TH HE largest party of missionaries ever sent forth by the American Baptist Missionary Union on one vessel sailed from Boston, Wednesday, October 10, on the "Winifredian," of the Leyland Line. The party numbered twenty-eight missionaries, including wives, of whom ten are going to Burma, ten to the Telugu mission in South India and eight to Assam. The party will divide into two at Liverpool, and later into three.

Will sail from Liverpool in the "Cheshire," November 1, for Rangoon, Burma: Rev. Ola Hanson and wife, returning to Bhamo; Rev. W. M. Young, returning to the Shan Mission; Rev. Albert Ehrgott and wife, going to Rangoon, Miss Elma R. Simons, returning to Toungoo; Miss Agnes Whithead, returning to Moulmein; Miss Flora E. Ayers, returning to Mandalay; Miss Elizabeth E. Scott and Miss Alta D. Mason going to Bassein.

Will sail from London, November 2, on the "Goorkha," for Madras, India: Rev. F. H. Levering and wife (returning), for Secunderabad; Rev. W. R. Manley and wife (returning), for Kurnool; Rev. John McLaurin, D.D., and wife, returning to Ootacamund; Rev. G. J. Huizinga and wife, going out to Cumbum: Mrs. Edwin Bullard returning to Kavali, Miss Lilian E. Bishop, going to Sattanapalli.

Will sail from London, November 2, on the "Goorkha," for Calcutta, India, going from there to Assam: Rev. E. G. Phillips and wife, returning to Tura; Rev. F. P. Haggard and wife, returning to Impur; Mrs. A. K. Gurney, returning to Sibsagor; Rev. W. F. Dowd and wife, going out to Gologhat; Miss Anna E. Long, going to Nowgong.

The sailing of so large a party of Baptist missionaries at one time is an event of unusual interest. With the multiplication of routes and the diversity of interests in recent years, the departure of a large company of missionaries on one vessel has become somewhat rare. We do not recall so large a party as this in the records of the Missionary Union. On October 9, 1890, was the next largest party, numbering twenty-seven. A company of twenty-five sailed from Boston, September 25, 1892. In recent years, however, while the total annual reinforcement of the missions may often have been larger than that of the present year, the missionaries have sailed at different times and by various routes. There is, however, a peculiar inspiration and solemnity in the departure of so large a company of the messengers of Christ at once.

In connection with the departure of the party of twenty-eight missionaries of the American Baptist Missionary Union, who sailed on Wednesday, October 10, farewell services were held, beginning on Sunday afternoon, October 7, and continuing through Monday and Tuesday, October 8 and 9. On Sunday afternoon at three o'clock, there was a mass meeting of the Baptists of Boston and vicinity in Tremont Temple,--this meeting taking the place of the ordinary Sunday afternoon Temple service. An address on "The Present Crisis in China," by Rev. William Ashmore, D.D., was the feature of this meeting. Several pulpits in Boston and vicinity were supplied on this day by our missionary brethren.

On Monday morning the departing missionaries were the guests of the Boston Baptist Ministers' Meeting. At 12.15 o'clock a missionary breakfast was served in Gilbert Hall, Tremont Temple, Hon. Robert O. Fuller, president of the Missionary Union presiding. Beginning Monday afternoon, at three o'clock, and continuing through the evening, and throughout the day and evening of Tuesday, the services were held in Clarendon Street church.

On Monday afternoon, The Home Secretary, Rev. Henry C. Mabie, D.D., presiding, there were addresses by Rev. C. E. Bousfield, just returned from China, and Rev. W. F. Beaman, expelled from Western China during the riots of '95, on "In Perils Among the Heathen," and by Rev. H. C. Applegarth, D.D., Cambridge, Mass., on "Our Missionaries the Embassadors of the Churches," with responses by Rev. W. R. Manley, Rev. S. W. Hamblen and Rev. E. G. Phillips.

On Monday evening: Rev. N. E. Wood, D.D., president of Newton Theological Seminary, presiding, there were addresses by Rev. John MacLaurin. D.D., of India, and Rev. Wm. Ashmore, D.D., of China. Also a meeting on Tuesday forenoon, with addresses by Messrs. Hanson, Young and Haggard, and a meeting under the auspices of the Woman's Society in the afternoon.

The special farewell service was on Tuesday evening, Rev. H. M. King. D.D., chairman of the Executive Committee, presiding, when the newly ap pointed missionaries, going abroad for the first time, were introduced and an affectionate farewell was spoken by the foreign secretary of the Union, Rev. Thomas S. Barbour, D.D.

