We are again in trouble in China. Under the Treaty
European Missionaries have a right to settle and teach, and Mr. Taylor with others did settle at Yang Chow, on the Yang-tze-Kiang. He and his colleagues, dressed in Chinese dress, preached Christianity, and condemned the worship of ancestors. The literati did not like this, and instigated a mob to attack the Mission and murder its residents, who, however, escaped with some wounds. Mr. Medhurst, the Consul, immediately appealed to the Viceroy of Nankin, taking with him H.M.S. Rinaldo. As long as the Rinaldo was there the Viceroy promised everything, but when she went away he would grant nothing except some taels in compensation to the Mission- aries. Mr. Medhurst has therefore appealed to Sir R. Alcock at Pekin, and the result will probably be the dismissal of the Governor of Yang Chow. The Times seems to think it is all the fault of the Missionaries, but their residence was provided for in the treaty, and all experience shows that if the Mandarins will protect them, the people so long as they pay their bills will let them preach as much as they like. China is not England, where one must listen to sermons for the sake of respectability.
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