INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF MISSIONS

[s. 352] : Mi ions were not established to promote diplomatic amenities or aid backward nations in a uming international functions. They have, neverthele , accomplished much incidentally in these directions by forging connecting links of contact and intercourse, cultivating good will, solving difficulties, giving friendly advice, facilitating acquaintance with Western administrative systems, mediating between foreign diplomacy and native misunderstandings, encouraging that status of mutual confidence which promotes 336 peaceful relationships, and often ministering as the almoners of international philanthropy in If these state times of calamity and distre . ments are well founded, mi ions are proving themselves to be among those evolutionary forces which work for the kindly recognition of mutual obligations among the nations of mankind. Illustrations of this can be discovered not only in modern times, but in the history of mi ions It is the mi ionary, during earlier centuries. quite as much as the political or commercial motive, which seems to a ert itself in many of those initial ventures which have led on to the exploration of an unknown world, and the makThe apostolic ing and molding of new nations. age of the Church was international in the expansivene of its evangelistic aims, and in the scope Subsequent cenof its mi ionary activities. turies bear witne to the outreaching touch of Christianity, bringing nation into contact with The Nestor i ans pushed boldly into nation. China as early as the 7th century, and into India probably at a date still earlier, following Pantaenus, who had preceded them in the latter Ulfilas was a me enger part of the 2d century. to the Goths in the 4th century, as were Cyril and Method i us to the Slavs in the 9th. In Central and Northern Europe, including the British Isles, we can trace the entrance of Columba, Augustine, Columbanus, Gallus, Eligius, Boniface, Willibrord, Ansgar, and many others equally lealous tho le conspicuous in the annals of Hans Egede linked those formative centuries. Denmark with Green land in the 18th century. The Moravian mi ionaries followed, and from that time Herrnhut became an active factor in Labra the international contact of the world. dor was reached by Jens Haven in 1764; Francis Xavier linked Portugal with India in the 16th Heurnius was a connecting bond century; between Holland and the Dutch East Indies in the 17th century; and in the 18th century Ziegenbalg, Plutschau, and Schwartz brought Denmark These were into spiritual relations with India. all international me engers upon an errand of peace, good will, and friendship. The maritime discoveries of the 15th century were undertaken, among other motives, with a definite and pronounced mi ionary purpose. That ponderous work entitled The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents reveals to us immense and prolonged contributions of Roman Catholic mi ionaries toward the establishment of international intercourse between France and America The footsteps of for nearly two hundred years. those indefatigable mi ionary pioneers can be traced during the 17th century along the St. Lawrence, and on both sides of the Great Lakes, on into the Far West. They deflect southward into Maine, into Illinois, and even as far as Louisiana, and penetrate northward toward the in hos pit The British able, icy wilderne of Hudson Bay. colonial establishments in North America, moreover, were mi ionary in spirit to an extent which makes them almost the forerunners of the foreign Their char mi ionary societies of a later age. ters usually had a strong mi ionary clause, and their noblest men were Christian pioneers as well as statesmen. They sought not only religious liberty and opportunity for themselves, but they were in many conspicuous instances intent upon tke di emination of the Gospel among the aborigines. In the first Charter of Virginia, given by International Medical International Service James I., in April, 1606, it was stipulated that “the Word and service of God be preached, planted, and used as well in said colonies, as also as much as might be among the savages bordering among them.” In a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, referring to the project of the Virginia colony, Hakluyt writes expre ing his pleasure in Raleigh’s plans, because “you meane to sende some such good Churchmen thither (to Virginia) as may truly say with the Apostles to the Sauvages, wee seeke not yours but you.” Bradford declared the propagation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ as one of the great hopes of his pilgrimage. Winthrop confe ed to the same motive, and in his journal are numerous references to his desires for the conversion of the aborigines. The Charter of Ma achusetts Colony emphasizes the mi ionary motive as one of the inspirations which prompted