11th Dee.
WE have received from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A, New York, a pamphlet with the above title, being a paper by the Rev, Arthur J. Brown, D.D., New York, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board, reprinted from the "Missionary Review ofthe World."
Dr. Brown mentions that the destruction of their property in China with the scattering of the missionaries, determined the Board to seriously consider the situation. The expediency of the whole missionary enterprise was being challenged, the Boards were being urged to send no more missionaries to this ungrateful country, and some people frankly said that in any event they would give no more money for missionary work in China. There were some forty Presbyterian missionaries at home from China on furlough. The Board selected eight of the most experienced and brought them to New York for consultation. The Board then wrote to all the foreign missionary bodies in the United States and Canada having work China, inviting them to send delegates toa Conference, which was held in New York on the 2ist of September last. The pamphlet before us is a summary of the conclusions arrived at by this Conference, and looking at the importance of the subject, we propose to give a brief sketch of its conclusions.
The first line of policy agreed on by the Conference that the work must be resumed. "While the uprising in China has, of course, had a restrictive, and in some places a deeply injurious present effect on missionary operations, there is no adequate ground for discouragement, and the work ought to be, and must be resumed at as early a date as may be practicable and wise." Writing from a necessarily extended kno ledge of what the Protestant missionary work is, and what it has effected, we fully agree with this decision of the Conference: and we have no doubt that Di. Brown is right in saying that "just as the most successful era of missionary work in India followed the mutiny of 1857, so will a new day for China date from the Boxer riots of 1900." It was next determined, and this is a necessary consequence of the first decision, to adopt an aggressive policy at home, and "heartily endorse the appeal of Minister Conger and representative missionaries in Peking for relief contributions" for the Chinese Christians who have behaved with such noble fidelity during the recent persecution; and the necessary methods were discussed of laying the situation before the American churches.
The third conclusion we quote in Sympathetic consideration was given to the embarrassment of the missionaries who are crowded in the port cities, with only the scanty clothing they happened to be wearing when they fled from their stations, and forced to pay high prices for rent and supplies. Is the interruption of work like-to be so long continued that they should come home? Both fa..oughed missionaries and Board representatives felt that a general recall to America was neither necessary nor expedient. Such a retura would involve an enormous expense, for our Presbyterian Board alone has over 150 China snissionaries still abroad. Tt would destroy the continuity of the work, Ieare the Chinese Christians to unrelieved suffering and disaster, and the remaining mission property to be still further damaged. It would mako it impossible to resume the work if, in the providence of God, such resumption should be practicable within 'a few. months. The home church would be unfavourably affected by such a general withdrawal, naturally construing it as an admission of defeat, and indefinite postponement of missionary work, and in consequence diminishing' gifts. usual term of service in China is about eight years, so many furloughs now would mean that eight or nine years hence most of the missionaries in China would need a furlough, and so another general exodus would be necessary, thus practically subjecting the work for an indefinite period to alternations of vigorous effort, and more or less complete inaction. All agreed therefore that, except where conditions of ill health or nervous strain render an immediate return necessary, the missionaries now on the field should await developments in Corea, Japan, and such China ports as may be safe, in anticipation of an carly resumption of the work, the care and reconstruction of the mission property, and particularly the audience and comfort of the Chinese Christians, who otherwise would be left to the wolves as sheep having no shepherd. The suggestion was made that missionaries who may not be able to return to their own stations might temporarily assist other stations or missions.
The: fourth question was that of indemnity, and the conclusion arrived at seems to us entirely reasonable. It was decided nem. con. that: "When the Government shall ask for information as to claims for indemnity, such claims should not include suffering, loss of life, or interruption of work, but only the actual value of destroyed or injured property, and the extraordinary expenses incurred in consequence of the troubles." It was also decided by a majority that, in exceptional cases, a claim might be made for loss of life which has destroyed the means of support for wife and children; but a minority felt that not even then should a money value be placed on missionary life, and that the care of dependent relations was a proper charge on the home church. It was decided that no demands should be made directly on the Chi, nese authorities by individual missionaries, but they should be sent by the Boards concerned through the goyernment. "We shall avoid demands which might subject the whole missionary enterprise to criticism, and we shall not embitter the Chinese by taking what might be deemed unfair advantage of them."
The fifth question discussed was the relation of the missionary to the civil power, and it was felt that the critics of missionary methods " do not ordinarily distinguish between the radically different practices of Roman Catholics and Protestants." Protestant missionaries only appeal to the civil authorities for assistance at very long intervals, and that this state of things meets with the full approval of the Boards at home is shown by the following extract A significant indication of the attitude of the Boards was given in the vote on a request that had been cabled from China to several Boards, asking them to protest Vashington against the proposed evacuation of Peking by the allied armies and the reinstatement of the Empress Dowager, as disastrous to missions. Some of the missionaries thought that such a protest should be made on the ground that the withdrawal of the armies and the reinstatement of the Empress would be construed by the Chinese as a victory for them, destroy the moral effect of the occupation of Peking, and perhaps lead to the renewal of trouble. The interdenommotional conference, however, unanimously voted to take no action. Some of its members had decided convictions as to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.