The bustle and confusion of sailing are usually such that a final service on the vessel, as was customary in the old days of sailing ships, is now seldom feasible, but this missionary party formed so large a part of the passenger list of the "Winifredian" that a beautiful and touching farewell service was held on the ship. And so we commended them to God and the word of His grace. Let these brethren and sisters, as well as others who have gone and who will follow be remembered often before the throne of God.

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The

'he Recent Outbreak in China can be compared to the Sepoy Rebellion in India. Strikingly similar is the relief of the legations and missionaries in Peking to the relief of Lucknow, and quite as worthy to be celebrated in poetry and song, while the savage brutality and ferocity of the Sepoys is quite paralleled by the horrible cruelties of the Boxers. In missionary annals China will surpass India in the martyrdom of both missionaries and native Christians.

WE have been watching carefully every means of intelligence to learn the

number of Protestant missionaries murdered in China, but have found all reports uncertain and sometimes conflicting. Even the missionary societies in their own periodicals are not yet able to speak with certainty of the full extent of their losses. The consul general of the United States at Shanghai several weeks ago telegraphed that ninety-three Protestant missionaries had been murdered and one hundred and seventy were missing. Since that time several of those not accounted for have been reported killed, and many are known to be safe. There seems to be no good reason to believe that the list of martyred missionaries will amount to less than one hundred and sixty when all is known; a sad but heroic roll which finds nothing in missionary history with which it may be compared.

Of American missionary societies the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Congregationalist) is the greatest sufferer, having received what appears to be authentic information of the death of five men, five women and three children, comprising the whole force on the field in Shansi Province, with almost a certainty that one man, two women and two children have been killed at Paotingfu, making a total of thirteen missionaries. and five children. The Presbyterian Board of the North reports the death of three men, two women and three children, all at Paotingfu. Of all Protestant missionary societies the China Inland mission is most severely afflicted. Of the twenty missionaries and five children who are now known to have been killed, five women were from the United States. The Christian and Missionary Alliance has received intelligence of the death of one missionary and his wife; but it is probable that the list will be greatly enlarged when full information is received from the stations in the north. These were conducted by forty missionaries from Sweden. A telegram from St. Petersburg reports the escape of seventeen of these across the Gobi Desert to Siberia, but it is feared that many, if not all of the remainder, may be added to the martyr roll. Of the seven hundred and fifty-nine Roman Catholic priests from Europe who were in China at the beginning of the outbreak, it is supposed that several hundred have been murdered. The hatred of the Boxers appears to have been directed against Roman Catholic missions with special virulence.

Of the native Christians, all reports indicate that the number of the slain must be counted by thousands if not tens of thousands. A great multitude of Chinese will be found among those whom John saw in his vision, "that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." In the reports which have been sent from China, the testimony to the remarkable constancy of the native Christians has been uniform and inspiring. Under the stress of threats and the fear of death a few have fallen away, but the great body of Christians remained steadfast in the faith and love of their Lord, and thousands have sealed the witness of their confession with their lives.

From the letters from China a large number of most affecting testimonies to the faithfulness of the native Christian martyrs could be gathered. Mrs. C. R. Mills of Chifu writes of a pastor and a Christian doctor, "They have been beaten until there is no flesh left on their bones. They have suffered this rather than retract." At Wenchau one old preacher was offered the alternative of worshiping idols or of death. He chose the latter, whereupon his ears were first cut off, and then his head, and then his body offered in sacrifice. While we sorrow for those who have suffered death for the name of Christ, we must praise God for the loyalty shown to their Lord.

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T the present time the situation in China is simply this. Nearly all the mission stations occupied by various Protestant Christian Missionary Societies, as well as nearly all the Roman Catholic stations, have been necessarily abandoned by those in charge. Only a few of those cities on the coast which were occupied as mission stations still retain their missionary contingent. It was announced, on the strength of a telegram, that all the stations of the American Baptist Missionary Union in China had been abandoned, except that at Swatow. We learn by mail advices that Dr. and Mrs. Grant have remained continuously at Ningpo, so that Swatow and Ningpo, the two oldest stations of the Union in China, are still occupied out of the fourteen stations held at the beginning of the outbreak. The record of other missionary societies is much the same. Many of the stations in the interior have been abandoned in great haste. A considerable number of the stations are known to have been destroyed, and it may be expected that when missionaries are able to return it will be found that a large amount of damage and loss has been suffered at many others.

