The Committee appointed at the public meeting held in Shanghai on the 27th of Gilbert Reid the aims and objects of the May, having fully discussed, with the Rev. proposed International Institute, now beg to make the following report The work which Mr. Reid has undertaken is the enlightenment of the higher classes in China, and the promotion of friendliness between these classes and foreigners, and he is of opinion that by such means the regeneration of the country can, in time, be brought about. For the carrying out of his work Mr. Reid desires to establish an Institute in Peking which shall be provided with reception rooms where educated Chinese and foreigners may meet; it is further intended that the buildings shall include an auditorium, a library, -@ museum, and class-rooms, in which instruction' would be given in' western languages and in other branches of learning with a view to breaking down the wall of exclusiveness which at present prevents both the moral and material development of the Empire. The Institute, while aiming to be an aid to the religious teachings of foreign missionaries, to be free from all sectarian and ecclesiastical bias or control; it is intended, in fact, that it be a work of enlightenment rather than of evangelization, The aims. of the Institute have met with the formal.approval. of the Chinese authorities, expressed. in a manner which has never previously been-accorded to any foreign scheme.
For the management/of the Institute regulations have tawn up which have received the official sanction of the Imenol Board of Foreign Affairs, that is the engli Yamen; the preamble to these regulations recites that" Whereas in China the way of access to the ruling classes for new ideas, whether scientific, social or re-are accordingly led to look upon the present jous is more open than ever before, we time as crisis without precedent in China's history, and as offering a Providential
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.