1895, August 9

1895, AUGUST 9. Great Britain, Public Record Office: FO 228/1194 O’Conor Peking to Mansfield Foochow. Cypher August 9, 1895. What is state of affairs? Please repeat all telegrams to Foreign Office. FRUS, Legation of the United States. Peking, August 9, 1895, (Received Washington, Sept. 23), No. 2303, Denby to Olney. SIR:— I have the honor to inclose a translation of a communication from the Tsung-li Yamen, relating to the recent riots at Kutien in the Province of Fuhkien. It will be seen that the Yamen ahs ordered the arrest and punishment of the murderers, and that protection is insured to foreigners. I have etc. Charles Denby. (Inclosure in No. 2303-Translation.) Tsungli Yamen to Mr. Denby. PEKING, August 7, 1895. Your Excellency, We had the honor on the 5th instant to receive Your Excellency’s note stating that it had come to your knowledge that a riot of a serious nature had taken place at Kutien, in the province of Fuhkien, and that a number of foreigners had been murdered; that you desired to express your horror and regret at this outrageous occurrence against peaceable people, and to ask that telegraphic instructions be at once sent to the viceroy at Foochow to use every means in his power to give full and adequate protection to Americans residing in the province. With regard to the riot at Kutien, where foreigners were murdered, we have the honor to state that on the 5th of August an imperial decree was issued, which was telegraphed to the governor-general of Foochow, ordering that officer to vigorously arrest the persons concerned in the riot and murder and to punish them according to law. Further, the local officials have been instructed to spare not measure in giving due protection to foreigners and to prevent further riots. The telegraphic reply received from Foochow does not give full particulars of the riot, and the Yamen again ordered that these be punished, but up to the present no further telegrams have been received. Any further news that Your Excellency may have received during the past few days we will thank you to communicate to the Yamen and oblige. Hixson Report, Consulate of the United States, Foochow, August 9, 1895 Telegram, Consul Hixson to American Admiral, Nagasaki, Japan. 10.20 a.m. American Admiral, Nagasaki. Am instructed to forward you following Great riot at Kutien Ten English killed Our missionaries took refuge in Foochow Hope you will send ships there. Denby, Hixson. 4.15. p.m. American Admiral, Nagasaki. Yes. Hixson. The Times, (London), 9 August 1895. EDITORIAL Almost before people in this country have had time to realize the serious significance of the massacre of the British missionaries at Ku-cheng we have news of another outrage of a similar kind, though happily involving no loss of life, a different part of southern China. On Wednesday afternoon the British Wesleyan Hospital and Mission at Fatshan, near the great city of Canton, was attacked by a riotous mob and, though the first account appear to have been exaggerated, some damage was done to the buildings. The missionaries have not, however, sought refuge in flight. It is by no means certain that the Chinese gunboat which has been dispatched to deal with the rioters will be able or willing to afford adequate protection to the foreigners. It is to be observed that this has happened not at a remote inland station, but close to Canton and at no great distance from Hong-kong. The medical mission there is in charge of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and 411 side by side with it is a station of the American Methodist Episcopal Church exists. At Fatshan, as at Ku- cheng, and, also, during the earlier disturbances in the province of Szu-chuan, missionaries of various creeds and nationalities—English, French, and American—were equally threatened, though the severest losses have fallen on the British. It is not surprising that the belief has gained ground among the European community in the treaty ports that these outrages, occurring within a short space of time in different provinces of China, form part of a deliberate policy, the object of which is to destroy the mission settlements and to drive the missionaries to take refuge under the shelter or in the immediate vicinity of the British flag. The riots in Cheng-tu and other towns of Szu-chuan occurred in June last. They have been followed up by the outbreak in Fo-kien, in which MR. STEWART and his unfortunate companions lost their lives, and now a movement not less menacing has been initiated in the contiguous province of Kwang- tung, in which our possession of Hong-kong gives us a peculiar interest. It is not to be supposed that this system of attack will be confined to the missionaries. It will make it difficult for any Europeans to avail themselves of the rights they enjoy under treaties concluded with the Chinese by the chief civilized powers and recently extended by the terms of the peace with Japan. As soon as authentic intelligence of the Ku-cheng massacre had been received, the British Minister at Peking was instructed by the Foreign office to demand an instant inquiry into the crime, the condign punishment of the offenders, and the effectual protection of all British missionaries now in China. The Tsung-li-Yamen immediately complied, and an escort of Government troops was provided to accompany the British Consul from Fu-chau to the scene of the murders. This precaution has proved to be illusory. The escort had not sooner arrived at Ku-cheng than they plundered what was left of MR. STEWART’S house and the mission station. No effective inquiry seems possible, unless a British escort is dispatched to do the work the Chinese are incapable of doing. Much indignation is expressed by the Europeans both in Shanghai and in Hong-kong at the failure to insist on the landing of some men of the Sikh regiment stationed at Hong-kong to protect the Consul and to strengthen his hands. We do not find it easy to agree with this criticism. It was for the Consul, with his local knowledge of the facts, to have telegraphed that the Chinese escort was not sufficient for the purpose in view, if, as is now alleged, the VICEROY at Fu-chau had no adequate force at his command, except on paper, and cannot make any arrests. We can hardly doubt that is such a representation had been made it would have been supported by the British Minister at Peking and would at once have been acted upon, on the authority of the Home Government. The misconduct of the Chinese escort and the spread of the disturbances from the province of Fo-kien to that of Kwang-tung will probably render it imperative to do something in the direction for which there is so vehement an outcry among the Europeans in the principal China parts. We are very far from desiring to insist upon a policy of armed coercion, and we should be much letter pleased if the Chinese government would take the business in hand themselves and settle it. But whether they do so or not, it is plainly the duty of this country to demand that protection shall be afforded to the lives and property of Europeans, whether missionaries or others, who are residing in China without contravening either treaty obligations or native law. There is abundant reason to believe that the attacks on the missionaries are connived at, and even prompted by Chinese officials. The evidence on this point contained in the interesting letter from MR. GREIG, of the Bible Society of Scotland’s Agency, is confirmed, with regard to the outrages committed a couple of months ago in Szu-chuan, by the Roman Catholic clergy connected with the Cheng-tu mission. The French ecclesiastic whose testimony is reproduced by our Paris Correspondent is not very generous towards his Protestant fellow-workers in the mission field. Their alleged “imprudences” he is disposed to make at least partially responsible for the outbreak, but he expatiates upon the more than suspicious attitude of the officials, the absence of any efforts to restrain the fury of the mob, and the unconcealed antipathy of the Viceroy to the Christians. It is pointed out by MR. GREIG that the pressure on foreigners to clear out of Chung-king, the capital of Szu-chuan, raises a commercial as well as a missionary question. This town, although situated far inland on one of the branches of the Yantse-Kiang, “has been an open port for years, and now, by the treaty with Japan, is a full treaty port,” to allow the Chinese to close up such a port in practice by organizing the persecution of foreigners would be a bad beginning for the new system on which China has pledged herself to enter. If the Chinese officials are to exculpate themselves from the charge that they have fostered the recent attacks on the European missionaries, they can only do so by proving that it is beyond their power to put any check upon the ferocity of the mob. But this excuse involves them in a another 412 difficulty. They must understand that it is their duty to afford protection to foreigners dwelling lawfully and peaceably among them, and that duty they cannot be permitted to evade. When they contend that to discharge it is too much for their strength, they furnish the most telling argument in favour of the enforcement of protection, wherever it is physically possible, by the Powers the lives of whose subjects are endangered by what is, at the best, the helpless incompetence, and, probably enough, the criminal treachery, of the officials.

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