104 



CHINA. 



hostile shape by the assembling of a large 

 crowd of natives under the walls of the native 

 city, about two miles north of the foreign set- 

 tlement, and in the immediate vicinity of the 

 French settlement, i. e., the consulate, cathe- 

 dral, mission, and hospital. (In all China it is 

 observable that the French almost invariably 

 form settlements apart from other nationalities, 

 and as near the native cities as possible.) All 

 that day the crowd indulged in fierce screams 

 and howls, beating of tom-toms and gongs, 

 and assaults of servants of Europeans, and 

 such native Christians as appeared on the 

 streets, the unfortunates being thrashed with 

 long bamboo rods, applied by the leading 

 "braves," who were applauded and encour- 

 aged by several hundreds of Chung-how's sol- 

 diers, evidently in earnest cooperation with 

 the gathering assailants. Dr. Fraser, an Eng- 

 lish surgeon, only escaped personal violence 

 through the fleetness of his horse. The French 

 consul, M. Fontanier, used his best endeavors 

 to prevent trouble, and made a direct appeal 

 to Chung-how to prevent any violence, by de- 

 tailing, a portion of his army (which numbered 

 several thousands) for the protection of his 

 countrymen. Chung-how said that he would 

 certainly protect him, and sent two "glass- 

 buttoned mandarins" (a rank of about the 

 same as a policeman), who were jeered at by 

 the people and driven away. 



On the succeeding day, Monday, June 20th, 

 the tumult continued ; the crowd being largely 

 augmented, and numbering several thousand ; 

 a French priest was caught, and received two 

 hundred blows of the bastinado. The hooting 

 and howling surpassed that of the previous 

 day. The "braves" demanded of the Sisters 

 that the children be turned into the street at 

 once, and that they forthwith leave the set- 

 tlement. They threw missiles at the mission ; 

 used the most disgraceful language, and heaped 

 all possible insult on the devoted ladies. They 

 also insulted every foreigner who was abroad 

 on the river or in the city, and in the after- 

 noon grew so violent that M. Fontanier again 

 sought his Excellency Chung-how, and de- 

 manded of him protection. " Glass-buttoned 

 mandarins " were again sent, but the soldiers, 

 armed witb breech-loading rifles, were sta- 

 tioned to protect the shops of native merchants 

 from violence when the mob should become 

 excited too greatly. The Sisters, with barred 

 doors, withstood the demands of the crowd, 

 releasing all the children who desired to 

 leave ; but, of the one hundred and eighty -four, 

 only eighteen consented to leave. 



On Tuesday, the 21st, about noon the crowd 

 reassembled and advanced to the consulate in 

 two sections. It was at two o'clock that the 

 assault commenced. The French consul, M. 

 Fontanier, seeing himself menaced and his win- 

 dows broken by stones, left the consulate in uni- 

 form, and insisted on being accompanied by a 

 petty mandarin, who was looking on at the mob 

 without impeding them, to the Yamen of Chung- 



how, and there he demanded protection for the 

 consulate, the persons who were resident, and 

 for himself. He also asked Chung-how to pro- 

 tect the Sisters of Mercy and their hospital, as 

 he had by that time heard they were in danger. 

 Chung-how told him that he could not protect 

 any of the persons whom he had named. Some 

 altercation took place, when one of the sol- 

 diers of the Yamen stabbed the French consul 

 in the thigh with a spear, and in that wounded 

 state, with the blood having reddened the 

 whole side of his white linen trousers, the 

 consul went to the door of the Yamen, and, 

 holding up the French flag, asked leave to 

 pass. The soldiers and mob seemed awed for 

 a moment, but it was for a moment only. They 

 fell upon the unfortunate consul, pierced him 

 with spears and swords, and after mutilating 

 him, threw his corpse into the river. Mean- 

 while the mob, after allowing the French con- 

 sul to go toward the Yamen, immediately 

 broke open the consulate and murdered Mon- 

 sieur and Madame Thomassin, and the Abbe 

 Chevrier, and another Catholic priest. M. 

 Thomassin was an attache of the French le- 

 gation at Peking, and had only arrived the day 

 previous from France with his newly-married 

 and beautiful young bride. The mob, led on 

 by soldiers, then set fire to the consulate, and 

 the church of the Catholic mission, and burnt 

 all the other inmates who could not escape. 

 Simultaneously with the assault on the French 

 consulate, the mob and soldiery surrounded 

 the hospital of the French Sisters of Charity. 

 Having set fire to a portion of the building, 

 they entered the gates, and dragged all the Sis- 

 ters of Charity out into the street. There they 

 stripped them naked, exposed them to the 

 public gaze, plucked out their eyes, cut off 

 their breasts, ripped them open, dragged out 

 their hearts, and deliberately cut them to 

 pieces, and divided portions of their flesh 

 among the infuriated mob. The lady su- 

 perioress of the hospital, it is related, was cut 

 in twain while yet alive. No sooner had the 

 mob and the soldiers glutted their thirst for 

 human blood on the unfortunate Sisters, than 

 they burnt the entire hospital. Nearly a hun- 

 dred orphan children, who had been received 

 into the orphanage attached to the hospital, 

 perished in the flames. The mutilated mem- 

 bers of the dead Sisters were thrown into tho 

 burning ruins, and thus, together with the 

 little children they were charitably nurturing, 

 was the holocaust completed. Mr. N. Proto- 

 popofF, a Russian merchant, with his wife, to 

 whom he had only been married two days, 

 were met in the town of Tien-tsin by the same 

 infuriated mob and soldiery, and murdered. 

 A French merchant, M. Chalmaison, hearing 

 that the Sisters of Charity were being attacked, 

 tried to get near the hospital to defend them, 

 but he was caught in the street and hacked to 

 pieces. His wife, on hearing of her husband's 

 death, fled to the house of a native Christian 

 and remained there till night, when, disguised 



