Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1899
Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay .
Pekin, China , July 12, 1899 .
Sir: In continuance of my dispatch No. 211, of June 5 last, concerning the missionary troubles in the I-chou-fu prefecture, province of Shantung, I inclose herewith copies of additional correspondence upon the subject, and have the honor, etc.,
Revs. Chalfant and Johnson to Consul Fowler, Chefoo.
Sir: We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communications No. 1175 and No. 1224, with inclosures. We have also received your No. 1206, and shall send the desired statistics as soon as possible. We are glad to note that you continue to appreciate the importance of securing promptly a settlement of the antiforeign and anti-Christian riot cases now pending in this prefecture.
Our prefect has returned from Chinan-fu, and it is said that he brings stringent orders to settle all the “church cases, both Catholic and Protestant.” Simultaneously with his arrival came the taotai of Yenchou-fu and Bishop Anzer, who proceeded to T’an Ch’eng, whence they returned in a few days and went to Ji Chao. It is reported that the Catholic cases in this county (Lan Shan Hsien) have been settled by the payment to the victims of the sum of 3,500,000 large cash. It is also reported that a settlement is in sight in T’an Ch’eng. In the latter county, however, several Catholics who had returned to their homes under official protection for the purpose of harvesting their wheat were attacked only a few days since and two or three of them killed. Three of our Christians went back last week to their homes in Liu Ts’un and Man T’ang Yu to cut their wheat. The two Man T’ang Yu men returned yesterday, reporting that they were again driven from their homes by an armed band of men composed of the younger members of the families of Ho Wen Chih and the other ringleaders at Ho Chia Lou, whose arrest was long since demanded by Minister Conger, but who are living at their homes without molestation.
The German soldiers have left Ji Chao and gone back to Tsintau, taking with them, if reports are true, several of the leading gentry of Ji Chao as hostages. We do not know what settlement, if any, was effected.
Our Christians who were driven back from Man T’ang Yu, as above related, state that the Catholic Christians have been allowed to return to their homes and are reaping their wheat in peace.
No steps have been taken to settle any of the Protestant cases. We beg leave to submit, without comment, the above statement of the present situation.
We are, etc.,
- W. P. Chalfant,
- Chas. F. Johnson.
Mr. Conger to the Tsungli Yamen .
Pekin, China , June 27, 1899 .
Referring again to the cases of persecution of Christians in the Ichou-fu district, in Shantung, concerning which we have had so much correspondence, and which, in [Page 172] our last interview upon the subject, your highness and your excellencies promised that immediate instructions should be sent to the governor to cause the arrest and punishment of the chief five of the ringleaders, whose names were furnished, and a satisfactory settlement made with Rev. Mr. Chalfant, which instructions your highness and your excellencies wrote me had been sent, I now have the honor to report that I am to-day in receipt of information from Mr. Chalfant that nothing whatever has been done, but the Protestant Christians are still kept away from their homes, and some, when they tried recently to return and harvest their wheat, were again driven away by the members of the families of the very ringleaders who had persecuted them before and whose arrests you have promised me.
In the same district some Catholic Christians have been permitted to return to their homes and harvest their wheat in peace, and it is reported that the Catholic cases are being satisfactorily settled.
At our extended interview upon the question, because your highness and your excellencies insisted that you could more satisfactorily explain the details of the case and give more explicit instructions by letter than by telegraph, I frankly agreed that the instructions should be sent by letter instead of by telegraph. But now that sufficient time has elapsed for your detailed and explicit instructions to have reached the governor of Shantung, and because the situation is rapidly growing worse, I must insist that immediate telegraphic orders to the governor be sent to execute the instructions which, according to the agreement made at our interview, you informed me you had written him.
This case has been dragging along for many months, and the situation is rapidly becoming unbearable, both to the missionaries and native Christians. Further delay is simply trifling with an important question and a Government which has a right to expect and require better treatment.
I will therefore thank your highness and your excellencies for the earliest possible reply to this note, informing me whether or not the necessary telegraphic instructions have been sent.
Improving the opportunity to reiterate, etc.,
The Tsungli Yamen to Mr. Conger .
Your Excellency: We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 27th instant in the matter of the persecution of Christians in the prefecture of Ichou, in Shantung, that nothing whatever has been done toward bringing the case to a close, and your excellency requested the earliest possible reply to your note, etc.
With regard to this case, the yamen a long time ago addressed the governor of Shantung, requesting him to cause an investigation to be made and action taken in the premises.
On the 31st May your excellency called at the yamen and requested that the Shantung governor be communicated with at once and that he be requested to instruct the prefect of Ichou to lose no time in settling the case with Rev. Mr. Chalfant; that he is to arrest and punish the ringleaders; that the chapel destroyed is to be rebuilt and indemnity paid for the articles stolen, and thus bring the whole case to a close, etc.
