The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-05-03

ha manner a. dsstfltiHr hls touf -
systematic fmcHi ard cull'cunhi Al
the tate 40 sf tnsia far each convert
slain tf in the course w his m1nt'It
hard Wofk ut nafD.rutht nnd collection
n Wrfah. UHuiiua hH Do, lhrnuW lirI.
tfr Ch00 h0v, iHHf NsIunr shunii VI
tlu other towns off ID n dIatiilt De Ton id
everywhere charitable unrunNctt,d thnt
npae viiiAHCra rruHF go subscribe Nolui-
utilv q total W mHuY thousands ut dole
lars as relief fund Tor destitute chris
dan converts. vc can only say that
there are parts of the world whore chris.
tlnn missionaries are more urgently
needed than IN that part OF China.
How far coercion, direct or Implied
how fir terrorism and tuc fear OF cons'-
quoncrg entered Int The process OF
bringing the nciphbors Of the prosecuted
peopic Ito see the errors Of their ways
ana 90 hand over their tacls to the Rev.
Or Amcrt Will be known only atirr his
arrival 900 this country ana "a careful In
vcstirntIon OF all the circumstances at
tending his tour of assessment ana col-
lection. lie says now That no haish
measures were rcsOrtpd TO. lie sh'd a
month ago in letter 10 the Rev, Or.
Judson smith ,nnt he had "made no use
tcrnal pressure TO- bear, relying In all
cases upon the justice of our claims.
But what does Or. Amcnt moan when
IN his Picking interview describing the
voluntary contributions of the uncontctt-
ed villages he goes on to say
mot to have taken some such meas
ures would have Indicated to the Boxer
sympathizers an abnormal weakness ana
Indifference to the sufferings of our ma
tive Christians that would have tended
to increase the latter's troubles by rails
ing the courage Of their enemies?"
And what does he mean when he adds
in the very next paragraph:
I'm all cases, SO far as | know, the
missionaries have yielded on the side of
generosity and charity in the COLLECTION
of this indemnity?'
1t is hard to understand the psychologist
relations between the collector of ndem-
nifty for the despised converts and the
unconverted who are voluntarily paying
that indemnity on the strength
of the collectors unsupported APP
poals when it is the collector and not
the donor that assumes credit Tor
"yielding on the side of generosity and
charity" And DIR. Ament has just given
us this description of the people to
whose generosity and sense of justice he
SAYS he appealed successfully wherever
he carried his subscription book:
Experience In China proves that SEEM
ing weakness in dealing with the Chi
nese only increases their spirit of dis
trust and their desire to continue In
crime. Excessive kindness they will at
tribute to fear; the spirit of altruism
is entirely alien to their natures
b, We fear that there is something yet to
be cleared up concerning the methods
and details of the systematic exacton of
indemnity Meanwhile, DIR. Aments
statement establishes the fact of that
systematic collection of indemnity by a
self-constituted Court of Equity or
Claims Commission consisting of the
missionaries themselves, responsible to
no lawful authority and acting under no
legal warrant. The interference was not
even in behalf of American citizens. 1t
was between Chinese and Chinese. There
is nothing in our treaties with CHINA
comforting upon the missionaries the
functions they admit having exercised In
this respect.
Secondly, as to the infiiction on the vii
layers of an additional penalty, over and |
above the indemnity assessed. to go into
the mission funds. This extra fine OF
thirty-three and one-third per cent is
distinctly admitted by DR.. Ament:
I'm general the process has been as
follows: To demand the rebuilding of
houses or an equivalent in money, to de-
mand payment for tools and grains car
ried off or for animals stolen; in case the
head of a family had been murdered, or
one who was the provider. the sum OF
500 taels is demanded for the support of
widows and orphans who have no other
visible means of support"
No comment is needed here. However,
to the Rev. Dr. Aments con-
science was the motive of his demands
upon the villages, the collection OF the
indemnity and the collection of the adj
tional exactian for the mission funds
was conceived and carried out In the
spirit of lynch law; and in many If not
most cases the penalty imposed by Rev.
DR.. Ament must have fallen not upon
the persons guilty of the original out
rage but upon those innocent of partici-
patton in it.
AS to the general attitude of the Rev.
DIR. Ament toward the Chinese who have
not accepted the gospel he went forth to |
preach his statement is illuminating.
There is no word from beginning to end |
that is in sympathy with the spirit of
brotherhood and mercy and forgiveness
which is so large a part of the religion !
Christ taught to mankind. The reverend
doctor is missionary of the Church
militant. He is a practical man. He be-
lieves in mahing examples of the wick
ed. In questions of punishment for
crimes committed against the native
Christians, he seems at every point dis
posed to demand an eye for an eye and
a tooth for tooth. We quote his criti-
csm of the lenity of an expedition de-
spatched by General Wilson into the re-
gion east of Picking to rescue certain
Christian families who were surrounded
by Boxers. General Wilson's orders We're
that no soldier should fire gun unless
fired upon OF this expedition the Rev.
DIR. Ament remarks with some show of
evaporation:
1.-THE Chinese could not understand
such leniency. A well-equipped body of
PCS cavalrymen, under able officers, pass
ed through a region filed with blood
thirsty Boxers, whose hands were red
with the blood of more than a hundred |
Christians, where thousands of dollars |
worth of property had been destroyed |
and many chapels burned, and not one /
man was callad to accnnnt for this ter :