CHINA: A MISSIONARY'S VIEW.
Mrs. S. L. Baldwin, in the Outlook of Sept. 8, 1900. The world stands aghast to-day at the great upheaval in China, and asks persistently, What could have produced such a convulsion? Among the various causes given of late we have the assurance, from sources by no means well informed, that the missionary is the chief cause of all trouble. Without a doubt the missionary factor is in the situation, but there are more factors than one, and they have been doing their fruitful work for years. The only marvel is that the revolt did not come sooner. . . . The Chinese have ears to hear, eyes to see and read, and hearts to feel, and are by no means lacking in mental strength. The effect of actual robbery by some nations, and the monstrous proposal to dismember and appropriate the whole country, should not surprise anyone by natural results. The assumed wonder of nations at the present Chinese uprising only illustrates how hardened national conscience may become. The personal attitude of many foreigners in China toward the native people is irritating in the extreme. Eastern people have a very strict code of etiquette. China had her books on etiquette when our ancestors were the grossest heathen. The lowest workingman in China has his idea of courtesy. But our Western men are, in the majority of cases, utterly regardless of any sort of courtesy toward the Chinese in general. They go about with a lordly, superior air; deal out cuffs and kicks and contempt upon servants and workmen, and even to those they meet in the street, if they regard them as in their way. The prevailing attitude of the foreigner toward the native is too often that of assumed superiority and contemptuous command. The immoral lives of so many prominent foreigners in China also make a most unfavorable impression upon the natives, and are a sad comment upon the purity of life that the foreign missionary ever exhorts the native to follow. It is not uncommon for the native listener to reply to the preacher and say, “Teacher, I see your own people do not follow their own doctrine.” I look back over thirty-five years, twenty in China, of close knowledge of and touch with this great empire and its wonderful people, and so far as governments, trade, and persons are concerned, I see brutality, greed, and the most bitter wrongs ever perpetrated against a people. After years of absence in our homeland, we recently returned and made a twenty-eight-thousand-mile tour through China, Japan, and Korea. I earnestly hoped to find an improvement in the manners of foreigners in China, but I found only the usual exceptions, and I have ever been grateful for them; but cuffs and kicks and abuse and immorality still prevailed, while the “great Powers” had grown more impudently insulting in their greedy projects; and in all that great tour I breathed the air of a coming struggle, and returned home to declare it certain in the near future. It is here! . . . Suppose we try to put ourselves in the place of the Chinese. Imagine ourselves the weak—heathen, if you please—country. Imagine all the various deeds perpetrated in our land that I have written as having occurred in China—and I have by no means exhausted the subject, even in this long article. After all these irritating experiences, would it be surprising if we in our weakness should dub all foreign peoples “foreign devils”? Finally the “great Powers,” looking around for “more worlds to conquer,” light upon our country as just the territory they want. Our country is rich with mineral wealth undeveloped, our land ought to be honeycombed with railroads, our millions ought to buy their goods, that they may grow richer and greater; so, while watching one another with jealous care, they publicly and with no shame discuss the monstrous project of carving us up, and each stealing a portion, their only concern being how to do it without a fight among themselves! Russia says, “I’ll take all down to Massachusetts.” Germany says, “All right, I am content with Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.” England says, and truly, “I do not want a foot of the territory of the United States, but if ‘spheres of influence’ are to be [a polite term for stealing], I, in self-defense, must have mine; and, with Germany between me and my ancient friend Russia, I will just take New York and Pennsylvania.” Next comes little Japan,—little in size,—and she speaks up honestly and says, “I am too little; I have been swelling out, and want more territory; so I will have New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland!” Last comes France, with a swing of satisfaction, and exclaims, “My brothers, your robberies suit me exactly; Germany is well up there at the north, and she and England are between me and my dear but ambitious friend Russia. I am more than content with what you have left me, especially as I begin with the seat of government, Washington, and the District of Columbia! The Vatican will lend me all aid in ruling—the whole South is mine!” My patient readers, would we be “anti-foreign” under such conditions? Would our Masonic and other secret societies have any Boxer tendencies? Would there be any little row over here? or would we, having received a blow, not on “one cheek” only, but all over our body, just lie down and say, “Tramp us out of existence. Come! Take!”? What shall the end be? Who can tell? The merest spark of jealousy and selfishness between the “great Powers” may precipitate a conflagration that shall burn around the world. . . . Let nations unite to cut and carve, and a struggle is ahead such as the world has never seen.