Morning Calm v.6 no.64(1895 Oct.)

THE MORNING CALM. NO, 64, VOL. VI.] OCTOBER 1895. [PRICE Id. The Bishop's Letters. I. CHEFOO: June 1895. DEAR FRIENDS, My last letter left me here, at the end of May, looking for a steamer to take me either to Niu Chwang or Tien Tsin. The former port is still very difficult to reach-the stream of steamers, which at this time of the year is usually almost con-tinuous, having ceased. An opportunity offering, and a steamer leaving for Tien Tsin the day after my arrival in Chefoo, I determined to take it, see Bishop Scott (who I heard might be at Tien Tsin on the following day), and return to Chefoo with all speed, to wait once more for the chance of a steamer going to Niu Chwang. From there to Taku is but eighteen or twenty hours. Short though the distance is, it was long enough to give me a good shaking up. The Chung King is an excellent roller. She kept me actively employed most of the night in struggling with the furniture and packages in my cabin, which seemed never to be where I could lay my hands upon them. I had not had such a struggle since the days when I was in the old Minotaur, in the Channel Squadron. But the electric light is a great help in these contests with chairs and boxes which refuse to be secured. My cabin in the Chung King was as light as day, and when I was not wrestling I was reading. By the morning the wind and sea were all gone, and on Sunday afternoon we reached Taku. The next day I took the train from Tong Ku to Tien Tsin, but found that Bishop Scott was in Peking and unable to leave. Mr. Norris and Mr. Mathews received me in the parsonage with great kindness, and, after making the necessary preparations, I started on the following Thursday for Peking in a cart. I left at 4.30 A.M. and had not got far before I wished myself back in the Chung King. The jolting of these hard, springless carts on the Chinese roads, is a severe experience. I had 36 hours of it, staying for about 8 hours at Ho Hsi Wú, a town half-way between Tien Tsin and Peking. At 2 A.M. I would fain have slept on. But these carters are inexorable, and I must have been nearly two hours on the road before the day broke. The weather   126 THE MORNING CALM. was lovely, though one could have dispensed with some of the clouds of sand. Beyond being tired and stiff, I was none the worse for my rapid journey, the effects of which were soon removed by the kind hospitality of Bishop and Mrs. Scott. The day but one after my arrival was Whitsun Day. I attended the Chinese celebration of the Holy Eucharist in St. Saviour's Church, and, the usual organist being absent, I was asked to accompany the congregation in their singing of Merbecke. I believe I got through without many serious blunders, thanks to Mr. Norman, who provided me with an intelligent youth, and ordered him to pluck me by the sleeve whenever an Amen had to be played. I preached at the English Evensong in the same church. Until the following Thursday, every day was spent in discussing with the Bishop the various matters which had brought me to Peking. I cannot dwell on them now, and can only assure you that our time was fully occupied. On Thursday I went to the Legation, and called on my many friends there, chief amongst whom were the officers and men of the Marine Guard. Three of the men were old friends--having formed part of the Marine Guard in Seoul last autumn. I spent a delightful afternoon visiting all their rooms, which were beauti-fully clean, and, in many cases, very tastefully decorated. It was well that I postponed my visit to the day before my depar-ture from Peking. Had I gone earlier, I should have gone more frequently, and lost a great deal of my talk with the Bishop. This uprising of the old familiar associations is a very peculiar feature of one's life out here just now---very delightful, but very tantalizing! I left the Bishop's compound in a cart at 4.30 A.M. and reached Tung Chow at about 10. There I took boat, and, favoured by a strong current, made a good passage to Tien Tsin, which was reached on the following day at 5 P.M. Thus, both in going and returning, I did the go odd miles in 36 hours. The next day, Trinity Sunday, I spent with Mr. Norris, and preached in All Saints' Church. On the Monday I left for Taku, where the Swift had arrived on the previous day. Her commander I had not seen since he was a midshipman with me in the Inconstant in 1871. I made him turn out at half-past ten at night, and go back 24 years, before allowing him to finish his night's rest. He kindly let me share his cabin, and the following morning the Wu Chang picked me up on her way down from Tien Tsin and brought me to Chefoo on the next day. Wednesday, the 12th. Unable to return to Corea before the 23rd or 24th, I thought I should find something going to Niu   THE MORNING CALM. 127 Chwang in the interval. But there has been no steamer. The Plover was going last Saturday. A telegram from the Admiral, however, diverted her suddenly, and she went to Formosa instead. I have, therefore, been staying with Mr. Brown, at St. Luke's Hospital, where his kindness, and that of his two fellow-workers, Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Mathews, have made me very happy. A portion of most days has been spent in a very novel manner. Two little boys in Mr. Brown's school are learning music, with a view to being able to play the harmonium in Church by-and-bye. I take these lads and teach them their notes and scales. But my Chinese does not extend to such words as Treble and Bass, Minims and