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CHINA. 



soon checked the disorder there, although the 

 viceroy, Liu Kung-yi, seems to have taken little 

 interest in preserving order. The missionaries 

 had all fled by steamer, having been warned by the 

 authorities. ' At Wuchen, on Lake Poyang, the 

 property of both the Catholic and the Protestant 

 communities was destroyed by fire. At Wusih, 

 near Suchow, the French church and orphanage 

 were razed to the ground. In a riot at Taka- 

 tang the troops that were sent to quell the dis- 

 turbance joined the mob. Riots took place also 

 at Nganking, where the priests defended them- 

 selves successfully, and at Wuchow. At Tan- 

 yang the old French church that had stood for 

 two hundred years was burned and the Christian 

 cemetery dug up. The mandarin when he at- 

 tempted to stop these proceedings was mal- 

 treated. At Hochow the mob was dispersed by 

 soldiers. Not fewer than 10 missionary estab- 

 lishments in the provinces of Anwhei, Kiangsu, 

 Hunan, and Szechuan were utterly destroyed, 

 their churches, orphanages, foundling asylums, 

 and hospitals burned to the ground, and their 

 inmates compelled to flee, all within a few weeks. 

 In none of these attacks was an attempt made 

 on the lives of the Catholic fathers. On the 

 contrary, the organizers of the riots seem to 

 have taken precautions to provide them always 

 with some way of escape. Nor in any instance 

 were their converts molested. In other places 

 about 20 churches, schools, and hospitals were 

 burned or wrecked. 



On June 5 a more serious outbreak occurred at 

 Wusueh, 500 miles from the mouth of the Yangtse, 

 situated in the vice-royalty of Chang-Chihtung, 

 who is Governor-General of the Hu provinces. 

 A man appeared in the streets with four chil- 

 dren that ne had brought from a neighboring 

 town, and openly told the people that he was car- 

 rying them to the missionary station at Kinkiang 

 to be cut up and made into medicine. The 

 town in a short time was in high excitement. 

 People went to the mandarin and asked him to 

 take the children away. This he declined to do, 

 laughing at their story. Soon a mob of 5,000 

 persons collected around the English Wesleyan 

 mission premises, and set one of the houses 

 afire. The only male Europeans in the town, a 

 young missionary named Argent, and the Eng- 

 lish collector of customs, whose name was Green, 

 ran to the spot to help put out the fire. Mr. 

 Argent, who came first, was instantly set upon and 

 killed. The same fate was Mr. Green's, who had 

 served in the British navy, and fought desperately 

 until he was pierced and hacked with more than 

 a hundred wounds. One of the mandarins im- 

 plored the mob to desist, and offered his own 

 life as a sacrifice to their vengeance. The women 

 and children of the mission escaped to the cus- 

 tom house, where they were bravely defended by 

 the Chinese employes. They had first sought 

 refuge at the yamen of~the head mandarin, who 

 barbarously ejected them. The three ladies, 

 Mrs. Prothero, Mrs. Warren, and Mrs. Boden, 

 were murderously assaulted after they were 

 thrown out of the mandarin's house. Two days 

 later the premises of the American Presbyterian 

 mission at Kiu-Kiang were attacked, but the 

 Chinese mandarin there acted with promptitude, 

 and placed a guard of soldiers around the mis- 

 sion. The American steamer " Palos " and 



French and German gunboats arrived at the 

 places where disturbances had taken place, 

 and by their presence prevented their re- 

 currence. The English people had been the first 

 to ask for naval protection, but none of their 

 numerous gunboats had been sent to the scene 

 of the troubles. The French minister sent all 

 the French men-of-war to the threatened ports, 

 with orders to make a sufficient display of force, 

 and even to fire if necessary for the protection 

 of the French missions. The outrages put a stop 

 to nearly all missionary work in the middle and 

 n'orth of China. In the course of a few days the 

 French fathers had lost many millions of dol- 

 lars' worth of property. The American Baptist 

 and Presbyterian missionaries in the neighbor- 

 hood of Shanghai and at Soochow were attacked, 

 and by the advice of Consul-General J. A. 

 Leonard they went to Shanghai, where the for- 

 eign residents raised and armed a strong corps 

 of volunteers to defend their lives and property, 

 declining a detachment of imperial troops that 

 the taotai offered to furnish for their protection. 

 The local authorities in the beginning of the dis- 

 turbances showed their usual mildness and timid- 

 ity, though a few acted with prompt energy. After 

 the riots, all took measures to prevent a repeti- 

 tion, posting troops to guard Christian property. 

 The Viceroy of Nankin, within whose jurisdic- 

 tion the greater part of the destruction took 

 place, asked for powers to deal summarily with 

 the promoters of riot and sedition, who were, 

 he said, members of secret societies and dis- 

 banded soldiers. According to his request, the 

 local magistrates were authorized to try persons 

 accused of murder, incendiarism, and rioting, 

 and to the Viceroy the Pekin government dele- 

 gated the power to order the instant decapitation 

 of any one found guilty. In Wuhu two rioters 

 were beheaded, and the magistrates were author- 

 ized to deal peremptorily with all who could be 

 caught. The ministers of the western powers 

 presented a collective note to the Tsungli- Yamen, 

 and on June 12 the Emperor issued a decree 

 commanding the governors or viceroys to ar- 

 rest at once, try, and execute leaders in the 

 riots, put down with a high hand such acts 

 as the printing or posting of incendiary 

 placards, and take measures to degrade all 

 officials suspected of connivance or remiss in 

 their efforts for the protection of Christian mis- 

 sionaries. The French and British representa- 

 tives presented claims of indemnity for losses 

 amounting to 6,500,000 taels. France, Great 

 Britain, the United States, and Germany 

 strengthened their naval forces in Chinese 

 waters. The Government at Washington sent 

 the cruiser " Charleston " and the " Marion," 

 " Alert," and " Mohican " to join the " Monoc- 

 acy," the " Palos," and the corvette " Alliance." 

 Incendiary placards were posted in Foochow, 

 where European houses are scattered and not 

 collected in a compound near the water. No 

 disturbance took place, and the towns on the 

 Yangtse remained quiet, for they were guarded 

 by 20 foreign war ships. The Chinese fleet re- 

 mained away. At Pekin the British, French, 

 and German ministers, acting in concert, used 

 pressure on the Tsungli- Yamen, demanding that 

 secret societies should be extirpated, Hunan 

 thrown open to foreign commerce, and all man- 



