The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-20
DISORDER IN MANCHURIA
Enmity fthe Viceroy of Moukden
Toward Foreigners.
Responsibility for Turmoil Laid mt
His Door-A Correspondence of IA
North China Paper Declares That
the Boxers in Tint section Are
TOO Feeble to Have Caused 1t.

The following letter from correspondent.
| in China describes the situation ia
Manchuria during the month of july
Uncertain vision or rather total dark
ness is the only adequate description of
mans mental condition throughout Man
churia at the present moment. Nobody.
| foreigner or native, knows anything OF
what is TO happen. but everybody expects
| something, some terrible thing, any day.
any hour. The man who went about the
streets a fortnight ago, tearing his hair
and uttering dark sayings in the ears OF
an unbelieviug community who treated
him as crank, goes about with quiet
| dignity today. amid the general rushing to
and fro. as who would say, Didn't l tell
you?' 1t has all come suddenly, 30
/ thief-in- the-night-like. Men were going
about their usual business one day. eating
| and drinking in peace, and the next they
were hurrying their wives and children to
| the four winds in orGer that they might
/ have free hand to fight The wisest man
in the community saw nothing, feared
| nothing for himself. or anybody else, up
| to the very last. There was no need fer
anxiety. There was no need for British
subjects in the interior leaving their posts
and retiring to the port. Keep your minds
! easy. gentlemen: good shower of rain
will bring the whole thing to an end
I'm less than a week the expuls on OF
| foreigners from the interior was a thing
of history. The churches, hospitals mis-
! sion houses and railway establishments
had been looted and burned. The learned
/ and genial Bishop Guillon, of Moukden
the gentle and pious Pere Emonet and a
I brother priest, Sister St. Croix and an
/ other lady of the French mission had all
won the martyrs crown. The engineers Of
/ the Shan-hai- kuan Niuchwang line had
/ taken refuge in Niuchwang-no day too
soon. The foreigners a; the Liaoyang
mines escaped certain massacre by stea.-
ing away in the small hours of the morn
ing. All the Russian railway officials
and their guards south of Telling were
forced to retire TO Tashiheh'iao, the juno
ton of the Port Arthur Railway. some
4 twelve miles from the port of Niuchwang
/ At the present moment it looks as if rot
one shower, but many showers of shot and
shell will be required and many terrible
| tragedy enacted in Mapchuria before this
| thing comes to an end,
who is to blame for all this? Not the
Boxers certainly. There may be Boxers in
Manchuria, and doubtless there are but
1t is passing strange that no one even so
| till fortnight ago The fact is the Box
ers in this region are a feeble folk young
sters for the most part, puppet warriors
all, whose motions are governed by the
man behind the screen who works thst'
strings and not the decent law-abiding
Manchurian peoples, who after all form the
mass of the community. II is notorious
that in no part Of China have missionaries
lived on more friendly terms with the
natives than have prcfa=fapt mis-
with the people of Manchuria. The hos
pitfalls in Moukden, Liaoyang, and Chinchou
have done much to bring this about For
years past, foreigners travelling in the
interior have only had 10 name the hos
pital TO find warm reception from the
people. They might know little about the
missionsry's creed, and might care less.
but over the philaTthropic work of the hos
pitfalls they waxed eloquent. They have
taken Advantage of them at the rate Of
hundreds every day they have subscribed
literally to their support, they have
erected memorial tablets In tteir praise,
and they mourn with the missionaries over
the ruined hospitals today.
THE present viceToy is the arst of that
ilk to show himself distinctly unfriendly
to foreigners. He is Manchu of the Man
chus, and there is no doubt that he is
carrying out in Moukden the Teactionary
policy OF the rebel Prince Tuan. Since bis
appointment as successor of the late Vice
roy I-ko-tang-a. a vast army has been
raised and drilled in Lower ManchuTia. 1t
is known that he has been busily engaged
preparing plans for the defence of Mouk-
den since the Chinese New Year. assisted
by foreign military officer When the
Boxer plscards were exhibited on the city
gates warning foreigners OF their up-
proaching doom, the Yiceroy allowed them
to remain. He published under his own
seal a telegram. from the lieutenant gem
eral OF the troops at -hai-kuan. rejn;c-
ing over what was described as a glorious
victory for the Chinese arms. Two thous-
and Christians had been killed and the
foreign feet sunk at Tsku. Two days later
fifty unarmed men marched in broad day
light to the largest Protestant church in
Moukden and burned IT, The Viceroy had
10U.0 600 troops at his command. and yet not
hand was raised to hinder these incen-
diaries. Ten minutes would have sufficed
TO bring him in person to the scene of the
outrage. He neither came nor sent. An
hour elapsed before the hospitals and mis-
sion houses were attacked.
"The Roman Catholic Cathedral held
out for two days. Appeal after appeal
was made by Bishop Guillon .or help. The
Viceroy took no notice of these appeals
Why should he? The whole diabolic bust
ness was carried out under his patronage
out by few fanati.s, aided by his own
soldiers and the robble. They did their work
with a thoroughness that surely must
have been gratifying to their Viceregal
master-and when Moukden swept
clean Of all things foreign he blessed the
fanatics. and. so it is said, shod them
and crowned them put a sword in their
hand and some strilgs of cash in their
wallet. and sent them farther to. carry
on the work of foreign expulsion in other
places. Since then. LiaOyang and Hal
cheng have been visited. Russian houses
and workshops leveied TO the ground. and |
few more hospitals and missions looted |
and burned.
Probably they win avoid Niuchwang. |
They are wiser than we think they are il |
they do. But if they do come to Niu |
chwang and attempt 20 do there what they |
have done up country during the past ten |
days, then God pity them. The Russians !
are here, and the Japanese, and neither |
the one nor the other will show quarter. |
And. alas the innocent will suffer with |
the guilty, as rumor has it was the case
at Taku. In fact the saddest thing about |
the coming reckoning Is that more limo +
cent will suffer than guilty. 1t is devoutly |
TO be hoped that whoever the avenger is.
he will discriminate. II may be a very |
difficult thing to do. but, it is not impossi-
bic. AS for the arch-crlminal himself, the |
man who has pulled the strings and made !
the puppets move. the murderOus Ficeroy
of Moukden, what of him? He will not ,
come down to Niuchwang to be shot
Needs must that some one goes to Mouk
den after him. Let IL be remembered that |
the outrage and massacre which have |
made the first week in July black week |
for so many are all directly to be attrib |
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