Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1892
Mr. Denby to Mr. Blaine.
Peking, May 28, 1892. (Received July 14.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose a clipping from the North China News, of the 21st instant, giving an account of two antiforeign riots, [Page 116] which have lately occurred in the province of Fukien. I have not received official notice of the occurrence of these riots and forbear comment thereon until such notice shall reach me.
I have, etc.,
The troubles in Fukien.
[From the North China News.]
The following account of these outrages is taken from an extra published by the Foochow Daily Echo on Monday last:
On Wednesday, April 27, the house occupied by the missionaries of the Church of England Zenana Society in Chingho City was attacked by a mob, assembled by the leading literary man in the place. After having been exposed to the insults of the mob for three hours, the ladies, Miss Johnson and Miss B. Newcombe, were rescued by the mandarin and taken in chairs to the yamên. The house was not a quarter of a mile from the yamên and the mandarin had to be summoned three times before he took any notice of the matter, and finally only came after a cry had been raised that one of the ladies had been killed by the mob. The Emperor’s proclamation, which was hanging in front of the house, was broken to pieces and burned by the mob, who subsequently wrecked the house. The mandarin at first promised the ladies protection until they could communicate with their friends, but on the following day so fierce a crowd gathered in front of the yamên that he insisted on the ladies leaving the town as quickly as possible. Evidence is not wanting that points to the complicity of the mandarin in the riot.
The ladies almost miraculously escaped without serious bodily harm. Had it not been for the bravery and devotion of the teacher, Mr. Siek, who repeatedly summoned the mandarin and exerted himself to the utmost to protect them, they might have fared much worse.
On May 11 the little mission hospital and dispensary in a suburb of Kienning City was attacked and completely wrecked by a mob of hired ruffians in the pay of the leading literary man of that city, Chio Chie-puoi. Dr. Rigg, who was on the premmises, narrowly escaped a horrible death. The patients, students, and others in the building escaped by the back door, Dr. Rigg being the last to leave, remaining until he was dragged out by one of the four soldiers sent by the local mandarin to protect the place. Escaping through the garden, the doctor was compelled to climb two fences amid a shower of bricks, stones, and heavy lumps of wood. In the road the mob seized him, threw him down repeatedly, and struck him with their fists, and on reaching some large vats for liquid manure, attempted to throw their victim into one. Happily, the doctor’s grasp of one of his assailants was so firm that they found it impossible to throw him in alone, and desisted for a moment, when by a desperate struggle he got up on his feet and regained the road. The cowards still pursued him, taking his watch and chain, and tearing his clothes off his back in the hope of finding money. One brave native Christian from Kuchêng, who throughout the whole struggle stood by the doctor and attempted to shield him, was severely beaten and actually thrown into one of the manure pits. Dr. Rigg made his escape to Nangwa, meeting on the road a former patient, who, seeing that he had no hat or umbrella, lent him his own, and finding on inquiry that he had no money gave him 50 cash to get his breakfast, an act eloquent of the true feeling of the poor natives, among whom Dr. Rigg has worked so patiently for the last three years. After wrecking the hospital the mob partially destroyed the houses of four other men connected in various ways with the hospital, and stole the clothes and tools of seventeen workmen who were engaged in building a new hospital.
The Emperor’s proclamation had been for months on view in the hospital, and the mandarins were well aware of the approaching riot, but are powerless to oppose the literati. It is high time that something was done to let these gentry feel the strength of the arm of the law, and we have no doubt the vigorous measures already undertaken by Her Majesty’s consul in Foochow will have the desired effect.
At the time of writing Dr. Rigg, although severely bruised and shaken, is slowly recovering from the effects of the treatment received from the mob, and is able to go about his work as asual. Great admiration is expressed by all who know the circumstances, for the pluck and coolness with which he faced the crowd, and for his calmness throughout, for he never once lost his presence of mind during the long assault.
[Page 117]All the native students, etc., have also come into Nangwa unhurt, though with the loss of everything they possessed. Some had hairbreadth escapes from the mob. Dr. Rigg rejoices in having been able to draw off the mob from the Christians, who would otherwise have been very severely dealt with.
The teacher Siek, whose bravery saved the two ladies at Chingho, is in immediate danger; not long ago he professed Christianity very boldly and openly, and now he and all others who have been teaching foreigners the language have been summoned to Kienning City to stand their trial before the other literary men. If treaty rights afford protection to those who are in the employ of foreigners, we hope every effort will be made to save his life, and that of the only other Christian among them.
It is now known that before undertaking the riot at Chingho, the headman of the literati traveled to Kienning, and asked the advice of Chio Chie-puoi as to whether he should raise a riot, and received assurance of support and a promise that the destruction of the house in Chingho should be followed by the pulling down of the hospital at Kienning.
Mere compensation in money is not enough to make such a man as Chio Chie-puoi feel the results of his action. The only thing which would be really effectual would be to deprive him of his degree. Such a course can only be taken, we hear, by the Peking authorities, as he is a third-degree man, and as such beyond the control of local officials. Will the Chinese authorities wait (or be allowed to wait) until another missionary is killed before carrying out the treaty provisions and practically enforcing them on those who rebel against them?