"In the present crisic we put the interests of our country first; and wish to put party differenoss in the background, because we seo that if our country is destroyed parties would be of no use. Therefore we repeat that we are not against the man who is now in power but that we are opposed to the way in which he governs.
Yet, although we would like to change the Government, we will not do anything which will endanger the country. We believe our people will understand this. With regard to the present trouble with Japan which is exciting the whole country, we must admit that our country is weak through being divided, But we must insist that the present Government is responsible for that. Therefore we prefer to leave them to clean up their own mess, as we have no power to reform the Government, and decline to do anything which would make matters worse, There is no country in the world which forbids criticism of the Government and we therefore ask you to consider whether our Government is so perfect that no reform is necessary. We wanted reforms, but were driven abroad. Now we are unable to carry out our political views, but we as sure you positively that no reform can be expected from the present Government. If our Government would reform itself, then there would be some hope for the country and we should die abroad quietly.
Detective Reports Untrue, The offer of an amnesty by the Government is a mere scrap of paper and does not deceive anyone. For instance your papers reported that General Niu Yun-kien had wired on January 17 from Yokohama to General Feng Kuo-chang at Nan. king-ocking for a pardon, but as a matter of fact General Niu went to America on March 6, 1914, and is now living in London. The report was evidently made up by one of the Government detectives, and is hardly worth a smile The power of reform is certainly in the hands of the people and we have nothing to repent for, because we are unconscious of having made any mistake.
We speak from our hearts, and as it is true, we do not care whether you agree with us or not, (Signed) General Lin Hu, Chen Chien, Li Keng-yuan, Long Chu and eight other,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.