The record-union., 1894-11-29
PROTECTING AMERICANS.
Safety Found Only Under the Guns of
Other Nations.
The Disgraceful Situation in China
Horrible Torture of
Prisoners.

telegram from New York says that
Hdrpe7'S Weekly for December 1st will
publish letter from Julian Ralph, its
correspondent in Shanghai, China, writ
ten in the latter part Of October. 1t is in
part as follows:
The war begun in August, and l am
writing in this last half of October, yet
up TO this time the only American war
ship that has been seen in Chinese waters
is the old Mississippi ferryboat Monocacy
an ark, house boat, or, to give it its
utmost due. river gunboat. One needs
10 be here to fully realize the extent of
our national error i'll keeping our few
%arShips ut home and in sending them TO
Europe, where the diplomats already ap-
preclate our strength better than it is ap-
preclated by our college professors, w nile
IN China, where we used to lead the world
as traders, our strength has wasted to al
most nothing with the failure of our Gov
ernment TO make its greatness respected.
Il am safe here at present, because
there are Russian and French and Eng
lisa warshlpS under my windows at Ac-
tor house. The other day, when we
Americans were struggling for lair play
for two Japanese, we were ali safe be-
cause the commander of French war
ship offered us bis services.
Fancy this in city that manages half
the commerce OF Asia; in city on whose
splendid bund the towering warehouse
of Russell ~ Co. suggests what Ameri-
cans once did here-while its abandon
Inent by that firm speaks volumes on the
decay OF our influence. When 1900 Jap
aneSe assem- bled in Shanghai to avail
themselves OF the protection offered by
the United States Government they said
TO L. X. Jernigan, the United States Con-
sul-General, that they were delighted TO
throw themselves wholly iii our care,
certain That no harm could befall them.
1t was understood that, as merchants and
students, they were free to remain here
In the position OF wards of our Govern
ment
suddenly two Japanese were arrested
on the French third OF tho foreign settle
ment at Shanghai. In the French jail
they were kept twenty-four hours and
searched and cross examined. They
asked TO be sent to our Consul and this
was done. The Chinese Taou-Tai Gov
ernor OF the Region) demanded their sur
render as spies.
"Mr. Jernigan, supposing that Amer
lcan protection was not an empty phrase,
made desperate struggle to keep them
in his control long enough for our Gov
ernment to devise some means OF giving
them full and fair trial and then sendIng
them 10 Japan II innocent, or to Chinese
officials If guilty. He cabled the Minister
at Toxic and young Mr.. Denby at Pekln
begging them TO assist in obtaining delay
and devising genuine protection. He
could not, under diplomatic rules, cable
Mr. Gresham direct. Toxic and Pekin
work ed in harmony with Shanghai until
word came from Washington that pro-
lection to tho Japanese meant the sur
render OF such people to their angry ene-
mics. Mr.. Gresham cabIed this definition
in a brief order TO give mp the spies
I'VE who are in Asia knew what that
meant An trI1SfpH 81, j
sorrow, that our officials at home did not
know as much. The Taou- Tai, mis- Sec
retarieS and the Niceroy, ali repeatedly
assured Consul-Generai Jernigan that if
the Japanese should be surrendered they
would be kindly treated. They said that
even II they were proven guilty they
would not be tortured, they would not
be killed; they were being kept as pris-
onerS until the close of the war, Not
only was this assurance repeatedly given
before surrender, but, afterward, when
the two students were delivered TO the
Chinese, the officials made the bargain
obligatory upon themselves by repeating
their promises.
They took the young men to Nankin,
where they tortured them for two-some
say for three-days. They made them
kneel OH iron chains with a bar of wood
across their legs and men standing on tho
bar; they pulled out their finger nails;
poured boiling water on the chains until
the metal ate its way to the prisoners
bones; they crushed the tongues of the
two men; they mashed into jelly the ten
0erest, the most sensitive members of
their bodies. When death was about to
have Its own way with their mutilated
frames it was hurried by the execution
ers' swords.
I'VE Caucasians are 5000 strong here,
and have, in this peculiar little Anglo
American republic, an armed force of 400
men to face the 100000 Mongolians who
are on our land and in the walled city be-
side it. We do not anticipate trouble or
danger, but we cannot say that it may
not come. Great Britain has about two
dozen warships here and near by, ami is
about to send number of powerful yes
sells here to protect the English in China
in case OF revolution or auti-foreign up
risings. Russia has large fleet in these
waters, and Germany and France have
splendid naval 1orce at hand. Therefore
we Americans, who still manage some oi
the greatest business at this port, are war
ranted in feeling that safety which the
guns of other nations will insure u.s."