EXTRATERRITORIALITY

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state,  and  have  no  desire  for  a  “  new  religion  ”  ;  and  the
history  of  missionary  work  in  this  country  is  as  much  marked
by  the  martyrdom  of  the  saints,  allowance  being  made  for
the  general  ethical  progress  of  the  world,  as  ever  in  any
country  in  which  the  Cross  has  been  advanced.  The
Chinese  Government  has  never  for  long  actively  encouraged
the  Christian  propaganda.  St.  Francis  Xavier,  the  protomissionary,
  was  denied  access  to  the  mainland,  and  died  in
1552  on  its  threshold,  on  the  island  now  called  St.  John.
Matteo  Ricci  first  arrived  at  Nanking  in  1595,  but  secured
the  right  of  living  in  the  city  only  after  four  years  more.
Robert  Morrison,  the  first  Protestant  missionary,  was  for
some  years  unable  even  to  obtain  a  teacher  from  the
bigotedly  conservative  literati,  and  finally  secured  the  instruction ­
  he  desired  by  virtue  of  his  connection,  as  interpreter, ­
  with  the  East  India  Company,  and  even  then  by
stealth.  The  Russian  orthodox  religion  was,  however,
protected  from  the  first,  for  the  reason  that  little  or  no
attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  proselytise.  The  treaty  of
I 7 2 7  provided  for  the  maintenance  in  Peking  of  four  priests
of  the  Orthodox  Church,  and  of  six  others,  students  of  the
language  ,  this,  be  it  observed,  during  the  continuance
of  the  great  persecution  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  begun
by  Kanghi  (1662-1723),  and  continued  by  Yungcheng
(1723-1735).  The  treaty  of  1851  provided  that  the  Chinese
Government  would  interpose  no  obstacle  to  “  Russian  subjects ­
  celebi  ating  in  their  factories  divine  service  according
to  the  ritual  of  their  own  religion  "  ;  and  the  Russian  treaty
of  Tientsin,  1858,  granted  facilities  to  ''la  mission  ecclésiastique
  russe.”
.  ,^ ie  bist  reference  to  missionaries,  otherwise  than  as
ci  îzens  of  their  respective  states,  in  the  treaties  of  other
powers  was  in  those  of  1858.  The  British  and  American
were  almost  identical,  Article  XXIX.  of  the  American
treaty  being  as  follows
“The  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  proessed
  by  the  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  Churches,
are  recognised  as  teaching  men  to  do  good,  and  to  do