Michie, than whom there is no authority more conversant with the subject, gave a lecture at St. James's Hall, London, under the auspices of the Balloon ciety, on " China Missions." The Balloon Society must have been originally established, we apprehend, to study the Navigation of the Air, but finding this, at the present stage of aeronautical practice, a somewhat limited field, it has taken ome scibile under its wing, and now, according to the Pall dail, "boasts that itis the only Suciety which meets weekly all the year round for the reading and discussion of papers upon cientilic discoveries, modern inventions, and topics of the day." It has on its own showing five thousand members, "but if most of them are not ballooning at present they take every precaution against showing their faces at the weekly meetings and at Mr. Michie's lecture, unless the Pall Mall is making fun, there were only thirteen men and four ladies present, not including " the two boys who took tickets at the door, and displayed much anxiety to put the names of all comers in a book." 'I'o us who know Mr. Michie, the charm of his style, and the certainty that a lecture from him on whatever subject would be bright and interesting, it seems impossible that he should attract so scanty an audience. We can only conclude that notwithstanding the recent full discussion of the missionary question in the Ziémes and other papers, evoked by the Sungpu massacre, it is only in Exeter Hall and thereabouts that avy warm interest is really taken in missions to China, Unfortunately, too, the question is a very difficult one, a fact which even Mr. Michie could not disguise. He feels on the one hand that it would be fatal to give up any of the rights and privileges we have secured by treaties with China, included in which' is the right to teach and practice Christianity anywhere throughout the Chinese Empire; while en the other hand he is not in sympathy with aggressive evangelization, and would have the influx and actions of the missionaries under some governmental control; " position which is taken by a large nmnber of laymen, and even some missionaries, in China who do not, however, condemn as a few laymen do all missionary effort. Mr. Michie, intro duced by Sir Thomas Wade who occupied the chair at the meeting, began by pointing out the injury to mission work caused by the differences between the various Protestant sects and between Protestants as a whole and Roman Ca-tholies, an injury which, we think, is often exaggerated. Pointing out that "missions to China were conducted under a treaty which was imposed by a conqueror asa condition of peace" though Mr. H. N. Lay writes that the Chinese negotiators of the treaty made no difficulty about agreeing to these conditions, and that no force was used to impose them—Mr, Michie went on to say that'there is no religions fauaticism in China, avd it is the disorganisation of the family which follows the conversion of any of its members, to which the Chinese are so opposed. The convert has to give up auicestral worship, and to withdraw his subseription to the festivals of his family and his clan; in fact, "no arrangements have been made by which the new force might work its way into Chinese society with a minimum of friction, From these and other causes a general antipathy has been generated on the part of the Chinese towards the missionaries in every province of the empire. This feeling is taken advantage of by the educated classes to raise anti-Christian riots. As the Chinese Goverument has made treaties with foreign Powers recognising the right of Christian proselytism and of missionary re~ sidence, there can be no doubt of its duty to protect missionaries from mob violence and official oppression. Equally there can be no doubt of the duty of the 'I'reaty Powers to insist upon the Chinese discharging the duties imposed upon them."
Mr. Michie went on to show that while outbreaks of violence against the missionaries have become more frequent, nothing has been done to put an end to them either by the Chinese or foreign Governments. They would not occur
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.