but I have seen no proof of any tendency in that direction. The Catholics number, probably, 1,200,000 adherents, and in late years they have done very little proselyting, but have confined their labors to the spiritual needs of Catholic families.

The natural increase has made them powerful and numerous.

Here, then, is the long, slow, tedious work before the missionary to convince the Chinese by his conduct that he has no object to accomplish but their own welfare, to remove prejudice and to win confidence.

The means are apparent and have been used by missionary laborers with rare ability, courage, and industry. They are to educate the young and heal the sick. This great country, owing to its peculiar language, its dense population, its ancient conservatism, moves slowly. But when we realize that mission work under favorable auspices only commenced after the treaty of 1858, and the occupation of Peking by the English and French in 1860, and when we see what has been accomplished in twenty-six years, we must admit that great progress has been made and we must look hopefully to the employment of missionary agencies in the future.

I think no one will deny the beneficent effect of mission work in Japan in civilizing that country and educating that people. Why, then, should some praise not be accorded to missionaries in China for the immense work in the same line that they have done?

I offer no observation on the religious side of this work. It does not come within the purview of the diplomatic agent to discuss the spiritual nature of this labor. If an American Buddhist or Mohammedan or Jew were to come to China to pursue the work of preaching his doctrine, he would undoubtedly receive at the hands of his country's representatives the same protection that is vouchsafed to the Christian. It may be asked, what has diplomacy to do with a question which is so largely confined to the spread of religious doctrine. The answer is that the diplomatic agent recognizes that the complete civilization of a people means the increase of trade and commerce with the rest of the world. Any line of conduct which throws open new continents to intercourse with the great producing and creating countries is beneficial to them. Here in China it cannot be denied that the educational labors of the missionaries, the preparation and publication of innumerable books, the introduction of new medicines and inventions in surgery have all tended to improve the natives. Civilization means commerce, trade, a market for manufactured articles.

It is idle to inquire whether war would have produced the same results, or the merchant alone would have done as much. The ardent zeal, the supreme self-denial, the utter self-sacrifice that characterize missionaries are not found in the votaries of commerce.

Diplomacy, finding the representatives of the various nationalities here, steps in to supplement their labor. It has its field of education no less pertinent than theirs. It educates the diplomatists of the country. It teaches international law. It insures protection to all honest labor. Its efforts are not directed to the aggrandizement of individuals, but to the promotion of the general welfare of the various nations. In some cases, as luminously in our own country, it antagonizes baleful commercial enterprise, like the opium traffic. And here again the missionaries by their influence aid the efforts of diplomacy. Diplomacy makes both the merchant and the missionary secure.

In my trip over China I visited every mission school and hospital, and made the acquaintance of every missionary. I am persuaded that their work is being pushed with diligence and intelligence. I demand

of them the exercise of prudence and forbearance. I demand that they shall insist on no doubtful rights-that their zeal shall not outrun their discretion. Their warrant to preach the Gospel to all nations must be construed with the context, which enjoins obedience to the powers that be. If they remain in the fair scope of their exalted employment this legation will always be found in sympathy with their just rights.

I have, &c.,

CHARLES DENBY.

No. 242.]

No. 63.

Mr. Denby to Mr. Bayard.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Peking, November 17, 1886. (Received January 3, 1887.) SIR: I have the honor to report to the Department that, owing to the heavy and incessant down pour of rain which prevailed during the summer and early part of the autumn in the province of Chihli, many districts in the prefectures of Shuntien, Paoting, Hochien, Tientsin, and other places were flooded by the overflow of the rivers and bursting of their embankments.

The crops are entirely destroyed and the country completely covered with water-countless houses have been demolished or rendered uninhabitable; most of the people are roofless, and no small number on the verge of starvation; and a winter of fearful severity to be faced; all the evils that are implied in the three words, hunger, cold, and nakedness, lie before these Chinese unfortunates.

The inundations have caused the Government serious uneasiness, and it is to be feared there is too good reason for anxiety. The districts flooded are immense; the ruin caused complete; there is little prospect of the water draining off before the winter sets in, so many tens of of square miles of land will be converted for some months into a frozen lake, and thousands of agricultural people will be utterly deprived of the means of earning food. The land flooded is so low that the drainage towards the sea is slight and slow, and the unseasonable rains during the month of October have counteracted to a great extent any diminution which might have taken place, so that at present the water on the plain in some places adjacent to Tientsin is almost as deep as when the flood was at the highest point. Immense districts more or less ice-bound, and thousands of starving people to be housed and fed during a severe winter-this, then, is the prospect which the Government has to face, and this, not in a remote region of the Empire, but in the immediate neighborhood of the capital, where the Emperor has not only already heard, but is likely to still hear, the cry of distress with unpleasant distinctness.

