ecree seems to have reached local
authorities direct; and those hostile to foreigners acted upon
it or let its existence be known to the gentry and people. The
chapels in Hunan were all sealed up; and it was understood that
all mission and convert property would be confiscated. Towards the
end of July, however, the Viceroy and the Hunan Governor issued
a satisfactory proclamation, and I have heard no more complaints
from that province, the western part of which seems tranquil.

"Besides safeguarding foreign life and property in his own province
the Viceroy has frequently been asked to aid missionaries retiring
from Kansuh, Shensi, Shansi, and Honan. In
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every case H. E. has readily consented. Detailed telegrams have
been sent again and again not only to his frontier officers, but to
the governors of other provinces with whom H. E. has expostulated,
when necessary, in strong terms. Thus, when Honan seemed likely
to turn against us, the Viceroy insisted on the publication of
favourable decrees, and even went so far as to send his men to
establish a permanent escort depot at Ching Tzu Kuan, an important
post in Honan where travellers from the north and northwest have
to change from cart to boat. Happily the acting Governor of Shensi
has cooeperated nobly. But the refugees who testify invariably to the
marvellous feeling of security engendered by reaching Hupeh, will,
I doubt not, agree that they owe their lives to Chang Chi-tung's
efforts; for simple inaction on his part would have encouraged the
many hostile officers to treat them as Shansi has treated its
missionaries.

"At times during the past two anxious months the Viceroy's action
in sending troops north, the occurrence of riots at various points,
H. E.'s communication of decrees in which the Peking Government
sought to gloss over the northern uprising, and his eagerness to
make out that the Empress Dowager had not incited the outbreak and
had no hostile feeling against foreigners have inevitably made one
uneasy. But on looking back one appreciates the skill and constancy
with which H. E. has met a most serious crisis and done his duty to
Chinese and foreigners alike. It is no small thing for a Chinese
statesman and scholar to risk popularity, position, and even life
in a far-seeing resistance to the apparent decrees of a court to
which his whole training enforces blind loyalty and obedience.
His desire to secure the personal safety of the Empress Dowag