462 



The Review of Reviews. 



Pitotpg'-af'h liy] 



[Laratettc. 



Prince Tsai Chen. 



The Ileir-Apparent to the Chinese Throne. 



but too brjpf account of his life included in his little 

 book "Kidnapped in London,"* he first learned 

 of the "Voting China" party, and its objects 

 appeared to him " so wise, so modest, and so hope- 

 ftil " that he at once sympathised with them and 

 believed himself to be doing his best for his country 

 by identifying himself with this party. In his little 

 book Dr. .Sun, summing up his indictment of so-called 

 Chinese government, gives some information as to 

 the state of China which is not generally known. 

 For example, he says no one may read a political 

 book, and no one below the grade of " a mandarin of 

 the seventh rank" may read Chinese geography, far 

 less foreign : the laws of the present dynasty cannot 

 b3 read by the public, neither can books on military 

 subjects, the jx-nalty for the perusal of wliich, by-the- 

 by, is death. The masses of the people a little way 

 inland never heard of the Japanese war, nor even of 

 a people called Japan:-si. 



Most of Dr. .Sim's little book deals, as the title 

 would lead anyone to expect, with the extiaordinary, 

 almost incredible story of his having Iseen kidnapped 

 as a dangerous revolutionary leader by some Chinese 

 Legation officials one Sunday morning, about 10,30, 

 as he was going to his friends the Cantlies, meaning 

 to go to church with them. The story of his con- 

 finement ; of his fear of poisoning ; of his efforts to 

 escape by giving servants notes with heavy "tips," 

 the former of which they gave up to the legation 

 officials while keeping the latter; of his throwing 

 notes out of tlvj windov we g itjd with cappers or 

 two-shilling pieces ; of Dr. Cantlie's chase after 



• Biiatul : Arrcwsmith. London : Snnpkin. Maistiall and Co. is. 



detectives and officials in order to free him, and of 

 his being finally set at liberty by order of the Foreign 

 Office, under Lord Salisbury, is too long to summarise 

 here. Those who wish to read in detail a highly 

 exciting detective .story of real life, a kind of 

 mediaeval romance which occurred in the year of 

 grace 1896, will do best to procure and read Dr. 

 Sun's own account, already referred to. One could 

 wish that, in that volume, Dr. Sun had told more 

 of himself, but the narrative is as unegotistical as it 

 l)ossibly can be. Dr. Sun being a striking instance of 

 how true it is that those about whom we most wish to 

 hear are least ready to talk about themselves. 



Various personal descriptions of the Doctor exist, 

 and all agree in saying that he is of middle height 

 (about 5 feet 6 inches), and of robust, or, as it is 

 sometimes put, "wiry" physique, with sallow com- 

 plexion and coal-black hair and moustache. His 

 appearance suggests a Japanese rather than a 

 Chinese; but, according to a correspondent of the 

 Alormiig Posf, who agrees in his description with other 

 writers, " in manner, dress, and speech there is 

 nothing to distinguish hiiu from an educated English 

 man except the slight trace of foreign accent with 

 Vt'hich he pronounces his fiuent English." Dr. Sun, 

 however, cannot write English freely and idiomatic 

 ally. The y1/(V7//«^ /'w/ correspondent, too remarks 



Admiral Sir Alfred Winsloa 

 rcimm.TniliTln-Cliief of the British China Squadron. 



