June 24, We have heard of an individ-nat who sat down with a pencil and a, piece of paper and proceeded to reckon how many different aspects a man might wear without laying himself open to the charge of being a dissembier. He found that there was, first, the man as he appeared to himself. Second, the man as he chose to represent himself to be. Third, as he was in his friends' estimation. Fourth, as his friends tell him he seems to them and fifth, as his friends tell each other he really is. Having got so far in his enumeration this person gave up the effort, for it was becoming evident that a man has as many facets as a diamond and changes like chameleon, not only with his environment, but accordingly as he is viewed with friendly or critical eyes. These reflexions occur to us in connexion with the different reports we get of the now famous lieutenant of Wu Pei-fu, the Christian General, Feng Yuhsiang. One correspondent wrote us glowing accounts of the reforms General Feng was carry ing out in the provincial capital during his incumbency as Tuchun of Shensi. Another gentleman writes from the same city to the 'Central China Post' and describes the relief felt by the people when their reforming Governor had handed over the reins of government to. one. less swift to mark the faults and foibles "of his subjects. We recognize in this that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin...We can all, on occasion; make good. resolutions) and some of us -even go the length of carrying some of these into effect. - But there isa great difference between the reformation begotten of our own volition and that imposed upon us by power which we can no more-contradict than the inhabitants of the kingdom of TLaputa could argue with the movable stone! that hung poised above their} heads. To put the matter in other words, legislation in advance of those for whom the laws are enacted is bound to be} futile and that is especially true in the realm of morals.
We do not in the least doubt that General Feng's reforms wer conceived from the highest and} most patriotic motives, nor tha their operation was calculated to promote the well-being of those chiefly affected by them. Clean-} ing an Augean stable is never a pleasant task and it needs not that one should be over nice in the choice of the tools used in the operation. To close the gambling and other disorderly. houses and opium dens and to drive away the sharks who prey on the foolish and ignorant in every great city is an accomplishment for which we can have nothing but praise. It is the method of reform which we think is open to objection. The people must be educated to see the need of the proposed alterations in the law and they will then not only accept them with a good grace, but will ce-operat: in carrying them out. General Feng has been trained in the camp and not unnaturally applies the methods of the sergeant-major to the civil population. These methods are effective but they are only effective so long as they are backed by the sanction of military force. As soon as thi is withdrawn the people sink back into the old, bad groove The role of reformer is the most: difficult that any man can assume and history is strewn with examples of failure. We sincerely hope that experience will teach better methods and that General Feng and those who, like him, see with clear eyes the needs of their country will achieve much greater success than the recalcitrants at Sianfu dream possible.
The other aspect in which General Feng appears to writers in the Chinese press, as @ name with which to conjure a loan from the simple foreigners who are likely to see in him the harbinger of a Chinese millennium, is also not without its humour.
The eyes of the Government are turning towards the Consortium and though the members of that august body have been described in various terms, we do not remember to have heard prospective money-lenders called simple-minded " before. We think we understand fairly well what is in the mind of the writer. China stands in need of considerable window-dressing and General Feng's is a picturesque figure which lends itself admirably for decorative purposes. But China is not the only country in which this gentle art is practised. Russia, albeit in a somewhat clumsy manner, is also putting her largest apples on the top of the basket and even Germany, with the lure of an international Joan dangling in front of her, casts an intriguing smirk in the direction of the bankers' conference. We do not, feel very san-guide that these plans will be crowned with success but those using them probably feel, like the dying miser who gave his first donation to church funds, that they are "worth trying and they are, at least, an improvement on the methods adopted in these countries not so long ago.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.