16th November.
'THarT she wishes to do so does not admit of question. Jupan has made sure her position among the nations China pants to establish position among those same nations, 'China fails altogether to perceive that Japan was able to do this because she had a potential unity, and because large masses of her people were willing' to make important sacrifices to attain public ends. 'The interesting' and instructive details of the disestablishment of Japinese feudalism may be "found in uny gond history of its modern progress, and need not here be discussed, The essential point is that nobles and their followers consent-d to this essential process, not indeed wi hous protest, but without waging ad exhausting war to maintain their rights. This appears (o have been'the kernel of the whole change without the abolition of feudalism, Japan could have made'no headway. Thit abolition alone could not have saved her, but it wag. a. prerequisite to advance. In times of great crisis every nation must be prepared to surrender -some things to gain others, Japan has marched on because her sacrifices had been made, the necessity for the ensuing steps Seen, or at least felt, and because (with many abatements and qualifications) she has trusted her leaders. In China' on the other hand, who isis that is randy to give u, anything for thei larger national good? We may pause long for " reply. Everyaody wants] all that he now has, and somethin, more as well. The Court, the "Elder Statesmen" (if there are any such beings in China), the common run of the officials, the gentry now "the people," are all, with, 4 eymmon impulse, clamouring for more, and no-one of them is willing to concede anything as long as he can avoid it. Money is the key that unlocks all doors. The Government. wants money, but " the people" are well aware that even if the taxes are doubled, the Government will gain little or nothing. For some years Chinese domestic politics has largely resolved itself into.the question on the one side how to wring more tax-money from the people, and on the other haw to-make the collection impossible, Victory rests now with the exactors, and every now and again with the people. It there is any clear perception in Chinn of what is needed to make China strong and able "effectively to assert herself, the knéwledg" of the fact is successfully concealed. There is a general impression that Western education is indispensable, and the decree to discontinue the eight-legged essay has gone forth. China is now to learn arithmetic, geography, history, and chemistry, It is true that there ure no- teachers of any of these branches on any considerable scale, so that the opening of the primary schools, as ordered, isa physi ical, an intellectual, and a moral impossibility. But this appears to be regarded as.a mere detail, and so: far no suggestions as to a remedy are forthcoming. Torture is abolished (in an Imperial Decree), but prisoners are benton toa jelly"as before, and will be so in future, Numerous sinecures are done away with, but that only means so many more hopeles: and helpless men added to the "dangerous classes." Chemistry is coming into China; yes, and +o is the bomb, fatal emblem of Western constructive and destructive skill. When these missiles are more widely diffused, the life of no -man, no woman, and-no child will, there~ after be safe in China, Until the Chinese are willing to copy Japanese fidelity in. details, China will continue to be: the land of "ch'a pu to"~or. "belong all same," which means defiance of the laws inherent in matter and in mind. And until China is willing to submit on a large and a thorough scale to a moral-reform, she will never imitate Japan. She must have a unity. of spirit ab present totally lacking in her public men,.n routual tolerance in place of mutual suspicion, a readiness to place China first and selfest. Until' that happy. day dawns, Boxerism may illustrate an awakened national feeling, and be) cotts may confirm it, but the -tute-. lage of China must inevitably. con tinue, and her real autonomy remain as remote us ever, Outports, Cty,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.