No. 75.
Mr. Seward
to Mr. Evarts.
United
States Legation,
Chefoo, June 16, 1877.
(Received July 25.)
No. 273.]
Sir: I have had the honor to mention to the
department the fact that in a part of Northern China the rains failed last
year, and that the people have suffered from a famine in consequence.
[Page 110]
So far as we know the distress has been greatest in the province of
Shan-tung, within which this part is situated. It has extended north,
however, into Chili, and westward into Shanse, Shense, Honan, and Kansuh. We
hear, indeed, that its results in Honan and Kansuh have been very
severe.
The Netherlands minister to China, Mr. Ferguson, resides here, and has given
attention to the reports which have been brought in from the famine district
in this province. His information is set forth briefly in the inclosed copy
of a letter which he addressed to his countrymen in this part of the world
in March last, at which time foreigners generally in China and Japan were
making an effort to extend all possible relief.
The total amount of the sums subscribed by foreigners has not been declared,
and it is not easy to arrive at it, as they have been paid in and expended
at different times and different places. It cannot fall much short of
$40,000. This will be considered a large sum to be contributed by so few
people. The good which has been done with the money cannot be measured by
the value of so much money in the west. Among a people so simple in their
wants, a few dollars go almost farther than would the same number of tens of
dollars in the west.
The almoners of this charity have been the missionaries of different
denominations who are resident in and near the distressed districts, notably
Mr. Richards, of one of the English missions, and Dr. Nevins, of the
American Presbyterian mission. The latter returned a few days since, having
expended all the means with which he had been provided, about $10,000. He
has confirmed to me the general correctness of Mr. Ferguson’s letter, and
assured all that the number of deaths in this province must be counted by
tens of thousands. There were about 30,000 people in the district where he
operated, and he reports that, in an exaggerated way, the survivors insist
that half of them would have perished but for the aid which he brought. He
says that the officiate and gentry rendered almost no aid where he was, but
he has heard that in other districts they have done better.
I had some conversation about the famine with a few of the members of the
foreign office before I left the capital, and I seized the opportunity to
point out to them the fact that the extension of railways and the
introduction of varied industries are relied upon in other countries to
mitigate such occurrences. I thought it due to our common humanity to point
out by indirection that a government cannot be excused in this age for the
abandonment of its people to widespread and horrible distress, disease, and
death.
I had an opportunity, also, to bring to their attention in another way the
charity which foreigners have extended to the sufferers. I was told
beforehand that the foreign office would not be pleased to receive this
information, but I could not believe it. The result is that the Yamên
addressed notes to the several foreign representatives asking us to return
the thanks of the government to our respective nations for their
benefactions.
There is a prospect of excellent crops at the approaching harvest.
I have, &c.,
[Page 111]
[Inclosure.]
[From the Shanghai Courier and China
Gazette.]
Netherland Legation in China,
Wednesday, March 14,
1877.
To His Netherland Majesty’s consuls and
subjects in China, Japan, the Philippines, Hong-Kong, Macao, Cochin
China, Siam, Straits Settlements, and India:
Gentlemen: It was pretty generally known that
during the summer and autumn of last year various parts of the provinces
of Shantung and Chihli had suffered from a drought which would result in
more or less distress from the scarcity of food that must necessarily
follow, and, indeed, symptoms in themselves grave began to be manifest
as winter’approached, though only trifling as compared with what has
occurred.
Toward the middle of November regular communication from reliable sources
in the interior of Shantung ceased, and native report was the only
source of information as to the condition of the suffering province. It
appears that in the interim matters were becoming daily more and more
aggravated, and that the aid given by the Chinese Government toward the
suffering districts proved not to be sufficient, so that urgent appeal
was made to the people of other provinces and the foreign communities in
China.
About the 25th of January communications were again opened with the
coast; but, unfortunately, the first letter, coming through Chinese
hands, only reached its destination long after subsequent accounts,
which confirmed the worst fears and depicted a state of unutterable
distress. The word which now reaches us says that thousands are already
dead of starvation and thousands more are starving.
