The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-07-06


representative committee, has been cir
cuIated throughout China and has re-
ceiyed the assent of so large a number
of missionaries of all churches and ma
tionalities that it may be taken as rep
resenting the views of fully nine
tenths of the whole body of Protestant
missionaries in China.
The statement has been printed for
only, and is now sent to the press for
the first time for publication. We hope
that it will be considered of sufficient
Importance to secure a place in an early
issue of your journal.
Since the General Missionary Confer
ence held in Shanghai in 1890, no such
authoritative statement has been issued
by the missionary body in China; and
in view of the Importance of the sub
ject and of the public criticism of our
policy and procedure, we trust that it
will receive your favorable editorial
consideration.
We are, sir, yours, etc, c. w. Matter,
chairman American Presbyterian MIS-
sionary Society; w. n. Bitten, secretary
London Missionary Society; F. w. Bal
Ter, China Inland Mission; w. p. Bent
ly, Foreign Christian Missionary Socie-
ty; c. H. Bondfield, British and Foreign
Bible Society; G. F. Fitch, American
Presbyterian Missionary Society;
Chauncey Goodrich, American Board OF
Commissioners of Missions; A. p. Par
ker, Methodist Episcopal (South) Mis-
sionary Society; Timothy Richard, Eng
Iish Baptist Missionary Society.
STATEMENT BY THE PROTESTANT
MISSIONARIES IN CHINA ON
THE PRESENT CRISIS.
In view of the Importance of the pres
ent crisis in the history of Christianity
in China, and of the fact that our posi-
ton has been seriously misunderstood
and our opinions and utterances sub
jected to adverse criticism, it has
seemed to US advisable to make the
following statement:
The points in the recent criticisms
which most concern US are: % That
missionaries are chiefly responsible for
the recent uprising, and (2) That they
have manifested an un-Christian spirit
in suggesting the punishment of those
who were guilty of the massacre of for
eigners and native Christians.
With reference to the first of these
charges, we would remark:
l. That when the facts concerning
this uprising are rightly understood it
will be found that its causes are deep
rooted and manifold. The history of
foreign relations with China has all
along been that of hereditary prejudice
on the one hand and force on the 9TH
er. The Government of China has new
er given a friendly reception to foreign
ers. 1t has resented their presence and
yielded grudgingly the few rights OBJ
tanned from it by treaty. This old
standing ill-will was deeply intensified
by the political humiliation and loss of
territory which followed the war with
Japan.
The rise of the Boxer movement ina
Shantung and it's rapid growth there
and in the adjacent province of Chilli
will be found to have amongst its i'm
mediate causes (a) the shortness Of
food, almost amounting to famine,
which prevailed in those regions; (b)
the irritation caused by the industrial
and economic changes caused by rail-
way construction and other foreign en-
terprises; (c) the seizures of Kiao-chau,
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei, which
were bitterly resented as unwarrant-
able aggressions; and (d) the projec-
ton and forcible surveying of railway
route through the province of Sham
tung, which produced intense local ex-
ASPIRATION.
2. The recent uprising was anti-for-
eign rather than anti-Christian. Native
Christians have suffered mainly be-
cause they have been reckoned as sec
ondary devils" /. e., the allies of for
eigners. Moreover, the destruction of
railways and the attacks on railway
engineers preceded the destruction of
mission compounds and the slaughter of
missionaries. Nor should it be forgot
ten that among the facts of the out
break are: The siege of the Legations,
the destruction of the property of the
Imperial Customs, and the indiscrimi-
nate massacre of foreigners and of
Chinese found in possession of foreign
made articles. That missionaries were
residing in the interior, and were with
out the means to defend themselves,
entirely accounts for the large numbers
who persisted. Had they been foreign
ers but not missionaries the result
would have been the same.
g. The charge also includes the state
ment that missionaries have brought
the present disaster upon themselves;
on the one hand. by lack Of appre-
citation of what IS good in Chinese life
and thought; and on the other, by dis
regard of Chinese prejudice and ETH
quette It is conceivable that isolated
statements and actions may thus be
construed, but for the missionary body
as a whole, we can assert that this
statement is without foundation.
Believing as we do that the gospel is
Gods message of salvation to man
kind, and that. too. In a sense in which
the wisdom of words of no sage can
ever be, we must, as faithful servants
Of our Lord, reiterate both the great
afhrmations and the gracious invita-
lions of the gospel, and wherever the
claims Of the gospel are brought face
to face with such superstition and
idolatry as prevail among the masses