The following able letter from a well-known missionary now at home on leave, was published recently la the "Boston The Rev, Judson Smith, D.D.—Dear Ibis with great reluctance that T am compelled to come forward and conf.ss that in relation to the recent correspon-Genco between yourself and Mark Twain T ab lust convinced that he is in the right. the last article in the "North mexican," plus the editorial in the "Sun," are responsible for thiy change ut view. Previously, Thad thought that our missionaries, ineluding myself, were inclined to a high ideal of morality, but it is evident that me can lay no claim to such.
My purpose, however, in writing this is not io repeat what Mark Twain has sai but to set before you just what ought to have been our course, when we were allowed to leave the Legations last August.
At that time, as you remember, three courses were open to us. There was, unfortunately, the course which was decided ndviee of others, to Like possession of the upon by the mission in harmony with the
headquarters of a Boxer and try to protect shat were left of the Chinese Christians. That course, as said above, is no longer defensible. 'T think in time all our mis-maries will come to see it as such.
Another course was for all to have left Peking for America, We had to get out of the Beivivis Legation, where we bad been living for eight weeks, and go somewhere. One would have thought that we would live tured our eyes homeward. In that "vse we should have avoided unplea-"ntnesses. We should have also avoided king blunders, and—and—stevlins. It i. time that looting sh ould be called by its appropriate name.
As I have said, we should have avoided unple"santnesses. We should not have inded the rights of others, It is terrible confess it, but thi is what some of out missionaries were guilty of doing. think hey sinned with the best of inten' "rights right and weong is we ug, Ament says.
One lady I remember who was thus guilty, You know that the Chinese girls, of whom there were s" murly, were under the charge the single ladies. It was not an easy tusk, and they became so anxious that they went and slept wich them. One Roman Citholic woman was outraged by a Russian ddier one night, which made the ladies less anxious. One of these, finding a soldier trying to get into the compound where these girls were, talked to him and left. What right this lady had to do his I cannot imagine. She certainly was ston her on ground and these girls did belong to her. Why, that Russian lit well ask, dil she not mind her own assiness? But that was the way with those jon ary ladies, they were always dum: something for which they could bring fur-ward no legal defence.
Now, if they had left the city, then those girls, most of whom had no defen-siers, could have been left to go to their mes. forget, those homes had been stroyed. At wy rate they could have ome somewhere, They could have taken nip their residence upon the s re ts if no where else, and believe there was nowhere else they could have zone, u less they went ive sune abanic red would not have done; thet it would have been just as bel as going into palace. Well, anyhow, they would have yuma somewhere, into the street most certainly.
What would have befallen them there yon will have to ask Mark) Twai as many Chinese women ¢ one her than fall into tha hands ils of the for. c'gn soldier, perhaps they mizht have done the same. But then, what ight Vor wom it ing suicide men have done th we circumstances? Tonly wish Thad nny shoulders so that I I those ladies rightly at surprised that you should at seimpt to defend De. Ament." Whar he did wus bad enough tw have landed him ins'ate pri sand Usha not be survriged if he his return to the Unite 1 States tary upon the whol a aged veterans there in have attempted to defend him, a d they all knowing what he had done so much better than you or 1? This certain. ly shows that there has come into the sion a spirit which is far distant from the Serpion on the Mount, to say nothing isolation on Sinai.
One trouble with Ament we have to face is, that he seems to have done by the native Christians the same as he wanted to he done by. He says so. Rut, then, the ex-tertian was something forcible. It is just what the Chinese mizht have dane, only they would probably have demanded several fold, and we cannot defend their code of is or laws, hee was a time when we were instrnc'ed by the board to learn the customs of the people, and, so far as was consistent with the gospel, to follow them. It is a great thing to have it decided upon the highest authority, by those who are so well acquainted with the pe"ple, their customs, ideas, laws, ete. just what was right in this case.
M". Ament demand a justice from the Chinese At least, that is what he thought Tu point of fact, he hal no such " demimd. Whena min lays himself liable to a suit for libel, and Tdemand retraction, it is the clear e-se of exto tion un the planet. I only wonder our peuple here in America never suw it so before, That is the wi cond very ussly expresses the truth of the fae's, and it behoves our mis-ie aries to lean the diffe eric bow en theory and fact. For an warmed man to go our into a village and That mast be one of the troubles with Hung-chang, for ho wes always acting upon that plan. Whenever there was a n-tand some missionary pace ws looted, simply made the village xive the equival= est Only in his exse the village knew that if they did not furnish the money, then the Chinese soldiers would cert; ly come, Astonishing the a rob'very of eet p ople tue n done by ye at diving the post 40 How the angels in heaven nest, see v phers ike this Bixers "ty make those whom What a comment, ye those nid clothed by those who had killed their husbands and fathers!
Bur T forget, Ib is sy easy to return to the ideas one hwl once. tind it somewhat Wihiealt to adopt the new faith of those who preven the gospel in its miry. We ist remember these men who killed these 1 ple, or at least the vill: 8 ers who w evled upon like restitution, were "it, cent men.'
We know they were innocent, for Mul Tain says so, and Mark wu tell the truth at tunys; he Bas admitted as much. Naw, win L want. to say is this, that this idos of Amont's of following the eusto us of the Chinese must be given up, Lo by sure, we wre liable ins missonsrivs to the charge of bringing on Boxer troubles because we have neglect-d to follow avid e rstams, but test is an Tam, he Twenty years in the Chinese empire has, far as nly exporisnes sors, developed no tance where "inns ut" mew paid for Hel be that Ament must have a on lis shoulders to induce silver. informed us, 2 sid "innocents" ts pry down the 'There is ther thing, as inated, which wen lit have done, and which as I sev, we ought W have done, away to America. 'Then the Indies would have been obliged to leave, hive no protection, and we could have turned our Chinese' Chris ins loose upon the streets, without money, without homes, w thout food and with many enemies—to As T said first, this is precisely what we to have done, but owing to the lick of head-pieces, none of us thought of doing it. Maj. Conger made the most egregious mistake of praising the Chinese for their lshours during the siege. He ascribed tue safety to them, said had it not been for what they did' we could not have pulled through, Had we only left them to starve we euuld thereby have shown our gratitude, Or rather, we would have avoided breaking the commandments.
Bad we been in..merica, we might have rented houses for them, or have, perhaps, purchased such, Being in China, where such bargains require from weeks to months:
put through, we did nyt think of it, og
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.