304 PROBLEMS IN CHINA 



the country, 3'et the influences which called it into existence remain, 

 Douhtless the events of the past few months will have increased 

 rather than diminished the numher of its open or secret adherents. 



These are then, in my opinion, the principal causes of the ])resent 

 outbreak in China, whose ultimate consequences it is impossible for 

 the wisest of us to foresee. It is the inevitable conflict of two essen- 

 tially diverse civilizations brought into close contact. It is also the 

 result of conditions due to a long succession of weak and corrupt 

 rulers. These appear to me to include all special causes, both reli- 

 gious and political. Though the outbreak was directed apparently at 

 first against Christian missionaries and their followers and is now for 

 the moment a life and death contest with all foreigners, yet hatred of 

 Christianity cannot be attributed to the Chinese as a people. Their 

 indifference to all religion is a national characteristic. There is no 

 question })ut that their supei"stitious fears have been often awakened 

 by the desecration of ancestral graves through the construction of 

 railways, by the erection of churches with high towers, and l)y the 

 refusal of native Christians to join in some religious rite considered 

 essential for the common welfare, as to avert a drought or heal a pre- 

 vailing sickness. 



It is more than likely, it is certain, that many good but over-zeal- 

 ous missionaries have unnecessarily aroused opposition through lack 

 of tact and prudence in attacking customs and beliefs which ages of 

 existence had made sacred. The Catholic priests especially have in- 

 curred heavy responsibilities by their claim to sit as magistrates with 

 the mandarins in cases in which the interests of members of their 

 flock were at stake. The motive for obtaining the privilege was a 

 good one, to secure justice, but the result has been in man\' instances 

 disastrous. 



The often-repeated saying, " First the missionary, then the consul, 

 then the general," rests on an undoubted basis of truth. The mis- 

 sionary no sooner gains a foothold in any land than he is closely fol- 

 lowed by the trader of his own or some kindred nationality. He in 

 his turn brings after a time the consul, his government's representa- 

 tive to protect his interests, and with the consul comes a guard which 

 circumstances ma}^ change into a conquering army. This is a natural, 

 an almost inevitable, sequence, and one that abundantly justifies the 

 Chinese suspicion that the original coming of the missionary is sim- 

 ply to prepare the wa}'^ for the general. The history of Protestant 

 missions, we do not say Catholic, bears triumphant proof, however, 



