The Twain–Ament indemnities controversy was a major in the United States of America in 1901 as a consequence of the published reactions of American humorist Mark Twain to reports of Rev. William Scott Ament and other missionaries collecting indemnities (in excess of losses) from Chinese people in the aftermath of the Boxer Uprising.

Origins of the Controversy In 1900, attacks took place across China in connection with the Boxer Rebellion which targeted Christians and foreigners. Many missionaries with their children, as well as native Christians were killed and much property was destroyed. While most missionaries, including those of the largest affected mission agency, the China Inland Mission led by Hudson Taylor, refused to even accept payment for loss of property or life "in order to demonstrate the meekness of Christ to the Chinese" when the allied nations were demanding compensation from the Chinese government, not all missionaries acted with similar restraint.

In 1901, veteran American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionary Rev. Dr. William Scott Ament, who had served in China since 1877, became embroiled in a controversy regarding his activities (and those of other Christian missionaries, including Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier, Roman Catholic Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-li) subsequent to the Boxer Uprising. "In the war's aftermath came a war of words. Missionary triumphalism clashed with the sarcastic sallies of Mark Twain, who lampooned the apologias for looting given by American missionary William Scott Ament."Bickers & Tiedemann, Boxers, xv.

Ament's attitude and actions While Ament through his own personal initiative was able to rescue the ABCFM missionaries at Tungchow, there was still significant loss of lives. Thirteen ABCFM adult missionaries and five children were killed by the Boxers. Included were Mary Susan Morrill (born 1863 in Portland, Maine) and Annie Allender Gould, were among the eleven foreign missionaries, four children, and about fifty Chinese Christians killed in Baoding from 30 June 1900.Paul Hattaway, China's Christian Martyrs (Oxford, UKm and Grand Rapids, Michigan: Monarch, 2007):196–210 Additionally, there was much damage to ABCFM property. The ABCFM Mission compound was razed, as was the Emily Ament Memorial School (named in honor of Ament's daughter) on Sixth Street, Peking.Luella Miner, China's Book of Martyrs: A Record of Heroic Martyrdoms and Marvelous Deliverances of Chinese Christians During the Summer of 1900, (Jennings and Pye, 1903): 240.Robert Hart; John King Fairbank; Katherine Frost Bruner; Elizabeth MacLeod Matheson; and James Duncan Campbell, The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868–1907 (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975): 879. Ament estimated that by the end of July 1900 that losses for the ABCFM Peking station was about $71,000 gold.Porter, 189.

Occupation of the Mongolian Fu On 11 August 1900, Ament indicated in a letter to his wife that:William Scott Ament, Letter to Mary P. Ament, quoted in Porter, 191–192.

Ament was able to occupy the Mongolian Fu, a suspected Boxer headquarters adjacent to the ABCFM chapel, by 20 August 1900.Porter, 197. Ament was able to write to his wife:W. S. Ament to Mary Ament, 20 August 1900, quoted in Porter, 197.

Demand for indemnities On 20 August 1900, Ament with nineteen other American Protestant missionaries sent a note to United States Minister, Edwin H. Conger, demanding:Wong, 29.

These demands were transmitted to John Hay (8 October 1838; 1 July 1905), United States Secretary of State (1898–1905), with only the demands for indemnities and the abolition of the examination system ultimately included in the Boxer Protocol. According to Wong:Wong, 30–31.

On 25 August 1900, Ament revealed his plans to punish the Boxers for their actions:W. S. Ament to M. P. Ament, 25 August 1900, quoted in Porter 198.

Again, Ament indicated:Porter, 199.

Collection of indemnities From 13 September 1900, Ament, and a colleague, Reverend Elwood Gardner Tewksbury,William H. Brackney, "Elwood Gardner Tewksbury", Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/t/tewksbury-elwood-gardner.php accompanied by the U.S. 6th Cavalry, searched the areas adjacent to Beijing for Boxers, collecting indemnities for Christians who had been killed by the Boxers, and ordering the burning of some homes and even allegedly executing suspected Boxers. Ament had been chosen by his fellow missionaries "as the one who would be honorable and just to all."Martha Emily Parmelee Rose, The Western Reserve of Ohio and Some of Its Pioneers, Places and Women's Clubs, National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection (Library of Congress) (Euclid Print. Co., 1914): 133. Ament reported to Mary, his wife, on 18 September 1900:W. S. Ament to M. P. Ament, 18 September 1900, in Porter, 207.

On 1 January 1901, Ament, writing to his wife, confided:W. S. Ament to M. P. Ament, 1 January 1901; quoted in Porter, 219.

Ament is quoted as advocating the necessity of the use of force to ensure genuine regret among the Chinese: "If you deal with the Chinese with a soft hand, they will take advantage of it."Cited in S.C. Miller, "Ends and Means: Missionary Justification of Force in Nineteenth Century China," in The Missionary Enterprise, 276.

In a letter to ABCFM corresponding secretary Dr. Judson Smith of 13 November 1900 (received by Smith on 7 January 1901), Ament wrote:W. S. Ament to Judson Smith, 13 November 1900; quoted in Porter, 233.

