CHINA. 



117 



negotiations were carried on with the Viceroy 

 Li- Hung Chang. After they had been con- 

 cluded to the satisfaction of the Tsung-li-Ya- 

 raen, the opposition was still continued, and 

 the Imperial sanction was finally withheld. 



New Policy Toward Christians. The Chinese 

 Government has carried into execution the 

 policy that it announced after the Tonquin 

 hostilities of no longer recognizing France as 

 the protector of Catholic Christians in China. 

 The negotiations for the removal of the Peh- 

 tang Cathedral overlooking the garden of the 

 Imperial palace at Pekin were conducted at 

 the Vatican by John Dunn, an Englishman in 

 the Chinese civil service. The Lazarist society, 

 which constructed the cathedral over a cent- 

 ury ago, and the Pope were entirely willing 

 that the site should be changed, while the 

 French at first resisted, but finally acquiesced. 

 The Chinese Government gave the ground for 

 the new cathedral and the money for its con- 

 struction, stipulating that the edifice should 

 not be over fifty feet high, which is thirty feet 

 lower than the old one, and that the bell-tower 

 should not be carried above the roof-ridge. 

 Bishop Tagliabue and another missionary who 

 aided in the negotiations, were made man- 

 darins. The corner-stone of the new building 

 was laid on May 30, 1887. The Pope was 

 coerced by the French Government in 1886 in- 

 to abandoning his intention of sending a legate 

 to Pekin in accordance with the request of the 

 Imperial Government, but a Chinese envoy 

 was received at the Vatican, and Monsignor 

 Agliardi, the Papal delegate to the East Indies, 

 was authorized to treat with the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment, which in March, 1887, assented to 

 this temporary arrangement, while reiterating 

 its desire for the establishment of direct diplo- 

 matic relations. The Vatican is practically 

 represented at Pekin by the Bishop of North 

 China, Tagliabue. When the French consul 

 in Canton interfered on behalf of some native 

 Christians, Chang Chih-tung, the viceroy, de- 

 nied in the strongest manner his right to make 

 representations regarding Chinese subjects. In 

 accordance with instructions from Pekin, the 

 viceroys of the various provinces issued procla- 

 mations calling on the people to live at peace 

 with the Christians, and explaining that the 

 Christian religion teaches men to do right and 

 aims to make them better citizens, and that the 

 converts are not the less Chinamen because 

 they are Christians, and have the same duties, 

 and are entitled to the same protection as their 

 neighbors. Formerly the French missionaries 

 have obtained for their flocks, owing to the 

 fears and ignorance of the local authorities, 

 immunity from taxation and from the jurisdic- 

 tion of the courts, claiming that they were un- 

 der French protection. In the proclamations 

 that were put forth by the governors the 

 Christians were warned that they owed the 

 same obedience to the laws as other Chinese, 

 while all others were threatened with punish- 

 ment if they committed unlawful acts against 



Christians, or disturbed their congregations. 

 Anti-Christian riots took place in Chung-King 

 in the province of Szechuen, in the course ot 

 which the house of a wealthy Christian named 

 Lo was attacked. In defending themselves the 

 inmates killed several of the assailants. The 

 authorities arrested Lo, and on trial he was 

 sentenced to death. At the solicitation of mis- 

 sionaries, M. Constans, the French minister, 

 with some reluctance, represented to the Chi- 

 nese Government the injustice of the sentence, 

 with the result that Lo, who is said to have 

 committed many previous offenses and escaped 

 punishment through the protection of the mis- 

 sionaries, was immediately beheaded. Toward 

 the close of April the Chinese Government or- 

 dered that all foreign missionaries must hence- 

 forth procure passports from their own Gov- 

 ernments, as no others would be recognized. 

 The German, Italian, and other Governments, 

 had expressed their readiness to assume the 

 protection of their own subjects, and had issued 

 passports to Roman Catholic missionaries. 



Treaties with France and Portugal. The treaty 

 that was concluded with France in the spring 

 of 1886 was so distasteful that the French Gov- 

 ernment refused to ratify it ; and, recalling M. 

 Cagordan, sent out M. Constans to reopen ne- 

 gotiations and endeavor to secure better terms. 

 The principal concession granted to France was 

 the opening of two places for trade above Lang- 

 son and Laokai, through which the French 

 might carry on commerce with the provinces 

 of Yunnan and Kwangsi. The import duties 

 were made a little lower than at the treaty 

 ports. The admission of a French agent in 

 Yunnan was strenuously refused ; yet the 

 right of China to appoint consuls throughout 

 Tonquin was accorded, though the English 

 have persistently refused to allow Chinese of- 

 ficial representatives to reside at Hong-Kong 

 or Singapore. The French were greatly dis- 

 appointed at not being permitted to import 

 opium into China, for they expected to raise 

 the poppy successfully in Tonquin, and soon 

 compete with the Malwa and Patna product. 

 After a year's negotiations, by showing com- 

 plaisance in regard to the protection of Roman 

 Catholics, exercised by France for thirty years, 

 and by giving up the promontory of Paklung 

 on the Tonquin frontier, which both parties 

 claimed for strategic reasons, M. Constans ob- 

 tained more favorable commercial conditions. 

 He was unable to secure the right to import 

 salt into China, because that article is an Im- 

 perial monopoly and the source of a consider- 

 able revenue, but inserted a clause that the 

 salt-farmers may purchase their supplies in 

 Tonquin. The prohibition of the opium im- 

 port from Tonquin was withdrawn, allowing 

 the French to grow the drug for the southern 

 Chinese if they can with profit, or to bring it 

 in the raw state from Yunnan and manufacture 

 it in Tonquin for the Chinese market. Finally 

 the Chinese Government agreed that four 

 places should be opened on the frontier to 



