THE CHINESE OUTRAGES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXVII, Issue 229, 9 October 1891, Page 3

THE CHINESE OUTRAGES.

_ — _$ — , — ■ . A gentleman m Timaru permits the loca Herald to publish the following extracts from a letter he received from a relative holding a high official position m China. The letter is dated June 12th :-" You will hava seen from the papers that people m mid- China, especially at the Yangtsze ports, are having at present a somewhat unpleasant time. We naturally fear that you, reading these telegrams and accounts, will feel an amount of anxiety and alarm on our behalf which I Eincerely believe will be uncalled for. The best way of reassuring you all will be to tell you frankly what the situation really is, and how it is likely to affect U3 personally. Since the first outbreak at Wuhu there have „ been disturbances at sundry other points, all m the Yangtsze valley. So far the attacks i had been directed against property, chiefly that of Roman Catholic missionaries. Just a week ago, however, the movement assumed a new feature. At a place 27 miles above Kiu Kiang two Englishmen were murdered by a mob. The affair began m the usual way, with rumours that children had been kidnapped m order that their eyes and hearts might be cut put for use m medicine. However idiotic such accusations are, they always seem to gain credence, and the consequence was that an unfortunate missionary, Mr Argent, was set upon and his brains beaten out with stones. A custom-house offioer, Green, who gallantly went to his assistance, unarmed and single handed, shared his fate. Four ladies, whose husbands were luckily absent on missionary business, and as many children, escaped with difficulty into a passing steamer. On the 6th instant there was an abortive attack on an hospital at Ohm EiDg ; on the 9th an outbreak of rioting at Kiu Kiang, which was fortuately promptly suppressed ; and on the same day the B.C. establishment at Woo Sih, eight miles from Shanghai, was burnt to the ground by a mob of ruffians several thousands strong, who had come from Yangtze. Now the belief which is gaining ground is that these outbreaks are not, as might be supposed, signs of renewed malevolence against foreigners, but rather the first mutierings of a general insurrection against the Manchu dynasty. These attacks on foreigners are, it is held, meant to provoke a misunderstanding between China and foreigners, of which advantage would he taken by the malcontents to work the overthrow of the present Government. If the Peking authorities are wise, they will, instead of standing on their dignity and letting matters go from bad to worse, at once solicit European assistance and jointly put down the movement with a merciless display of force. Anyway, we m Shanghai are personally safe enough, iov at the worst there is so much shippiqg here that we oould always get away.