The unsatisfactory state of things, to which the viceroy calls attention,
is due to the indiscriminate assistance rendered by some missionaries to
Chinese Christian converts who, relying upon the “protection” of the
missions, oftentimes defy the authority of the local officials, whose
efforts to preserve peace and promote the general welfare of the people
are thus set at naught.
It is sincerely hoped that the foreign governments concerned and the
missionary societies, whose object is to do good in China, will
carefully consider the matter and accord to Chinese officials all
possible cooperation in their efforts to promote and maintain peaceful
and harmonious relations between Chinese Christians of different sects,
as well as between Christian and non-Christian Chinese.
Trusting you will take such action as you may deem proper in the matter,
I beg to renew, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Translation of a dispatch from Viceroy Liu at Nanking to Minister Wu at Washington, August 19,
1901.
According to the dispatch received on the 27th of the sixth moon of
this year (August 11, 1901) from the governor of Kiangsi Province,
he states that during the fourth moon of this year (last part of May
and first part of June) the Roman Catholic and Protestant missions
rented houses in the city of Hsin-Chin for the purpose of carrying
on missionary work. The Roman Catholic mission is under French
protection, while that of the Protestants is under American. Each of
these missions has admitted converts to the number of from three to
six hundred. Some of these became converts in view of a lawsuit
pending, in order to get the protection and assistance of the
missions, the plaintiff joining the Roman Catholic mission and the
defendant the Protestant. There being no foreign missionaries placed
in charge of the missions, they were managed by Chinese who were not
able to control their own converts or reconcile their differences.
The magistrate of Hsin-Chin, with the cooperation of the military
authority, used the utmost effort time and again to reconcile the
parties, but was unable to induce them to come to a satisfactory
understanding.
On the afternoon of the 30th of the fifth moon (July 15) it was
suddenly reported that some Roman Catholic converts intended to go
to the Protestant chapel and create a disturbance. When the said
magistrate heard the news, he went at once with the military
authority to the scene to prevent it. On their arrival, to their
astonishment, these people had already been there, and after having
caused injury to the head man of the chapel, Yang Tsu-jui, and
destroyed a small portion of its
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furniture had then dispersed. When the said
magistrate had examined the wound of the injured person, fie
proceeded to the Roman Catholic mission with the object of warning
them against further disturbance, but meanwhile the people from the
Protestant mission in turn gathered many of their converts and went
to the Catholic mission to wreak their vengeance. The magistrate and
others endeavored to put a stop to this. Then they secretly went to
the homes of the three Roman Catholic converts, Mr. Chen, Mr. Hsi,
and Mr. Pan, and raised a disturbance, wounding three persons. The
said magistrate again hastened to investigate and found that the
wounds were fortunately slight. Nevertheless, the head man of the
Protestant chapel and others persisted in their course, and that
same night, with an increased number of men and arms, went to the
Catholic mission and broke the tablet of the chapel over its
entrance. The civil and military authorities repeatedly endeavored
to prevent trouble. When the crowd saw that the authorities had
received slight injuries, they desisted from breaking into the
chapel and dispersed. At the time of the disturbance, at the request
of the prefect of Lin-Kiang, Captain Ma, in command of the troops at
Lin-Kiang, hastened to the scene with a small force to preserve
order. At the same time the prefect deputed Ho Chang-chi to
investigate the cause of the trouble, so that he might act jointly
with the magistrate of Hsin-Chin to settle the matter. In the
prefectural city of Lin-Kiang, there being only a Roman Catholic
chapel, the prefect wrote to the head of the mission, Mr. Mei
Wang-hsing, requesting him to enjoin upon the converts not to create
any more disturbance.
The Protestants have not established a chapel in the prefectural city
nor is there any Protestant missionary there, so the bureau of
foreign affairs had to ask Mr. Lih Keh-sz, the Protestant missionary
stationed at the provincial capital, Nanchang, to write to the
missionary of the disturbed district to restrain their own converts
from creating further disturbance.
When the above information was received from the prefect of
Lin-kiang, the governor of Kiang-si deputized expectant-taotai,
Kiang Feng-ching, acting in concert with the local, civil, and
military authorities, to suppress the disturbance and to take proper
measures to arrest and punish the offenders. In the meanwhile the
governor instructed the bureau of foreign affairs to depute an
official to inquire of Mr. Lih Keh-sz in person of the condition of
affairs. He replied that no (foreign) missionary had been sent there
to teach the Christian doctrine; that there were very few converts;
that he had written to Mr. Chin Tiao-sheng, who had already been
sent to that place to investigate into the case, to warn the people
there not to create any disturbance, and that if they did not attend
to their own business and submit to authority they would be handed
over to the local authorities to be dealt with according to law.
