The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-28

only to the national land grabbing of
France and Germany on account of
missionary troubles. but also to petty
neighborhood squabbles. a convert of
the French priest Is immune from the
law of his own land. He may be n
murderer, n thief, rascal OF any kind
or degree; his church membership is
an asylum. and the law cannot touch
him. The missionary alone is his Judge.
No outsider can have any redress
against him. This has made tho French
churches refugees for cvi-doers, and
1t has also caused the French mission
aries to be dreaded and hated by Chi
nese high and low.
Matters are improving somewhat of
late. The observation-disclosures of the
French clergy has abated. since the
troubles in France have deprived them
OF the privileges OF instant appeal to
the French minister at Pekln. a new
and better policy will probably. per-
force. be adopted. The noble sacrifice
of the French priests and nuns, ana
their tire!ess. unseltish labors. may
then have their rekard in the affection
and esteem of the people.
Willy John Chinaman's Ways.
AS a rule, the American and British
missionaries have followed a directly
contrary policy. as the utterances of
! the two ministers of these nations,
| which 1 shall later quote, will show
Their general rule has been non-inter-
| ference in civil matters. Times be-
You'd counting they haze been put in Il
predicament by the willy Chinese. who
can see an advantage to themselves
| long before 1t is on an Anglo SaXon's
| horizon.
| Thus many an ardent young mission
| airy has found that Il sudden accession
| or inquirers has been due to the fact
| that the professed converts wanted him
| to take up their side of n quarrel
| against members of the French church.
! To join the one church seemed to tho
| Chinese the only recourse left to en-
| able them to get justice from, or to
| get even with, the members of the
| other. II the American missionary
| would not help them, as the French
| missionary helped his people, then his
| was the loss of face" and following.
| In these circumstances some mis-
! sionaries have doubtlessly appealed to
| the native officials and to their own
| consuls on behalf of their people, in
! cases other than persecution; the
treaties accord protection to the ma
| tive Christians when prosecuted on &C
count of their religious faith. although
| this is a doubtful advantage.
When the Gospel Goes to Law.
The net results of all this has been
! only trouble for all concerned. The mis-
| sionaries have been caused endless an
| noyance, and at times serious difficul-
| ties. There Is general agreement among
the Anglo SaXons that they Will not
! go to the yamens in behalf of the Chi
|
| some have expressed to me the wish
| that the boards would make peremp-
| tory ruling that missionaries must not
| NEEDLE with law cases. so that they
! could make this answer when appealed
| TO. Certainly it is the conclusion of all
/ impartial observers that it is Sravely
| unwise for missionaries to attempt TO
! influence the course of Chinese civil
| and criminal administration. even when
| these are unjust.
60 strongly do most missionaries
/ now feel upon the subject that. they
/ refuse under any condition to tuch
| yomon cases one young missionary,
| horn and reared in China and on close
| terms with leading Chinese, was one
day notified that acertain man under
arrest had claimed exemption from
! punishment on the plea of belonging
! to this missionary church. What
shall do?" asked the magistrate
"Givc him ten extra lashes for trying
to deceive you and for attempting to
drag the church into a civil case,
promptly replied the young missions
airy. The general practice of the
American missionaries, with only rare
! exceptions is to permit their mem
bers to suffer injustice, rather than
! to incur the greater evil of bringing
| reproach upon the church's name. and
| of hindering the state from exercising
its sovereign rights, Nevertheless,
have learned from consuls and from
missionaries of some cases wherein
American missionaries have appealed
to the mandarins or to the consuls.hh
behalf of natives, ~
A Robbing Mandarins of Face"
The precmnent irportan% of face"
in China makes this SOFT of thing
harder Far a Chinese official to swallow
than It would be for an Anglo-Sa
although the endurance OF 1t on the
part of the later is an impossible
/ hypothesis. Magistrates are thereby
shorn of prestige and power by the
medd lesome foreigners, The procedures
which pass for judicial processes in
China are Knocked sky high. Thus,
although most officials with whom |
have talked clearly distinguish he
/ tween French and American mission
aries, there is undoubtedly q wide
spread hostility against all missions
aries on the part or the official class,
They associate, and not without real
son, the loss OF much OF their territory