A day or two after the relief, when looking for a place to sleep in, I met the Rev. Mr. Ament, of the American Board of Foreign Missions. He told me he was going to take possession of the house of a wealthy Chinaman who was an old enemy of his, as he had interfered much in the past with his missionary labors in Peking. A couple of days afterwards he did so, and held a great sale of his enemy’s effects. I bought a sable cloak at it for $125, and a couple of statues of Buddha. As the stock became depleted it was replenished by the efforts of his converts, who were ransacking the houses in the neighborhood.--New York Herald, February 18th.
It is Dr. Smith, not I, who has suggested that persons who act in this way are “thieves and extortioners.”
EXHIBIT C
Sir Robert Hart, in the Fortnightly Review for January, 1901. This witness has been for many years the most prominent and important Englishman in China, and bears an irreproachable reputation for moderation, fairness, and truth-speaking. In closing a description of the revolting scenes which followed the occupation of Peking, when the Christian armies (with the proud exception of the American soldiery, let us be thankful for that) gave themselves up to a ruthless orgy of robbery and spoliation, he says (the italics are mine):
And even some missionaries took such a leading part in “spoiling the Egyptians” for the greater glory of God that a bystander was heard to say: “For a century to come Chinese converts will consider looting and vengeance Christian virtues.[virtues.]”
It is Dr. Smith, not I, who has suggested that persons who act in this way are “thieves and extortioners.” According to Mr. Lynch and Mr. Martin (another war correspondent), Dr. Ament helped to spoil several of those Egyptians. Mr. Martin took a photograph of the scene. It was reproduced in the Herald. I have it.
EXHIBIT D
In a brief reply to Dr. Smith’s Open Letter to me, I said this in the Tribune. I am italicizing several words--for a purpose:
Whenever he (Dr. Smith) can produce from the Rev. Mr. Ament an assertion that the Sun’s character-blasting dispatch was not authorized by him, and whenever Dr. Smith can buttress Mr. Ament’s disclaimer with a confession from Mr. Chamberlain, the head of the Laffan News Service in China, that that dispatch was a false invention and unauthorized, the case against Mr. Ament will fall at once to the ground.
EXHIBIT E