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of the world, were no doubt based on erroneous data; but still it would be a mistake to say that it failed to produce none of the beneficial effect which had been expected. It was something for the outer world to learn, in those days when the Chinese presented to the mind of foreigners ideas only of weakness and falseness, that they had better characteristics, and that some day they might wield no inconsiderable power. Mr. Burlinghame was sanguine, and the expectations of his audiences, both in America and in Europe, overleapt all difficulties, and spanned at a step the growth of many years; but only the most shallow-minded observers will deny that Mr. Burlinghame's widest stretches of fancy were supported by an amount of truth which events are making clearer every year. Of course those who only looked on the surface, who saw the difficulties under which China staggered, and the dogged pride with which she refused the remedy forced upon her by foreigners, who had at least as much their own interests as hers in view, declared that Mr. Burlinghame's statements were "enthusiastic fictions." The Chinese themselves did not attach as much importance as they might have done to his efforts, and Mr. Burlinghame's mission will be remembered more as an educational process for foreign opinion than as signifying any decided change in Chinese policy. His death at St. Petersburg, in March, 1870, put a sudden and unexpected close to his tour, but it cannot be said that he could have done more towards the elucidation of Chinese questions than he had already accomplished, while his bold and optimistic statements, after arousing public attention, had already begun to produce the inevitable reaction.

Sir Rutherford Alcock's residence at Pekin, without being marked by any decisive matter similar to the incidents which had occurred during the critical years of the war, and the subsequent negotiations, witnessed many minor disturbances and differences which required his constant and unrelaxed attention. The outrages at Yangchow and in Formosa were followed by others at Swatow and Foochow. In all these cases redress was exacted in the promptest and most effectual manner by the nearest gun-boat. It was only when the populace broke out into anti-foreign fervour at a distance

from the sea-coast that the means of redress were nonexistent. Such was the case in Szchuen, where Père Rigaud and a large number of native Christians perished at the hands of a mob, without any possibility of obtaining immediate reparation. Sir Rutherford Alcock's principal work accomplished during this period was the revision of the Treaty of Tientsin. The new terms failed of course to satisfy everybody, but there is no reason to suppose that anything more favourable could have been procured at the time, or that any more vigorous action would have received the support of the British Government.

At Sir Rutherford's parting interview with Prince Kung, he said to the latter: "After all these discussions, now that we have entered into a convention regulating many points, I hope that, though I am going away, you will find other matters will settle themselves satisfactorily, and that there will be a gradual improvement in our relations, and in the progress of our commerce." Prince Kung replied very cordially: "Yes, we have had a great many discussions, but we know that you have always endeavoured to do justice, and if you could only relieve us of missionaries and opium there need be no more trouble in China." During Sir Rutherford's residence the Duke of Edinburgh visited Pekin.

In 1869 Sir Rutherford Alcock retired, and was succeeded in the difficult post of English representative in China by Mr. Thomas Wade, who had occupied a place inferior to none in the consideration of his Government as principal secretary and interpreter to our ministers and diplomatists during the whole of the trying period since the Treaty of Nankin. In the very first year of his exercise of the supreme direction of our diplomacy, an event occurred which eclipsed all the aggressive acts that had preceded it, and cast them into the shade. It may perhaps be surmised that this was the Tientsin massacre-an event which threatened to reopen the whole of the China question, and which brought France and China to the verge of war.

It was in June, 1870, on the eve of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, that the foreign settlements were startled by the report of a great popular outbreak against foreigners

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in the important town of Tientsin. At that city there was a large and energetic colony of Roman Catholic priests, and their success in the task of conversion, small as it might be held, was still sufficient to excite the ire and fears of the literary and official classes. The origin of mob violence is ever difficult to discover, for a trifle suffices to set it in motion. But at Tientsin specific charges of the most horrible and, it need not be said, the most baseless character were spread about as to the cruelties and evil practices of those devoted to the service of religion. These rumours were diligently circulated, and it need not cause wonder if, when the mere cry of Fanquai sufficed to raise a disturbance, these allegations resulted in completely unhinging the public mind. The agitation against the missionaries had not been the production of a day, and it acquired increased force with continued impunity. It was well known beforehand that an attack on the missionaries would take place unless the authorities adopted very efficient measures of protection. The foreign residents and the consulates were warned of the coming outburst, and a very heavy responsibility will always rest on those who might, by the display of greater vigour, have prevented the unfortunate occurrences that ensued. At the same time, allowing for the prejudices of the Chinese, it must be allowed that not only must the efforts of all foreign missionaries be attended with the gravest peril, but that the acts of the French priests and nuns at Tientsin were, if not indiscreet, at least peculiarly calculated to arouse the anger and offend the superstitious predilections of the Chinese.

