§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it has come to the knowledge of the Foreign Office, officially or otherwise, that the Chinese have perpetrated outrages on Christians in China, attended with the loss of life?
MR. OTWAYsaid, he regretted to say that it had come to the knowledge of the Foreign Office, both officially and otherwise, that outrages, attended with loss of life, had been perpetrated by Chinese. By a telegram received from Sir Andrew Buchanan at St. Petersburg, which was dated Tientsin, July 6, and which arrived at the Foreign Office on July 23, it appeared that there had been an insurrectionary movement in Tien-tsin against the French missionaries, that 48 French persons were killed and three Russians, and that the French Consulate was burnt. The Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong telegraphed by another route, stating that serious disturbances had arisen at Tien-tsin, that the French Consulate was burnt, and French missionaries were attacked and murdered, in consequence of a rumour that children had been put to death by the French missionaries. Great excitement prevailed in Shanghai and the Northern ports, and a gunboat had gone with 600 troops ready to be disembarked in case of necessity.
§ COLONEL SYKESIs there no Report from our Minister at Pekin?