its establishment. Mac donald’s Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative American History, 1606-1755 of (Pages 2, 3, 16, 25, 42, 126, and 184), gives the text of some of these chartered a everations of mi ionary aims in our early colonial history. Those mighty ties of spiritual interest which now link India with all Christen dom are the outcome of mi ions. In their own sphere of moral and religious influence mi ionaries have cooperated with English statesmen, and rendered a service of value both to Great Britain and to India. The strange and unwarranted attitude of the old East India Company toward mi ionary effort has long ago changed, and the value of mi ions to British interests in India is now freely recognized. Since the days of the mutiny it has become more and more apparent that a native Christian community is a valuable ally of English rule, and, so far as its influence goes, a moral guarantee of fidelity and good will. The sailing of Captain James Wilson and thirty-six mi ionaries in the Duff, which was owned and sent out by the London Mi ionary Society in 1796, opened the South Pacific to those large es of light and civilization which mi ionary effort has The west sent there during the past century. coast of Africa first felt the touch of Christian sympathy and helpfulne when Peter Greig, the Scotch mi ionary, went there in 1797. The cooperation of the Church Mi ionary Society, the Wesley an Mi ionary Society, and the United Presbyterian Mi ions of Scotland, has contributed in no small measure to the opening up of the vast regions of the Niger Basin, and has been a factor in furthering the present political supremacy of Great Britain throughout Nigeria. The marvelous story of African colonization during the 19th century is indi olubly linked with misSuch names sionary devotion and achievement. as Vanderkemp, Philip, Krapf Rebmann, Moifat, John Mackenzie, Living stone, and Bishop Mackenzie of the Zambesi, as well as many others later in the century, certify to the truth of this statement. We may almost reckon the Uganda Protectorate as virtually the outcome of mi ions, with that colo al achievement of a railway from Mombasa to the Victoria Nyanza as a nece ary Khama’s country, and the whole of result. British Central Africa, including the upper waters of the Zambesi, where the French Mi ion labors among the Barotsi, serve the same purpose of illustrating an international value in mi ionary, enterprise. Turning to China, we find Morrison and Guti- International Service laff, the former in the double capacity of mi ionary and interpreter for the East India Company, serving in international affairs before its formal opening to the foreigner. The Rev. E. C. Bridgman and Dr. Peter Parker were a ociated with the Hon. Caleb Cushing in negotiating the first treaty which the United States made with China, Both these men were masters of the in 1844. Chinese language, familiar with the customs of the country, and acceptable media of com muni The aid which they rendered was cation. extremely useful. Mr. Cushing declared that “they were invaluable as advisers.” It was in the early British negotiations that Morrison and The former Gutzlaff rendered a similar service. was a ociated with Lord Amherst in 1816, being for some years interpreter and secretary to the British Amba ador, and Gutzlaff was his sucWhen the Treaty ce or in the same position. of Nanking was made, the latter participated in the negotiations and rendered important aid. It would thus appear that the initial word of friendly diplomatic intercourse between China and two great governments of the West was spoken through the medium of mi ionary secretaries and interpreters. A few years later, in 1858, when the notable Treaties of Tientsin between the four governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Ru ia were drawn up with China, in the case of the United States treaty two American mi ionaries whose services in the negotiations were of historic importance and value were a ociated with the Hon. W. B. Reed, the minister who represented the United States on that occasion. Dr. S. Wells Williams and Dr. W. A P. Martin, both mi ionary scholars and diplomatists, took an active part in the preliminary conference, and in fi.xing the provisions of the document, as well It was due to Dr. as securing its acceptance. Williams that the memorable Toleration Clause, afterward included substantially in the British Thus, to American mis treaty, was inserted. sionaries is due the credit of securing a treaty incorporating the policy of a tolerant recognition of Christianity on the part of the Chinese Government. Dr. Williams was given to understand at the time that no Toleration Clause would have been inserted in the British treaty had it been This conce ion had left out in the American. not been before included informal treaties, altho the French Minister, in 1844, had secured from the