MISSIONARIES IN CHINA TO BE PROTECTED.
UNITED STATES MINISTER CONGER, at Peking, has sent the State Department at Washington a copy of a proclamation posted at Tientsin relative to the treatment of missionaries in China. In this edict, issued on "27th of 10th moon," the empress dowager recites the fact that antichristian movements had taken place in many provinces, and declares that these have all been based on false sentiment. She wishes the people to understand that the teaching of Christianity is permitted in China, and that the preachers are to be treated as good citizens. Despite her well-known conservatism, the empress dowager has manifested in several instances recently an appreciation of the necessity of yielding to the customs and ideas of Christian nations. This was notably the case in her acceptance of a copy of the Bible from the wives of missionaries, and her reception, a few months ago, of the wives of diplomatic representatives of foreign powers. These two events were epoch-marking in their influence, and prepared the way for, if they were not the occasion of, the recent proclamation requiring the protection of missionaries. —Northwestern Christian Advocate.