The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-05-23
LOO LOO LULU LOOT
EVERYBODY LOOTED SAYS SIR
CLAUDE MACDONALD.
The British Representative Acknow-
Lodges Having a Piece of Loot Him
self and Says He VIII Keep 1t.

Writing from Tokyo on January -
Mr.. Stafford Ransome records in the
Daily Express a conversation with Sir
Claude Macdonald, in which his Ex-
cellency is reported to have said:
The normal population housed in the
British Legation at Peking is between
seventy and eighty people, but during
the seige we had 900 to take care of and
feed. The greater part of these were
missionaries and their converts. Their
behavior was excellent in fact, we de-
rived much material benefit from their
presence. The American missionaries,
in particular developed a wonderful
capacity for organization. The mission
aries of course all spoke Chinese, and
had a great power over their people,
and among them were a number of doc
tors, whose services We're invaluable.
Among their converts were men of all
sorts of trades, with the result that not
only were people fed with regularity
and system, but satisfactory sanitary
arrangements were made, and the
routine of life was so perfected that we
could even get our clothes mended
| know nothing as to the accuracy of
that telegram to the effect that Sir
Ernest Satow had stated that the Chris
| tians must not look for compensation,
as they had indemnified themselves by
loot; but in any case lOOnng has been
concerned our men have done their
fair share. Had we been alone we
could have controlled our men, but our
| Tommies are not angels, and it was too
much to exact of them that they should
! keep their hands off when there were
the Russians, the Germans, and the
French helping themselves. The Brit
ish, however organized their looting at
an early stage, and everything had to
be brought in and sold Systematically
by the looting committee. The behavior
of the japanese was excellent, but when
/ they take Virtuous tone by maintain
| ing that of all the powers they were
alone in stopping their soldiers looting
! at an early date we must remember
that when they first entered Picking
| they made a Decline for the Treasury,
and took everything they could lay
! their hands on.
| much deprecate the ultra-sensa-
tiOnal accounts as to looting that have
gone out and | cannot help smiling at
| the fact that one of the gentlemen of
| your fraternity who was waxing in
dignant on the subject had in his
| pocket at the very time of his aCcusa-
tons jade teapot, valued at $500! |
! am among the lOOteTs, said Sir Claude,
smiling, and here is my loot, showing
me a small recessed utensil in stone, not
| unlike a letter weight, with some Chi
| neSe characters engraved on it. This
| is kang Yi's ink pot. When l found
myself in that genteman's house and
! reflected on the amount of trouble he
! mad given me, l could not resist carry
! ing away a little memento of that in
| SeIiOus statesman, and what more suit
| able souvenir than this ink pot which,
| doubtless he had used so frequently in
! the course of our ncVer-ending negotia-
! tiOns. Is is only worth a shilling or two
and is my only piece of loot, but
value it.
AS to the behavior of the missionaries
| after the seigc in looting, if all looting
/ is wrong, as in theory it is then they
| have been to blame; but there are times
| when the laws of nature assert them
| selves over the laws of civlizat ton, and
this was a case in point. You must re-
member that these men had just endur-
ed long siege, that they had been be-
reft of everything that they possessed,
and that they had hundreds of men
similarly destitute, who were dependent
on them. What was their position 4?
Had they come to me and said, "Give
us mony and food" 1 could only have
| replied in the negative, or, at all events
| to the effect that | could not feed their
| converts; and so they took the law into
| their own hands. 1t has been a case of
poetical or primitive justice But, grant
| ed that this sort of justice was ad-
missable, l do not admit that the mis-
! sionaries have abused it. l have not
| heard of a single instance of missiona-
ries looting for any other purpose than
that of getting back what they had lost,
/ and of feeding themselves and their
converts who were dependent on them.
I You may certainly say from me that in
my opinion, if footing under any cir
| cumstances in permissible, the looting
| by the missionaries, as l saw it, was at
| all events undeserVing of the sweeping
accusations that have been made
against it; and that of the conduct of
| the missionaries during the siege I can
! only speak in the highest terms. They
We're courageous, patient, and self-sa-
criticing, and l can only say that their
capacity for organizing and their power
| over their converts which was then dis
| played came as a revelation to me.
In fact had they not been with us our
hardships would have been materially