In view of the importance of the present crisis in the history of Curistian missions in China, and of the fact that our tion has been seriously misunderstood and our opinions and utterances subjected to adverse criticism, it has seemed to us advisable to make the following statement.
The points in the recent criticisms which most concern us are: (I) That missionaries are chiefly responsible for the recent uprising, and (1s. That they have manifested an un-Christian spirit in suggesting the punishment of those who were guilty of the massacre of foreigners and native Christians.
I—With reference to tue first of these charges we would remark 1.—That when the facts concerning this uprising are rightly understood, it will be found that its causes are deep-rooted and manifold. The history of foreign relations with China has all along been that of here-diary prejudice on the one hand and force on the other. The government of has never given a friendly reception to foreigners. It has resented their presence and yielded grudgingly the few rights obtained from it by t "this long standing ill-will was deeply intensified by the ical humiliation and loss of territory which followed the war with Japan.
The rise of the Boxer movement in Shantung and its rapid growth there and in the adjacent province of Chibli, will be found to have amongst its immediate causes: (a) the shortness of food, almost amounting to famine, which prevailed in those regions; (b) the irritation caused by the industrial and economic changes created by railway construction and other enterprises; (e) the seizures of kiaochou, Port Arthur, and Weihaiwei, which were bitterly resented as unwary rantuble aggressions; and (d) the project tion and forcible ing of a railway route through the province of Shantung, which produced intense local exasperation.
—The recent pri anti-forei rather than tious have suffered mainly because th been reckoned as" secondary devil i.e., the allies of foreigners. Moreover, the destruction of railways and the attack on railway engineers preceded the destruc tion of mission compounds and the slaughter of missionaries. Nor' spovld it be forgotten that among the facts of the outbreak are: the siege of the Legations, the destruction of the property of the Imperial Customs, and the indiscriminate massiere of foreigners and of Chinese found in possession of foreign-made articles. That missionaries were residing in the interior, and were without the means to defend themselves, entirely accounts for the large number who perished. Had they been foreigners but not missionaries, the result would have been the same.
3.—The charge also includes the state- 2 ment that missionaries have brought the present disaster upon themselves; on the one hand, by lack of appreciation of what is good in Chinese life and thought; axd on the other, by disregard of Chinese pre judice and etiquette. It is conceivable that isolated statements and actions may thus be construed, but for the missionary body asa whole, we can assert that: this statement is without foundation.
Believing as we do that the gospel is God's message of salvation to. mankind, and that, too, in a sense in which the wisdom or words of no sage can ever be, we must, as faithful servants of our Lord, both the great affirmations and ions of the gospel, and wherever the claims of the gospel are brought face to face with such superstition and idolatry as prevail among the masses of China, a certain measure of oppo: and resentment is sure to be excited. For this we do not feel called upon to_apolo; But the amount of opposition thus excited kas been greatly exaggerated. The conciliating effect of the work done by their hospitals, colleges, schools, and famine relief has far more than counterbalanced any prejudice raised by the preaching of the Gospel. in spite of all that has recently taken place, it remains true that our position in China has not been secured so much by treaty right as by the goodwill of the people themselves.
And it is worthy of remark that those mis-interior who did reach the cist, owe their escape in large measure to the friendliness of officials and people.
4.—To the charge that missionaries have excited hostility by interfering in native litigation in the interests of their converts in courts of justice, we need only say that even by the Chinese officials themselves this charge-is rarely preferred against the Protestant section of the missionary bod; members of their churches. be denied that occasional natives have secured the influence of the foreigner in an unworthy cause. But interference in native litigation as such, receives no support from the principles and practice of the general body.
—With reference to the second point—that we have manifested am un-Christian. spirit in suggesting the punishment of those who were guilty of the mass ere of foreigners and native Christians—we understand that sent by the public meeting held in Shanghat the criticism applies chiefly to the mesaze
in September last.
1.—It should, in the fin plice, be borne in mind that the roolutions pasted at that meeting were called for by the proposal of the Allies to. evacuate Peking immediately after the relief of the Legations, Tt was felt, not only by missionaries but by the whole of the foreign residents in China, that such a course would be fraught with the greatest di inasmuch as it would give sanction to further lawlessness, 2.—Further, it must be remembered that whilst suggesting Unit a satisthetory settle ment "should include the adequate punishment of all who were guilty of the recent niurdens of foreigners and native Christians it was left to the Powers to decide what th equate punishment" should be. Mor over, when taking stob measures ax we necessary they were urged to "make effort to avoid all needless and indiscriminate jon of their strange misunderstanding we find that this suggestion has been interpret though it were animated by an tun-Christ spirit of revel With the loss of scores of friends and colleagues still fresh upon us, and with stories of cruel masteres reaching us! by day, it would not have been surprising hid we been betrayed into intemperate pressions, but we entirely repudiate the idea which has been read into our words, If vers of Gods then surely it is the duty of ist ian government not only to uphold the right but to put down the wren: and equally the duty of all Christian subj support them in so doing, "For hina a for native to Both justice and merey re-aire the jud punishment: leers in the recent outrages. For the oot of the people themselves, for the upholding of that standard of righteousness which they acknowledge and respect, for the strengthening and encouragement of those off whose sympathies have been throughout on the side of law and order, and for the protection of our own helpless women and children and the equally helpless aghters of the church, we think jolations of treaty obligations, and such heartless and unprovoked massacresas have been carried out by offi authority or sanction, should not be allowed to pass tin punished. It is not of our personal wrongs that we think, but of the maintenance of law and order, and of the future safety of all foreigners residing in the interior of China, who, it must be remembered, are not under the jurisdiction of Chinese law, but, according io the treaties, are immediately responsible to, and under the protection of, their respective governments.
It is unhappily the lot of missionaries to be misunderstood and spoken against, and we are aware that in any explanation we now offer we add to the risk of further mis-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.