126 



CHINA. 



CHRISTIANS. 



the Japanese General Saigo and a Chinese en- 

 voy, Shen-pao-Chen, the latter, apparently upon 

 ample authority, acceded to the requirements 

 of the Japanese general. On his return home 

 his action was repudiated by the Peking Gov- 

 ernment, and the attitude of China became 

 very threatening. The governors-general of 

 the Chinese provinces made preparations for 

 war, and would have carried out their plans if 

 Prince Kung, by opening direct diplomatic ne- 

 gotiations, had not got the further treatment 

 of the Formosa difficulty into his own hands. 

 The prince seemed to fear that an unsuccessful 

 war might raise the turbulent elements in the 

 country against the Mantchoo dynasty. He 

 was aware that China was any thing but pre- 

 pared for a serious war. The army was in a 

 most disorderly state, the coolies sent to be 

 trained in the use of Krupp guns simply asked 

 for their pay and then went back again, the 

 ships-of-war would probably be unable to leave 

 their harbors, and the soldiers refused to go on 

 board the transports which were to take them 

 to Formosa. Moreover, the Chinese feared the 

 Japanese iron-clads, especially since the failure 

 of the negotiations for the purchase of the 

 Danish monitor Rolf Krake. The purchase of 

 arms and the appointment of two Frenchmen as 

 military advisers could not at once make the 

 army efficient, at least so far as the men and the 

 system were concerned. 



At one time the war party appeared to be in 

 the ascendant. An imperial decree of Septem- 

 ber 10th declared Prince Kung to have for- 

 feited the title of the First Prince of the Empire, 

 on the ground that, in the interviews with the 

 Emperor, he had neglected the respect due to 

 the person of the Emperor. An edict of Sep- 

 tember llth revoked, however, that of Sep- 

 tember 10th, but adds that it was hoped that 

 Prince Kung would heed the warning. Nego- 

 tiations for peace were resumed, and termina- 

 ted in October in the conclusion of a conven- 

 tion between the two Governments, which 

 fully secured the continuance of peace. 



The first ~bona fide Chinese telegraph has at 

 length been commenced. The Viceroy of Fuh- 

 kien, in July, began (with the assistance of the 

 Great Northern Telegraph Company) a line 

 from Pagoda anchorage to Foochow. 



On May 3d a serious riot took place at Shang- 

 hai against the French. It was occasioned by 

 a resolution of the Municipal Council of the 

 French residents to build a street through a 

 piece of land containing a former cemetery of 

 natives of the province of Ningpo.* The mob 

 set fire to several houses, plundered, committed 

 acts of violence against several persons, and 

 finally attacked the hall of the French munici- 

 pality, in which a large number of foreigners 

 had assembled. To the great dissatisfaction of 

 the majority of his countrymen and of the. 



* It is common for the natives of the several provinces 

 of China to have in each of the large cities special cluhs, 

 religious meeting-houses, and cemeteries in which the 

 poor are interred, the corpses of the wealthy being gen- 

 erally sent to their birthplaces. 



other foreigners, the French consul not only 

 took no steps for the protection of his country- 

 men, but at once yielded to the representations 

 of the Chinese authorities in the dispute rela- 

 tive to the road interfering with the Ningpo 

 graves. The rioters, who had been arrested, 

 were surrendered to the Chinese authorities for 

 punishment, and quiet was restored. 



A request of the Embassadors of England and 

 France, that Messrs. Wade and Geoffrey be ad- 

 mitted on the Chinese New-Year's day to 

 another solemn audience with the Emperor, was 

 refused. The English press, in the Chinese 

 treaty-ports, was all the more indignant at this 

 refusal, as on May 20th the representative of 

 Russia, Btitzov, was admitted to an audience, 

 which was moreover officially announced in the 

 Peking Gazette. A request from the Govern- 

 ment of the United States for a removal of the 

 sand-bank near Wosung, which debars large 

 vessels from entering the Yang-tse River, was 

 also refused. 



According to reports from Corea, a great po- 

 litical change has taken place in this vassal- 

 kingdom. The Regent Li, who had married 

 the widow of the deceased King and seized all 

 power, who had repulsed the invasions of the 

 French and American expeditions, derided the 

 Japanese, and shown himself decidedly opposed 

 to any intercourse with foreign nations, has 

 been deposed in consequence of a revolution. 

 The young King is reported to be more liberal, 

 and even to be favorable to opening a port to 

 the foreign trade. 



The English projects for establishing a direct 

 trade-road and a railway between the south- 

 western province of Yunnan and Burmah have, 

 according to the well-known Chinese traveler, 

 Baron F. von Richthofen, but little prospect 

 of success. On the other hand, the efforts of 

 the Frenchman Dupuis (see ANNUAL CYCLOPE- 

 DIA, 1873, p. 120), to use the Songha, or river of 

 Tongkin, as a trade-road to Yunnan, promise, 

 in his opinion, a better result. The best route 

 for establishing railroad connection between 

 China and Europe is, according to Richthofen, 

 a road from Shanghai, via Singan-fu and Haini, 

 to Kooldja. (See " Verhandlungen der Gesell- 

 schaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin," 1873, pp. 58-67, 

 and 1874, pp. 115-126.) 



CHRISTIANS. .1. CHRISTIAN CONNECTION. 

 The statisticians of the Christian Connection 

 declare that the reports of conference clerks 

 are so different in character, and often so im- 

 perfect, that it is impossible to harmonize them 

 in a tabulated statement, or to make any item 

 complete. Instead of such statement, the fol- 

 lowing general summary is given in the Chris- 

 tian Almanac for 1875 : Number of ordained 

 ministers, 1,197; number of unordained minis- 

 ters, 210; number of members reported during 

 the year 1873, 64,760 ; number of members 

 not reported in 1873, 903 ; number of mem- 

 bers added during the year, 4,038 ; total num- 

 bers reported, 69,701.- It was thought that full 

 returns from all the conferences, if they could 



