West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1878-07-27
The Famine In China 49, The Most
Fearful Calamity on Record
Cities EnlrlN ncnnnmlnicd.

fShfnghu Corrc- rondcu.r IT tho London rimes
The famine seems now To be at its
worst. The impoverished country con
Nsis of the greater part of the Province
oi Shansi, parts of southwestern Chill,
/ Western Shantung, and the northern
districts of Honan, comprising an area
NariouSly estimated nt from O,O0O to
100000 square miles. The greatest dis
trcss Is in the southern half of Shnnsi
Including the provincial capital. Tai
iuen, the population of which, unless
rain comes at once, bids fair to become
absolutely extinct. In its horrible de-
tails, as given hy all witnesses, foreign
and native, official and missionary, il is
the direst calamity that this or any coun-
try has been visited with. The sturdy
Chinese peasants do not calmly fold their
hands and die like our poor fellow-sub.
iects the MadraSscCs, last year. they eat
the dead. and when there are none to
take they Kill the living for the same
purpose This is no Oriental eXargera
tion, but the actual state of thinCs in a
district not seven hundred miles from
Shanghai In the Pekin Gdscftc of the
10th of March there appears memorial
from LII Honien, Governor of Honan,
and Yuan, Special High Commissioner
Tor Famine Relief, appealing for State
assistance TO the distressed province
From IL may be gathered the straits to
which the famine-striCken country is re-
duced. therefore append translation
of II, and ] must remind my country.
men as they read it that it is no sensa-
tional picture to move the tears of emo
tional subscribers, but calm descrip-
ton OF the state of the province by it's
responsible rulers in the language OF
Blue-book |II. l..
Tho drought with which the province
has been visited for several years in sue
cession has resulted i'm u famine of an in
tensity and extent hitherto nnheard Of
As autumn advanced into winter the
number OF those in need of relief i'm.
creased daily, until nj last they could
be counted by millions y he lower
classes were the iirst to he affected, and
they soon disappeared or disperscd in
search of subsistence elsewhere. Now
the famine has attacked the WELT do
and the wealthy, who find themselves re-
duccd To greater misery rs each day goes
by, and they, i'm their turn, are dying OF
or following those who have migrated
elsewhere. I'm the earlier period of dis
trcss the living fed upon the bodies of
the dead, next, the strong devourcd the
weak, and now the general destitution
has arrived at such n climax that men
devour those OF their own flesh and
blood. History contains no record of so
terrible and distressing a state of things,
and II prompt measures of relief be not
instituted the whole region must become
depOpulated. Local sources OF supply
are entirely exhausted the grainaricsare
empty and the Treasury drained dry;
while the few wealthy people in tho
provinces have helped with oontribu.
tions and loans till they themselves are
impoverished"
This dreadful picture is fully borne
out by the letters received in Shanghai
from the foreign missionaries in Shansi.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of ShanH,
Mgr. Monagatta, who is q resident i'm
Tai Yuen, the capital of the province,
writes from that city, under date of 9th
of March, TO the PrOcur0ur des Lazar-
istes here, acknowledging the receipt of
ten thousand talers for distribution He
says:
Jusqu a present Pom Sc contentait de
mangcr ceux qui etaient deia morris mais
maintenant Pom tue aussi les vivanta
pour les manger. lie mari mango sa
femme, les parents mangent lcurs lils ct
leuTs files ct aleur tour les enfants man
gent leurs parents CONNIE Pom entcnd
dire presque chaque Jour"
In the Prefecture i'm which the capital
of Shansi is situated the population has
diminished from over .000, 600 TO l6O,-
600, and the Chinese newspapers here
give the number OF people who have
died OF starvation, or met the awful fate
Just recorded, as over 100000.