The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-02-02

"'Have you secured any loot?'
"'Not 4 Bit
"'Where are you living?'
"'At the house of DR., II mis-
sionary. There is no hotel in Pellin.
elbow much loot did DR. Sc
curey
81 don't know
AT this point Ii said something to
the interpreter and laughed heartily.
l asked what his ENccllcncy was say
ing, and DR.. Mark said he was feeling
in excellent spirits and had cracked a
joke about the missionaries looting.
DO you know that Dr., of the
= Missionary Society, and DR.. -,
Of another Missionary Society, have Sc
cured vast quantities of loot in the
shape of silver, valuable furs and jade,
and have held frequent auction sales
here in Pellin and realized enormous
sums of money from these sales?'
"'Yes, have heard much about this
and have seen some articles sold, but I
do not know how the missionaries Sc
cured Them
"'Do you imagine China will know,
when the day of reckoning comes and
the indemnities are demanded?'
"'Yours is Christian nation con-
tinued Ii. THE nation that entered
Paoting the other day, looted it, and
murdered innocent and inoffensive Chi
nese citizens, is also Christian nation,
believe. Lately 1 have been looking
at what you call the Ten Command
ments. The eighth one says, Thou
shalt not steal Now, 1 want to i'm
prove that one, in view of what have
seen practiced by Christian people, in
Guiding the missionaries that have
come here to teach our people not to
be heathens. AS the easiest way out of
the position in which the Christians, by
their acts. have placed themselves, and
to meet the immediate passing needs,
l suggest that the eighth command
ment read, Thou shalt not steal, but
thou mayest loot
eli asked: Can you find any excuse
in your Bible for systematically and
deliberately stealing, as the Christian
people of the world have done and are
now doing in China, both individually
and as nations in most cases? The
disciples of Christ did not steal or loot
when He was .cruciticd. Missionaries
are looked upon as willing to be mar
tyrs; when one check is struck to turn
the other, and to meet death rather
than turn the least from where duty
calls. They We're the first to seek COW
er of gunboats last summer and leave
the native Christians. 1t was not
imagined by the missionaries severcst
critics that some of them would be-
come thieves when the opportunity
came for it, but some of the most prom
incnt ones have simply been consumed
by the disease or epidemic of looting
that has taken possession of all classes
here. The native Christians have
been taught Il new Scriptural lesson.
The London Missionary Society, like
the American societies, has it's native
Christians out bringing in articles, as
everyone i'll prkin knows. These ar
Consul General Goodnow has been
invited by several Evangelical church
es in the city to deliver addresses on
the work being done in China by Amer
lean missionaries, and we hope he will
reply to the charges made against them
by Ii Hung Chang. If they have been
guilty of looting, as alleged by the
Chinese statesman, they deserve no en-
couragement at the hands of the Amer
lean people. for they are nothing but
wolves in sleeps clothing and are not
fit persons to preach the Gospel Of
Christ either at home or in foreign
lands
Mr.. Goodnow may automatically
dodge the charges of Ii Hung Chang
against the missionaries by saying he
knows nothing about the matter, being
stationed ut Shanghai and not at Pc
kin; but whether the charges are true
or false does he believe in spreading
American civilization and evangelical
Christianity among intelligent heal
thcns by the use of artillery and bayo-
nets? Which is "the greatest crisis in
the history of the world facing this
country" in China? Is the United
States to start ON Il missionary career
in the Orient with its army and navy?
Or is it going there as a robl,er like
the European powers to get a slice of
the Celestial empire? Is it not better
for the United States to remain II ma
ton of slUpkeepers'' than to embark
in that kind of work? Mr.. Goodnow
has mperialistic notions in his crafty
head and seems to forget that he is
the representative of republic and
not OF monarchy.
TONNES MAGNIFICENT ADDRESS.
The speech on the Philippine prob
lem delivered by Charles \. Towne in
the United States senate last Monday,
and of which II synopsis is given else
where in these columns. is said to have
been the most forceful and eloquent
10 ;,>r l.,