Apparently, the actions of Russian, French, and German soldiers, "who looted and killed on every hand, often taking delight in shooting every person visible ... determined Dr. Ament not to go again with soldiers in his efforts to secure the replacing of the Christian in their homes, or to enforce the reasonable demands for indemnity for the great losses sustained by the church-members."Porter, 226. Ament wrote in a letter on 27 September 1900, about a month after the occupation of the Mongol Fu (palace): "I am selling off the bric-a-brac, silks, furs found in the Fu for the benefit of the Christians."William Scott Ament, Letter (27 September 1900); quoted in Porter, 241–242.

Ament, writing to Rev. Dr. Judson Smith on 27 December 1900, before he became aware of any criticism, gave this account of the collection of indemnities:W. S. Ament to Judson Smith, 27 December 1900, quoted in Porter, p. 230.

Criticisms of Ament and his actions

Wilbur Chamberlin and New York Sun article (24 December 1900) An interview that Wilbur Chamberlin of the New York Sun conducted with Ament elevated the indulgences issue into a . Chamberlin had first met Ament in Beijing on 14 October 1900. In a letter to his wife, Chamberlin indicated:Chamberlin, Ordered, 97–98.

While Chamberlin thought it unlikely that the Sun publish his reports about the looting by missionaries and their followers, he felt that should they be printed that he would be:Chamberlin, letter to his wife, 11 December 1900, in Chamberlin, Ordered, 190.

Chamberlin's report was subsequently published in the Christmas Eve 1900 edition of New York's The Sun newspaper.Robert A. Bickers and R. G. Tiedemann, The Boxers, China, and the World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007): 104). , . Chamberlin reported:The New York Sun (24 December 1900), quoted by Mark Twain, "The Person Sitting in Darkness", The North American Review 172 (February 1901).

Chamberlin indicated in a letter to his wife dated 28 December 1900, that he had interviewed Ament that day about missionary looting, and that Ament believed he had done nothing for which he was ashamed. Chamberlin confided to his wife that:Chamberlin, Ordered, 212–213.

In a subsequent letter to his wife, dated 29 January 1901, Chamberlin indicates that:Chamberlin, Ordered, 241.

Mark Twain: "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" (February 1901) Mark Twain was "an outspoken critic of American involvement in the Philippines and China",Maverick Marvin Harris, "China", 142, in The Mark Twain Encyclopedia. and "one of the mammoth figures in anti-imperialism, and certainly the foremost anti-imperialist literary figure" of his days, having become in January 1901 a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League of New York.Everett H. Emerson, Mark Twain: A Literary Life (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000):257.

Twain decided to use the Sun article as the basis of a sustained attack on both the missionary enterprise and its imperialist tendencies. "Twain lampooned missionary morality and likened it to questionable American activities in the Philippines".Bickers & Tiedemann, Boxers, 104. According to Foner, Twain used the conduct of Ament to "drive home the point that the missionary movement served as a front for imperialism.Philip Sheldon Foner, Mark Twain: Social Critic (International Publishers, 1958): 280. "Without any doubt 'To the Person Sitting in Darkness' is Twain's most famous anti-imperialist piece. The satire is incredibly dark and Twain does not hesitate to taunt those whom he considers to be immoral including McKinley as the "Master of the Game," the missionaries, and the trusts."Literature and Anti-Imperialism The title of the article is "an ironic reference to Matthew 4:16 — "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light"", "and used by the Christian missionaries when referring to the "savage", "heathen", "uncivilized" populations of the lands the imperialists were conquering." It was also a response the pro-imperialistic message in the poem The White Man's Burden written by Rudyard Kipling in response to the American annexation of the Philippines.F The title was "a play upon the idea of western civilization being "enlightened"". Kipling had used the image when he wrote of:

In this article, Twain especially targeted Ament. According to Susan Harris:Harris.

According to Twain biographer Albert Bigelow Paine:

James Smylie somewhat whitewashed the controversy, saying, "Twain went after the respected Congregationalist minister, Reverend William Scott Ament, director of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Ament joined other powers in seeking indemnities from the Chinese after the Boxer Rebellion against western exploitation in 1900. Twain, perhaps unfairly, was shocked that Ament would use such blood money for the "propagation of the Gospel" and to promote the "blessings of civilization" to brothers and sisters who "sit in darkness." He summoned to missionaries: Come home and Christianize Christians in the states!"Smylie, page 10.

Reactions to the controversy After its publication in The North American Review for February 1901, as the opening article, there was a huge controversy. This article "created a national sensation as well as a savage debate between Twain and the American Board of Foreign Missions; it is a masterful and satiric polemic condemning imperialism and the West for military intervention in China, South Africa, and the Philippines."J. C. B. Kinch, "Europe and Elsewhere", The Mark Twain Encyclopedia, 261. According to Paine:

After its magazine publication, the Anti-Imperialist League of New York published the essay as a pamphlet and seems to have distributed as many as 125,000 copies. However:

Critics of Ament

The New York Times