The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-07-17


books, aud used them, too. ..Tbis was to me
a most pleasant sight.
From The Cincinnati Commercial, l5th.] r..
China and Japan.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CHANGES TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS HAVE WROUGHT IN THOSE COUNTRIES.
Bishop Wiley, lately returned from mis-
sionary tour through China and Japan. de-
liyered an interesting account OF what ne
saw in those countries, at the Eyerett-Street
NJ. E. church, Last evening. There was
large congregation present, including
several city pastors. Twenty-Five years
ago Bishop Wiley, after a period OF SEEM
inelv unfruitful labor in China, returned
disheartened to this country. His observa-
tons therefore during his recent tour OF
those countries have special interest, bav-
| ing constantly before him, as he did, the
wonderful progress that has been made du-
ring the last quarter OF century. The
Journey was made overland to San Francis
co, and thence by steamer to the Asiatic
shore in twenty.one days. The Bishop
travelled quite extensively through China,
and spent two months in Japan.
Shanghai was the same dirty, abom!nable
city that, it was when last seen by the
speaker. The great wall shut in the same
filthy, unprogressive people, whose stolld
indifference to better life had so discour-
aged him when missionary among them.
Outside of the city, however. a great change
was manifest. The populous suburbs have
been built up largely by foreigners. Rep
resentatives of nearly all the civilized ma
tions have settled in them, and have carried
with them foreign ideas and ways OF thinking
and living. Many OF the natives have been
drawn out from the crowded, dirty city to
these suburbs. A single one Of them con-
.ains 10000 Chinese. They are operated
upon by the foreign influences thus thrown
around them, and are being rapidly MADE
over after the modern progressive western
pattern. Here the missionaries are flndinS
q specially inviting field. Great numbers
of them are being daily reached by the
preachers, foreign and native. These
changes on the outside OF Shanghai were
suoken OF as most wonderful. It is as
though the old city had been set down IN
the midst of one Of the western nations,
and great waves OF modern progressive
thought were beating about its walls.
Two lines Of excellent steamers were
found plying along the coast, which are
owned and controlled entirely by Chinese
capitalists. They were formerly owned by
foreigners. When Chinese came into posses
|
the rates OF fare, and notice was sent to all
the missionaries the Bishop spoke OF it as
most gratifying sign Of the great change
which had taken place. that they would be
carried at rates much less than those pre-
scribed for ordinary passengers. The same
progress which the owning and operating
Of these vessels indicated the Bishop found
wherever he turned. He saw Government
| arsenalS where cannon and other 1mple-
ments OF war are being made, and ship
wards in which the largest vessels are being
built. These and other enterprises had
been projected and are managed entirely
by Chinese. -,
From Shanghai Bishop Wiley proceeded
eight hundred miles along the coast. All
the ports were found open, and missionaries
were already occupying the ground. The
towering walls OF Peking, the imperial city,
came in view on Saturday afternoon, anC as
the Bishop entered the great city and noted
the wonderful changes that had taken place
he could with difficulty realize that It was
all true. ,Montion1ess. immoyabe emma
had, in q night as it were, undergone the
most marelous changes. Where he had left
five preachers twenty-five years before, he
| found 511, and he could set out from Pcklng
and travel across the entire Empire, dis
tance Of 1000 miles, and stop every night
at mission station with a Christian family.
Within q radius Of 200 miles of Peking
mission stations have been thickly planted,
and were found in most encouraging con-
| dition. Fhe Government is even using ITS
| influence in promulgating the new ideas.
An imperia college has been established,
and foreigners brought in as teachers. The
students from this institution, educated by
strangers, are 10 be given places in the Gov
ernment. and are being relied upon i'll no
small degree to make the new China the
equal OF the great nations she has suddenly
begun to initiate.
The speaker sailed along the Yangtze-
kiang, river larger and longer than tile
Mississippi, and everywhere found the same
evidences OF progress which he had already
noted in other parts OF the Empire. AT one
place he found the missionaries in possession
of boat, in which they sail along the river
and lake opening into it, reaching at least
5000, 900 people.
| In December last the Bishop organized
conference at Changehow, his old field OF
labor, from which he had taken his depart
ure twenty-five years before, disappointed
and discouraged, without leaving 4 single
convert behind him. The conference enl-
braces only the immediate region, and in
cludes eighty preachers and 1900 church.
members. All through this part oil the En-
pire he found large growth of missions
and an exceedingly encouraging outlook
| for the future.
In Japan Bishop Wiley spent two months.
He spoke OF the whole nation as having
broken away from the past and reaching
after modern ideas. A new history Is being
begun, the old is receding, and the whole
country is open to foreign influences. Thir-
ty-tiye millions Of people are within reach
OF the missionaries. Schools are being estab-
Glished, ships and railroads built, and the
nation is connecting itself with the whole
world by telegraph. The Empress has
established Il normal school in which
400 young ladies are being educated,
and kindergarten into which hundred
orphan children have been gathered. All
this has been brought about within ten
years.
/ II the Church meets its opportunity the
Bishop believes that Japan will be Chris
tian nation before the close OF the present
century. If the opportunity is not met she
will become an infdel nation. The first and
strongest tendencies Of the people are to-.
ward Christianity. The missionaries may
90 anywhere and carry forward their work
in any way they see tit. A hundred mis-
siona,ies could be assigned to important
fields any day, and the japanese would as
sist in their support.
The Bishop concluded with some general
remarks as to the promise which these lndl-
cations afford of the speedy conversion OF
the whole world.