Forty-one Protestant Societies were represented in 1890, by 589 men, 391 wives, and 316 single ladies,—a total of 1296 persons, of whom 724 were British, 513 American, and 59 Continental,—assisted by 1660 natives. These numbers may now be slightly larger.
As regards persuasions, 7 per cent. of the Protestant Missions belong to the Church of England, 20 per cent. are Presbyterian, 14 per cent. Methodist, 12 per cent. Congregational, 9 per cent. Baptist, and the larger number, or 38 per cent., unclassified.
There are upwards of 550 Protestant Churches, distributing, in 1889, 700,000 Bibles and 1,200,000 tracts, and over 60 hospitals and 50 dispensaries.
The result of the work since 1842, reported to the Protestant Conference, held in 1890, was, in round numbers, 37,300 communicants (of whom over two-thirds are stated to be Nonconformists), or about one in ten thousand of the population; 19,800 pupils; while 348,000 persons were returned as having received medical aid, or at least to have visited a missionary dispensary—a work which is acknowledged by all to be of the utmost value, to be of real national benefit, and to be appreciated by the people. It is much encouraged by the Rev. Hudson Taylor, himself a surgeon and native of Barnsley, who from Shanghai directs, with great tact, the undenominational China Inland Mission, the members of which adopt, like the Roman Catholics, the Chinese costume, and, like them, are smally remunerated, the expenses of the Mission, exceeding £38,000 a year, being met by unsolicited contributions.
The Recent Disturbances
44.—The disturbances on the Yangtze in 1891, like those at Tientsin in 1870, had for ostensible cause the fixed popular suspicion that the succour of foundlings by the Roman Catholic sisterhoods is for nefarious medicinal purposes. Many of the female children, purposely exposed to die, are necessarily, as indeed in Europe, in a moribund condition when brought in, and the mortality is very high. This is confirmed by the baptismal figures above quoted. The freedom of access, anywhere and to anybody, which is inseparable from Chinese life, and is tolerated, however disagreeable, by the most experienced missionaries, has also sometimes been attended, it is alleged, with difficulty, especially from native converts, and irritation has resulted.
The facts disclosed in the British Parliamentary Paper (C. 6431) appear to be that, on May 9th, 1891, two Chinese nuns were visiting a sick family at Wuhsueh, on the river Yangtze. As the disease of the parents was infectious, they removed the children. On the way to the Mission they met a relation, who demanded their restoration. This being refused, the nuns were taken before a magistrate, who, however, on the requisition of the fathers, immediately released them.
This excited much popular agitation, and three days afterwards, a woman came to the Mission to claim a child alleged to have died therein. As she was accompanied by a small crowd, which assembles in the narrow teeming streets of China on the slightest pretext, admission was apparently refused. Then commenced the work of destruction, costing two Englishmen, who gallantly went from some distance to render help, their lives, and imperilling many others, not only in the locality itself, but, later on, elsewhere on the river. Much foreign property was destroyed, and a very serious state of affairs seemed likely to supervene, for, as The Times recently wrote, and experience has often shown, "Native feelings of hostility, once roused against the white man and whetted by the intoxication of success, cannot be expected to take account of an imaginary dividing line between two spheres."
Anti-Foreign Feeling
45.—In attributing the outbreak to Chinese hatred of the foreigner, two observations appear in this instance to claim consideration. The first is by Mr. Consul Gardner, in his despatch of June 9:—
"The mob was composed of many hostile from mere ignorance, many from the force of contagion, some from fear of others, a few really friendly, who, like the soldiers, led a lady to a place of safety under pretence of robbing her of a ring, and others who sheltered them from blows, while very few deliberately meant mischief."
The other is by the Rev. David Hill, a Wesleyan missionary of much experience, who was officially employed to inquire into the facts. Under date June 12th. 1891, he writes:—
"One thing which the sight of the house impressed on me was the evidence which it gave of the hold on the people's mind which the rumours as to the destruction of infant life have gained. On the upper story, the ceiling had been inspected by means of a ladder, which evidently had been brought up for the purpose. On the ground floor the boards of one of the rooms had been fired, and a large aperture made. Below the ground floor the ventilators outside had been torn open, as though search had been made for missing infants, and, of course, the lath and plaster walls in all the rooms where they might be found were pierced."
