Helm , Missionaries of the Southern Presbyterian Board of Missions, Hang-chow to the missionaries Houston and Helm, August 15, 1873

Mr. Lord to the missionaries Houston and Helm.

Dear Sirs: You are aware, I suppose, that the movement in your city last year directed against natives who had transferred, or aided in transferring, houses or lands to foreigners, was at the time supposed to have originated in a particular dislike that some of the officials, and perhaps gentry, had to your position and houses on the hill. It is true that this fact was not mentioned to me and my colleague in the discussions that we had with the officers at that time. Still, we knew well enough that the difficulty had originated there.

The movement referred to was unreasonable and anarchical; for which reason, perhaps, we were the better able to get it arrested; the magistrates, themselves, no doubt becoming alarmed when called to face the storm they were raising. After our protests no further arrests were made, and the persons already arrested were soon released; moreover, the proclamation deemed necessary to quiet the minds of the people was issued in accordance with our request. From that time to the present, so far as I know, there has been no action on the part of the officers or people calculated to disturb foreigners.

However, I have suspected that neither the officers nor people were, or would be, satisfied to have your houses remain where they are, and recently this suspicion has been confirmed by a petition presented to me asking for their removal. I will briefly state the history (so far as it is known to me) and import of this petition, before expressing any opinion in regard to the attention which it should receive.

About a month ago, a native gentleman of this place, of high standing and influence, called on me and stated that the gentry of Hang-chow had consulted with him in regard to the mission-houses on the hill in that place, and the possibility of getting them removed. He did not state to me what advice, if any, he had given to the gentry of Hang-chow. But he said that they had decided to bring the matter before me; they would unite in a petition, and they would be glad to present their petition respectfully through a deputation representing their body, if I would permit them. I replied, of course, that if they had any grievance in regard to the matter referred to, which they wished to present to me, they had a right to present it, and it was my duty to give it the consideration it might deserve. As for the deputation, this did not appear to me a matter of much importance; still, if they chose to send one. I had no objection; it might supplement their petition, and explain more fully what they wanted.

About a week ago this deputation, consisting of three gentlemen from Hang-chow, and the gentlemen above mentioned, belonging to Ningpo, waited on me, and presented their petition. The petition contained the names of the three gentlemen present from Hang-chow, and five others, who, it was said, would also have been present but for the difficulty of leaving home. Both the petition and the statements of the deputation convinced me that the matter was by them considered of very great importance.

It was stated that the houses occupied by your mission on the hill were but a short distance from, and over against one or two of, the principal official residences; in consequence of which, according to their notions, the fung-shuy was disturbed, and their residences were rendered liable to the visitation of evil influences. It was said, too, that Hang-chow was the provincial capital, and also the residence of a large number of officers and scholars, by whom the doctrine of fung-shuy was universally and sincerely believed, and by whom the regulations in regard to it were considered to be of very great importance. Now these regulations, it was said, were violated by these houses being where they are. The officers and people, therefore, were anxious to get them removed. But, in asking to have them removed, they were willing to indemnify their owners for any loss that they might sustain. They would see that they were provided with a suitable place elsewhere, and be enabled to erect (or they would erect for them if they preferred) buildings as good as those that they now have. In short, they would leave me to decide what was just and reasonable in the matter of compensation. This is the history and import of the matter as it has come before me.

Now, in presenting it for your consideration, I will call your attention to a few points which I think you should keep in view.

• In the first place, it is a settled question, so far as the Government of the United States is concerned, that missionaries have no treaty-right to reside in China elsewhere than at the open ports. This matter has to some extent been misunderstood. But it is known now that the clause in the French treaty, from which it was supposed the right of missionaries to reside in the interior was derived, does not exist in the French text, which alone, in cases of discrepancy, is to be regarded as authoritative. Moreover, irrespective of the French treaty or any other, our Government has decided that it is impolitic to claim from the Chinese government rights for missionaries not claimed for other citizens. I mention this fact as one important to be borne in mind in settling difficulties of this kind. The Chinese are dissatisfied with your present location on the hill, and they ask you to exchange it for one somewhere else. You may have thought, and so you may very naturally say, “We are here by right; why, then, are we asked to remove?” But just here is the mistake. “Your right,” replies our Government, “to reside on the hill, or in Hang-chow, at all, is only such as the Chinese give you. We are willing and pleased to have you reside there, if you can do so with their consent.” Now, it seems hardly necessary for me to add, that in order to obtain and secure this consent it may be necessary at times to concede something to their prejudices. To reside on the plain with their consent and good will I should judge to be far better policy than to insist on remaining on the hill without them.
• I remark, in the second place, that, however little or much the ruling classes at Hang-chow knew or cared about your position on the hill at first, there can be no doubt but that it has now become among them a matter of notoriety and concern. The present movement is proof enough of this. I think that all classes of Chinese in Hang-chow are peaceably disposed toward foreigners; but they are, of course, capable of being irritated, and, with this standing cause of irritation among them, it would be no strange thing if in time it led to the disturbance of the peace you now enjoy, or even to acts of wrong and outrage. Indeed, my opinion is that the feeling on this subject is already too deep and wide-spread to be safely ignored.
• —The present method adopted by the Chinese to get rid of what is to them a grievance seems to be just, and even generous. It admits that your being where you are is no fault of yours. It is a mistake, (as they look at it,) harmless perhaps to you, but disastrous to them. They courteously ask you to change your location, and they offer to pay your expenses in doing so.
• By your acceding to their proposition, I think I can secure to you a location that will in most respects, if not in all, be as eligible as that which you now have; and, in addition to this, succeed in placing you and all the missionaries in Hang-chow on a safer and better footing. In this way the conflict that commenced a year ago will be well ended, and the Chinese will have had at least one proof that the better way to redress their grievances against foreigners is not by violence and wrong, but by law and order; and if this lesson is learned by them to any extent, you cannot fail to see how great a boon it must be to us all.
• In conclusion, I have to say that I am strongly of the opinion that you ought to accede to the request that the Chinese have made. I think it will be for your own interest, and for the interest of your fellow-missionaries. And I suppose I hardly need say that, if you do accede to their request, I will use my best endeavors to secure you every interest and convenience that may seem just and practicable.

The Chinese are anxious to have the matter decided as soon as possible; so I trust you will let me hear from you on the subject at your earliest convenience.

I am, sirs, your obedient servant,