Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-05-10
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.
OUT oE THEIR OWN MOUTHS.

about the missionaries is not the first time
That the soldiers OF the cross nave peen
lna',sneu "nu ileu ne ,
statements that tbev aided in robbinp the
Chinese will not be believed by right think
ing men and women.-Telegraph'
Or. Ament, the leader of and spokes-
man for the American missionaries in
China, has told his own story of what
was done in Pekin after the city was
captured by the allied armies, and if he
is to be believed the Christian people for
whom he speaks have not been greatly
maligned or lied about. The question
between him and his critics is not as to
what was done but whether it was iusti-
fled under the circumstances. lie admits
that after the Boxers were driven away
he proposed to "settle without the inter-
ference of soldiers or legations" whose
policies and methods he considered too
mild and slow, and he proceeded to settle
according to his own ideas by selling
and looting the houses of the Chinese, by
selling the clothing. furs, iewelry and
other valuables found in these houses,
by enforcing the payment of 500 taels
for each of his followers who had been
killed during the siege and by killing one
Chinaman for every three Christians
who had lost their lives, and that these
penalties were enforced as rule upon
innocent people because the guilty ones
had run away. For himself lie seized
the palace of bad prince, appropriated
its contents to his own use and has ever
since used it as his residence, and the
lesser missionaries took less palatial
houses in the same way.
All this and much more of the same
kind he admits, but he says it was all
justifiable because "a famine was pre-
dicted' and the missionaries thought
they might need all the loot they could
get; because the American missionaries
were not half as severe in their exactions
as those of other nationalities :. because
any exhibition of leniency or mercy
would have been construed by the Chi
ncse as due to fear and would have en-
couraged other prosecutions of the
Christians, native and foreign; because
our government would not or did not do
the necessary looting. robbery and be-
heading; and finally because If anything
.,lal was wrong WAS uone II was with
Tie pesl lnleH'lous'
ana mere Is Where the controversy
arises Inc question Is not what Or.
AlhehI anu HIS associates uiu, out as 10
whe'her they ana o'hers VINO are sent
ou' ~ pleaeh 'he Sospel vi peace ana
soou VIII, u plopagd'e 'he CHRISTIAN
cNilizalioii' are uolhg Dou service ana
Perlorhlng their uutN when they turn
thie'es, roooeIs auu eAeuutioners. NO
uouol lhey are sihcele' Inc trouole Is
o.iao tiley are Aeaiots anu lahatics VINO III
tneir Aeaious ellorts u suppress Tue Chi'
hese reiigloh nave committed excuses
Which nave snocheu 1heir couhtrymeh
anu ii'aue tiie laitn they preach ouious 10
those 'hey are trvins 10 convert
1hete mas ueeh III lhis country "lue-
ePicau sus pioioii '""' t'ie 'liseionaries'
WIN 'aio oesU il'en'i"ne' nay oeeil 'ile
FAUST Vi ilueh VI INC iatIeu VI ioiels ncrs
WHICH was "' ,he oo.'on VI 'iie DUMB
nioNeniei' anu 'i's VIZ" - S'e"'9 oo"-
hliiieu ny 'iie 'Stiihony tiiat mas coine
out y, VIC "'o"'ii Vi ~ ANU ''i VI
anu I'll 'i'0i'
5000
POSSIBILITIES OF ELECTRIC TRANS
MISSION.
Some time since the Plattsburg CORES
pOndent of the Free Press wrote an
article for these columns outlining in "A
general way the possibility that electric
power might be applied to towns through
out Northern New York between Water
town and Plattsburg as a result of the
construction of the Massena canal and the
establishment of a large power plant in
that connection. 1t was estimated to be
ninety miles, as the crow flies. from Mas
sena to Plattsburg, about seventy ve
miles to Saranac Lake. about thlrty-Gve
to Ogdensburg and about 100 to Water
town; and the transmission of electric
power to these various cities and towns
from the plant on the Grass river may
have been regarded at the time as gen
erous authorization of the distant future