The following appropriations of rice and money have been made by decrees issued by the Empress Regent and Emperor, to alleviate the distress of the sufferers:

On the 9th of August 66,130 piculs of rice were granted by imperial order, to be distributed among the famine-stricken in the four prefectures above alluded to. The rice to be taken from the tribute grain of Kiangsu in transit to Peking, and the money necessary to defray cost of transit of same is also given to afford relief to the sufferers.

On the 4th of September another allotment of 50,000 piculs of tribute rice was given from the Kiangpei supply, as well as the money

necessary for cost of transportation of same, to be distributed among the sufferers in the Shuntien prefecture.

On the same day the Empress Regent granted by imperial decree from the palace fund the sum of 20,000 taels for the same purpose.

On the 5th of September a further decree appeared, based upon a memorial presented by the governor-general, Li Hung Chang, granting an appropriation of 100,000 taels to be used at once in giving succor and relief to the destitute in various districts in the prefectures of Tientsin and Yungping, the money to be furnished by the provincial treasurer of Chihli. The Empress also decreed on the same day that the board of revenue shall appropriate 20,000 taels from the moneys due for the imperial palace, to be applied toward giving relief to the distressed throughtout the flooded districts in the province of Chihli.

Hundreds of refugees are seen daily-men, women, and children— going to and returning from the Government soup kitchens, where they receive a quantity of gruel per diem, but the small amount received cannot very well support life, especially to those who are half-clothed and barely sheltered from the nights' cold.

In the districts surrounding and belonging to Tientsin through which the high road to Peking passes, for nearly 15 miles every village is destroyed, the country presenting one vast and almost uninterruped expanse, of water, dotted here and there with island hamlets (the walls of the remaining houses) and forlorn trees. Boats of various description are to be seen skimming over these waters, and the trade in fishing has received an immense impetus, many of the farmers, whose means of support by agricultural pursuits are cut off, having taken to fishing as a source of livelihood. While this occupation will help to keep many from the pangs of hunger for a short time, it will cease when the water is frozen.

I have, &c.,

CHARLES DENBY.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LEGATION OF CHINA AT WASHINGTON.

No. 64.

Cheng Tsao Ju to Mr. Bayard.

CHINESE LEGATION, Washington, D. C., November 30, 1885. SIR: I have the honor to state that it becomes my painful duty to bring formally to the notice of your excellency a subject of the gravest importance, heretofore referred to in other notes, and to ask for it the careful and considerate attention which distinguishes your conduct towards this legation and my Government.

It appears that several hundred subjects of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China, having entered the territory of the United States in accordance with treaty stipulations, had located themselves at Rock Springs, in the Federal Territory of Wyoming; had there erected houses, and for a number of years past had been engaged in the lawful pursuits of peaceful industry. On the 2d of September last these subjects, while quietly engaged in their usual avocations, were suddenly attacked, without any provocation on their part, by a lawless band of armed men,

said to have numbered about one hundred and fifty persons. With scarcely any warning the Chinese were ordered by the mob to leave their homes, but before an opportunity was afforded them to execute these orders a deadly fire of musketry was opened upon them, and they were compelled to abandon their houses and all their property and flee to the mountains for their lives. In a short space of time all who were able had fled without offering any resistance, many of them being shot while in their homes or as they ran away from them. Fire was then set by the rioters to their houses, and the entire village, which constituted their chief place of abode, and all Chinese habitations outside the town of Rock Springs, were burned to the ground. As a result of the mob, twenty-eight Chinese were killed, fifteen more or less severely wounded, and a large amount of property (estimated at $147,748.74) was destroyed or appropriated by the rioters.

The Chinese consuls at San Francisco and New York were directed by this legation to go to the scene of the massacre and make a personal investigation of the circumstances attending it. I desire again to make acknowledgment of the inestimable service which was rendered to these consuls through the very prompt and generous action of your excellency, in causing to be sent high officers of your Government to accompany them for protection and assistance in their work. It is also a grateful duty I discharge in praying you to convey to the noble Presidert of this nation the hearty thanks of my Government for the timely dispatch of troops to Rock Springs after the massacre, which, I am sure, prevented still further loss of life and property among my countrymen. After a careful and thorough investigation, the Chinese consuls have sent to me their reports, which, with the accompanying papers, I inclose herewith for the information of your excellency. To some points established by these documents I deem it proper to direct attention.

