(Communicated.)
The French Consul-General has just brought to a happy conclusion two thorny affairs, which had been hanging over, the one for fifteen and the other for five years. They were two claims of the Roman Catholic mission of Kiangnan. By patience and tact and by Comte de Bezaure's energetic and intelligent conduct of affairs, the missionaries have obtained full redress and reparation for their long-standing wrongs.
Pochen, the scene of the first trouble, is an old and historic city in the farthest north-west corner of the Anhui province, near the confines of the three neighbouring provinces of Shantung, Honan and Kiang: ssu. Such a locality, as is well-known in The following gratifying testimonial was China, is the favoured region of lawless resented by H.B, Li Hung-chang to the bands of marauders. The inhabitants live wy. Gilbert Reid a few days before he left Peking on his return to America Peking, China, 12th April, 1897. To Rev. Gitpenr Rerp, Founder of the Mission to the Upper Classes of China, Peking.
Dean Sin,—Having on various occasions gladly shown iny interest in the good work recently organised by you among the educated and oficial classes of China, through whom the masses nay be readily enlightened by means of Western knowledge; and Knowing also of the many years of self-denying labour you have devoted to the welfare of the people in various parts of China,—it is with much pleasure that I offer you this testimony on the eve of your departure for the United States.
have admired the bold and tireless energy with which yon have faced the difficulties of your present task. It is unfortunately true that suspicion, prejudice, snd self-sutliciency are peculiar traits of educated Chinese, especially noticeable in their estimation of other countries—perhaps because of the isolation of China from Western influence for so many centuries bat whatever may be the case, the lament. able effect: is seen in.the present backward in something like a feudal state, with house and property surrounded by wall and moat, and no one goes abroad without a gun or lance, and nothing of value is transported without an armed escort. Some fifteen years ago a missionary acquired a piece of property in the city, near a Christian family of two brothers by the name of Kin, in whose house a chapel had been temporarily installed. When the presence of the missionary he-came known, some prominent individuals, known there ashen-tsong, ahind of military chiefs, formed the determined resolution of excluding the foreigner from this city. The people were stirred up to violence, a little hut on the mission's property was burnt, the house of the family Kin was burnt'and pillaged, and the two brothers obliged to take refuge la the province of Honan, where they have since died before the settlement of the affair.
When application was made to the authorities for redress, resort was had to the old pretext of the rude and ungovernable character of the people of that region, and the affair dragged on for years, not only without a satisfactory settlement but without the possibility of obtaining an entrance into'the'city. Recently, however, Comte rest with us long, and that for'some time to de Bezaure, who for the past year has so worthily filled the post of Consul-General for France, has brought up the claim and urged it with such skill and energy, that a missionary delegated by superiors has obtained full satisfaction, not only for the mission but also for' the unfortunate family of the Kins, and a missionary station is now peacefully established in Pochen.
The other affair, of a more recent date, occurred in the prefectural city of Yang: chonta. About five years ago a missionary, after purchasing a house in the city, went to the proper yamen to have the transaction registered, "Ble was politely received, but in two days he found that the whole city had been excited against him. He was driven from the city with insult and ill-treatment. A special feature in the attack was the presence of a number of women hired to abuse the foreigner under the immunities of their sex.
The claims of the mission were put off under pretexts of illegality in the purchase, the last of which was objected quite recently when the affair was already in. a fair way of being arranged. It came from the prefect of the city, and was none other than the surreptitious treaty clause making previous. notice given to the mandarin necessary for the Tegal purchase of property by a foreigner. Happily that clause had been definitely disposed of by M. Gerard. The claim of the mission was so clear that Comte de Bazaure was accorded not some other house which he had declared the mission would accept, hut the very house legally purchased by the missionary five years ago.
Thus after years of patient and firm insistance, without notable friction with the authorities, the two dainns have been satis. factorily settled; the principle of the treat rights is saved, and the missionaries wit their grievances redressed are established peacefully among the people who had vowed to keep them out.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.