This latter view is confirmed by the Rev. Father de Quellec, who, writing in the Missions Catholiques, describes how, at another place, on the night of May 23rd, a dead child, from whom the eyes had been removed, was placed on vacant land near the Mission. A crowd assembling next morning, cried out, "It is the European devil who has torn out the eyes and heart of this child!" The house was stormed, but fortunately a magistrate arrived with troops more under command than is usual in China, and the mob was dispersed. "But," adds the Father, "eight out of ten believe that we take out the eyes and store them in the cellars of the Mission."
It is contended that, under such antagonistic circumstances, rescue work should be guided by the greatest care, for otherwise its use, to the prejudice of both missionary efforts and European trade, by reactionaries, is inevitable. Their sinister influence, once asserted, may at any moment call into fatally destructive play, as indeed recently, the anti-foreign feeling entertained by a large proportion of the Chinese.
That this anti-foreign feeling exists all agree. It is urged that it must never be forgotten—for what renders it especially serious in China, is the frequent evidence of its being fanned from above—and that the authorities have no efficient machinery of civil order on which reliance can be placed. Nor is the Central Government always able to enforce its will on distant provincial authorities, or even to prevent their varying the orders of the Throne.
At the same time, say others, the hostility may be exaggerated. The employment of over 100,000 Chinese by foreign residents, many in highly confidential capacities, both in the office and the household, and as many more on board foreign ships, tends to confirm the general verdict that the people, in an individual sense, are civil, obliging, and even hospitable towards the foreigner, and well-disposed especially towards the English trader, who treats them fairly good-humouredly, and without offending their national prejudices. This is supported, even from Wuhu itself, for the last Trade Report says: "The trade in goods classed under Foreign Sundries has increased rapidly during the past two years, and shows a gain of 70 per cent."
Summary of British Position in China
46.—It remains but to summarize the position of affairs as regards British interests in China, so far as I have been able to grasp it.
(a) That three-fourths of the foreign trade is in British hands, and a still larger proportion of the shipping in Chinese waters.
(b) That British commercial firms and residents are in a large majority among the foreign population.
(c) That the contiguity to China of British India, Burmah, and Hong Kong, and the large numbers of Chinese residents in British territories, give England an especial interest in the welfare of the Empire, and in the gradual opening of the vast markets in the West, South-West, and Centre.
(d) That while British interests outweigh, in their magnitude, variety, and extent, not only those of every other Great Power, but those also of the whole world, Russia upon the North and North-West, and from her adjacent port of Vladivostock; France, her ally, upon the South from Tonquin; and Germany upon the coast, are anxious and watchful competitors.
Policy of Britain
47.—The course of policy best calculated, under such a condition of things, to maintain and extend British commerce is a matter for the Electorate to decide. Those who share the feeling of the majority in Sheffield, that the undeviating conduct of the foreign affairs of the Empire is essential to the expansion of foreign trade and its wealth of home employment, will probably consider—
(a) That the British Industrial interests at stake in China, and also in Japan, are too great to be necessarily linked to the comparatively trivial concerns of any other nation.
(b) That as they are mainly dependent upon the safety of the resident standard bearers of British trade, Her Majesty's ships in Eastern waters6 should always be sufficiently numerous and ready at any moment to protect them, unaided, in their persons and property.
(c) That the trade route from Europe to Asia, and its line of defence—Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong Kong—should always be kept in British hands, and secure against any possible attack.
(d) That at the same time, no accession of friendly territory being desired, and only mutuality of commerce on equitable terms, the Emperor of China and the Imperial Government should be enabled, by the Queen's representatives, to feel that the support of England will always be forthcoming in any step for the advancement of the Chinese nation, the development of amicable relations, and the security of the Empire against any unwarranted maritime aggression.
MEMORANDUM UPON THE BRITISH TRADE ROAD TO THE FAR EAST
1.—The nearest trade road from Europe to the Far East lies through the Suez Canal, down the Red Sea, past Perim, to Aden; thence to Ceylon; from there to Singapore, and to Hong Kong in the China Sea.
