Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-05
OUTLAWRY IN CHINA.
Cause and Effect of the Riots
Reported From the
FlOwery Kingdom.
DANGER FOR AMERICANS.
In the Light of the New Orleans
Affair Protection Is Dubious.
THE RECEPTION OF MISSIONARIES.
Opium's Part in the Efforts to Christiani5e
the Celestials.
DANGER FOR AMERICANS.
THE RECEPTION OF MISSIONARIES.
A LETTER FROM JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.


The news from China is alarming The
American feet has been ordered to the open
ports, and we have dismal travesty of
naval force; the Admiral is doing what he
can to protect our people. A letter written
to me in the latter part of May by distin-
guished American resident in China, says:
''We are now in the midst of excitement and
alarms. Riots to the right of us; riots to
the left of us-at Yangchow, at Wuhn, at
Nangking-and the population at Shanghai
with difficulty kept down. The whole val
ley of the Yangtze is seething with excite
ment. The animosity is directed ostensibly
against the Catholic missions, upon the old
absurd stories of taking out babies eyes,
etc. Really, however, it is believed to he
the result of secret societies aiming to over
throw the Government and the dynasty.
The stories from China. whether in the
public prints or in private correspondence,
may readily awaken concern. / read of
DEGREES from Pekin directing Summary
Justice" and do not doubt the prevalence
of an angry feeling among the Chinese.
But the outbreak stories are to be accepted
with reserve, as they sometimes seem essen
tial to living interest in naval affairs and
diplomacy. The smallest incident, jostle,
loud words, or a brick thrown into mis-
sion house can easily become "riot, ;" espe-
cially with foreign navies, in state Of
inertia, craving something to do, Jealous to
"protect."
Nice Place for Big Damages.
Then we have the sanguine foreigner, ever
keen for damages The literature of
mendacity will never be complete until
some of the claims on record in the various
Legations are published. The damage" a
Chinese mob can accomplish, the precious
property it can destroy when engaged
upon a consulate or mission house, would,
were the items in "claim" made public,
give curious but, L am frank to say,
erroneous idea of the sumptuous luxury
which marks the life of the foreigner in the
East. When to these claims are added the
sums of money that might have been made
by an honest merchant had the mob not
interfered, we can understand the temp
tations to welcome an outbreak and to
ask for damages at the point of the naval
guns
The Chinese authorities have done every
thing to restrain their people from riot and
punish the malevolent This being the case,
and accepting the dogma laid down with so
much clearness by Mr. Blaine in his cor
respondence with the Italian Minister, that
the United States does not ENSURE the
lives" of Italians who make this country
their home, it is hard to see upon our Amer
lean construction of international obliga-
ions that we have any grievance with
China. Missions have been looted and
Consulates sacked, but 1 do not read that
lives have been lost. Outrage has not risen
to the terrible dignity of massacre, yet at
one Consulate on the Yangtze exemplary
damages have been paid, and in other
places rioters haye been beheaded- China,
therefore, stands better toward the United
States than our county toward Italy.
New Orleans Mob Leaders for Congress,
Italians were slain in New Orleans when
under the protection of the laws, and the
italian Consul compelled to leave New Or
leans under circumstances which made his
departure an indignity. 1 have not heard
of Indemnity, and as for punishment, the
leaders of the mob will probably be in the
next Congress. Americans in China will
have the satisfaction of knowing from Mr..
Blaine's dispatches that their lives are not
insured. Logic, however, is not always at
its best in diplomatic procedures, and as a
matter of fact, so far as the guns of our
poor navy have carrying power they will
be used to protect our countrymen on the
Yangtze.
This unrest in China may be attributed,
think, to the unsettling of things which
comes with new sovereign, and especially
after regency The peace which has pre-
vailed since the suppression of the Tapping
rebellion in 1865, and the maintenance of
friendly relations with foreign powers, with
the exception of the episode with France,
may be attributed to the enlightened rule
of the Prime Minister, Lii Hung Chang
This great statesman, whom General Grant
described to me as one of the four great
men he had met in his journeys
the other three, Gambetta, Bismarck and
Lord Beacons6eld-has been virtual ruler of
China since 1871. To him we largely owe
China's good relations with the outside
world 1t was his genius that brought his
country with honor out of its contest with
France He was friendly to the United
States until friendship was rendered almost
impossible by the wantonness of our action
on the restriction bill-aslxing China to sign
a treaty which she had herself proposed,
and then without awaiting her answer treat
ing her with the assumption that she Did
not mean to keep faith-snd the foolish
Russian intrigue into which we were drawn
in our recognition of Corea as an autono-
nous and not dependent power.
The Corean Affair is InexcusabIe.
The restriction incident might have been
explained. Time would have deprived it
If lasting importance as the question at
ssue was an English shipping interest and
,ne in which China has only sentimental
ceiling The Corean, business, however, in
which the American Government aided the
land of Russia in the Muscovite game for
he Empire of Asia, is among those diplo-
matte problems which it is impossible to
understand 1t was the severest blow ever
lealt.to American influence in China.
In addition to the accession of the new
Emperor, the advancing years of Ii Hung
chang may affect current affairs. fancy
he Premier would have promptly brought
,eace to the valley of the Yangtze
we're years not telling upon him. Nor
an we discern whether the influence that
will take his place will be friendly or
,therwise. The relations of China with
oreign States cannot be abrogated. They
must strengthen and. advance. Any pro-
,osal to return to the statu quo before 1889
would be regarded as hostile by the powers.
Since these relations must exist, since
neither commerce nor civilization can per-
nit their destruction, it is the policy of the
oreign powers: to strengthen them, and
American policy to strengthen China, and
49, ind