Crotchets, and the progress is slow. Just now the school examinations are on, and in the next room to me prodigious quantities of the Chinese classics are being poured forth at railway speed by voices, which, when they do stop to take breath, seem to be well nigh exhausted. Last Sunday I went on board the AEolus to take the morning service, and there found an old friend who did a good deal towards making the choir in the Alexandra so famous. The Archer has come in from Chemulpó, and, the captain having kindly offered me a passage, I shall probably return in her on the 24th. Mail steamers between this and Shanghai being plentiful, I shall post this to you from here. For once, I write you a letter without any news about ourselves. Since I left I have had no news from Corea. From Niu Chwang I heard three weeks ago that the place was quiet, and would remain so as long as the Japanese soldiers remained. The Doxats were well, and preparing to face the summer heat. I must hope to be able to get to Niu Chwang later in the year; but prospects in China, and the East generally, are not bright. China does not acknowledge that she has been beaten by Japan, and Japan is dissatisfied with the fruits of her victories. I have met no one in China who is not profoundly concerned at the attitude of the Chinese since the treaty of May 8. The disgraceful affairs now happening in the Yang Tsze River show plainly that China has learnt no lesson from Europe during the past twelve months. The permanent Church of St. Andrew's is being built here, and promises to be handsome and substantial. The Archer is on the point of sailing. I must therefore close, and bid you farewell. Ever your affectionate, C. J. CORFE.   128 THE MORNING CALM. II. SEOUL : July 1895. DEAR FRIENDS, After posting my last letter to you in Chefoo at the end of June, I was offered a passage in H.M.S. Archer, which was leaving for Corea, and accepted Capt. Lang's kind offer the more readily because he was going to pay a visit to the P'yeng Yang inlet on his way, and, if possible, go to P'yeng Yang itself. On the day after our departure from Chefoo we were off the inlet, which is a magnificent water-way penetrating forty miles into the heart of the country, about two miles wide, of great and uniform depth. In the afternoon we anchored for a couple of hours at a village which had been converted into a considerable town by Japanese, who were there in force. The same evening we anchored at the place where the inlet receives the waters of the Tai Tong river. Two days later we went up this river in the steam cutter and got within three miles of P'yeng Yang-a distance of forty miles from the mouth, where the ship was lying. Unfortunately we could not visit the city, since we were obliged to catch the ebb tide, having arrived shortly before the top of high water. From a hill on the bank we could command the city, and make out all the places which since this time last year have been made famous by Chinese and Japanese. The Japanese soldiers are still there in force. Indeed, the whole of the country on both banks of this river and inlet was in the military occupation of Japan. On our way back the Archer anchored at Oripó-a place which has evidently been made by the Japanese and is a military outpost. You see-the "independence” of Corea is as much a myth in the provinces as it is in the capital. We reached Chemulpó on St. Peter's Day. I had done my best to be in Seoul on that day, for it had been determined to open the new Women's Hospital on St. Peter's I could not, however, by any means reach the capital that day, and so deferred the opening until the Tuesday following--the Feast of the Visitation. Accordingly, I remained in Chemulpó for the Sunday and went to Seoul on the Monday. For the Tuesday the visitors had issued invitations to their friends for tea at 5 The American Minister, the Chief Commissioner of Customs, and our own Consul-General were among the number of those who rallied round the Sisters on this day of their embarking on their new and serious responsibilities. Miss Cooke, who should have been a central figure (for is it not by her skill and energy that this new hospital has been   THE MORNING CALM. 129 made possible?, to the disappointment of us all was unable to be present-an attack of illness, as severe as it was sudden, having entirely prostrated her. At 5 30 the company adjourned to the hospital, which was blessed-the whole of us moving in procession from dispensary to hospital, and from ward to ward. At the conclusion we did not forget to thank God for our benefactors, and to pray for Dr. Wiles, who gave us the first women's hospital and the dispensary —for Mrs. Bishop, who has given us this new splendid building, and for Mr. Hillier, who has been at once architect, contractor, and clerk of the works. If it is a good building (and no one who sees it can doubt that it is) it is owing entirely to the con-stant supervision and careful attention to the minutest details shown daily by Mr. Hillier. The new wards looked beautiful. I might have been back in one of the wards of St. Peter's in Mortimer Road. And now the Sisters are fairly embarked in their new enterprise. I look to you, my dear friends, to support them. They do nothing for themselves. Their time and labour are given entirely to others. They cannot support this work, but they will see that those who do support it shall not support it in vain. Turning to other matters, I have to report that Mr. Davies has had a serious illness. It yielded, however, to the