Whatever was the incit ing cuuso, aseriesof dis- 

 iiices that could only bo due to a wide- 

 Burred in the valley of the 

 viang in I*!H. The avowed object was 

 to 1 1 rive the missionaries out of the country. The 

 . 1 1 ui was suspected Ixith by the Europeans 

 nnd liy the Chinese authorities to bo the only 

 v liy which such disorders could bo insti- 

 i in places far apart. The ultimate object 

 was supposed to be to drive Europeans away 

 from China and rev ike their treaty rights. There 

 was a suspicion that the conspirators even aimed 

 the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, either 

 the more elleetual banishment of the barba- 

 s, to whom the ruling powers at Pekin were 

 deeply committed, or for the accomplish- 

 t of tho designs of ambitious statesmen, or 

 the realization of the dream, which has more 

 than once cropped out in troubled times, of the 



: at ion of native Chinese rulers. 

 When it is the object of agitators to incite tho 

 Chinese mob to attack the Christian missions, it 

 is oidy necessary to revive an old slander that is 

 readily swallowed by the ignorant, and even by 

 some who make pretensions tp education. It is 

 a common belief that the Catholic fathers pro- 

 cure Chinese babies for the purpose of com- 

 pounding a medicine of their eyes and other 

 parts of their bodies. That the missionaries re- 

 ceive deserted and sick children into their or- 



CHINA. 



141 



ents were said to hare gone to the mission and 

 there discovered human liones and other evi- 

 dence of the ghastly crimes charged against tins 

 missionaries. Placards wen- po-iid in public- 

 places giving circumstantial details and the 

 names of parents who had lost their children. 

 The converts were said to be bribed to join tho 

 churches, otherwise they would not commit such 

 a breach of morality and custom as to sit, both 

 sexes together, in the congregations. 



A few days before the riot an anonymous let- 

 ter was sent to tho priests demanding the sur- 

 render of certain children that they were accused 

 of having stolen, on pain of having their orphan- 

 age burned down. They applied to the taotai, 

 or local governor, for protection, and ho gave 

 them a guard of soldiers. All that there were 

 in tho place was 50, although the officials re- 

 ceived money for the pay and maintenance of 

 ten times as many. On May 10 two Chinese nuns 

 were arrested on the charge of having drugged 

 two children, depriving them of the power of 

 speech. On May 12 a woman presented herself 

 at tho gate of the mission and began scream- 

 ing that her child had been murdered. In a 

 short time a mob of 10,000 people gathered about 

 the mission buildings. The French priests were 

 roughly handled, but allowed to escape. Tho 

 buildings were sacked and burned. Then they 

 tore up the graves in the Christian cemetery in 



phanages is a fact within the knowledge of all. search of evidence of the murderous practices of 



Among these children the mortality is necessarily which the priests were suspected. The small 



great, and the fable has arisen from tho fact guard of soldiers could not prevent the destruc- 



that many children have died and never again tion of the new cathedral and all the buildings, 



been seen by inquiring relatives. The Catholics The taotai issued a manifesto warning the people 



seclude their pupils and keep their methods of to disperse, and was answered by a fresh placard 



instruction out of the public view, and this accusing him and the military commander of 



._..,.-_ A. iu. i accepting Christian bribes and being in league 



secrecy gives greater currency to the report. 

 The Protestants, who have been less successful in 



Jir missionary efforts, say that their rivals res- 

 children from infanticide and neglect not 

 ely from humane motives, but because each 

 child adds one to the list of converts that they 

 can report to their superiors in Europe. 



At the bottom of all anti-foreign outbreaks in 

 China have always been men of the numerous 

 literary class, expectant officials who have passed 

 the lower examinations and hdpe by causing the 

 displacement of functionaries to obtain offices, 



(1 who hate Christianity because it diminishes 



e*ir influence over the people. 



The first outbreak of fanaticism occurred early 

 in May, 1891, at Yangchow, where a mob de- 

 stroyed the property of the Roman Catholic 

 mission. This was followed by a more serious 

 isturbance on May 12 and 13 at Wuhu, a treaty 



irtof 100,000 inhabitants on the lower Yangtso, 



out 60 miles above Nankin. This is in tho 

 ecclesiastical province of Kiangnan, covering 

 243,000 square miles, where the French Jesuits 

 have lo-j missions, with 110 priests and a Catho- 

 lic population of 100,000, which is less than 1 to 

 every 700 inhabitants. In Wuhu the jealousy 

 of tho people toward tho priests is tho livelier 



with the barbarians. The mob had acted thus far 

 within the prearranged programme, which they 

 exceeded when they destroyed the dwellings of 

 the other European residents and attacked the 

 custom house, where the Europeans of the town 

 had taken refuge. The men stood a siege, 

 keeping guard with firearms during that and 

 the following day. At one time they charged 

 into the crowd with bayonets. The British con- 

 sulate was looted, and the consul and his wife 

 escaped with difficulty in disguise. The arrival 

 of 3 Chinese gunboats that were escorting a 

 viceroy to his province put an end to the dis- 

 turbances. The Chinese officer landed 250 ma- 

 rines, who fired blank cartridges, scattering tho 

 mob, and preserved order until a French vessel 

 came to relieve them. The taotai issued a proc- 

 lamation in which ho called upon people who 

 found that tho Christian institutions steal chil- 

 dren to lay the matter before the proper judicial 

 authorities. Three days after tho riot a violent 



incendiary placard invited the people to rise in 

 their tens of thousands on the 20th and complete 

 the destruction of all tho Catholic and Protes- 

 tant mission property and churches in the dis- 

 trict, and allow none to be rebuilt. Before the 



because th'e latter have acquired much of the end of the month riots occurred at Tan van g, 

 best real estate and wharves, for which they col- Wuhsih. Nankin, and other places on the Yangste 



river, tho object in all cases oeing tho destruction 

 of mission buildings. At Nankin a mob destroyed 

 some of the Catholic buildings on May 25, and 

 then set fire to the girls' school of tho American 



lect high rents. Secret agents started a rumor 

 that female kidnappers had been detected in 

 abducting children with the aid of stupefying 

 drugs and even of magic and bringing them 

 from distant places to the Wuhu mission. Par- 



Methodist mission. The action of the military 



