JONATHAN LEES, London Mission Society to W. H. Lay, July 29, 1870

C.

THE TIEN-TSIN MASSACRE.

The following correspondence has passed between her Britannic Majesty’s consul and Messrs. Lees and Hall, regarding the damage done to Protestant mission property during the recent outbreak:

Her Britannic Majesty’s Consulate, Tien-tsin, 20th July, 1870.

Sir: I have been requested by her Britannic Majesty’s chargé d’affaires to ascertain the amount of damage sustained by British subjects during the late unfortunate troubles.

As I am aware that many of your chapels were destroyed, and much valuable property lost, I have to request you, if you see fit, to have estimates made of the losses, and send them to me, in order that they may be forwarded to the Chinese authorities.

Your obedient servant,

W. H. LAY, Acting Consul. Tien-tsin, 21st July, 1870.

Sir: We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your official letter to us, dated the 20th instant, touching the losses sustained by missions we represent during the recent outrages.

We cannot but express our surprise, not only that, at this early stage, we should be required to state the amount of those losses, but that, prior to the settlement of the more important questions which are still pending, the subject of monetary compensation should be entertained at all.

Apart altogether from the fact that we are yet uncertain as to the action which will be taken at the present crisis almost certainly by the French, and, possibly, even by our own government—action which it might be as useless as it would be impolitic for us to forestall, by consenting to any unsatisfactory condonation of the crimes which have been committed; it can hardly be necessary to remind you that, until peace has been definitely secured, there are various items of loss for which we should feel it to be our duty to claim compensation, the limits of which can hardly yet have been reached, Such is the utter disorganization of this city and neighborhood that all mission work must, in all likelihood, be suspended for months to come. Our respective staffs are thus thrown upon our hands. Our country converts, both in this province and in Shantung, are every where expecting new outbreaks in their various districts. Native Christians in the city continue to be daily exposed to spoliation and personal injury, while there is every reason to fear that our own appearance in the streets would still be fraught with danger.

With respect to our chapels, we fear that, however willing we might be to meet the wishes of his excellency, it is not possible for us to do so. Our converts hardly dare linger in the neighborhood of the ruins; what hope can there be, then, that we can visit them in safety, or procure builders’ estimates as to the cost of reërection, not to speak of any actual attempt at restoration? Our deliberate conviction is that such an attempt would only end in their renewed destruction, even if workmen could be found brave enough to undertake the task.

Will you forgive our expressing an anxious desire not to be separated from our suffering French brethren in any settlement of these unhappy troubles? This is not a mere question of sentiment. We cannot but feel that the interests of our country are involved in what has occurred. We are British subjects, resident here under the protection of treaties, and engaged in the prudent prosecution of our lawful calling. Our lives have been sought, our property has been destroyed, our converts grievously injured, and our characters assailed. Moreover, there seems good reason to believe that at least, one of the murdered Sisters was a British subject. There cannot be the slightest doubt upon the mind of any one who has been brought much info converse with the people during the last few weeks, that the original design was to treat all nationalities alike. It is easy to understand why the mandarins are now anxious to produce a different impression. But just as the excuses, which unhappily served them so well in regard to the outrages at Formosa, Yang-chow, and elsewhere, fail them now, so should the evident falsity of their present professions of special friendship with ourselves fail to separate us from those allies with whose interests our own are so evidently bound up.

We beg you will not mistake us. We are not crying for war and vengeance, but we do claim justice, and we hold most firmly to the belief that the path of safety and of honor, no less for individual Englishmen than for our government, is to stand by our fellow-sufferers in the hour of trial. Nay, more, we believe this, for obvious reasons, to be the most merciful line of action in reference to the Chinese themselves.

We scarcely know whether we ought to apologize for venturing to express such views, for we hope that they find an echo in your own and every other heart. We have only, therefore, respectfully to assure you that we shall strive to meet, as soon as possible, the wishes of her Britannic Majesty’s chargé d’affaires, and to request you to represent to him our difficulties in the matter.

We are, sir, your most obedient servants,