has his greatest consolation in the con temptation of an exit to the Great Be' jond. The ratio of suicide in China Ii abnormal— opium the favorite method a bringing it about. Missionary journal ard full of blood-curding descriptions o the hundreds of ciees of suicide and at tempted suicide brought under the! notice, men, women, and children lylnj down to die with the utmost equanimity Opium antidotes are a portion of th stock-in-trade oi the pilgrims of Carl; tianlty in tuefje far. off lands, and day an night they are called out to attend oast and afford relief. Tbe spread of missionary work in tt East during the last few years has bee marvellous. Emissaries of the pbil&nthr pio institutions of England, Germany, at the United Statos have, with wonderf self-abnegation, a fearlessness engender by an overpowering sense cf duty, ai Inspired by a devotion to their fellow m which passes mere human understac ing, gone forth to the north, sontb, ea and weßfc of tho vact Chinese Empire, ho established stations, and set about I work of asserting the inflaeiices of cii isation and proolnimiag the Gospel nei Undeterred by hardships, unfettered selihhneßS, often lacking a knowledgi tbe language aud characteristics of people of. their adoption, they bi

pressed on. Kqnally careless of conse- i qaances havo they been, though upheld I by nobler and higher uentiuients than J their heathen brethren. It la admitted!) I hard for the jaiisb or the philosopher to I enter immediately Into the enthusiasm oi I tnese devotees. Many look upon them, I a minute body of a few hundreds at moat, I hurling themselves against) a mass of I ml!lioi,3 endeavoring to leaven with their I llvcf chose of a countless nation, as qnite I as fnnatical in their way as those whom 1 they go forth to eeek and to save. The I eyi'lo says: "Look at home before yon J go abroad, gaze upon the seething miser; I at your own doors— the spawn of heredity. 1 ■elGshnes9, wickedness, misgovernmeni I — Cnristianise civilisation and civilise I Christianity In yonr midst, before yon J I depart) hence. China wants you not ; I I why go forth and lay down yoar lives in I I a hopeless, fatlle etrnggle?" Bat the I I devotees are not without reason. They I I quote tbelr beloved Bible, which speaks I I to them as from God himself—" Ye shall I I be witnesses to Me .... onto the I I uttermost part of the earth." They I j speak with quivering eagerness of the I I "million a month" who die in China I I without Christianity, without a hope la I I the great hereafter, tbe worshippers of I I fa'se gods— gods of wood and stone. They I I retaliate, too, ifnotwithacyniciltKjuogKe, I at least] with statistical effectiveness, by I showing the thousands of altars raised 1 within the dominions of the Empice upon I which the sun nevet sets, and in other I places, and by proving conclusively how I little benefit accrues to snffdrlng humanity I from the efforts— too often lamentably I feeble— of the thousands who minister I thereat. I However, 'the fact remains that the I missionaries are distasteful to the CelesI tlal, and that is a very bad thing for the j I Missionaries. To force missionaries upon I the Chinese ab tbe point of the bayonet I is Itself anti-Christian, and against the J precepts of Him who said " My kingdom lia nod of this world." Yet the secular I arm mast) protect its subjects engaged in I lawful, nay laudable, work. Id must) I also punish those who, in a spirit of I fanaticism, however honest, however inI spired by what may seem to the fanatics I themselves the highest motives, attack I others who are also inspired by the I highest motives, bat who seek their end I not by deeds oi violence, but by I loving ministrations, the greatest I self denial, and the example of I holy, self-sacrificing lives. The force of I the sword must be met by the forc9 of the I sword, Tne cynio may sneer, and ask j how Christianity can be served by I slaughtering tens of thousands of pig-tailed I heathens. Bat the secular aim knows I naught of Christianity in the matter. If these missionaries had been freethinking Europeans spreading their doctrine, or want of doctrine, they would have been equally entitled to protection so long as their objects were lawful, and | carried out in a lawful way. Here we have British and American snbiects sojourning in a strange land, not for their own good, but to do good to the dwellers therein, and if those subjects are outraged and murdered it is tha clear duty of Great Britain and America to insist that the ontragers and murderers shall be pnnished, and if the Chinese authorities will nob inflict that punishment) then others must.