Emperor, Tao-kwang, an imperial rescript revoking persecuting orders, and proclaiming an This, however, was practiedict of toleration. cally a dead letter, and would have been of little value so far as any permanent international policy was concerned. It should be remarked, also, that the British mi ionaries at Ning-po and Shanghai had addre ed Lord Elgin on the subject of toleration before the British treaty was drawn up, but, judging from his reply, the appeal was of little avail. The treaty conce ion of Tientsin may, therefore, be called the Magna Charta of religious freedom in China. Dr. Williams, and in a measure Dr. Martin also, were its sponsors, and thus to American mi ionaries belongs the high honor of establishing the principle of religious freedom in a permanent historical setting, before the view of “almost the two halves of the human race.” Dr. Williams was subsequently appointed to the office of Secretary and Interpreter of the United States Legation in China, and served in this capacity chiefly at — 336 — Peking until his resignation in 1876. It was he who secured official quarters for the United States amba adors in Peking, and his efficient executive discharge of his duties was an important service during those early years of ministerial residence at the Chinese capital. He was, on many occasions, left in charge of the legation as acting amba ador. Another Presbyterian mi ionary, the Rev. D. B. McCartee, M.D., had a long and useful career in diplomatic positions both in China and Japan. He accompanied Flag Officer Stribling, of the American Navy, on an expedition to treat with the rebels at Nanking at the time of the Taiping troubles, and through his personal influence with the Chinese leaders he was largely instrumental in securing a “sealed guarantee of protection for Americans against violence from the rebels, and for all natives in the employ or care of American citizens.” In connection with his services in the Mixed Court in Shanghai, in 1872, he was appointed on a special mi ion to Japan to treat for the return of three hundred Chinese coolies who had been driven on the Peruvian ve el, Maria Luz, by a typhoon into the harbor of Yokohama. The Chinese authorities presented him with a gold medal and a complimentary letter in recognition of the succe ful all i ue of the mi ion. He subsequently became profe or of law and of natural science at the University of Tokio, and from that time his services, for a period of some twenty-eight years, were given to Japan. He was instrumental in establishing a Chinese emba y in Japan, and became himself its foreign secretary and adviser. At the time of General Grant’s visit to Japan, when the General was asked to arbitrate the respective claims of China and Japan to the po e ion of the Lu Chu Islands, Dr. McCartee, who was thoroughly acquainted with the historical facts and their diplomatic bearing, placed such information before General Grant that he was able to give the matter his attention. In those memorable negotiations which signalized the entrance 6f modern Japan into the comity of nations, at the time of Commodore Perry’s expedition, we find Dr. S. Wells Williams accompanying, at the special request of the Com. modore, both the first and second expeditions, in 1853 and 1854. He took an active and influential part in the negotiations, and it was at his suggestion that the “most favored nation clause” was introduced into the Japanese treaty, the first compact of Japan with Western nations. His serious and vivid appreciation of the historic significance of his diplomatic services appears in private letters and extracts from his journal. He writes of the scene in the Bay of Yeddo: “It was the meeting of the East and the West, the circling of the world’s intercourse, the beginning of American interference in Asia, the putting the key in the door of Japanese seclusion.” Speaking of the presence of the American ships, he writes: “Behind them and through them lie God’s purpose of making known the Gospel to all nations, and bringing its me ages and responsibilities to this people, which has had only a sad travesty of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. I have a full conviction that the seclusion policy of the nations of Eastern Asia is not according to God’s plan of mercy to these peoples.” Surely this mi ionary-diplomatist, with his faith and foresight, was an instrument chosen of God to participate in those momentous events which 887 the opening of both China and Japan to an era of modern progre destined to be the most wonderful in their history. The memorial monument to Commodore Perry erected in 1901 on the shores of Japan was an appropriate and graceful tribute, but the services of Dr. Williams most a uredly deserve also a grateful commemoration on the part of Christen dom. The services of several distinguished mi ionaries in Japan have been of international import. Dr. Guido