Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-07-19
The Famine In China.

THE MOST TkARFUL CALAMITY on RECORD
CITIES FAIRLY DEPoPuLATED.
Shanghai Correspondence OF the London Times.
The famine seems now to be at its worst
The impoverished country consists of the
greater part of the province of Shansi, parts
of southwest iChili, western Shsntung, and
the northern district of Honan, comprising
an area variously estimated at from ~. 900 to
100, 900 square miles. The greatest distress
is in the southern half of Shansi including
the provincial capital, Tai Yuen. the popula.
ton of which, unless rain comes at once,
bids fair to become absolutely extinct. In
its horrible details, as given by 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 subjects.
the Madrassees, last year they cat the dead.
and where there are none to take they kill
the living for the same purpose. This is no
oriental exaggeration, but the actual state OF
things In a district not 200 miles from Shang-
hal In the Pekin Gazette of the 18th OF
March there appears memorial from Ii
honieD. governor Of Honan. and iiian, spe-
cial high commissioner for famine relief APP
pealing for state assistance to the distressed
province. From it may be gathered the
straits to which the famine-stricken country
is reduced. therefore append translation
of it, and must remind my countrymen as
they Ieal it that it is no sensational picture
to move the tears of emotional subscribers,
but calm description of the state of the
province by its responsible rulers in the
language of II blue-book
The drought with which the province has
been visited Tor several years in succession
haa mi al g. Of ,ptay ~ II
extent hitherto unheard of. As autumn ad-
vanced into winter the number of those in
need of relief increased daily, until at last
they could be counted by millions. The low
er classes were the first to be affected, and
they soon disappeared or dispersed in search
of subsistence elsewhere. Now the famine
has attacked the well-to-do and the wealthy,
who fud themselves reduced to greater mis-
cry as each day goes by, and they, in their
turn. are dying off or following those who
have migrated elsewhere. In the earlier pc
Rod OF distress the living fed upon the bod
les of the dead next, the strong devoured
the weak and, now. the general restitution
has arrived at such climax that men deyour
those of their of own flesh and blood. His
tory contains no record of so terrible and
distressing state of things, and if prompt
measures OF relief be not instituted the whole
region must become depopulated. Local
sources of supply are entirely exhausted !;
the grsnaries are empty and the treasury
drained dry while the few wealthy people
in the provinces have helped with contribu-
tions and loans till they themselves are i'm
poverished.
This dreadful picture is fully borne out by
the letters received in Shanghai from the for
eign missionaries in Shansi The Roman
Catholic bishop of Shansi, Mgr. Monagatta,
who is a resident in Tai Yuen. the capital of
the province, writes from that city, under
date of oath of March, to the Procureur des
Lazaristes here acknowledging the receipt of
10, 900 teals for distribution. He says
''Jusqu' a present Ion Sc contentalt de
manger ceur qui etaient deja morris. mais
maintenant ION tue aussi les wants pour
les manger. lie mari mango Sd femme, les
parent mangent leurs fills ct leurs files, ct
leur tour les enfants mangent leurs parents,
CONNIE ION entend dire pressure chaque
jour-"
In the prefecture in which the capital of
Shansi is situated the population has dimin-
ished from over ], 900. 900 to l60, 600, and the
Chinese newspapers here give the number
of people who have died of starvation, or
met the awful fate Just recorded, at over
B. 900 600