Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-09-06
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CHI
NESE OUTRAGES

The murder Of the English missionaries
in China, with which the United States
had nothing whatever to do, and the des.
truction by Chinese mobs of some Ameri.
can missionaries property, with which our
government did have something to do. and
which 1t is now investigating, brought out
any number OF kilograms and other requests
from missionary bodies asking our govern
ment to interfere with war ships, land
troops, and in short to make war on
China. 1t is complained, and no doubt
justly, that the Chinese officials of the pro-
vince winked at, if they diLnot encourage,
the outrages.
In the face of the demand that the United
States should make war on China, one can
not help going back a little, looking ny
what the Chinese have suffered in this
country, and trying the case by the Golden
Rule. The Christian missionaries of all
pose, that OF destroying the religion Of the
people. They are not there to develop the
country, to add to the wealth of the nation.
OIL to aid it in any material way that would
appeal to the people of the country-their
mission exclusively is to destroy the relig-
f, ion that has existed for thousands Of years.
They go there knowing that they are not
wanted and that the only thing that averts
violence from them is the fear Of what the
civilized governments behind them would
do if their subjects were injured. In their
self sacrifice and devotion to the cause of
Christ these missionaries 60 far beyond
the line Of the treaty ports where safety is
fairly certain, and taking their lives in
their hands 60 boldly into the interior
among the most ignorant and fanatical.
Naturally they meet with violence from
the people whose religion they are seeking
to destroy.
Have the Chinese never been similarly
treated in the United States They have
come to this country, attacking no man S
religion; have been active and useful in the
greatest internal works of the land; make
peaceable Inhabitants who attend to their
own business and NEEDLE with nobody
How have they Jared? In 1881 Chinese were
dragged through the streets of Denver,
Colorado, by ropes around their necks and
one was killed and several wounded. In
1885, in the Rock Spring riot, village Of
Chinese was ATTACKED by armed American
miners, twenty eight Chinese men and
women were killed, of whom fourteen were
burned to death in their cabins, many of
them sick in their beds. Fifteen others
were wounded If this was not conniyed
at by the local authorities they at least did
not put forth hand to prevent it. In
! 1894, in Oregon ten Cinnamon were attack
ed by Americans, killed, dismembered and
| thrown into the river. These are the
largest murders that have occurred in this
country. but many minor ones have taken
place, and there is not a large city in the
country in which unoffending Chinese have
not been mobbed and beaten by gatherings
Of Americans large OF small. From the
Chinese point of view all the men that per-
petrated these acts are "Christians, /" it
being a Christian country. For the acts
of these Christians the United States the
State authorities would pay nothing) have
had to pay over a half million dollars.
China applied for the indemnity with no
threats of war, but with every diplomatic
courtesy that could be shown by the most
civilized nation. And it is in the same way
that the United States is going about the
investigation in the matter of the Chinese
outrages. The mission Of the United
States is not to carry the Christian relig-
ion into the distant heather world at the
point of the bayonet. All it can do is to
see that all nations who have made
treaties with it guaranteeing the protec-
ton of its citizens, shall comply with those
treaties, and failing, through inability las
in China) Oh unwillingness, shall indemni
fly those who have suffered. In dealing
with China we must do as we would be
done by. And while doug this. it would
not be time lost to try and remember that
if this American nation were truly Chris
tian-pr practising at home and abroad the
precepts of Christianity-th work Of our
lCO III OiLlC1 lOiiOO NOulu UC lCIl-
dered less difficult and less dangerous.
THE ABUSE or WITNESSES.
Public attention in Virginia was very dis
tinctly called in the trial of the Massey suit
at N orfolk to the abuse of witnesses per-
mitted by the court. 1t derived peculiar
emphasis in that case from the general in
terest growing out Of the prominence Of the
parties to the suit; but we suppose we do
not overstate the evil when we say that it
prevails more OF less in every court in the
State-ard possibly in every other State,
especially among the lawyers of least repute
in the profession. The Advance Reports
of the Pennsylvania Legal Intelligencer
show that the Supreme Court of Pennsyl-
vania intends to bring to an end this dis
reputable practice of brow beating in that
State. That Court, by decision filed by
Justice Green, May 80, 1895, in the case Of
Holden VS.. Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany, unanimously decided that the abuse
and insult of witnesses OF litigants, in argu-
ments to the jury, furnish legal ground for
an exception on the record to be reviewed
by the Supreme Court. In this case the
Supreme Court not only sustained the ex
ception as based on good legal grounds, but
reversed the judgment Of the court below
distinctly on the grounds therein stated.
1t is not infrequently that the attorney,
in default of having impeached the witness
by evidence, proceeds to impeach him oil
his own account by attacks ON his veracitY,
honesty and general character, which at
tacks often serve, as they are intended, to
create the impression with the jury that
they are founded on something more than
the audacity of the man who utters them
This impression Individually sways the OF
binary jury in making up its verdict. The