NOTES ABOUT THE MISSIONARIES.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 31

NOTES ABOUT THE MISSIONARIES.

The Rev. A. Don, Chinese missionary, writes : — The appeals by the Emperor of China to America, France, and Germany for , intervention are taken by many as proof of the massacre at Peking. But there is grave doubt if H.I.M. Kwang-su has anything to do with those appeals. If he has, then he is not in hiding, nor dead, as has been more than once reported. It is far more likely that they emanate from the Empress Dowager, in which case there is more proof that a massacre has occurred than would be if they came from the Emperor himself. They are further proof that the wily woman cannot believe it possible for mutually distrustful Western nations to join forces against China. And, perhaps, she hoped to make, or find, the rift in the lute by thus sounding one after another.

Viceroy Li Hung Chang knows what lie is talking about when he says that the lilies' advance on Poking will probably mean the death of every foreigner there. The Boxers under Tuan and the Imperial Army tu'cJcr General Tung Fuh-siang— both leaders hating foreigners madly— would make a supreme effort to find and slay every white man in the city before turning to face the Allies, If the survivors of the siege can he safely brought o\it to Tientsin, it is eminently desirable.

Tung-chau, the river port of Peking, 12 miles away, is only 100 ft above the sea. which is 120 miles off by the river. The road is an execrable one, and in such a flat country so easily flooded as to be made impassable for guns and transports.

The murdered C.I. missionaries, Misses Searell and Whitchurch, were at a far-away station in Mid-Shansi, of which I have already said that it would be " difficult to get out from." The massacre of "40 foreigners and 100 converts at Tai-yuan fu," reported on 18th inst., in all likelihood included most of the missionaries stationed at various places in Mid and South Shansi, where the only foreigners are missionaries. Five wee-ks aso I received a letter, written Jvy Miss Scarell on April 21, in which is not a single sign of the impending storm. Friends of the other New Zealand missionaries stationed in the interior of China are feeling anxious for their safety. It is now from five to six weeks since the state of matters at Peking has been pretty wicely known among the missionaries; and I think it pretty certain that the others from this colony are safe, or we should W ibis time have had word to the contrary. In a former note Mrs F. J. Dymond (nee Cannon) was omitted, whose station is Chau-t'ung fu, not far from the Yang-tze, in Yunnan province. The missionaries from Yunnan and Szechuan provinces would make for the riverine port Chung-king, and there find refuge either aboard or protected by the plucky little gunboats Woodlark and Woodcock (each 150 tons), which on May 6 accomplished Ihe wonderful journey up the mighty Yang-tze gorges and over the perilous rapids between Ichang 1 and Chung-king. At

Ichang, also, at least one British gunboat is stationed.

Tak-shiu is Manchu Governor of Kwangtung, not " Viceroy," though he may be acting-Viceroy till Li's successor, Tan, arrives. With the millions' of Triaclists in his province, he will have his hands too full to move against the foreigner. To help iis " see ourselves as others see us," here are some extracts from the Chinese Australian Herald, Sydney, July 14 : — " A cablegram says that as Europeans are massing on Chinese ground, each wis'uncj ultimately to swallow the whale to fatten his own purse and profit himself, there is a danger that some day there will be a trifling disagreement, as when robbers are dividing their plunder and their shares are unequal, then there will certainly be a resort to arms and a mutual war with great slaughter." " A cablegram states that the British State Secretary Grey says that Britain's desire is positively not to take any Chinese territory nor to agree to partition. In our humble .opinion, this sort t>f thing is smoothtonguedncss, honey in the mouth, and a sword in the stomach. Though the speech is not to this effect, one's heart hears in opposition to one's ears."

The supersession of Admiral Kempff by Admiral Remey is thus .commented on: — "The rulers and people of the United States used to be known as those with hearts full of goodness and mercy, continually sending missionaries to guide the ignorant and preserve the souls of the Chinese people, so that they may er.ioy the everlasting bliss of paradise. Such people do very great good and amass much merit. But. alas ! there are disciples in name and not in reality. So, when all nations are rivals in plundering China, the Americans who believe in God should do good as formerly, raising troops to save and help China : this would be consistent with their past deeds. But now, not only do they not help : they blame their officer for doina wrong in not plundering like the others, dismiss him, and put another in his place. Thus may be seen what they have set their hearts upon."