The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-29

attracted to their standard motley crowd
of the lowest and poorest Of the people.
who merely wished to participate in the
looting OF the foreign devils and Of native
Christians.
China has been well called 'the classic
ground OF revolution" The country has
hardly ever been free from such disturb
arces In one part or the other. and with
the experiences of the past. and the warn
ings uttered with no uncertain voice by
those on the spot for the last six months
II IS extraordinary that the present crisis
should have taken this country COM
pletely by surprise. a lesson might well
have been learnt from the disturbances in
the YanCTze VALLEY throughout which l
passed last year on my journey from Mos
COW across Siberia and through China. As
! have pointed out in THE overland TO
China" these disturbances We're allowed to
ccnvulse the country for some time before
any adequate measures were taken. and
inquiries at the Pekin legation were met
with the reassuring answer ito borrow the
historic expression anent the Potomac)
Everything quiet on the Yang-Tze"' This
rebellion had many features In common
with the Boxer rising. Here. "a in the
North. the movement was first directed
against the Roman Catholics. was winked
at If not encouraged by the local officials.
the demon Of destruction is let loose the
distinctions between creeds. indeed any dis
tinction save that which divides Oriental
from European. Is soon lost sight of. The
rebellion OF 1898 grouped itself round Yu
Mantle. who was its head and leader. al
though not personally possessed of any
particular ability or character. The people
were d.saffected and restless. and ready
TO follow any man who cared to rise.
popularity of the Boxer movement. how
ever. Is that no one man seems to havo
risen among them as leader, nor is IL pos
sible to obtain any reliable Information "a
TO their organization or the names of their
moving spirits. Indeed the utmost mys-
terry envelops all secret societies I'm China.
and most of the information circulated
about them is apocryphal All such asso
Citations are nominaly prescribed by Gov
eminent, and the most inviolable secrecy
is required Of their members. At a meeting
Of the Triad society. not many years ago.
certain strangers cgusts of wind" the Chi
neee term them who had managed To he
present In order to observe the rites We're all
summarily put 10 death. Every Chinaman
probably belongs TO more than one of these
societies. and II is a curious reflection that
when your boy Uhe Anglo Chinese term
for servanO has an evening out he, in pri-
waite life the most indefatigably polite and
ablging person. is probably assisting at
some deep and mysterious function. and
maybe swearing by all his ancestors to as
sist in the extirpation Of foreign devils
To return to the Boxers. true
patriots" as the Empress called them. As
has been said already. they did not trouble
after last autumn to conceal their presence
CT raison d'etre. Their headquarters were
at Paoting-fu. some eighty miles south OF
Pekin, where there Is q large missionary
station. and here they established n big
camp and recruited and drilled. just as II
they were properly recognized local
militia. Tho movement spread into the two
neighboring Provinces. more camps were es- |
tablshed. and frequent attacks made on the
smaller and more scattered communities |
and especially upon native Christians. In
February last one Of the Roman Catholic |
Bishops reported that 5000 fugitives had
sought his protection. The missionaries and |
others with practical knowledge of China !
foresaw the inevitable moment when. drunk |
with success, the rebels would turn their
attention from native Christians and their |
teachers to all foreigners without distinction |
of creed, but their warnings produced no re-
suit The present Government. go 1t would |
seem from a recent Ctterance. appears in !
clined to lay no small share of the RESPONSE |
bility for such disturbances to the account |
of the missionaries and to meet them with /
a sort of We'll. what did you expect? 1t Is |
all your own fault for going there!' when |
they make representations OF the state OF |
the country. II seems rather late in the day. |
however. to take up such an attitude. Mis- /
sionary enterprise in China. as elsewhere.
was begun under Government sanction. and i
apart from that. every Englishman in every