F. Verbeck and Dr. S. R. Brown were especially useful and helpful to the Japanese inaugurated during the critical period of the reorganization of their national life, since the introduction of those monumental changes which have characterized Dr. Verbeck the Meiji era of modern times. suggested the plan of the now historic emba y sent by the Japanese Government to America and Europe in 1871, and the project was finally executed, in large part under his advice and cooperation. Its results proved to be of decisive influence in permanently establishing the friendly relations of Japan with the nations of Christen dom, and was a factor of practical moment in securing that religious toleration which has distinguished the Empire of Japan in the modern It is a matter of further history of the East. interest that the recent revision of Japanese treaties, which has established a basis of equality with Western nations since July, 1899, has been both favored and facilitated by resident mi ionaries out of a sense of justice and fairne to Japan. By manifestoes, resolutions, and public meetings, as well as by private influence, they have made it known that they regarded the aspirations of Japan in this matter with sympathy and favor. The diplomatic relations of the United States with Korea have been also facilitated by the services of Dr. Horace N. Allen, who was the first American mi ionary to arrive in Korea. He went there in 1844, and was soon appointed He subsequently, in physician to the Court. 1887, accompanied the first Korean Emba y to Washington as its secretary, returning to Seoul in 1890 as secretary of the United States Lega- In 1897 he was appointed United States tion. Minister to Korea, a position which he still (1904) occupies. Not only have the treaty relations of Christian nations with the great Asiatic governments of China and Japan been facilitated by mi ionary cooperation, but diplomatic negotiations with especially in smaller tribes and kingdoms Ocean i a have received aid from the same source. Mi ionaries have often prepared the way for the establishment of such international ties by initial intercourse and friendly residence, thus becoming pioneer media of information and contact. capital illustration of this is New Guinea, where — — A Chalmers and Lawes, and other mi ionaries of the London Society, became the forerunners of the present British protectorate. The services they rendered in anticipation of the British occugation of Southern New Guinea, in 1884, have een cordially acknowledged by Sir James E. Erskine and Sir Cyprian Bridge, both high officers in the British Navy. In the same way mi ionary labors in New Zealand brought Maori hearts into touch with Christianity and civilization to an extent which no doubt greatly facilitated its peaceful political attachment to the British Empire. The earliest mi ion was especially succe ful among the Ngapuhi tribe, and it was 22 International Service the chiefs of this important and powerful clan who, in February, 1840, at Waitangi Falls, were the first signers of the treaty accepting British supremacy. Nearly two-thirds of the entire Maori population had profe ed Christianity in 1859. later, Marsden, as early as 1814, and Selwyn, were all unconsciously pioneer empire builders in New Zealand. The peaceful, and even cordial, ceding of Fiji to Great Britain by its chiefs and people, in 1874, followed long years of succe ful mi ionary toil by the English Wesley ans, resulting in a marvelous preoccupation of native hearts throughout the islands by the Gospel which the Wesley ans brought. A British protectorate was established over the Tonga group by peaceful negotiations in 1900, but years before that English mi ionaries had labored there in friendly contact with that proud and vigorous race. The tioned out between Samoan Islands, now por Germany and the United States, were annexed to Christianity half a century or more before their political destiny was determined. The Cook, or Hervey, Islands were Christian i zed and civilized by the London Mi ionary Society over a generation before the British protectorate was established, in 1888. As early as 1864 the natives petitioned Great Britain for annexation, but a protectorate only was instituted in 1888, which at the request, again repeated, of the native chiefs was changed to annexation to New Zealand in 1900. Thus a reclaimed race was made ready by mi ions for relations of peaceful diplomacy with a great nation of Christen dom. The Santa Cruz group now a part of the British Empire was the scene of the martyrdom of Young and Nobbs, in 1864, and of John Cole ridge Pattes on, in 1871. You sands of hearts throughout Christen dom have read the story with tender interest, and some day no doubt a fitting memorial of Pattes on will commemorate under the British flag that pathetic incident which, as Gladstone said of Pattes on himself, was a ” pledge of nobler