The principal scenes of these sufferings in Shantung are eight hiens, viz: Liu-ku, I-tu, Chang-ol, Wei-hien,
Lo-ngan, Show-kwang, Ling-to, and Po-ling. Of these, Liu-ku suffers
most, and gets 10,000 taels in relief from the 43,000 taels granted for
all by the government. But though the distribution of gruel has doubled,
yet the suffering has more than doubled. The people have eaten up the
little crop they got in the autumn, and now are in the direst plight,
and their cry is no longer for rain, but for life.
With reference to the extent and degree of sufferings, the following
details will give an idea: A moderate Men
contains about 1,000 villages. Villages of 500 families report 300
persons dead of starvation; villages of 300 families, 100 persons; and
so on. One village in Liu-ku had 180 inhabitants in it last summer; now
there remain 93; 40 are dead, and the rest gone away.
The course of the distress seems to be that as soon as the corn is all
eaten they resort to the husks; then potato-stalks, elm-bark, turnip
leaves, acorns, and grass-seeds gathered in the fields. When this is all
done, they pull down their houses, sell their timber, eat the rotten
sorghum-stalks from the roof, and the dried leaves, which they usually
burn as fuel. Thousands eat fuel-leaves, and thousands more die because
they cannot get them. Then they sell their clothes and children. Having
no more clothes, many take refuge in pits built under ground, to keep
themselves warm by the fetid breath of the crowd, a course which is
bought dearly. For the east suburb of Ching-chow City there are four
such pits. One-third of the number, 240, originally put in them died
within six weeks, and yet no sooner is a corpse carried out than a crowd
is struggling for the place. All this wrought a great change in the
spirit of the people. Late in the autumn they were strong and daring,
and although life and property were then at their mercy, no popular
disturbance of any kind has taken place. Now, the fare they had for many
months has broken their spirits, and they are quiet and submissive to
their dreadful fate. Starvation by inches faces these unfortunate
people, and deputations of old men who come to beg relief weep like
little children before you when they find there is none to be had. Not a
day passes but one must refuse to many who ask it, perhaps the last bit
they would have eaten.
The Chinese Government and the people of the other provinces do what they
can, but the calamity is too great to be met by ordinary means. There is
a government distribution of gruel to the value of six or eight cash per
person per day. Many have lived on nothing else for two months, and are
getting so weak that young men of twenty years cannot walk three miles
for it. If it is so with youth, how must it be with the infant and the
aged? Even though the gentry have in many places doubled the government
aid by their contributions, yet it is estimated soberly that there are
districts in Liu-ku where half the people will not live to see the
wheat-crop ripe, if no support comes from outside.
To all this there is adde4 the one papital aggravating circumstance, the
depreciation of the land to about 80 per cent, below its normal value.
Next comes the fixing of an upward limit for the price’ of grain, thus
preventing the influx of supplies from neighboring provinces. There has
been no such famine as this in these parts for ninety years, since the
fifty-first year of Kien-lung, (A. D. 1786.) The number of lives saved
and orphans rescued will only be limited by the amount of money placed
at the disposal of the distributors. Thousands may be tided over the
famine at $4 per head. Who
[Page 112]
would not like to be the deliverer of fifty or a hundred human beings
from starvation where nothing but money is to be given? These are the
heart-rending accounts which reach us here daily. This is not pleading
for charity to the poor, but for the ransom of their lives.
I therefore take the liberty to appeal to the Netherland consuls and my
countrymen in this and the adjacent countries to give a helping hand
during this exceptional famine and distress in the two above-named
provinces of China. The Netherland consuls at Shanghai and, at Chefoo
will receive all gifts collected by His Majesty’s consuls at other ports
in China, Japan, the Philippines, Hong-Kong, Macao, Cochin China, Siam,
the Straits Settlements, and India, and hand these collections over to
proper persons in the interior for distribution, of which an account
will be published in due time, in the local papers of Shanghai, for the
information of those who have responded to this appeal on behalf of bur
starving fellow-creatures in China.
I have the honor, &c.,
J. H. FERGUSON,
His Netherland
Majesty’s Minister Resident and Consul-General in
China.
Chefoo, March 1,
1877.
