144 



CHINA. 



like the Kolao, have sprung up in its place. 

 These Chinese Nihilists not only plan rebellions, 

 but give aid and encouragement to revolts not 

 connected with their schemes, such as the Mo- 

 hammedan uprising and the insurrection of the 

 Miaotsi mountaineers. Even robbery and brig- 

 andage are cultivated to bring about a state of 

 anarchy that will lead to revolution. In this 

 way the societies have sometimes degenerated 

 into gangs of robbers and secret assassins, 1 and 

 been joined by people of criminal impulses or 

 who have private grudges to wreak on their ene- 

 mies, for the rule that no brother shall be be- 

 trayed to the authorities for any cause can only 

 be broken under penalty of death. Formerly 

 the great secret societies encouraged the propaga- 

 tion of Christianity, looking to Europe for aid in 

 expelling the Manchus. The Emperor Kianking, 

 who was compelled to keep his army constantly 

 under arms by the White Lily Society, conceived 

 a bitter hatred of all religious sects, which he vis- 

 ited most severely on the Roman Catholic Chris- 

 tians, causing many thousands to be put tq death. 

 Under these circumstances a natural sympathy 

 sprang up between the Christians and the Taip- 

 ing sect, composed partly of survivors of the 

 broken Christian congregations and children of 

 those who were massacred. In the earlier period 

 of the Taiping rebellion European sympathy was 

 largely with the revolution, but when the gov- 

 ernments came to act it was to crush it and save 

 the dynasty, exacting in return concessions that 

 the Chinese consider prejudicial to their inter- 

 ests and repugnant to their national honor. Since 

 then the secret fraternities have coupled together 

 Europe and the Manchu conquerors, and the 

 next great revolutionary society that sprang up 

 in central and northern China made the expul- 

 sion of the Christians a prime article of its creed. 

 The Roman Catholics are the special object of 

 Chinese animosity because of the losses and hu- 

 miliation inflicted by the French in the Tonquin 

 war. This feeling is strongest in the south of 

 China. There the Cantonese Triad Society flour- 

 ishes and but few representatives of the Kolao 

 Hui are found, and therefore the present move- 

 ment has not penetrated to that region. The 

 organization of a native militia among the Chris- 

 tian converts in Tonquin was the cause of an out- 

 break of national fury and fanaticism in south- 

 ern China in 1884, and again in 1886, when the 

 scattered Christian communities were objects of 

 savage and murderous persecutions. 



After the suppression of the Taiping rebellion 

 the activity of the Chinese patriotic organiza- 

 tions was confined for many years to saving 

 those of their numbers who fell under suspicion 

 from the vengeance of the Government, by pro- 

 viding them with means to emigrate. Thus it 

 has come, about that the impulse to the anti- 

 dynastic movement originates to a great extent 

 in Singapore, and the Chinese papers printed 

 there reveal the national aspirations in a way 

 that is impossible under the stringent press su- 

 pervision that has been exercised in China ever 

 since the Manchus achieved their sanguinary 

 conquest. In addition to the famous and wide- 

 spread secret societies, there are a great many 

 having similar purposes of minor importance. 

 Every province has one or moi'e of its own. The 

 organization that had most to do with the Taip- 



ing rebellion was that of the Three Societies, 

 the Sanhop Hui. The English authorities in 

 Singapore have several times attempted to sup- 

 press the secret societies there. In that city 

 about ten years ago the rules of the White Lily 

 Society were discovered, which make death the 

 penalty for refusing to stand by a fellow-mem- 

 ber in a quarrel, even against one's own brother, 

 or betraying him to the police, or failing to aid 

 him with means to escape the clutches of the 

 authorities and flee from the country, even if 

 one's clothing and furniture must be pawned. 



The literary class takes a leading part in every 

 movement against the dynasty, because the prin- 

 ciples of the Tartar rule seem barbarous to the 

 educated Chinese mind. Two or three of the 

 Manchu emperors fostered letters, and were 

 themselves distinguished writers. The majority 

 have shown themselves apathetic to science and 

 literature, and have allowed them to languish. 

 Some have been distinctly hostile, like Kianking, 

 who said that it was more becoming for a noble 

 to master archery and horsemanship than to sit 

 over books. The present regime seems to the 

 Chinese a system revolting to their habit of 

 mind, that of a military despotism. The sale of 

 offices, resorted to in recent times to provide 

 means for wars and armaments against Europe 

 because the Government dared not impose taxes, 

 has done much to make the dynasty hated. 



It is supposed that a revolution to be success- 

 ful must be managed by persons in power. Dur- 

 ing the present reign Chinese statesmen in the 

 natural course of events have come to the front 

 and prominent Manchu administrators are pass- 

 ing from the stage. The most powerful man in 

 China is the aged Viceroy of Pechili, Li-Hung- 

 Chang, who has the defense of the throne and 

 of the person of the Emperor in his care, has 

 organized and commands the only efficient naval 

 and military forces, controls to a great extent 

 the foreign relations, and has placed his friends 

 and relatives at the head of the chief provincial 

 administrations. His policy has been to build 

 upon the military traditions of the Tartar rule 

 and improve the defensive resources of the em- 

 pire, in order to bear the strain of European re- 

 lations and guard the frontiers from aggression. 



The Audience Question! The theory that 

 China is the Middle Kingdom and the Emperor 

 the rightful lord over all nations is so deeply 

 rooted that France was compelled to accept the 

 position of a vassal in respect to Tonquin, and 

 Great Britain renders nominal homage in Bur- 

 mah and does not even restrain the princes of 

 Himalayan states from sending tribute to the 

 Sun of Heaven. When European troops had 

 possession of Pekin they exacted material ad- 

 vantages, but did not venture to disturb the be- 

 lief in the universal suzerainty of the Emperor ; 

 and when the English and French forces assisted 

 in putting down the native rebels, the Chinese sup- 

 posed it was an act of filial duty to the paternal 

 sovereign of " all under heaven." The European 

 envoys, after gaining admission to Pekin thirty 

 years ago by the power of the sword, found it 

 impossible to communicate their demands and 

 representatives to the competent authorities until 

 fresh menaces and displays of force brought about 

 the development of the Tsungli-Yamen into a 

 proper medium of diplomatic action. They never 



