Mr. Wharton to Mr.
Denby.
Department
of State,
Washington, October 18,
1892.
No. 754.]
Sir: Unclose for your information a copy of a
dispatch from the consul-general of the United States at Shanghai, No. 222,
of the 9th ultimo, in regard to the reported mutilation of missionaries in
Shensi.
Mr. Leonard has been advised in reply that if any American citizen shall be
found to have suffered in that reported outbreak, it was presumed that the
matter would be promptly brought to your knowledge and be duly acted upon by
you.
I am, etc.,
William F. Wharton,
Acting Secretary.
[Page 134]
[Inclosure in No. 754.]
Mr. Leonard to Mr.
Wharton.
United
States Consulate,
Shanghai, September 9,
1892. (Received October 7.)
No. 222.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith an
editorial from yesterday’s issue of the North China Daily News,
published at this place.
Singan, the place mentioned, is more than 800 miles southwest of Peking,
and about 500 miles north of Ichang, the port farthest up the Yangtze
River, and inaccessible to any foreign force.
So far as I can learn, there may be half a dozen American missionaries in
that region in the service of the China Inland Mission, but I can not
ascertain before mailing this dispatch.
I have, etc.,
J. A. Leonard,
Consul-General.
[Inclosure to inclosure in No. 222.—From
the North China Daily News, September 8, 1892.]
We received yesterday the following telegram dated Singan Fu, 6th
September, 6:30 p.m.: “European Missionary Christians mutilated Shensi,”
which evidently means that there has been an anti-Christian outbreak in
Shensi in which European missionaries and native Christians have been
mutilated. The epidemics that have visited northern central China this
year have, we know, been taken advantage of by the enitides of
missionary work, and it is to be feared that these men have succeeded in
stirring up a riot in Shensi. The China Inland Mission has 27 members,
including associates, in Shensi, mostly in the west of the province, at
Fengsiang, Hanchung, Chengku, and Sanyang. There are 30 Franciscans in
Shensi, including 7 nuns, and many of these are near Singan Fu. There
are also 3 English Baptist missionaries in the province. It is difficult
to know what can be done to assist the foreigners in Shensi, if they
need assistance, the nearest port being Hankow, but we understand that
information of the trouble has been telegraphed to Sir John Walsham, who
will no doubt make the necessary representations to the Chinese
authorities.