When this return can be made is, of course, a matter of great uncertainty. It would appear, at the time of the present writing, that it would not be very difficult to arrange favorable terms with the Chinese government and secure larger liberty and protection for the missionaries than ever before. But the complicated element in the situation is the attitude of the European Powers. The greed of some and the jealousy of all toward each other is delaying a peaceful settlement of affairs, and may even result in further warlike operations. It is quite certain that wherever the power of Russia extends, unless the policy of the government is greatly changed, Protestant Christian missions will be made exceedingly difficult. The territories that may come under the protection or ownership of other nations may be opened to Christian missions, if not to the free commerce of all nations.

The missionaries who have been driven from their stations are distributed between the coast cities of China and various points in Japan, and some have returned to their homes in America or Europe. If the settlement of affairs in China is delayed much longer no doubt a larger number will return. The cost of living has become extraordinarily high in the coast cities of China and in Japan. It is stated that at the hotel in Nagasaki charges are as much as twenty-one dollars a day, Mexican, equal to ten dollars and a half gold. While some might afford figures like these, they are beyond the capacity of the missionary pocket or of the just expenditure of the funds of missionary societies. If a settlement is long delayed, it would probably be cheaper to bring most of the missionaries to America rather than to pay the cost of their living, either in China or Japan.

The correspondence of the missionaries indicates that they are ready and eager to return to their fields as soon as the way may be opened. They are not discouraged nor disheartened by the terrible outbreak of violence and fury which has burst upon them, but propose to continue their work of giving the gospel of Christ to the Chinese at the earliest and most favorable opportunity. We repeat that there is no doubt that God has purposes of good to bring out of the present evil state of affairs. The way is sure to be opened for a larger and more rapid progress of the truth in China than ever before. Let all Christians remember China, the Chinese Christians and the missionaries. much in prayer, and also remember that every missionary society will be loaded with a large amount of additional expense on account of these troubles.

Extra passages, extra cost of living of missionaries, and many thousands of dollars' loss of property will call for large additional and unexpected expenditures by every missionary society during the present year. We believe that the Lord's people will realize the situation and be eager not only to repair the losses, but to put the Missionary Union and other societies in position. to resume active and aggressive missionary work in China as soon as the way may be opened.

Mission Property Destroyed in China

IT will perhaps be impossible ever to compile a list of missionary property destroyed in the outbreak in China. Knowledge of what has taken place in the interior is still so incomplete that no missionary society can yet tell how large its losses have been. Only when peace and quiet have been restored sufficiently for missionaries to return to the stations they have been compelled to leave will the condition of the buildings and property they left be fully known. Some of the property was left in charge of native Christians and some, as the property of the American Baptist Missionary Union in West China, was formally placed under the care of the Chinese officials. Much will be saved but much will be lost. So far as reported, the greatest losses seem to be those of the Scotch and Irish Presbyterian missions in Manchuria, where mission property to the value of about two hundred thousand dollars is said to be entirely destroyed. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions has lost all its plant at Tungchow, twelve miles east of Peking, including a college and many other buildings, its property in Peking, and probably everything in the missions in Shansi Province and at Paotingfu in Chihli Province. All the missions in Peking are practically ruined, comprising properties of the London Missionary Society, the American Methodists and others. The English Baptist missions at Weihien, including six houses, school, chapel, etc., at Chinchaufu, and probably all the property in the Shansi mission is destroyed. Many stations of the China Inland mission, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the American Presbyterian Board and other missions have been looted and ruined. In fact not a mission society represented in China can be expected to escape without loss. It may be that some of these losses will be made good by indemnities, but it is not reasonable to expect that the Chinese government will be able, even if it is willing, to make full compensation for all the losses and damage suffered by foreigners in the recent terrible outburst of violence and destruction in China.

Our

ur Missionaries in China are in practically the same situation as reported in the October MAGAZINE, except that it appears that Dr. and Mrs. Grant were in Ningpo on August 18, while they had been reported in Shanghai. At last mail advices, Rev. J. M. Foster, Rev. Geo. H. Waters, Rev. George Campbell, Rev. A. F. Groesbeck and wife, Rev. H. A. Kemp, Miss Josephine M. Bixby, M.D., and Miss Harriet E. St. John were at Swatow, while Rev. J. Speicher had returned to his station at Kityang. Mr. Foster writes under ciate of August 27, "Mr. Groesbeck and Lieutenant Rust of the United States steamship Don Juan de Austria,' whom the consul had deputed to examine into losses in the Jiopheng district, are at Ungkung, and find the mandarins inclined to block their way. There was looting on the island of Namoa last week again. We feel quite secure here yet and hope to be able to hold on till peace is declared." Dr. Goddard has returned to Ningpo.