Ir is not surprising that the Imperial Edict of August 10, coni-manding universal suppression of or Political Society, should be regarded almost as a death-blow (o the hopes of those who believed in a Chinese of opinion between local into and the Central Government has been accentuated by the hotheadedness of the student classes: and the latter are probably quite as well represented in the counsels of the Chénwénsé as they have any need to be. But there con: ble motion between the irresponsibilities of youth and the "bad characters and political criminals" referred to in the Edi and the ima special "and following Parliament as the secret of national gent merchants and men of renascence.
Constitutionalism—is|thought in general. much in the air among Oriental] Beyond sach considerations as peoples, as is shown by the ex- these, the Chénwénsé is entitled to amples of Turkey and Persia not|claim that it has enjoyed, if not less than of China: and while|the approval, at least the tolerance there may be too great a tendency of Peking; and that its objects to treat the mere word us a talis~ man under whose action all evils of very and—maladministration shall presently dissolve, it does supply a watchword about which educational and financial reforms may be grouped, conveying to the masses of the people that sense of of personal responsibility which is the foundation of all zood government. The shock of what now virtually amounts to a prohibition of all propaganda on those lines is the slorper for having been totally unexpected. Even at the moment when the thunderbolt is launched, selected representatives of the people of Kiangsu, _Kiangsi, Anhui, Kuangtung, Chekiang and other provinces (to quote the turesque account of our Peking correspondent) "ure sitting with folded arms in the various Chinese hotels of the Capital at great expense, and will all return to their respective provinces in a few days "—without, so far as can be seen, having had the expected opportunity of making any representation on the question of a tion to the nation, of months ago, to submit te draft-schemes of the pr pective constitution, Since the return of the Travelling Com sioners, now just over two y ago, and the subsequent appear of the Edict of September 1, 1906, detailing the nature of the 1 advocated by the Comm and holding out promises. constitution for China, the politi balance between progress and reaction at Peking has swung to and fro with frequent violence. It is the common danger of converts that, in the first lieut of enthus their reach should of atavism are proportionately stiffened aya ist_ them.
Less than a year ago H.E. Yuan Shih-kai was summoned to Peking in what seemed to be a blaze of trium for the progressive party: but the developments of a very few days proved that the much-advertised "free hand" of the new Grand Councillor was considerably cripalmost nervously awake to the ity of acting with extreme und while, so far as can be seen, he has never swerved from his avowed belief that the earliest to give reality to the promised constitution, the Edict of August 10 can only be taken as a sign that reaction is for the moment in the cendaney. It is a curious reflexion that the certain existence of bad characters (revealed by the assase of the Governor of Anhui) and the suspected existence of like undesirables but months thir later should have produced such totally different results. From the into which Peking was thrown the marder of En Min it arose to scatter forth an almost overwhelming number of reforms, dealing in turn with racial jealousies, Manchu garrisons, education, local rament (on the lines of the ent system) the burdensome customs of mourning, the magistrature, the army, navy and finance. On paper at least there has been no use to complain of lack of enlightenment in the counsels of the nation. Unfortunately the apparent result of every promise is to leave the Government aghast at its own boldness, like a child who has started a pebble rolling down a hillside and cries because it has precipitated a small avalanche.
isan open question whether China would indeed derive all the benefit which she fondly pictures from constitutional government, even if realized according to the best traditions of the West. To devise Jone Parliament which would be truly representative of the contlicting interests of 400 millions of people, so widely disconnected as they must continue to be in the pre state of China's internal communications, is a task which might appel the most imaginative brain. nal fi
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.