22nd August.
THE news which we have received by wire from one of our own correspondents in Hunan, of the murder of two China Inland Missionaries at the fu city of Chenchou in Hunan ina riot, must come as a very di-tressing shock to all who hoped that the era of anti-missionary riots was at anend, From Hunan we have had particularly cheerful and reassuring reports of the cordiality with which the returning missionaries were wel~ comed after their exodus two years ago: and there seemed every reason to believe that the traditional hatred of foreigners in Hunan had given way to respectful toleration if not actual frienHiness, From wh knew of their character we had grounds for hoping that personal Knowledge of foreigners would convert the Hunanese from our bitterest enemies into our best friends. The China Inland Mission station at Chenchou, the scene of the murder, was opened four years ago, and the two missionaries whose loss we deplore were not new-comers to China, Mr. J. R. Bruce, a native of Australia, aged thirty, having been nearly six years in the country, and Mr. R. H. Lewis, a native of England, aged thirty-two, nearly three years. It is most melancholy to see two promising young men, devotin, their lives to the enlightenment an civilizing of the Chinese, thus rath-lessly cut off so early in their career. According to a telegram received by the China Inland Mission. here the riot was caused by rumours that the missionaries had been dispensing poisonous medicines. It is sad that the Chinese masses should still be liable to be roused to murderous frenzy by such malignant ramours. The only remedy is that which the missionaries themselves are constantly applying; the dissipation of the ignorance and credulity that make these outbreaks possible.
Details of the riot are on their way to Shanghai, and we must await their arrival. It will be interest. to learn what connection the demolition of the imperial post office had with the murder. The extension of this institution has caused a great deal of discontent among the old native post offices, and it is not impossible that people connected with and dependent on the old system fomented the riot. There is no doubt that ifthe death of Messrs. Bruce and Lewis was due to any laxity on the part of the officials of Chenchou, the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung will deal sternly with them,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.