Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/336

Rh to expel foreigners from China, others an alliance with England and America against France. A third group would have war with France alone, while a more timid company would be contented to see Ts'ung Hou dismissed. When Tsêng, following his peace policy, ordered the protection of all foreigners, he turned the hostility of all these factions on himself.

The investigations which followed left the question as to whether kidnapping had taken place in some doubt, but demonstrated the entire innocence of the foreigners on all the charges. After several hundred persons had been examined — a hundred and fifty in the institution itself — not a single case could be found of persons actually kidnapped or any proof of hearts and eyes torn out. All the charges were based on well-side gossip and were no more authenticated than similar charges in Hunan, at Yangchow, or in other parts of Chihli. In his report Tsêng says:

Since England and France are illustrious countries how could they permit such atrocious actions? Looking at it from the standpoint of reason it could not be true. The Catholic Church has as a fundamental aim the urging of men to be upright. In the days of the Imperial Ancestor, the Benevolent Emperor [K'anghsi], they were long permitted to carry on their work. Had they aimed to kill and cut up human beings how could they have been tolerated in K'anghsi's generation? As to the establishment of the Hall of Compassion, their original purpose is to collect together in orphanages and almshouses the bereaved and poor people. The money they spend each year is considerable.

But there is also a reason why the people of T'ientsin harbor doubts and grow excited. The first cause of doubt arises from the fact that the gates of the foreign churches stand closed the entire year; they are very secret and the inside [of their grounds] cannot be seen. The church and the Hall of Benevolence alike have underground rooms, and they are constructed by workmen engaged in other places. Your servant and others went in person