Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-07-29
The Chinese Instruction.


Very remarkable is the news that
comes from China. Within short
space of time, less than a month, the
foreign missions at Marking. Wuhu.
Tang Yang, Kin Kiang, and Wusueh
have been raided by mobs and burned.
Ching Kiang, Han Row, Soochow,
and even Shanghai have been threat
eued with attack. The looting of
missions is nothing new in China. but
never before has there been a success
sion of anti-mission mobs like this -
1t is a concerted movement, and the
method of the rioters is something en-
tirely new in Chinese history. They
do not form secretly and made sud-
den attack upon u suspecting victims.
On the contrary, they send word to
to the missionaries beforehand and the
latter have time to notify the author
tiles and ask for help. Heretofore the
looting of missions has grown out of
conditions that were purely local.
Superstition and the idle tales in
which the superstitious are so ready
to believe account fully for such out
breaks as the savage massacre at
Tientsin in 1870. Official dislike and
the greed of plunder actuated the mob
at Ching Kiang three years ago. The
rowdyism of a few loafers, supported
by the brutal tendencies of an idle
crowd in China, has perhaps been the
cause of many of the minor outrages,
the number of which is much greater
than the world knows, for they are
not reported. These ordinary causes
do not explain the late concerted out
breaks. Only in one instance were
they used as an excuse by the Chinese.
The recent attacks are remarkable
also for the zeal which the Chinese
officials showed in sending aid to the
heleaguered missions. Soldiers by the
thousand, and gunboats as many a.
could be brought up. were hurried to
the scene on the first application
Never was the like seen before. For
the first time the Chinese are making
earnest nfforts to repress mob violence
by military force. What is the
reason?
The reason is that the attack on the
missions is intended to be the begin
ming of civil war, which has for its
declared object nothing less than the
overthrow of the present imperial
dynasty. The Emperor is a Man.
churian, and certain of his subjects
think that Chinaman ought to eli
the peacock throne. To accomplish
this they have devised the following
excellent bit of political strategy I:
First, embroil China in foreign war
by attacking the missions; then,
when the country is upset by the war,
jump in and destroy the dynasty
Remarkable as this programme is, it
is the programme which the Chinese
avow to the foreigners. The plot has
one aspect which is serious. 1t is a
plot of the secret societies, or perhaps
at present of only one of them, the
Kolao Hui. This is a military be-
neyolent society. There are in China
number of secret societies of the
benevolent and temperance kind, and
they are very powerful both In num-
bers and in the fidelity they obtain
from their members.
One of the most noted temperance
societies demands abstinence from
opium, alcohol, and immortality.
This abstinence is of the kind called
"teetotal" in America, and the society
obtains it. This is no band of old
soakers who sign the pledge for
the purpose of using it to sup.
port an almost destroyed will power,
1t is a brotherhood, said to be 100000
strong in North China alone, of grave,
sober, and religious men, the flower Of
the working class. One would think
there is no cause for secrecy in society
with such aims, and in fact the secrecy
only extends to concealing the loca'
lily of the Offices and meetings. The
members avow their connection with
out hesitation, but the Government
hates every organization which it can
not control and has made many At
tempts to break up this and othel
excellent societies.
The control which these societie
exert over their members is mucl