But have we, of this non-fuch modern era. even yet learned how to safeguard the. integrity of hi tory? Where did Mr. Rodney Gilbert get those xix columns of, sophisticated history contributed to your pages under date February 24, dealing "with the last phase of Ma eng? It is suid that the mera cannot lic, that the man ¢loso up to' tke facts must} needs know, But, I say, the camera simply cannot speak the truth, Hier every time, in colour, in con-trests, in perspectives: the very. play of light disvurls its record of fact. And the secret of its untrustworthiness lies in the fact that its record is formed inside: its impressions are purely subjective: some the Tens ager some colours and contrasts the plate will not record, You cannot blame the picture-box. It tries to tell the truth, Tt is only the victim of its own limitations, Such is the receptivity of Mr, Gilbert. ile ig not spiritually equipped to record all he sees. At, one point in the record he swivels round on the tripod to srapshat the people who are operating him, and then naively tells us that they are "Chinese of the rank and file, in the public parks of the city or on country walks, of in tea houses or railway stations." Does he really expect to learn the objective truth through such mediums?—Suppose London journalists, lacking the! Personal equipment for direct touch (hich they don't), picked up their Knowledge of state affairs in that way, from garrulous porters on the railways, disgruntled tramps in the country," or perfervid stators in Hyde Park? "Mr. Gilbert will always be uble to guaranice that his cading ques will produce exactly the inform he wants, and intends to get, He Rays:
"The wile secret. of Feng Yus hsiang's good reputation on the one and and his" unpopularity in the commercial communities, fe that inis'Grgantzation the soldiers do not Biisbohave themselves ror loot, eausd of the rigid. discipline' main tained, but that the organisation systeniatic levies upon trade, official!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.