While this great army has been on the trail of the brigands the Government in Peking has been able to get a firmer grip of the country. While attention focussed on the "raid" the powers that he had almost a free hand to grasp the reins firmly over the empire and the end of its thin year finds fear of " third rebellion or revolution more and more remote, Had those 100,000 men not been #0 fully employed in following the brigands, it makes one's flesh creep to think what China might have been like to-day.
May we look forward to the correction of other evils in the near future such as bribery and favouritim? Can we hope that ability and not relationship will be the qualification for those appointed to civil or military positions? There seem to be gleams of hope at times, but such old customs or practices die slowly. There are' very few who do not condemn the practice in others, but, alas! they have no objection to pocketing such bribes themselves, when offered.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.