The yamen at the time addressed the governor of Shantung, directing him to consider and take action in the matter. That officer has now reported to the yamen as follows:
“The petition of the acting magistrate of Jih Chao, Mr. Yang, states that in regard to the case in question some time ago a letter was received from the Rev. Mr. Chalfant, and the magistrate then in office, Mr. Lu, arrested Ho Chun-min and Ho Chenhsi, who were pointed out as causing the missionary trouble. Further, the magistrate of Can Shan district, Mr. Chen, was ordered by the prefect to send one Ho hai-min to his native place, there to be kept in custody awaiting trial. On the 25th of March, 1899, the former governor of Shantung issued instructions to Mr. Magistrate Lu (in regard to this affair), and he forthwith presented a petition to the governor, which is on record. After the petitioner had taken over the seals of office he received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Chalfant, an American missionary, in which he [Page 173] requested that the ringleaders be vigorously arrested, in order to settle the missionary case. Instructions were thereupon issued to the yamen police to vigorously arrest these men, but they were not caught. On receiving the governor’s present instructions, trustworthy policemen were deputed, together with clerks and runners of the punishment department, to proceed to Man T’ang Yu and Ho Chia hou and vicinity and with the utmost accuracy find out whether or not peace and quiet prevails there, and to what extent the Christian loss of grain is. Further, to inform the Christians that they should come to the city so that they be consulted and action taken in the premises. The police were at the same time ordered to vigorously search for Ho Yen-min and others and arrest them without fail so that they could be put on trial. The police and clerks have returned to the city and reported that Ho Yen-min and others had long since gone to other parts; that Man T’ang Yu, Ho Chia hou, and vicinity are extremely quiet and peaceful; that there is no chapel at Ho Chia hou, but there was a church building of three chien, or rooms, at Man T’ang Yu, which was destroyed, but the gentry and people had come forward to arrange and assist in settling the matter and have agreed to rebuild the church. The missionaries and Christians, however, have not up to the present returned to the place, and for that reason work has not commenced. As to the loss of grain and cows belonging to the Christians, the gentry and people have settled satisfactorily this question and paid the money, which the Christians duly received.
“The petitioner (magistrate) would state that the three men, Ho Chun-min and others, arrested some time ago, are the same persons mentioned in His Excellency Mr. Conger’s list. They have been incarcerated several months, but one of them, Ho Chunmin, on account of sickness, died. The gentry and people have consented and agreed to pay the loss of the grain and cows of the Christians, as well as to rebuild the church which was destroyed. As to other miscellaneous losses, these they have also consented and agreed to pay. This is considered a good method of managing the matter, but the Christians up to the present have not returned to their homes, and hence there is no way to begin taking action in the matter. Strenuous search will again be made to arrest without fail Ho Yen-min and others, and when arrested another trial will take place and a report submitted.”
The above petition is presented by the governor for the yamen’s consideration.
We have also received a note from the governor of Shantung stating that he has again issued instructions urging the acting prefect of Ichou, together with the magistrate of Jih Chao, to lose no time in consulting with the missionary W. P. Chalfant and others, so that the matter may be speedily arranged; that the Christians may be notified to return to their homes and quietly pursue their avocations, and at the same time vigorous search must be made for the arrest of Ho Yen-min and the others, so that they may all confront each other in court and any feeling of enmity existing done away with, to the end that everlasting peace may prevail between the Christians and non-Christians.
In regard to this case we may state that three of the outlaws have been arrested and are awaiting trial. Vigorous search is being made for the arrest of Ho Yen-min and others. As to the church that was destroyed and the loss of grain, it has been decided that indemnification shall be made.
Action, therefore, has really been taken in good earnest.
In sending this note in reply to your excellency, we beg that you will instruct the Rev. W. P. Chalfant to confer with the prefect of I chou and lose no time arranging matters; further to notify the Christians to return to their homes and peacefully pursue their respective avocations of life and thus settle this case. This is our hope.
Cards of ministers with compliments.
Mr. Fowler to Mr. Conger .
Chefoo , July 3, 1899 .
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a letter from Ichoufu of June 20, upon the present situation in regard to the recent disturbances which have taken place in that prefecture.
I have, etc.,
Revs. Johnson and Chalfant to Mr. Fowler .
Sir: We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, No. 1235, inclosing a copy of Minister Conger’s letter to you under date of June 1. We are gratified to learn that our minister has renewed his demands upon the tsungli yamen for an immediate settlement of the riot cases in which we are interested. We wish to repeat what we have said before, that we are by no means making our demands upon the local officials in a spirit of revenge, nor do we entertain an unreasonable estimate of the extent of the reparation due to us. We simply deem it necessary that our treaty rights as American missionaries be vindicated, and that the clause in the treaty between China and the United States which provides that no Chinese subject shall be molested because he chooses to embrace the Christian religion be not allowed to become a dead letter.
