He repudiated all thoughts of ssiving a set speech, What he wished to do was to give his impressions of the value of meetings such as those of this club, which are rare, almost uuntque in a' place ike Shanghai, Ho congratulated all members of the club and expressed the hope that the good which came out of such meetings between Britons and Chinese would not be lost.
While he thad been tu London, ho went on, he had had the opportunity toe meet many most distinguished Britons and had been greatly impressed by them. He had studied British customs and literature; he had even been to a school where many of the teachers were English. Aa a result of what hho had observed "Taw many" faite of similarity between the two peoples—tralts which should draw "them closer together.
'Both peoples, he said, had ingrained love of peace and order. In Britain this had taken the form of constitutional government, China it had been different." 'The Confucian doctrine emphasized the importance of ordered moral conduct. ta' three prinelplos were obedience of the subject to the emperor; obedience of the son to the father: and obedience of the wife to the husband. China was In a transition stage from these three principles towards something more practical, and he felt that Britain, by assisting in many ways—in road building, railways, and other things—could help China towards her goal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.