It will be noticed that the attack upon the Chinese was unprovoked on their part. The consul at San Francisco reports that "no grievances are complained of by the miners as against the Chinese," and this is confirmed by all the witnesses whose testimony was taken. The postmaster, a resident of the town for ten years, says he has found the Chinese, "as a class, quiet and well disposed," and he had "never known of any feeling among the Chinese towards the white miners." The consul at San Francisco"was assured by prominent citizens, long resident in the Territory, that, as a class, the Chinese have always been law-abiding, quiet, and peaceable, promptly complying with all exactions in the payment of taxes, never in any way becoming a tax upon the authorities.” There seems to have been no complaint as to discrimination in wages, the only motive alleged for the assault being the refusal of the Chinese to join the other miners in their "strikes."

A second fact shown is, that the events occurred in "broad day-light." One of the witnesses says, "I think nearly all the murderers can be identified, as no concealment was attempted, but all done in daylight." It does not appear that any civil or other authorities made any attempt to prevent or suppress the riot. The judicial proceedings which followed the sad event are described as "a burlesque." The conduct of the coroner who investigated the causes of death seems to me strange, but with my imperfect knowledge of American procedure I prefer not to criticise it.

A further fact is stated by the consul at San Francisco. He says, "I am, after thorough investigation, firmly of the opinion that not one of these criminals who murdered the Chinese, burned and robbed them at Rock Springs, will or can ever be brought to punishment by the so-called

Territorial or local authorities. In this opinion I am sustained not only by my own convictions, but also by the governor and prosecuting attorney of the Territory, and scores of citizens, resident and non-resident." This opinion would seem from subsequent events to have been well founded, as, according to the reports in the public press, all of those who had been arrested for participating in the riot have been released, and the grand jury of the county has refused to find any bills of indictment.

For about twelve hours the rioting, robbery, and arson continued unrestrained; for although, as stated, the killing and wounding of the Chinese and the burning of a great part of the houses were done during the daytime, the witnesses testify that "a little after nightfall the firing of the remaining Chinese houses commenced and continued until after midnight. All this time men, women, and children were engaged in looting and plundering." And the miners' newspaper at Rock Springs says, "All night long the sound of rifle and revolver was heard, and the surrounding hills were lit by the glare of the burning houses." I purposely refrain from giving the details of the massacre contained in the testimony inclosed, as I deem them of too revolting and sickening a character to be repeated in this note, and I am too well acquainted with the noble and humane sentiments which inspire your excellency to think that such a statement is necessary to awaken your sympathy and indignation, and card forth all the powers of your Government to vindicate its laws and repair the wrong which has been done to my countrymen. It therefore remains for me to ask, in the name of the Emperor and Government of China, that the persons who have been guilty of this murder, robbery, and arson, be brought to punishment; that the Chinese subjects be fully indemnified for all the losses and injuries they have sustained by this lawlessness; and that suitable measures be adopted to protect the Chinese residents of Wyoming Territory and elsewhere in the United States from similar attacks. In this connection, I beg to refer to a list of names of those who were killed and wounded, and of the property losses which were inflicted upon Chinese subjects at Rock Springs by the mob of September 2 last.

With this statement I might consider my duty discharged, but for the fact that this legation having had occasion to call the attention of two of your worthy predecessors to a similar but much less bloody and disas trous event, the honorable Secretary Evarts expressed soine doubts as to the legal liability of his Government to make pecuniary indemnity to the Chinese sufferers by the mob at Denver, in the State of Colorado, in 1880, and that the honorable Secretary Blaine concurred in the views of Mr. Secretary Evarts. I have, therefore, to beg the kind indulgence of your excellency while I attempt to show why the present request for indemnification, in the opinion of my Government, ought in justice and equity to be granted, notwithstanding the views set forth in the notes of Secretary Evarts of December 30, 1880, and of Secretary Blaine of March 25, 1881. In doing this it is not my intention to either appeal to you from or to question the correctness of the interpretation of the laws of the United States as given by the distinguished jurist' Mr. Evarts, and confirmed by the experienced statesman, Mr. Blaine. It would seem to me, however, to be just that if the view taken by Mr. Evarts as to the obligation of the United States to make indemnity for injuries to private individuals from mob violence should be insisted upon and adhered to by your excellency's Government, China should, in due reciprocity and international comity, accept and practice the same prin