doctor's treatment in hospital. He is now, though very weak, well on the way to recovery. I remained in Seoul until he began to mend, and then came down to Chemulpó to relieve Mr. Warner of the necessity of going backwards and forwards every week between Kang Hoa and Chemulpó for the Sunday duties. He has lately written some tracts, which he is now distributing to the people in his neighbourhood. He writes and tells me that on market days he goes into the city of Kang Hoa and establishes himself in the market-place, where he has opened a stall for his tracts. He gives them away, but always takes the names and addresses of those to whom he gives. Mr. Hodge is hard at work, as usual. Dr. Baldock having moved to a neighbouring compound, and Mr. Davies living at Tyeng Tong in a small house by himself, Mr. Hodge is Practically alone in Nak Tong. At all events, he has the responsibility of the management of the household resting on his shoulders. His Bible-class, of which I told you in my last, prospers and is increasing. In order to give him more oppor-tunities of reading and talking with Coreans, I have given him Permission to go into St. Matthew's Hospital for an hour every day and read to the patients, under Mr. Davies' supervision. At   130 THE MORNING CALM. his request I have gone on with my Catechisms on Lumen, which are now finished and printed. He finds them useful with his poor scholars. I hope they may serve to make Coreans not only understand but love their Bible better. Mr. Smart writes to me in good spirits from Tokyo. He is evidently making way in the conversational language of Japan. A few weeks ago he paid a visit to a place he had not seen for nearly a year. He found it much easier to understand and make himself understood by his friends. He had the temerity to accept an invitation to hold a service on Sunday evening in his hotel. To his alarm he heard the town crier going round and announcing this service. Between thirty and forty came, and so far as I could learn Mr. Smart, after reading evensong, did not get on so badly with his address. He had an interpreter, but often, not satisfied with his interpreter's rendering of what he had said, he repeated it in Japanese himself. He is very anxious to come back-and I need not say that I am most anxious to have him back. I have plenty of work for him in Chemulpó. This month has seen another shameful piece of work in Seoul. The assassin Paik, who was brought back to Corea by the Japanese last year, and then forced by them upon the King as an enlightened reformer, had become Prime Minister. He was discovered in a plot against the King, who, acting for once on his own responsibility as an independent sovereign, issued a proclamation to arrest him. But the Japanese protected him, and, disguised as a Japanese soldier, this man actually marched down with an escort of Japanese soldiers to the river, where a Japanese launch was ready to take him to Chemulpó, where again a steamer had just looked in to take him to Japan, where he now is, and where I suppose, he will remain until the Japanese want to conjure with him again. The Corean Government has requested explanations from the Japanese authorities of these proceedings, because Japan is supposed not only to have given Corea her independence but to be anxious to befriend her and assist her in her reforms. The Japanese authorities have no explanation to give, but deny all the facts, which are nevertheless well known to everyone ; for so fearful are Coreans of Japanese bayonets, the police who were "after" Paik dared not arrest him when they saw him protected by Japanese soldiers. We have now finished just one year of Japanese occupation, and there is no European who has resided here all this time but will tell you that is there was hope of lifting Coreans a year ago there is much less hope now. The stone   THE MORNING CALM. 131 which Japan has bound to Corea is steadily sinking her. The latest (and he ought to be the best) witness of this is Count Mouye, the Japanese Minister in Corea, himself, who has stated publicly within the last few days in Japan that there will be no reformation for Corea until the Japanese in Corea have them-selves been reformed. He has spoken of the cruelty, the greed, the deception, the selfishness of the Japanese now in Corea in far more outspoken language than any I have used. Nor has he exaggerated. I honour him for having had the pluck to tell the truth to his own countrymen about themselves. But I must be permitted to doubt whether the Executive of a country which has so little power over its nationals is fit to undertake the far greater task of reforining a whole nation. It is a curious and sad confession of an incapacity which everyone, save the Japanese themselves, has foreseen from the first. We are all well and -- with the exception above noted -- vigorous. I have been getting through six or seven hours of Corean every day, in spite of the heat, which, however, is not great. The much-longed-for rain has come at last, and the rice crops are beginning to rejoice. Farewell. I am, always your affectionate C. J. CORFE. Association of Prayer and Work for Corea. AT this summer holiday season there is usually little to report either of changes in the list of Secretaries or of other Association matters. An exception, however, must be made this year, and we have to express Miss H. Wigram's great gratitude, and that equally of the General Secretary, for the large amount of work that has been so promptly and heartily undertaken in response to the appeal for supplies of garments for the new Women's Hospital in Seoul, and for the courage with which the exceptional difficulties of Corean clothing have been faced by many willing workers. Miss H. Wigram writes that she will have about sixty garments ready to send out in October. Another letter has just been received from the Sisters, giving the sizes of the sheets, towels, and pillow-cases they require, and which it is also hoped to send out in the October box. On this subject Miss Wigram is still in some anxiety, as these she will have to purchase, and up to now she has only ￡1. 