Society was held at the Jupanese Legation when the Rev, Mr, Headland read an interesting and instructive paper on "The Edward Bellamy of China, or the Political Cundition of the Middle Sung." He sketched the three great political changes introduced by Wang An-shu, viz: the seed grain law, a method of State advances to cultivators of the land; the universal militia enrolment law, by which the whole population was rendered liable to service as an armed constabulary; and the abolition of forced labour law. In the able discussion which followed, and in which a large number of the meabers.took part, it was shown that Joseph in Egypt and the British government in India carried out the same system of government loans to the agricul tural classes, with benefit both to the ryots and the State, and that the system failed in China was entirely owing to the rapacity and villainy of the officials and their underlings, especially the latter, into whose hands the disbursement of the advances and the collection of interest lapsed. It was thus unavoidable that distress and impoverishment should take the place of the expected advantages to the people. The enrolment system also speedily became a burden through the exactions to which it gave rise. It was pointed out in the discussion that in many of the European countries at the present day the same system exists. The abolition of the forced labour law was exemplified by. our own late action in Egypt in abolishing the odious corvée, These schemes of reform of this celebrated statesman, scholar and poet, who powerfully influenced the fortunes of China under the Sung dynasty, were vigorously
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.