Tue intelligence that Viceroy Tuan Fang is about to publish a book on modern polities embodying the results of his observations during his. tour through America and Europe in 1905-6 has wider interest. than usually attaches to. the prospective making of books, In many respects the tour of the Chinese Travellin, Commissioners was unique; and a faithful record of their experiences would he calculated to enlighten even a more travelled audience than the Chinese reading publ OF all: such -undertakings it be the least: resemblance tou glorified picnic," and did fulfil, ax far was physically possible, the objects it had in view. With the seriousness and industry which night have been expected, the Commissioners and their staffs from the outset devoted themselves to their various subjects. According to the pre-arranged plan the several of politics. were divided between each group of Commis sioners, and these were told off to prosecute their inquiries in the most practical way available. The departments of State of each country that they ited were thrown open to them, and aceompanied by competent officials they were enabled to make a careful study of the actual mechanism of a Government Office. Again. when occasion offered, the theory of each separate subject was expounded to them " out of hours" by qualified professors or others. Copious notes were taken by all the members of the Commission, and from time to time views were exchanged among themselves. So was - the fervour and interest displayed in these informal debates, that any hope of " writing up" a subject on the tour was soon abandoned, and the question of a report had to be 1 until the return to China, H.E. Tuan Fang as the head of one group of Travelling Commissioners would have access to all the compilations of his party, and it may be supposed that his book will be based on these as well as on his own personal investigation:
Not the least significance of such 4 publication is the fact that it constitutes a conscientious effort on the part of a representative of the Chinese ruling caste to spread one lightenment among the people. A step in this direction has a far more practical bearing on the ultimate rehabilitation of ina than a number of well-meaning edicts. In a more or less incapable and un-1 by possessing sound aristocracy, with a vast letariate of infinite potential but ignorant and degraded. Japan n the other hand is fortunate in an able, enlightened and unselfish aris mocracy, although its rank and file lack many of the fi attributes of The result this difference of the two peoples is in their respective histor the motive power sapp! intelligent and patriotic ruling caste Japan was able to pass through era of transformation with " tapidi of progress that rightly astonished the world. There is little hopeuof China fulfilling her destiny with similar alacrity An_ enlightened and energetic ruler could avail much; but the atmosphere of the Palace at Peking stands in need of drastic changes before such a novelty could grow upinit. In the absence of the necessary stimulus in the highest places China has to rely for her salvation upon the efforts of the few men who, as Viceroys Yuan Shih-kai and Tuan Fang, stand out above their class, unless the country is to attain its destiny through the exhausting turmoil and excesses of a revolution from below. Both processes are necessarily slow, for there is abundant scope for "the obstructing deadweight of reaction. Any attempt to force the pace is)troops have now been subdued. almost sure to add to the sorrows the country. Russia in its present upheaval affords a striking illustration of an attempt to accelerate artificially a popular movement Both the First and the Second Dama imagined that reform from below could be forced arbitrarily upon an unwilling officialdom, with the result that t even the semblance of consitational government accorded by the Manifesto of October 1908 is lost to the country For such reasons and in con sideration of the peculiar cireumstances of China, we may welcome for her sake at least the attempts [festinate lento on the part of those who are the champions of reform publication of the Viceroy"s political tr which may even prove dull reading, is a small step in the direction of constitutional progress; but it will mark-a stage in the breaking: down of old prejudices and inthe turning of new il. China suffers from no lack of of modern production, but the practical value of most of it may well be considered problema tiowl. She is new to the virtue of technical publications and is too apt to associate all scholarship with morality and abstract sciences. may be hoped that the practical of Viceroy Tuan Fung's compilation will give a stimulus to technical literature intended to spread knowledge of modern methods in industrial purse
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.