The latest accounts of the state of affairs at Tien-tsin
and the action of the Chinese Government subsequent to the massacre are not reassuring. The Times' correspondent at Shanghai, writing on August 4, gives horrible details of the tortures to which the native 'converts who were released had been subjected, but seems inclined to believe that the so-called " pro-foreign " party is at present powerful in the councils of the Emperor, and quotes the proclama- tion in which he condemns the popular charges against the mis- sionaries as false. One edict, however, not intended for foreign eyes, reveals only too plainly the Emperor's consciousness that the massacre was directly instigated by the officials, and that further outrages of the kind, against all Christians indiscriminately, are contemplated elsewhere, so that in view of the great influence still possessed at Court by the anti-foreign party, this danger is far from over. Meanwhile proclamations are openly posted on the walls in which the Roman Catholics are accused of exercising witchcraft on Chinese with a view to the commission of horrible and fantastic cruelties, and under cover of giving a magical talisman against such spells, the populace is called upon to join in the "expulsion of the foreigner." In Tien-tsin the mob becomes daily more insolent, and the cry that nothing but strong external pressure can secure the safety of foreigners throughout China is again raised with too much semblance of truth.
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