The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-07-09
THE COMPLICATION IN CHINA.

The Government of China having de-
clined to receive Mr.. Blair, it is in order for
the President to nominate another man to
the post of American Minister to Picking
with as little delay as possible, for it looks
as though there would presently be work
for an American Minister to do.
Affairs are in an unsettled state in the
Middle Kingdom. Owing to the growth of
population aud the scarcity OF food in many
of the provinces, there is a constant ten
dency to discomfort and insurrecton. Forty
years ago these same causes led to the Tai
ping Rebellion, which lasted thirteen years;
the rebels Overran some of the riches: prov
inces of the empire, and were only Subdued
when the conduct of the campaign against
them was confided TO General (then Major
Gordon. The grievances which led tens Of
thousands of Cinnamon to flock to the Tai
ping banner are felt just as keenly now as
then. Every year a number of Cinnamon,
in one province or another, die from famine
in consequence of crop failures. inunda-
tons or insufficient means of transporta-
ton. The people take to the road as an
alternative 10 pershing of want 1t cannot
be said that in any part of the empire there
is any distinct purpose to overthrow the
Government and substitute another on its
the throne in China, nor is there any feel
ing of disloyalty. Cinnamon refused to
fi.ht the English in 1858, and the French in
1882, but some centuries have elapsed since
there was any rebellion against the person
of the Emperor. In China political indif-
ferentism is carried TO an extreme.
The true objective of the insurgent bands
which ara now ravaging the valley of the
Yang-tse is, however, of less consequence
to foreigners than the practical measures
which they are likely TO take. 1t appears
that while the insurgents, who are really
nothing more than banditti, are willing to
rob and murder their own countrymen,
they are especially incensed against foreign
erS and missionaries. Race prejudice -four
iShes in China as in every country where
ignorance prevails; the starving residents
of the OVERT wed districts of the Hoang Ho
and the Yang-tse are quite willing to be-
lieve that their tribulations proceed from
the presence of foreigners in the empire,
and quite prepared to cut the throats of the
missionaries in the hope that that step
would increase the available supply of rice.
In this perplexng predicament the Gov
eminent at Picking exhibits a pitiable spec
tacle of helpless imbeciIity. 1t is always
ready to execute the murderers of missiona-
ries when it catches them. and it does not
demur aJ paying an indemnity to the coun-
try to which they belong. But there it
stops. 1t does not offer guarantees of secu-
rity for the future, for the simple reason
that the guarantees would be worthless. 1t
cannot enforce its own authority even in its
own capital city, much less in the outlying
provinces OF the empire.
China and Japan are full of American
missionaries. Mr.. Chester Holco4s.b said
that there were fifty-two in the single prov
ince' of Chih-li. There are said to be over
800 in Japan. These servants of Christ,
with their chapeiS, their snug parsonages
and their trim gardens, not unnaturalIy
attract the fury of mObs. When a half
starved, ignorant and brutal crowd goes out
on the warpath the mission is their first
objective point, and the missionary is lucky
when he and his family escape with their
lives. Then the Ministers at Picking thun-
der at the Tsung-li Yamen; troops are sent
to the scene of disturbance and a lot of
people are put to death; the affair winds up
with the payment of a sum of money to the
missionaries out OF the lean treasury of the
empire.
1t is understood that the late John F. Swift
had in hand at the time of his death mono
graph on the subject of Asiatic missions, in
which the subject was handled from new
standpoint. He was well acquainted with
Asia; he f0resaw that in the coming disin-
tegration of China it would tax the resources
OF the United States to afford protection to
American missionaries. and he was states
man enough to realize that il the trouble
assumed such dimensions as to threaten an
outbreak OF war, questions would be raised
which might be embarrassing. Ii there were
Buddhist missionary stations in this coun-
try, and in a popular cOmm0tion their in
males came to grief. some members of