Evening star., 1901-04-15
Her Occupation of the Province of
Mongolia,
RESISTANCE BY CHRISTIAN CONVERTS
Paid the Penalty When BoIuta
Was Taken.
PERE MONDRATS STATEMENT


| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
| BOLUTA, Mongolia, China, Feb. IS, 1901.
Weather consistent with the savagery of
| the natural and political surroundings has
| been the vogue since my last letter, writ
| ten from St. Khashata This is indeed
| wild region, and with the blurting and bel
lowing of the storm without one is prone
| to ask himself why any one should care
what becomes of it, and, still more extraor-
binary, that a great nation should lust
! for further empire as to send hther
vast army to have and to hold.
The storm, which has continued inter-
! mittingly for some ten days, is not regard
ed in the nature of a blizzard here, though
the mercury is at u below and sharp winds
twist themselves about the little mountain
town. 1t is not considered an over-severe
storm at all, and one begins to ask what
becomes of the people when q real hard
one strikes. But the country is full of furs
and soldiers. and natives go about their
duties or their pleasures in great wrappnSs
of sleek skins that would tempt the fingers
of many an American girl.
Becomine Used to Russian Occupation.
The natives here and at ST. Khashata are
becoming used to the Russian occupation,
and such trade as ordinarily exists in the
winter months is being carried on without
special interruption. AS matter of TACT
business is more brisk, [ am told, than in
former winters. for the troops have occu-
pied many of the better houses, thereby
giving the former owners opportunity to
erect new domicles put in new furnishings
and lay in another stock of winter provi-
sions.
The Russians have the habit, or possibly
it is a component part of the MuScoVlte
nature, of taking for their own use the
best of everything in sight, presumably
working the idea that such is none too
good. Whether the property be public or
private, it is all the same to the whiskered
invaders of the north. The local Cinnamon,
not knowing at first with whom they were
dealing, offered protest and in some cases
actual resistance to the intrusion, but the
Russians have cured them 1T all that, and
a request now coming from The military au-
thorties is nothing less than a command
with plenty of bayOnetS to back 1t up
Boluta was one of the towns of this re-
gfon which escaped disturbance during the
height of the Boxer movement. This was
owing principally to tW2 rcasons-its ele-
waited and almost impreSnabie position and
it's strong armed force of native Christians.
1t was not impregnhble TO Russian siege
guns, however nor was the faith of ma
jority of it's people proof against Russian
bullets. With no care whether the place
a stronghold of Chinese Christians or
not, the ruthless conquerer blew away a
few of the stone pagodas and towers, and
entering the city from three sides. gave it
baptism of blood in the name of western
| "civiliZation."
Resistance Was Useless.
This was long after the fall of Pellin. 1t
was two weeks after the capture of Sien-
Hwa by the French. and one week after
st. Khashata fell into the hands of the
| troops of the czar. The people Of Boluta
| had learned of the advance of western
! 'civilization,' with its trail of massacre
| and brutality, and they prepared, Christian
| and "heathen,' for the defense of their
| homes. Just well might they have build
| cd a fence of feathers against the Siberian
| wind. The battle was Of brief duration,
| but the crooked streets Of the little noun
| tain city were scenes of fierce slaughter
! and outrage. The women in a majority Of
| instances were spared, only to be forced to
more trying ordea1S later, but every male
who ventured into the streets or offered
| the slightest resistance was doomed.
| Would it have been any wonder had the
| Christians OF Boluta cried out, Us this the
| Christianity we have been taught and the
| civilization We had hoped to attain? If it
! is, oh, some power, deliver us from it,
! Almost these same words were used by an
| aged Jesuit missionary with whom l talked
! yesterday. The poor little old man, look
| ing more like a Chnaman than the Belgian
! he is, literally cried out in the agony of
! his heart as he recounted to me the strug-
! giles and trials of mis- life's work on the
| borders of the desert of Cobb. He spoke of
| the fearful beginningof mis- labors a kach-
gar, more than thirty years ago, of the
| converts he had made the little missions
| and schools established, and finally the al
| most complete conversion of Boluta with
| its 1s,0O0 or 10000 inhabitants, to Chris
| tianity. And here is the result" the old
| man sighed.
Pere MOndrai's Statement.
while we Cmeaning the Jesuits) were
pioneers in the work in this region Pere
Mondrai explained, protestant missona-
| rieS did noble work, and here in Boluta all
| the Christians were as one family laboring
| together for the betterment of all. In the
! organization of the local guard when the
| recent troubles first began Mr.. Kelley of
the Presbyterian mission and Mr.. Dar-
| wood of the Methodist mission assisted in
the work. and Mr.. Darwood especially de-
| voted much of his time in preparing the
place against an attack of the Boxer socie-
| ty. Instead, though, of a Chinese enemy
| we were butchered and pillaged by those
| upon whom we at one time relied [ fear
| that much of our work has been lost and
that most of it must be done over again -
| 1t was most pathetic to listen to the
| words of the fragile, weatler-beaten and
bent old priest. Though his thin hairs
were white as snow. his brow furrowed
| deep with wrinkles, and his little thin
| hands quiverinS with taXations of years,
he was still looking forward to another
| ''life'S work
| Belenberg, to whom I referred in my last
| letter, and confirmed by Father Mondrai
| ana Missionary Kelley, the armng Of the
Christians of Boluta, Bulan and st. Kha-
l
| section of the Chinese empire. On the
| other hand the Christians of these places
| have but tardily followed the example of
| thousands upon thousands of Christian
| Cinnamon, principally Roman Catholics. in
| organizing and arming, with a view of
| Self-protectiOn.
| Arming the Converts.
| ''You would be surprised said Lieut.
| Belenberg, were you to be told that it is
estimated by the superior general of the
| jesuit order in China that there are be-
tween 10000 and 10000 armed Roman Cath
| olic Chinese-armed and organized after a
| certain military fashion. They are dis
| tributed largely in the Hoangho valley
| which accounts for the fact that along
| that great waterway there has been but
| scant activity the part of the Boxers
| and others who were in the crusade against
| foreigners. The movement toward the
arming of converts was begun at Sanction
more than a dozen years ago. and at the
present time you will find scarcely Cath
olic mission in all the great valley of the
Hoangho without a trained and organized
| military force. The fanatics of that region
| knowing that the Christians We're uot ar