The general spirit of these persecutions has been avowedly antiforeign, and in many instances, such as the cases where ancestral groves of converts have been cut down by enemies, they have been anti-Christian in the strictest sense. We maintain that foreign Governments can not afford to stand by inactive and see the Chinese Christians mobbed, robbed, driven from their homes, and even brutally murdered, because they have accepted the religion which the Chinese popularly and rightly identify with those Governments. It is not only a direct violation of the treaty, but it leads logically and actually to popular contempt for foreign Governments and to riotous attacks upon the persons and property of individual foreigners.
In this contention we believe that we have the support of the American and of other Christian Governments.
Since the date of our last letter our local magistrate has called upon us and asked us to submit a list of the losses of the mission and of the Christians to the Taotai of Yenchou-fu through a committee of the local gentry. We have, of course, long since filed these claims in the yamens of the counties where the disturbances arose. We nevertheless did as we were requested and handed the list to the committee, who report that it has been handed to the Taotai to be forwarded to the governor. We were assured that an answer might be expected by the 20th of the present (5th) Chinese month. Whether these promises will be carried out or ignored as similar promises have been ignored heretofore remains to be seen.
The claims of the Christians were carefully examined by us and cut down to the lowest limit which seemed to be just. They are, by counties, as follows:
| Large cash. | |
| In northwest I Swei (Hsi Ch’eng Yu, etc.) | 1,000,000 |
| In southern I Swei | 35,000 |
| In northwest Ji Chao (Man T’ang Yu) | 363,000 |
| In Chu Chou (Liu Ts’un) | 86,950 |
To these sums we have added 150,000 “large cash” toward the expense incurred by us in telegrams, messengers, and the support of refugee Christians, a sum far within the actual expense for such items. The total amount of our claims is thus 1,635,200 “large cash,” equal to about $2,000, Mexican.
A number of our Christians still do not dare to return to their homes, and with a single trifling exception no offer of indemnity has been made by the persons immediately responsible for their losses.
The report that the burned chapel at Man T’ang Yu has been rebuilt is utterly without foundation.
We are, etc.,
- Chas. F. Johnson.
- W. P. Chalfant.
Mr. Conger to Mr. Fowler .
Pekin, China , July 3, 1899 .
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith copy and translation of a note just received from the tsungli yamen, re the I-chow-fu persecutions, which please hasten on to Rev. Mr. Chalfant, and request him to make up the cases in the line of the suggestions made, and see if it is not possible to settle them and enable the persecuted people to return to their homes and there continue to practice and teach Christianity.
[Page 175]There are many evident errors in the report of the officials to the governor, and even in his statement to the yamen. But there are so many officials from high to low to deal with, the distances are so great and means of communication slow, that I do not deem it best to delay the cases by taking up these errors for discussion until after Mr. Chalfant takes up the cases, and tries his best to arrange them with the prefect, as the tsungli yamen requests. It seems to me, with a copy of the yamen’s note for Mr. Chalfant to present to the prefect, a reasonably satisfactory settlement ought to be made, and with the help of Mr. Chalfant and the native Christians the ringleaders can probably be readily produced for arrest and punishment. I apprehend it will be much better for missionary work as well as for the native Christians in that locality, and especially for the future potency of Rev. Mr. Chalfant’s influence there, if the affair can now be settled locally and through negotiations which seem to be now opened up to him.
I am, etc.,
Mr. Conger to the Tsungli Yamen .
Pekin, China , July 6, 1899 .
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of your highness and your excellencies concerning the Shantung missionary troubles, dated June 30, 1899, in which you furnish very full reports from the governor and other local officials, and request me to instruct Rev. Mr. Chalfant to take up the cases with the prefect, who has been instructed to settle them with him, etc., and see if the matter can not be ended.
Many of the statements which, according to the note of your highness and your excellencies, the local officials present to the governor, I regret to say do not all agree with the facts reported to me by the missionaries. But since your highness and your excellencies have ordered a settlement made and have asked me to instruct Mr. Chalfant to join the prefect in accomplishing it, I hasten to so instruct him and will only take up the question of fact again upon their failure to satisfactorily arrange the matter.
I am, however, strongly hoping that a satisfactory settlement will now speedily result and further trouble in that locality be avoided.
With renewed assurances, etc.,
Mr. Conger to Mr. Fowler .
Pekin, China , July 7, 1899 .
Sir: I have received your dispatch No. 191, of July 3, with its inclosed letter from Revs. Johnson and Chalfant.
Before this can reach you I trust they will have received my communication of the 3d instant and that a satisfactory settlement of the case may be well under way.
I am, etc.,