des- — — tinies.” The virtual preemption of the New He brides, as destined in all probability to have their political future linked with the British Empire, may be regarded as the outcome of a mi ionary occupation which has been sealed by martyrdom, and crowned by the uplifting transformation of savage tribes into aspirants for political order and moral civilization. sionaries In 1820 two English mis- — Ward and Burton — endeavored to secure a foothold in Sumatra among the fierce Battaks, but were unable to do so. In 1832 two American mi ionaries Munson and Lyman — made another attempt, but were martyred by cannibals. Thirty years later a third endeavor, on the part of the Rhenish Society, was succe ful, and a region in North Sumatra, previously wholly inacce ible to the white man, was opened by a peaceful mi ionary occupation. From that martyr seed has sprung a Christian population of some fifty you sand native’ Battaks now living in a state of peace and good order which promises The Dutch Govern a developed civilization. ment in the East Indies is surely a debtor for this mi ionary achievement. Hawaii, now United States territory, was largely molded and fashioned for her destiny by mi ionary pioneers whose labors have a umed an importance which may fairly be regarded as of During the whole of the international interest. 19th century, while by the irresistible growth of International Service Ispahan economic and political ties, and the manifest trend of history, it belonged in po e to the United States, mi ionary toil was fitting it for the consummation when would become so in e e. Ex-Secretary of State the Hon. John W. Foster, in his admirable volume, American Diplomacy in the Orient (page 108), places a high estimate upon the beneficial effects, social and political, of American mi ions in Hawaii. There are other groups whose political destiny is now linked with European nations the Gilbert Islands, with Great Britain, and the Marshall and Caroline, with Germany which have long been under the careful training of mi ionary teachers from America. Whatever opinion may be held of the it — — political wisdom of the occupation of the Philippines by the United States, there is no valid reason to doubt that beneficent results are most a uredly to follow in those islands from this foreign occupation. The recognition of mi ionary obligation on the part of American Christianity is, moreover, a strenuous and clearly manifest result, which, let us hope, will be fruitful in moral good and social betterment to the people of the islands. Not only in connection with diplomacy, but in times of war and public calamity, the services of mi ionaries have been of benefit. During the mutinies and uprisings in Uganda they served in At the siege of defense of life and property. Peking the conspicuous and brilliant services of mi ionaries in defense of the Legations during the perilous summer of 1900 were universally acknowledged. The succe ful i ue was due in no small measure to the skilful and heroic participation of mi ionaries in that victorious defense. Not only were the lives of the amba adors saved, but consequences were averted which might have There is a precipitated unparalleled calamities. manifest international value, moreover, attaching to the efforts of mi ionaries in the sphere In times of famine, earth of philanthropy. quake, epidemics, and great disasters, sympathy and help are given, and charitable funds admin is That international scourge and scandal tered. of the slave trade has been checked and all but abolished largely through the helpful cooperation In the promotion and establish of mi ionaries. ment of peace among the nations there is also an undouDted value to the service and influence They neither strive nor cry, nor of mi ionaries. is their voice heard in the streets, nor have they the power of diplomats or rulers to determine i ues, but they, neverthele , do a quiet and often effective and unique service of counsel, conciliation and restraint. The work that they do in promoting good government is, moreover, in Mi ion converts are men the interests of peace. of peace, not the advocates of ma acre and disorder. They are inclined to friendline and forbearance rather than to treachery and violence, and in the face of some very appreciable Oriental perils they may at times safeguard, as hardly any other agency can do, both the lives and property of foreigners. The Moravians in their work in Dutch Guiana, during the latter half of the 18th century, and until the middle of the 19th, achieved a victory over the Bush Negroes which was a boon to the Dutch Government. The work of early mi ionaries in South Africa was an influential factor in solving native problems and promoting their peaceful solution. In times of disorder and ma acre in the Turkish Empire they have acted as mediators, pacificators, 33S and saviors of lives and property, as ia Mount Lebanon during