CHAPTER XIV.

Abandons Ping-Hoo-New Treaties-Death of his father-in-law, and of Mrs. Burdon.

AFTER all that had been accomplished, and all that had been hoped for, at Ping-Hoo, it was still found impracticable to retain the place, even as an out-station, because of the unsettled state of the country, and the loneliness of the situation. Having been compelled, as we have seen, to part with his tried friend and companion, Mr. Aitchison returned in the spring of 1858 to Shanghai, there to study and wait further developments of Providence, devoting himself in the mean time to such missionary service as the circumstances would permit. Having no chapel of his own, he held for a time a daily service in that which was under the care of Mr. Burdon, residing also in his family.

Although war had been raging all the time since he entered the country, yet now a new and

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more portentous cloud is rising. Misunderstandings with the French and English threaten a more serious outbreak than ever before. The rupture came, with increased disturbance and trouble. The whole country was excited, and further attempts to effect a settlement in the interior were necessarily held in abeyance. But busy as ever, Mr. Aitchison engaged in preaching as opportunity offered, making also brief excursions into the surrounding country, while the greater part of his time was spent in poring over that "infinite quantity," as he called it, the Chinese language and literature, intending thereby to lay up rich stores of knowledge for future use, when the right spot for him should be found.

"As a Chinese student," so wrote his friend Mr. Burdon, at a later day, "he was from the first enthusiastic, and his interest ended only with his life. His theory on this point was, that the first five years in China should be principally spent in study, with as much of actual missionary work as is consistent with that object; but that afterwards a missionary's time should be spent principally in preaching and diffusing the gospel

among the people, with just as much of study as will be consistent with that. And he adopted this theory on the principle, that though death should be ever present to our minds, as possibly and even probably near, yet all our plans and works should generally be undertaken and carried out as though long years of usefulness were before us."

At length, in June, 1858, by the treaties of Tientsin, the country, so far as foreign war was concerned, was pacified; and, as all had anticipated, new facilities for the spread of the gospel were obtained. Indeed, beside giving access to no less than thirteen new ports for trade, the entire kingdom seemed to be at once opened to missionary labors; and as the wonderful intelligence was sent to England with all possible despatch, and thence flashed across the Atlantic by the submarine cable just laid, the two continents stood still for a moment and rejoiced together in the wonderful things God had thus wrought. Of this new state of things Mr. Aitchison speaks in the following language:—

"The treaties recently signed at Tientsin, between China on the one hand, and the four great

powers of the West, England, France, Russia and the United States on the other, furnish matter for devout thankfulness to God. The prayers of some now bowing before the throne above, and of many still bearing the heat and burden of the day, are answered. A wide breach has been made in the wall of exclusiveness, which so long interposed a formidable barrier between the heralds of salvation and the perishing millions of this empire.

"We are not so sanguine as to suppose, that no obstacles lie in the path to the full attainment of the privileges above indicated. Imperial edicts cannot change the disposition of the masses, nor secure the integrity of officials. In planting the standard of the cross in regions hitherto unexplored, we must expect opposition and danger; must be prepared for exhibitions of contempt and hatred. Families, especially, will have to encounter rooted prejudice and aversion. But it is our deliberate opinion that the time for the occupation of the interior has now come, and that all difficulties will vanish before the power of faith and love.

"If, however, our right to enter in and take

possession of the whole land, in Christ's name, were allowed for the moment to be doubtful, there is still ground for an appeal to the churches to send us reinforcements, in this fact, that nine new ports, three on the coast, three on adjoining islands, and three on the great river Yang-tszkiang, are certainly opened to trade, and of course to the propagation of Christianity. One of these is in the extreme North, on the coast of Manchuria, with the climate of New England; another in the extreme South, on the Island of Hai-nan, with the climate of Cuba; and the rest are between these limits, presenting a variety of climate adapted to every sort of physical constitution, and a difference of population suited to every grade of mental culture."

Soon after the foregoing was written, Mr. Aitchison was again called to a double sorrow, the death of his venerated father-in-law, and of his new and valued friend, Mrs. Burdon, in whose house he had found a pleasant home. Of both these events he tenderly speaks as follows: