294


FOREIGN RELATIONS.


and the Christians, I have already informed your excellency that frequent
orders were
sent to the governor of that province to-direct the proper officers to inquire
into the
affair with a view to its just settlement.
   A dispatch has now been received from the northern superintendent of trade,
inclos-
 ing the report of the intendant of circuit at Chefoo, wherein he states
that, in the case
 ýof this riot between the people and Christians in Chi-mi, the parties
have all been sum-
 moned before him and all the witnesses examined. In conjunction with the
United
 'States consul, the affair has been publicly investigated in the fullest
manner and de-
 cided, theguilty punished, and the case finished. ",I therefore respectfully
make known
 the details," he concludes, "that you may report for information
in the proper quarter
 that the case is settled."
 I have accordingly had a copy made of the superintendent's dispatch upon
the case,
 and beg to inclose it herewith for your excellency's information.
   His Excellency S. WELLS WILLIAMS,
                 United States Charg6 d'Affaires.


Report of the northern' superintendent of trade, (Li Hflngchang,) inclosing
the following de
  tailed report from Kunag Yih-tu, intendant of the circuit of Yangchau,
Laichau, and Tsing
  chau, prefectures in Shantung, dated June 16, 1874.
  On the 23d of.March the governor of Shantung sent me a copy of an order
he had re-
ceived from the foreign office, dated March 1, in which the inquiry was made
as to the
cause of the quarrel between the people of Chi-mi and an American missionary
there,
and directing me to see that the district magistrate there examined into
the affair and
equitably settled it. I at once sent him the order to inquire into the cause
of the dis-
turbance, and let me know everything that he did, and at the same time relorted
a
summary of the affair and what I had done to the governor, for him to communicate
to
the foreign office.
   On the 20th of May I received from the governor a copy of another order
from the
foreign office, dated April 23, in which I was urged to more diligence, and
directed to
bring the parties to the trial all together, and jointly examine them in
the most care-
ful manner, so as to elicit the facts and settle the affair in accordance
with justice.
   I had already directed Meh, the district magistrate at Chi-mi, to transfer
Kiang
Kwan-kih and others, parties and witnesses in this case, to my court, where,
with the
foreign missionary, Hunter Corbett, -and the native Christians, Wang Li-tung
and
others, they could all be examined, and a joint trial held with the consul.
  Among the documents in the case was one dated December 22, received from
W. A.
Cornab6, United States vice-consul, in which he told' me that Mr. Corbett
had been
assaulted at a market-plaee called Hwa-yin, by a crowd around a theater,
and struck
by stones thrown in the melee. Further, that on the 19th of December he was
preach-
ing near the temple of Yuh-hwang, at Hwa-yin, when he was struck by stones
thrown
at him from the crowd, and his assistants, Wang Li-tung and others, also
wounded in
the fray.
  The vice-consul further said he had heard that the inhabitants of Chi-mi
had assem-
bled to the number of 300, each of whom had ten others at his back, and all
intended
to go into the town for the purpose of injuring Mr. Corbett. The magistrate
was pow-
erless to protect him, and he had, therefore, fled on the 2-2d, and reached
Chefoo. A
letter had afterward been received from his assistant, stating that on that
day about
two thousand men from the southern fissociation of villages entered the town
seeking
a quarrel. The magistrate had gone out to disperse them, but was powerless
to effect
anything.
  In another note he alleged that on the 24th a man named SUi Yen-tsoh and
half a
score of fellows with him, all belonging to Chi-mi, had carried off Mr. Corbett's
things
and a hired donkey ; and in the afternoon of that day they had gone to Ko-fau
and
carried off all his furniture an'd effects, with his cow, cleaning everything
out and
breaking the windows and doors of his house to pieces.
  Subsequently he informed me that a convert named Che Chung-yuen, belonging
to
the village of Pau-hein, had had his fruit and timber trees, all cut down
by people of
the place. On the same day, Wang Yung-chun, a convert living in Ta-lao Village,
had been attacked by persons entering his house, who robbed it and greivously
wounded
his left eye; also, one Sun Wan-lun, of the village of Tung-kia-ngan, was
robbed and
ill-used by some persoDs, and his uncle carried off by force. The vice-consul
accord-
ingly requested that these proceedings might be inquired into and the evil-doers
punished. I immediately sent repeated orders to the district magistrate at
Chi-mi to
strictly inquire into the matter and punish the offenders. This can all be
shown by
the records.
  While I was issuing these orders and making these inqunries, Mr. Sheppard,
the United
States consul, came from Tein-tsin down to Chefoo. At an interview I had
with him,