"Missionary work was at first largely confined to Shanghai, but attempts were made to do evangelistic work in the neighbouring towns and villages. In one case this led, as
we have seen, to serious friction between the British Consul and the Chinese authorities, when Medhurst, Lockhart, and Muirhead were attacked by a mob at Tsingpu.Naturally as Shanghai developed into the largest and most important treaty port, it
|
See also Griffith John ... |
They did not welcome the missionary. Prince Kung declared to Sir Rutherford Alcock on his departure from Peking in 1869, "Take away your opium and your missionaries, and you will be welcome!"
At the same time, another high official said to him, "Do away with your extraterritorial clause and merchant and missionary may settle anywhere and everywhere; but retain it and we must do our best to confine you and our troubles to the treaty ports."
We find that in the years 1868 and 1869 attacks were made on missionaries in different parts of the Empire, first at Yangchow and then in Szechuen, where two French priests were murdered. The Rev. J. Williamson was beaten to death in his boat at Tientsin. These attacks culminated in the Tientsin Massacre in 1870, when the French Consul and his Secretary, a number of Sisters of Mercy in the Roman Catholic Orphanage, a Russian merchant and his wife, and several others - numbering nineteen in all-were cruelly done to death by the Imperialist troops.
Further, a party of five foreigners had met with rough handling in the vicinity of Shanghai, when they were returning to the Settlement along the shores of Pootung. One of them, Mr. Grant, was found lying bleeding and senseless in a creek, with bound hands and feet.
Shanghai is sensitive to all that goes on in China, and fears began to be felt for its own safety. One immediate effect was to revive the Volunteer Corps which has ever since been maintained on an effective footing." - F.L. Hawks Potts