Dr. Wells Williams writes very soundly on this point in his "Middle Kingdom." He quotes the following important passage from the official despatch of the United States Minister, describing the originating causes of the outrage: "At many of the principal places in China open to foreign residence, the Sisters of Charity have established institutions, each of which appears to combine in itself a foundling hospital and orphan asylum. Finding that the Chinese were averse to placing children in their charge, the managers of these institutions offered a certain sum per head for all the

children placed under their control given to them, it being understood that a child once in their asylum no parent, relative, or guardian could claim or exercise any control over it. It has for some time been asserted by the Chinese, and believed by most of the non-Catholic foreigners residing here, that the system of paying bounties induced the kidnapping of children for these institutions for the sake of the reward. It is also asserted that the priests or sisters, or both, have been in the habit of holding out inducements to have children brought to them in the last stages of illness for the purpose of being baptized in articulo mortis. In this way many children have been taken to these establishments in the last stages of disease, baptized there, and soon after taken away dead. All these acts, together with the secrecy and seclusion which appear to be a part and parcel of the regulations which govern institutions of this character everywhere, have created suspicions in the minds of the Chinese, and these suspicions have engendered an intense hatred against the sisters." The most unfortunate part of the incident was that "the day prior to the outbreak the district magistrate (chihien) called upon the French Consul, and stated that unless permission be given for a thorough examination of the sisters' establishment it was difficult to foretell the result. The Consul, construing the language into a threat, replied that the magistrate being inferior in rank to the Consul, no negotiation could take place between them for the purpose indicated or any other." Some of the foreign residents even went so far as to say that if the Consul had promptly acted in combination with the Chinese officials there would have been no massacre.

Had the officials in the town acted with promptitude and instituted an official inquiry with the view of demonstrating the falseness of the charges, it is probable that at the very last moment the outbreak might have been averted. Such a course had proved availing on equally critical occasions in some of the towns along the Yangtse; and the responsibility of not taking it rested in equal proportions between the Chinese officials and the French Consul. At that time Chung How the Superintendent of Trade for the three

Northern Ports, was the principal official in Tientsin; but although some representations, not as forcible, however, as the occasion demanded, were made to him by M. Fontanier, the French Consul, on the 18th of June, three days before the massacre, no reply was given and no precautions were taken. On the 21st a large crowd assembled outside the Mission House. They very soon assumed an attitude of hostility, and it was clear that at any moment the attack might begin. M. Fontanier hastened off in person to Chung How, but his threats seem to have been as unavailing as his previous arguments. On his return he found the attack on the point of commencing. He made use of threats, and he fired a shot from his revolver, whether in self-defence or in the heat of indignation at some official treachery will never be known. The mob turned upon him, and he was murdered. The Chinese then hastened to complete the work they had begun. Chung How, like Surajah Dowlah, was not to be disturbed, and the attack on the Mission House and Consulate proceeded, while the officials responsible for order remained inactive. Twenty-one foreigners, including the French Consul, his secretary M. Simon, a member of the French legation at Pekin and his wife, a French storekeeper and his wife, three priests, ten Sisters of Charity, and a Russian merchant and his wife, were brutally murdered under circumstances of the greatest barbarity, while the number of native converts who fell at the same time can never be ascertained.

This event naturally produced a general feeling of horror and alarm. For the moment it was feared that the rioters would proceed to attack the rest of the foreign settlement. The mandarins still refrained from all intervention, and as there happened to be no gun-boat at Tientsin, the foreign residents were for the moment placed in an extremely dangerous predicament. They, of course, took all the measures they could to defend themselves, but it was said at the time that if the .ob had only attacked at once they would probably have overcome such resistance as the Europeans could then have offered. They did not do so, however, chiefly because they distrusted or failed to realize