the troubles of 1860, in Bulgaria in 1876-77, and Asiatic Turkey in. 1895-96. The exposition and accentuation of the principles of international law have also been a feature of mi ionary service. Verbeck did important preliminary work in this direction in Japan, and Martin in China. When the latter went to reside in Peking in 1863 he carried with him a translation into Chinese of Wheat on’s Elements of International Law. This was welcomed by the Chinese Foreign Office as a timely guide amid the perplexities arising out of the new international compacts into which they had just entered. Dr. Martin supplemented the above translation by Chinese versions of Woolsey, Bluntschli, and Hall, on international relations. Chalmers taught the very alphabet of the law of nations to the natives of New Guinea, and in 1899 Secretary Wardlaw Thompson, of the London Mi ionary Society, reported the curious fact that Mr. Abel, one of their mi ionaries in New Guinea, was instructing the people, and especially the school children, “to repeat a brief statement of the British laws which has been prepared for the benefit of all the inhabitants of British New Guinea. These simple rules of conduct are learned as the commandments are learned, and thus law and order are a ociated with religion.” It is certainly a novel feature of education and of religious worship to a ociate the commandments, the creed, and the laws of the land, in an all-round summary of human duty. Here seems to be an admirable hint for the reformer and the earnest advocate of higher standards of citizenship. The immensely effective and beneficial influence Christianity of in evolving throughout Christen dom that remarkable code of national chivalry voluntary in its sovereignty and sacred in its dignity which we have come to designate as international law, has been perpetuated and extended among Asiatic and other foreign peoples largely by the initiative of mi ionary teach They have sought to introers and statesmen. duce the humane provisions of the code in times of war, and they have secured also, among many savage tribes, the practical recognition of another — of its — requirements mariners. — the safety of shipwrecked On the other hand, mi ionaries have not been unmoved spectators of infractions or dubious applications of the international code by Western powers in their contact with Oriental nations. The mi ionary protest in the face of some notable lapses in these respects, especially in China, has been vigorous and uncompromising. On the subject of opium the mi ionary body is a unit, and this is substantially true of their opposition to the territorial dismemberment of the Chinese Empire. It would thus appear that the me enger of the Gospel in mi ion lands has long been a igned an international role not, to be sure, in any formal or official capacity, but as contributing — incidentally, and sometimes unconsciously, to the sum total of good-will and friendship among Mi ionaries have borne their part the nations. in promoting kind feeling between widely separated races, and in breaking down barriers between distant and alien peoples; they have also struck the note of brotherhood -stirring on the one hand generous impulses, and on the other awakening gratitude. They have facilitated — 339 diplomatic relations, and aided in establishing peaceful and mutually beneficial ties between the This remarkable service, it may be nations. noted, has been coincident with monumental changes in world-politics and with ethnic intercourse brought about by discovery, colonization, and commercial enterprise. Mi ionary expansion has thus given a certain impetus, as well as kindly tone, to that interchange of intellectual, spiritual, and material commodities wliich has become the unique glory of our age, and is leading on as much as any other single influence to Imperithe goal of universal peace and unity. the irrepre ible note of the age is given alism an ethical significance, and directed toward a sublime ideal, by this international leaven of misPaul’s conception of the relationship of sions. superior to inferior races has hardly been taken That great mis seriously among the nations. sionary-apostle and statesman regarded himself an aspect as “debtor” even to the barbarians of inter-racial obligation which has been to a negligible consideration in the surprising extent a The diplomatic intercourse of the nations. spu-it of mi ions, however, like a voice crying in the wilderne of international selfishne , has sought diligently to promote kindly consideration, good will, and fair dealing, and has endeav- — — — ored faithfully to exemplify them in its own sphere. A settlement in Rhodesia, South INYATI: Central Africa, situated among Matabele tribes, Station of the about 47 miles N. E. of Buluwayo. LMS (1860), with (1903) 1 mi ionary, 4 native workers, 4 day schools, and 639 profe ed Christians, of whom 60 are communicants. 357