2.—As three-quarters of the external trade of both China and Japan is in British hands; as the British residents are nearly equal, numerically, to those of all foreign nations combined; and as British ocean steamers are more numerous than those of the whole world, and eightfold those of Germany, the second on the list, it is only fitting, independently of the possession of India, that this trade route should always be retained, as at the present time, in the hands of England, whose position is greatly strengthened by the possession of Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus in the Mediterranean.
3.—So long as this sea road is held intact and properly defended, Great Britain remains the dominant commercial and naval power in the China Sea.
4.—To pass Perim or Aden in the Red Sea, and so gain access to the Indian Ocean, would be almost impossible for any European power at war with England.
5.—Singapore likewise commands, to a great extent, the entrance to, and exit from, the China Sea.
6.—Apart, though, altogether from the active power of fortifications and artillery, torpedoes and submarine mines, there is the equally effective one of want of coal.
7.—Even supposing that Germany, Russia, Austria, or Italy were able to coal at Port Said,—a state of affairs which, while we occupy Egypt, would not be possible in a state of belligerency,—their steamers could not traverse the 7000 miles to the coast of China without fresh fuel; and, against the will of England, this would not be attainable.
8.—France alone, by coaling at Brock, opposite Aden, and Pondicherry, might take the outer channel of Singapore, and so reach Saigon, a distance of 2300 miles; or even Haiphong, in Tonquin, an additional 600 miles; but the vessels could only steam very slowly.
9.—The defensive value to the Empire of the Colonies guarding this great trade road is therefore clear.
10.—But these prosperous Colonies are also commercially valuable to the Empire in themselves, and particularly Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong.
11.—Ceylon does a trade of 6,000,000l. a year with the Empire, whereof half is with the United Kingdom, which she is now supplying with 50,000,000 lbs. of tea annually.
12.—The Straits Settlements have a population of 507,000; and of the external trade of 178 million dollars, 78 millions are with the Empire. There is no public debt, and the Colony contributes (as also Ceylon and Hong Kong) 100,000l. a year for its defence, which is now, for the first time, upon a proper footing.
13.—Hong Kong, ceded to the British 50 years ago, has become a port of first-class importance. Although, not barring the approach to the Upper China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the waters of Japan, it does so to a large extent, in a practical sense owing to the coaling difficulty.
14.—The shipping trade of Hong Kong has doubled in the past 20 years. Of 130 million tons of shipping, passing in and out of the harbour in 1890, 7 million tons were British, 4 million Chinese, and 2½ million foreign. British ships numbered 5500 (an increase of 136, and 400,000 tons in three years); foreign ships numbered 2600 (an increase of 307, and 225,000 tons), and Chinese junks 55,600—a total of 64,000 vessels.
15.—The population of Hong Kong is about 200,000, of which 10,000 are European, and the remainder Chinese. Emigrants from China, to the number of 42,000, passed through the port, and of these, 36,000 were bound for places under the British flag, while 850,000 Chinese visited the island in the course of the year.
16.—The general impression of Hong Kong, in a commercial, maritime, defensive, and picturesque sense, has been fittingly summed up by the late Governor: "It may be doubted whether the evidence of material and moral achievement make, anywhere, a more forcible appeal to eye and imagination, and whether any other spot on the earth is thus more likely to excite, or more fully justifies, pride in the name of Englishman."
17.—Provided, therefore, the British hold firmly by this trade route, and, in friendly alliance with China, do all that is possible to develop mutual trade between Burmah and the Yunnan district, there is nothing to fear from the rivalry of any other power, for so long as South Africa remains loyal to the Empire, the long sea road by the Cape is absolutely impossible to any other nation. If, however, the short route be cut off at its base, by the British abandonment of the magnificent mercantile position established in Egypt, not only will the labour of ten years be thrown away, but the whole of the gigantic trade with the East be imperilled.
18.—The only foreign powers capable of injuring us, in a naval sense, in Chinese waters are Russia and the United States. The former has a formidable fleet, based upon the splendid fortified harbour of Vladivostock, and could move land forces upon Corea. The reinforcement of the squadron from Europe should, however, be impracticable. As regards the United States, hostility is happily not a likely contingency; but, in any case, the 4500 miles across the stormy Pacific Ocean, devoid of any coaling station, unless it be Honolulu, is a formidable barrier.
C. E. HOWARD VINCENT.
21, 12, 1891.