On page 33 we have the report of the court of enquiry held at Sungpu under the presidency of Li Taotai. It is written by the Huangchow Fu, and considering its Iength—over three thousand characters—it isa very remarkable document, inasmuch as it does not contain a word which throws any fresh light on the outrage. The problem the court was commissioned to solve was how it came about that two innocent and inoffensive men came to be brutally murdered at noon-day in the presence of thousands of onlookers, and who were the jons who did it. The Viceroy, tne werner, and the Provincial Judge, are all alike agreed that this was the task set before them. As to who did it, the report frankly states, page 36, that the court does not know, and as to why it was done, we have simply a repetition of all the Macheng hsien had already said about it. The conduct of that magistrate is painted in even more favourable colours than he had ventured to do it himself, and his Sungpu subordinate is represented as equally worthy of all praise. We find that during the riot he went and urged the missionaries to retreat to his yamén—a little item which he seems to have been too modest to put on record himself—but as usual the missionaries obstinately refused to take advice. On the other hand, the court finds the conduct of the missionaries was even more outrageous than the Macheng hsien had dared to report, for they not only seized and bound four men, and led the people to believe they had killed them, but they actually made their cook soak cotton in kerosene and fire the house, which unreasonable proceeding resulted in the final catastrophe. However, as they were instructed to seize criminals, they state they have picked up four men, and one, Li Kia-chung, who bad been denounced by the foreigners, and as the weather is warm and their quarters narrow they are adjourning to Huangchow. From this report it i how the Chinese of other through thick and thin. The Macheng hsien might have written the document himself—possibly he did so—so thoroughly does it support all his statements. There is not a word though of how the court harried Sungpu, and the reign of terror they established there—official documents will be searched in vain for that.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.