8s. 81/2d. in hand, while one pair of Sheets alone will cost 7s. 6d.! She would be very grateful for help towards the purchase of these requisites, and also for any   132 THE MORNING CALM. strong toys or pictures for the hospital (not dolls, which, the Sisters tell us, are regarded with religious veneration), and would further ask that such help may be sent to her (at South Lodge, Champion Hill, S.E.) very quickly, as the sheets, &c., must be ordered a little while before the box starts. We cannot but be most anxious to come to the assistance of the Sisters, who have so nobly undertaken charge of this hospital, in these not unimportant matters of detail. Miss H. Wigram, who has kindly taken the management, on behalf of the General Secretary, of this department of work, will publish a full acknowledgment of the gifts and work already received or promised on the October Flyleaf. We are sorry to be unable this month to give any account of the sale that was to have taken place at Hampton Court Palace in August, as Mrs. Dalison was unavoidably compelled to postpone it. The General Secretary hopes to receive a large number of October Reports before October 10th. M. M. CHAMBERS HODGETTS. Exeter: September 10th. The Spirit of missions. "It is one of the strange phenomena of the present day, that even educated persons are apt to fall into raptures over the doctrines of Buddhism, attracted by the bright gems which its admirers cull out of its moral code and display ostentatiously, while keeping out of sight all the dark spots of that code, and omitting to mention precepts which, indeed, no Christian could soil his lips by uttering. "The great contrast between the moral precepts of Buddhism and Christianity is not so much in the letter of the precepts as in the motive power brought to bear in their application. Buddhism says: Be righteous by yourselves, and through yourselves, and for the final getting rid of all suffering, of all individuality, of all life in yourselves. Christianity says: Be righteous through a power implanted in you from above ; through the power of a life-giving principle, freely given to you, and always abiding in you. The Buddha said to his followers: ‘Take nothing from me, trust to no one but yourselves.’ Christ said, and says to us still : ‘Take all from me ; lake this free gift ; put on this spotless robe ; eat this bread of life ; drink this living water.’ He who receives a priceless gift is not likely to insult the Giver of it. He who accepts a snow-white robe is not likely willingly to soil it by impure acts. He who tastes life-giving bread is not likely to relish husks. He who draws deep draughts at a living well is not likely to prefer the polluted water of a stagnant pool. If any one, therefore, insists on placing the Buddhist and Christian moral codes on the same level, let him ask himself one plain question, Who would be the more likely to lead a godly, righteous, and sober life-a life of moderation and temperance-a life of holiness and happiness; the man who has learnt his morality from the extinct Buddha, or the man who draws his morality and his holiness from the living, the eternal, the life-giving Christ?"-Sir M. Monier. Williams.   THE MORNING CALM. 133 We sometimes hear from travellers in Africa that they have had to do with boys from one mission or another, who have proved untrustworthy. In such cases it almost invariably appears that such boys had either been turned out of the mission school on account of misconduct, or else had voluntarily left after a very short stay. In by far the majority of cases mission boys are found to be much more intelligent and trustworthy than any others, and in consequence they are greatly sought after. In the case of a catechist who had deserted his work for secular work, one would rather expect to find that he lacked stability. It is therefore the more interesting to hear of one who did so because he had no vocation for teaching, and with-out in the least falling away. The following is taken from a letter by the Rev. J. P. Farler, who has been on a tour through the mission stations of the Universities' Mission : - "One thing I heard accidentally which pleased me greatly. Our Christian converts when educated are much valued by the Germans in their coffee plantations, where they get responsible posts and good wages. This temptation proved too great for Henry Nasibu, who came with me to England for education, and was our most promising and cleverest teacher. He found out that he had no vocation for teaching, and left the mission, taking service at the Derema Plantation, where he is now the overseer. I happened to meet one of my old scholars on his way to the coast, and he told me he was working at Derema, When I asked him about his religious life, he told that Henry Nasibu had refused to work on Sundays, although much pressed to do so, and that he called all the Christians working the planta-tions together every Sunday morning, and