WE have_been obliged in the past to criticise' somewhat unfavourably the magazine articles written shortly after the siege at Peking which Sir Robert Hart has since republished under the title, These from the Land of Sinim. It' was necessary 10 show where we felt them to be ill-advised, the critics at home being influenced by the great weight of Sir Robert's name und knowledge, without sufficiently considering the special circumstances in which tie articles were written. We are very glad to be unable to criticise with anything bus often in former writings shown himself tobe. Every missionary in China and every Missionary Board at home should ponder this well-considered impartial impression of a thoughtful mind guided by long experience.
Sir Robert begins by assuming that missions to China will continue, and the irrepressible labours of missionaries will certainly benefit many and probably offend more; their marching orders then should suggest to them what they are not to do as well as what they are todo; "not in the faulty form of a list of details, but in the handy and convenient shape of a principle." Sir Robert Hart's advice is that missionaries should respect the feelings of the neighbourhood in which they seitle—and this we are sure they generally do—and avoid any interference in litigation let the missionary content himself with making his disciples good men and good citizens"—last year's occurrences show how widely this has been carried out—"and let him leave it to the duly authorised officials to interpret and apply the law, and administer their affairs in their own way." If persecution comes, "I would advise the individual or the community," says Sir Robert, "to live it down, and as a last resort report the fact with appropriate detail and proof to the Legation in Peking, for the assistance and advice of the Minister. Watch then in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry Those who study missionary methods at all know that the very courses recommended by Sir Robert are those that have been followed for years by the vast_ majority of the Protestant missionaries in China.
The question of indemnification must, says Sir Robert, depend upon circumstances.. The terrible and uncalled-for suffering inflicted by the Chinese last year demands the fullest admiration Sir Robert's recent de- indemnification, but renunciation may sometimes do more good than liverance on the Missionary Question in China, which will be found other column, and which carefully studied. The disturbing influences of the siege at Peking and the confusion which followed it have evidently passed away entirely from the Inspector-General's mind, and he is again the- calm, cool, able, wide-minded statesman that he has so insistance on a fine, It is a matter for the individual conscience to settle. But Sir Robert makes one point which those who sneer at mii sionaries are very apt to overlook:
missionaries do not lose their civil rights on ordination; on the contrary, and perhaps all the more so, if they in Christian charity are willing to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.