The Irish standard., 1901-11-30

ciSlnS general prOtoctOrate over Cath
oMc missions, the sum necessary to in
demnify the missions (but not the in
dividua Christians) was included In
the French demand. On the advice of
the French minister we had an under
standing with the mandarins of the
vicariate, and in all the towns pillaged
or burnt the losses were appraised
Jointly by missionaries and mandarins.
BY all the best dispositions were
shown, and we soon came to an agree
ment, the tenor of which just sub
mitted to the approval of the authori.
ties. Missions and individual Chris
tians are to receive about two thirds
of their total losses. We yielded as
much as was necessary to make nego-
tiations easy.
The viceroy offered me large sums
in compensation for the massacre of
missionaries. would not hear of such
bargain and refused everything, say
ing that the lives of missionaries could
not be paid for in gold. For these
lnassacres moral reparation will be
asked.
BY the way, 1 may also tell you that
1 had in my hands complete Lists of
the Boxer leaders. l knew the hiding
place of several, even of the one who
murdered one of our missionaries, Fa-
Their Dore. Without mentioning the
fact to anyone, l threw those lists into
the fire, and when Intercepted I an
sWered that we had not come to China
to cause the fall of any head and that
we would never inform against even
the most guilty.
All we were obliged to take imme-
diately after the siege to keep our
Christians from starvation was care
fully noted down. l handed the list to
the French minister, and the sum it
represents will be deducted from the
indemnity, as 1 pledged myself it
would. We ourselves Unidentified GER
tain private citizens and dealers, our
neighbors, and even paid the full price
for all houses burned around the Pei
tang during the siege. The owners,
mostly pagans, did not expect this,
and expressed their sincere gratitude.
| thought it wise to assume this large
expense, and thus keep up the reputa-
ton the mission always had and pre-
serve the cordial relations with our
neighbors.
Last February, after lecture
gave in Marseilles on the eve of my
sailing, some newspaper man handed
me telegram accusing me of having
ransacked the house Of Il certain LOU
Sen, and taken over million taels i'm
silver; the despatch added that the
Chinese subject had placed his claim
with the allies.
answered that on my arrival ut
Pekin l would place myself at the
disposal Of the allied powers, and if i'm
spite of my positive orders any injus-
tice had been done, it would be
promptly repaired. 1t was in connec-
ton with this charge that I heard of
Lou-Sen for the first time.
/ desired to clear up the matter; SO,
shorty after arriving at Pekin, l called
on Marshal Count Waldersee, Oh the
French minister and the delegates of
the Chinese government to ask wheth-
er amy complaints against me had been
lodged with them; they unanimously
answered that they had not heard
single one.
After many inquiries I found that
Lou-Sen was the SON Of certain Ly-
Chan, mandarin murdered by the
Boxers because of his friendly DISPOSE
lions toward Europeans. His house,
which had been set on fire, is about
500 yards from the mission. I sent an
invitation to the young man to call ON
me, and his first word was to thank
me for having contributed to save the
remains Of his home. He added that
"lf it were true that everything had
been plundered by the Boxers, neither
they nor anybody else had found
treasure in the ruins, for there was
none; in fact, there had never been
amy" Not only did he fail to utter
any complaint, but he offered me n
little house partly demolished and bor-
dering ON our property. l accepted it
on condition that he would let me pay
for it. which he was most reluctant to
do, but 1 knew him to be poor. He
asked my help for the rehabilitation Of
his fathers memory, which I readily
promised, for the good Ly-Chan was
sincere friend of the Europeans; this
was the only grievance of Prince Tuan
against him, and the cause of his
death.
Finally I had q large poster placed
at the gates of our residence inviting
all pagans who suffered some wrong
at the hands of Christians to come and
receive compensation. Several pre-
scented themselves and received imme-
diately what was promised. There Is
now no claim standing against the
mission.
Everything being thus satisfactorily
ended, the Mandarins requested me to
address a letter to the Christians, ex-