10th July. Tue details which our Hankow correspondent gives in his letter in another column of the way in which the two foreigners were prevented from recovering the bodies of the two Swedish missionaries foully murdered on the first of this month at Sungpu, are a sufficient indication of the estimation in which alli foreigners are now held by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, the Governor of Hupeh in whose immediate jurisdiction the scene of the crime is, and their subordinates. 'I'he Consuls at Hankow were promised that Messrs. Archibald and Lund should be escorted by a Taotai and a district magistrate and a sufficient force of soldiers, should be taken to Sungpu and allowed to receive the bodies and bring them back. But when they got to Huangchow, whither they went by steamer and where the land journey should have commenced, every possible obstacle was put in their way. 'I'he illimitable resources of Chinese official duplicity were almost exhausted in order to make them consent to give up their expedition. Just such food was given them as a present from the Huangkang magistrate as would be given to two beggars, and they were throughout treated with studied discourtesy, The full details should be read in our correspondent's letter.
It is not the Consuls at Hankow who are to be blamed for allowing the prestige of foreigners to become dissipated like this. The blame for this is with the foreign Ministers at Peking and the home governments. 'They determined two years ago to have Chou Han punished and Hunan opened, but the Chinese were too subtle for them. 'The Tchang riot was settled by an indemnity which, as we know from the Peking Gazette, was paid out of the Foreign Customs' revenue, and no one was ever punished for it; and of course the; viceroy Chang Chih-tung and his subordinates think that there is nothing to fear from foreigners who can be so easily bamboozled. We can quite understand what is going on now. Mr. O'Conor will perhaps telegraph news of the murder to Lord Rosebery, even though the victims were Swedes and not Englishmen; but almost as soon as his telegram gets home, Sir Holliday Macartuey will go round to the Foreign Office and explain that the 'I'sungli Yamen is dreadfully shocked at the occurrence, that it has sent stringent orders to the Viceroy at Wuchang to have the murderers arrested and punished, but the inhabitants of the border between Honan and Hupeh are always very turbulent, and he, Sir Valliday, must beg Lord Rosebery to do nothing hasty, nothing that might prejudice the Viceroy's action, or lower his authority in the eyes of the Chinese people, as this would make it sv much more difficult for thed Viceroy to exact proper reparation, etc., etc. Much will flopend now on the firmness of Mr. O'Conor and Lord Rosebery; let us hope they will not be content with the promises that will be made them in profusion. It is a pity that Admiral Fremantle is so far away at the present moment; for in the present temper of the Chinese authorities at Wuchang, it is reasonably certain that unless a naval force of respectable strength makes itself seen and felt on the Yangtze before long, there will be another series of savage outrages. Colonel Denby is the guardian of Swedish interests at Peking, and there were two United States' men-of-war at Hankow last week. It would have been well if he had telegraphed them to land a sufficient force, with a force from HM. Rattler too, if necessary, to recover the bodies of Messrs. Wikholm and Johansson, The threat to do it would probably have brought HE. Chang Chih-tung and his subordinates to their senses, No fighting would have been necessary; the bullies who killed the two unarmed missionaries would have disappeared at the sound of the feet of British or American bluejackets. Such firm treatment is the truest kindness to the Chinese themselves: if we go on shiily-shellying, things will at last reach a point at which such indignation will be aroused at home, that China will be taught another lesson, and one badly wanted, which will not be forgotten for some years. Perhaps an excuse may be made that Chang Chih-tung meant well, but his subordinates did not carry out his instructions. 'I'he very living of every subordinate official in his province depends on the Viceroy's smile; and the Taotai or the district magistrate would not dare to neglect one jot of the Viceroy's instructions, unless he had a private assurance that he could do so safely.
We want an Alabaster at Hankow with 100 marines from the Victor Emanuel, or with Colonel Barrow and a wing of the Hongkong Regiment. the only sure way to prevent trouble with a man like Chang Chih-tung is to show him thut we mean to have our demands respected, and that we have the force at haud to compel that respect.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.