held a regular morning service, Matins and Litany from the Prayer-book. Henry always comes to Magila on the great festivals to make his communion." It is good to hear of the proposal to found a fourth Brother-hood in India, at Cawnpore; and we greatly hope that two more clergy will be found to join in it. The project is set forth in an article in the September number of the MISSION FIELD, by the Rev. G. H. Westcott, one of the three sons of the Bishop of Durham who are now working in India. He writes :-"The clerical staff of the Cawnpore Mission has been gradually strengthened during the last few years; it is at the present time composed of one Indian and three English clergymen; and now the Standing Committee have approved the foundation of a Brotherhood, on lines similar to those followed at Delhi,   134 THE MORNING CALM. and have provided for two additional clergy, if such can be found. So soon as this brotherhood is formed there will be established in each of the four dioceses that originally composed the Diocese of Calcutta a strong missionary centre working in connection with this Society ; viz., the Cambridge Mission at Delhi (Lahore Diocese), the Oxford Mission at Calcutta (Calcutta Diocese), the Dublin Mission at Hazaribagh (Chhota Nagpur Diocese), and the S.P.G. Mission at Cawnpore (Lucknow Diocese). The last, it will be noticed, will not, like the others, be working in connection with any special University, but will look to all for sympathetic help. These brotherhoods will, I believe, exercise no small influence in determining the character of the future Indian Church, if only they draw to themselves clergy who, in the love of Christ, are willing to show real sympathy with their Indian fellow-Christians." Mr. Westcott goes on :-" I would now state briefly the peculiar interest and special claims of the work at Cawnpore. To some Cawnpore is best known as the scene of Henry Martyn's self-denying labours; to others, as the scene of one of the foulest crimes that the world has ever witnessed. The former will be filled with a desire to carry on the work begun by one whose life was spent so nobly in the Master's service; the latter, to avenge so great a wrong, as Christians only can." "But it is not for such reasons only that those who know Cawnpore would wish to urge its claim upon the Church of England; in two special ways- not unconnected with each other-it offers opportunities of an exceptional character. “The Cawnpore Mission is unique in this respect, that its clergy, actively engaged in work among non-Christians, are necessarily the ministers of an English congregation also. In other places Mission clergy are told off to work among the English, or have made themselves responsible for the mainten-ance of English services, but at Cawnpore the Society accepted from the Government of India in 1858 the church in which had worshipped the many victims of the Nana's treachery, on condition that they held at least one service on Sunday for the English resident in that part of the station. Since then the Mission clergy have been made responsible to the Bishop for the entire pastoral charge of Civil Lines. This combination of English and Mission work is, I feel convinced, the true memorial of the Mutiny-of God's ordering, not of All the Mutiny memorials at Cawnpore are distinctly Christian in character. None are without the Cross, the symbol of Divine forgiveness.   THE MORNING CALM. 135 man's devising. Those who know India best will best appreciate the value of so great an opportunity. They know how want of interest in Mission work is due to want of knowledge; they know how greatly the work is hindered by the impression among natives that the Christianity brought in and practised by the English is something different to that set forth by Mission clergy. These they are further inclined to regard as belonging to an inferior order which can only be permitted to address comparatively ignorant congregations. "Again, it is very hard to find employment for our Christian men and boys. All agree that as few as possible should receive support direct from Mission funds; all who have lived in India know how hard it is in a land pervaded with caste to find employment of another kind. In Cawnpore, with its many mills and factories under European management, and in which willingness to work and not peculiarity of caste is the chief desideratum, the opportunity is found that others so often wish for in vain. Nearly all these factories are located in Civil Lines; the managers in many cases are members of the Christ Church English congregation, and most willing to do what they can to find employment for their poorer fellow-Christians. That a willingness to work may be developed among those who are Christians by birth, an Industrial Home and Work-shops have been opened, and are continually in process of development. Boys have come to us from Agra, Lucknow, Jubbulpore, Allahabad, Faizabad, Fatchgarh, and Delhi; and a sufficient recognition of an opportunity that we would gladly share with others." We have received from the Church Mission House, New York, a new publication called the Quarterly Message, which is intended to supplement the well-known Spirit of Missions, and is published at the small price of ten cents per annum. The Quarterly Message is excellent; the number before us contains a good portrait of Bishop Whipple, together with an address by him given before the graduates of Seabury Divinity School, and much other matter. We wish the new venture all possible Success.