'THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE, Having bad occasion to make a prolonged tour in the northern portion of this province, it occurred to your correspondent that a few notes upon. the condition of the people might be of interest. One has often seen Chinese monograms, two or more characters written into one large, complex character containing a phrase or sentence in itself. Tf L were to attempt to describe the actual condition of a very large proportion—perhaps T should say majority—of these people it exists to-day by a monogram, I would write into one the two characters Fi chiung a partial failure of the crops, caused at times by lack of rain and at times by extensive floods. It isthe same old story of the Yellow River repeated: the canal and rivers are on a higher level than the adjacent plains and a break in the levee during high water means inevitable disaster to hundreds of course with a not very large amount of foreign engineering these outbreaks could be prevented. In the next place, the causes of these people's wretchedness are not all natural. One factor that plays a very important part in contri-outing to their misery is an unspeakably corrupt officialdom. The oppression of the people is aggravated just at this time, since with threatened famine the country is more than ordinarily infested with thieves and robbers, and constant depredations are being perpetrated. As a consequence "law cases" crowd the yamens. But so slow and uncertain is eyen the appearance of justice that many who have cases of real grievance do not to the official through their despair of securing a just judgment and to avoid being fleeced by the underlings.
A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE R. C. PRIESTS, new source of oppression has bean added.
But now another and a comparative!
the person of the Catholic priest d his followers. It is well-known that the foreign priests behave and act generally more or less in the style of native officials, and the natives know, often by sad experience, that these priests represent power. It' is perhaps due to the lest to say that at least in many cases intentions are humane, and that he are of the injustice that is name by his underlings. The general principle of action seems to be, Tet a Chinese be puta Catholic and he shall have the protection of his foreign nest, which means foreign power. His lawsuits are taken up and put through to his advantage, and to the disadvantage of his less fortunate heathen neighbour. Thus the helpless pagan is slowly but surely ground to dust between an upper and a nether millstone. In his despair what does he do,—what else can he do?—but come to the Protestant missionary imploring his help against both his own official and the Roman Catholic priest! The Protestant missionary is thus really io demand and sought after by the untaught idolater, not, in the majority of cases, to receive instruction, but to get his help against this twofold oppression which is crushing out his life. Of course he has to learn, unwvilliog though he may be, that we Protestant missionaries do not, as such, carry with us any political power that can be a protection to a Chinese t his oppressors. The above are some of the cotises for much suffering to these people, and these causes are not comfined to this part of China. They are such as could be very largely obviated by a good government,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.