Reports continue to emanate from Hankow regarding the uneasiness plainly shown by the Extremist clements at the present time regard= ing their position, This is coupled with signs of military activity in plished it. To say, as some do, that} fan incident such as that which happened at Nanking is the inevitable accompaniment of a revolution fand that We must not make too much of a single case is not a line of argument which we can accept. This was-the deliberate act of offcial troops acting under orders. in the inevitable result of widespread anti-foreign propaganda in which there is much untruth. And not an isolated ease,—though} ually worse than any of the other coxes where attacks by Nationalist troops have been made, such as Foochow, Wuht, Kiukiang, Chinkiang, and many other places The Foreign Bombardment The naval action by certuin} foreign ships on the afternoon of March 24 was taken as the last possible resort to save a group whom Nationalist troops were then making every effort to kill. Tt was certainly the means of saving the lives of this group of 48 foreigners who were besieged in a foreign house overlooking the Hailing gate at Hsiakwan, among whom was the American Consul and his famil fand it probably saved many other foreigners in the city. The action was carefully restrained and moderate as could be to accomplish the object in view.
There was deliberate destruction of Chinese have curred repeatedly and appear to be more wide-spread and active present than ever before. Foreigners are steadily being forced out of all parts of China under Nationalist control, and the government, despite all its assurances, ix either unable or unwilling to alter the situation.
The same facts are true regard ing opposition to Christianity. The Christian religion is being persist ently and systematically attacked its leaders are being maligned ar' persecuted, its properties are being: desecrated, looted and seized, and ho power or influence appears able to check this conduct. life or property, but every prece tion was taken to avoid such a re-ult, In view of exaggerated statements which have been circulated to the number of lives lost, we would call attention to the fact that vesponsible Chinese official sources <a} not report more than six civilian We are aware of those legitimate claims which China has for the} past several years been presenting to the other nations and we have fused our influence to support them. Strong endorsement of China's claims has been given by the pri deaths, 'The bombardment can bel cipal Mi Boards, und those) regarded' us an act of assistance in claims have been the suppressing a lawlessness which various foreign novel right-thinking Chinese themselves Candour compels us to say, how-must condemn. It is certain that if ever, that in our judgment the time the Chinese authorities had been has come when the securing of preventing the violence, the foreign equal recognition in the family of forees would not have' intervened. ations. depends more upon China' And the intervention saved China own efforts than on the foreign go-the far more serious international Vernments. Although we have complications that would have retaken a stand against the object sulted from taking the life of al fonable treaties, we feel that such consul and of a large number of nationals of a friendly state. phrases as, "imperialism," "toleration clauses," and "unequal treaties
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.