According to the report of expectant-taotai, Kiang Feng-ching, Yang
Tsu-jui and Chen Peng-hsiang did not embrace the Christian faith
until last year, when they formed partnership to open a store. Their
trouble arose from their badly kept accounts. In the third moon of
this year, Chen Peng-hsiang joined the Roman Catholic mission and
Yang Tsu-jui the Protestant. They instituted a lawsuit in the fourth
moon, and, each relying on the protection his mission afforded him,
refused to obey the summons to appear before the court. The head of
each mission listened only to one side of the story and did not
examine into the other side. Consequently, on the 30th of last moon
(July 15) Chen Peng-hsiang, together with a number of Roman Catholic
converts, went to the Protestant mission, dragged Yang Tsu-jui out,
assaulted and injured him; besides they destroyed a small portion of
the furniture of the mission. After this occurrence, Yang Tsu-jui
immediately collected a number of friends and proceeded to revenge
himself. They broke the doors and windows of the Roman Catholic
chapel and destroyed the furniture belonging to the families of
three Catholic converts; they also slightly wounded a man and a
woman. The civil and military authorities who went to suppress the
disturbance were also slightly injured. On the sixth day Yang
Tsu-jui’s brother attacked and injured the Catholic convert, Liu
Tai-lai, also. Chen Peng-hsiang and Yang Tsu-jui are the ringleaders
of this trouble. As both have made their escape, their families are
now urged to induce their return. The Protestant missionary is
willing to search and produce the Protestant ringleader, but Mr. Mei
Wang-hsing, the Roman Catholic missionary, in his letter openly put
himself forward to protect his offending convert. On this account,
Chen Peng-hsiang, relying on the protection of his mission, refused
to appear before the court. It is now intended to direct the
magistrate to discover and arrest all those involved in the trouble,
without regard to their religion, and have them brought to trial and
dealt with accordingly. At the same time the magistrate is to write
to the heads of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant missions,
requesting them to excommunicate Yang Tsu-jui and Chen Peng-hsiang,
and that if they still refuse to appear before the court, they
should be stripped of their official titles arrested and punished.
The above is received from the governor.
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On a former occasion, when trouble arose at a place called Shih-kong
between Roman Catholics and the Protestants, the French
consul-general sent the vice-consul to the place to inquire into the
case. At that time all the converts of whatever religion who were
involved in the disturbance were handed over to the local
authorities to be dealt with; the American consul also agreed to
help in the settlement of the matter. The governor of Kiang-si was
requested to have the case investigated and fairly and justly dealt
with.
In the present instance, the Roman Catholic and Protestant converts
at the city of Hsin-chin, on account of the trifling matter of
collecting debts, took sides with their respective principals in the
case, fought each other, even injuring the local civil and military
authorities. From this it may be seen that these converts availed
themselves of mission protection to act in defiance of law. This is
not only an injury to the country, but also a stain upon the good
name of the missions. A united effort should be made to have the
ringleaders of the trouble arrested and punished severely as a
warning in the future. It is certainly not proper to afford them
unlawful protection by which they can set the law at defiance, which
would result in no end of trouble.
Moreover, if two sects of the same religion repeatedly antagonize
each other, how could the converts and nonconverts be expected to
live together in peace? As the object of the missionaries is to
spread their doctrine and to exhort people to do good, they ought to
devise a plan to restrain their converts and to refrain from
receiving candidates into their churches without discrimination. In
case of litigation between the converts it is hoped that the
missionaries will give no more interference, but show impartiality
to all, to the end that the different missions may not antagonize
each other, and that the converts and nonconverts may live in
harmony. This would not only be a blessing to the country, but also
an evidence that the real intention of the Christian religion is to
do good. Besides replying to the governor’s dispatch and writing to
the French and American consuls-general at Shanghai for their
information and proper action and also to the officials concerned, I
have the honor to bring this matter to your attention and beg you to
confer with the honorable Secretary of State, in order that a
satisfactory arrangement may be made by which the converts and the
nonconverts may live in harmony in the future.
I await your reply.
