NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE most horrible massacre of white people by Chinamen recorded in modern times was committed on English mis- sionaries on Thursday week at Whasang, some hundred miles north-west of Foochow. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, Miss Nellie Saunders, and Miss Lena Irish were burnt to death in their house. Miss Hessie Newcombe was speared and thrown down a precipice. Miss Marshall's throat was cut. Miss Gordon was speared in the head. Miss Topsy Saunders was speared in the brain. Master Herbert Stewart sustained a compound fracture of the skull, the brain being exposed. Miss Lena Stewart died from shock. Four other Stewart children and Miss Codrington were seriously wounded. The victims belong to the Church Missionary Society. Mr. Stewart had been in China over twelve years, and was devoted to the work and people. The men who murdered him and his family and the ladies of the mission appear to have belonged to a band that had long threatened mischief to the Christians. They call themselves "Vegetarians," and appear to be a secret society. The Chinese officials, as usual, did not arrive on the scene, or attempt to quell the riot, till all was over. The Rev. Hugh Slowett Philips, described in the reports as Mr. Stewart's near neighbour, escaped the massacre. The Chinese Government is, of course, profuse in its apologies, and ready to promise anything and everything, but there is little hope of its performances being prompt or helpful. The truth is, a great part of South China is in a state of semi-revolt, and the Mandarins are quite powerless. Orders have been given to our Naval authorities to do every- thing to protect the British missions, but the anarchy in the Southern Provinces makes this very difficult.
