CHINA.                              
   235

  There being much unoccupied land in Hang-chow, your petitioners are willing
to
procure at their own expense a place such as will -beI agreeable to the missionaries.
They will also, for the expenses necessary to be incurred in rebuilding,
pay them the
full price of their present buildings.
  You, Mr. Consul, have resided long in Niugpo, and are thoroughly acquainted
with
the customs of the people; your conduct has ever been influenced by a regard
for them,
and they hold you in grateful remembrance. We therefore intreat you to request
the
missionaries to consent to exchange their location, in order that the prosperous
influ-
ences there may be preserved, and the harmonies of the spot carried out.
For doing
this, our gratitude will truly be boundless.
  A respectful petition,
  TUNGCIII, 12th year, 6th intercalary moon.



                              [Inclosure 2 in 1 in No. 17.]

                  Mr. Lord to the missionaries Houston and Helm.
                                                UNITED STATES CONSULATE,
                                                         Ningpo, August 15,
1873.
  DEtR Sins: Younare aware, I suppose, that the movement in your city last
year
directed against natives who had transferred, or aided in transferring, houses
or lands
to foreigners, was at the time supposed to have originated in a particular
dislike that
some of the officials, and perhaps gentry, had to your position and houses
on the hill.
It is true that this fact was not mentioned to me and my colleague in the
discussions
that we had with the officers at that time. Still, we knew well enough that
the diffi-
culty had originated there.
  The movement referred to was unreasonable and anarchical; for which reason,
per-
haps, we were the better able to get it arrested ; the magistrates, themselves,
no doubt
becoming alarmed when called to face the storm they were raising. After our
pro-
tests no further arrests were made, and the persons already a'rested were
soon released;
moreover, the proclamation deemed necessary to quiet the minds of the people
was
issued in accordance with our request. From that time to the present, so
far as I
know, there has been no action on the part of the officers or people calculated
to dis-
turb foreigners.
   However, I have suspected that neither the officers nor people were, or
would be,
 satisfied to have your houses remain where they are, and recently this suspicion
has
 been confirmed by a petition presented to me asking for their removal. I
will briefly
 state the history (so far as it is known to me) and import of this petition,
before ex-
 pressing any opinion in regard to the attention which it should receive.
 About a nionth ago, a native gentleman of this place, of high standing and
influence,
 called on me and stated that the gentry of Hang-chow had consulted with
him in regard
 to the mission-houses on the hill in that place, and the possibility of
getting them re-
 moved. He did not state to me what advice, if any, he had given to the gentry
of Hang-
 chow. But he said that they had decided to bring the matter before me; they
would
 unite in a petition, and they would be. glad to present their petition respectfully
through
 a deputation representing their body, if I would permit them. I replied,
of course,
 that if they had any grievance in regard to the matter referred to, which
they wished
 to present to me, -they had a right to present it, and it was my duty to
give it the con-
 sideration it might deserve. As for the deputation, this did not appear
to me a matter
 of much importance; still, if they chose to send one, I had no objection;
it might sup-
 plement their petition, and explain more fully what they wanted.
   About a week ago this deputation, consisting of three gentlemen from Hang-chow,
 and the gentlemen above mentioned, belonging to Niigpo, waited on me, and
presented
 their petition. The petition contained the names of the three gentlemen
present from
 Hang-chow, and five others, who, it was said, would also have been present
but for the
 difficulty of leaving home. Both the petition and the statements of the
deputation
 convinced me that the matter was by them considered of very great importance.
   It was stated that the houses occupied by your mission on the hill were
but a short
 distance from, and over against one or two of, the principal official residences
in con-
 sequence of which, according to their notions, the f-ng-skny was disturbed,
and their
 residences were rendered liable to the visitation of evil influences. It
was said, too, that
 Hang-chow was the provincial capital, and also the residence of a large
number of offi-
 cers and scholars, by whom the doctrine of f~ng-shny was universally and
sincerely
 believed, and by whom the regulations in regard to it were considered to
be of very
 great importance. 1Nowv these regulations, it was said, were violated by
these houses
 being where they are. The officers and people, therefore, were anxious to
get them re-
 moved. But, in asking to have them removed, they were willing to indemnify
their
 owners for any loss that they might sustain. They would see that they were
provided