Dk. Sun Yat-Sf.n. 



463 



on tliere being aliout Dr. Sun '"nothing of the fanatic, 

 notliing of the itlealist." He is a man of one purpose, 

 of which he never for a moment loses sight. The 

 present revolt is the fourth revolutionary movement 

 with which he has been identified, the first having 

 been the Ganton revolution, which failed through a 

 premature action on the part of one of the leaders. 



It is interesting to note that the Chinese papers 

 printed in English seem to treat Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as 

 seriously and with ns much admiration as the British 

 papers. The China M(i!/,iox instance, commenting 

 on his release by the British Foreign Office, wrote of 

 him as follows : — 



An un.nssuminij manner and an earnestness of speech, com- 

 bined wiih a quick pircfplion and resolute judgment, go to 

 impress one with the conviciion tlial he is in every way an 

 exceptional type rf his race. Beneath liis calm exterior is 

 )iiddcn a personality tint Ciinnot hit be a great influence for good 

 in China sootier or later, if the Fates arejair." 



Dr. Sun's own account of how he was first led to 

 organise his fellow-countrymen was that it was by 

 beitig present as a youth at executions. " Then I 

 got into communication with the families of victims, 

 and everywhere found revolutionary aspirations. 

 Hatred for the Matichu corruption and administrative 

 exactions is innate in the Chinese people." 



It is, indeed, a fight against the Manchus which is 

 now being waged in China, a fight against the half a 

 million to a million who are misgoverning and have 

 long misgoverned 400,000,000. 



" Our greatest hope," Dr. Sun confided to a Tit-Bits 

 interviewer, "is to make the Bible and education, as 

 we have come to know them by residence in America 

 and Kurope, the means of conveying to our unhappy 

 fellow-countrymen what ble.ssiiigs may lie in the way 

 of just laws, and what relief from their sufierings tiiay 

 be found through ci\ ilisation. We intend to try every 

 means in o'lr power to seize the country. I think we 

 shall ; but if 1 am doomed to disappointment in this, 

 then there is no engine of warfare we can invoke to 

 our aid that we will hesitate to use. Our 400,000,000 

 must, and shall, be released from the cruel tyranny of 

 barbaric misrule, and be brought to ctijoy the blessings 

 of control by merciful and just government." 



Mr. Arthur Di()sy, writing in the Coiittiii/'crnry 

 RrAtu\ expresses hope for the success of the revolu- 

 tionary movement in China, and is in absolute 

 agreement with all other writers as to the hii.;h 

 character, sincerity, ability and sitigleness of jiurposc 

 of his firm friend, " the Mazzini of China," l)r. Suti 

 Vat-Scn. The revolution he describes as " of the first 

 magnitude, probably one of the greatest in history." 

 The war-cry of th>- revolutionaries, " Down with the 

 Manchu," is ofufii inspired by racial hatred in the case 

 of the rank and file, but not in the case of the leaders, 

 who are ready to admit the misgoverning class to 

 their full share of citizenship in New China. It is 

 merely tlie privileged position of the Manchu which 

 they are determined to abolish, and the whole Manclui 

 dynastic system, which must go if China is ever to 

 breathe freely. It is the Manchu, alien in race to the 



Chinese, and, says Mr. Diosy, immeasurably inferioi 

 to them in civilisation, who has imposed on the 

 Chinese the queue or pigtail which with ignorant 

 Europeans has become the symbol of the Chinaman. 

 'Ihe pigtail is not a Chinese, but a Tartar fashion. 



For the first time the Chinese, says the writer, are 

 filled with a consciousness of their solidarity as a 

 nation, and they are developing, with marvellous 

 rapidity, a strong spirit of jjatrioiism. "Shoulder to 

 shoulder they now march to the cry of ' China for the 

 Chinese ! ' " The causes of this awakening, of whicli 

 of course we have long heard, are many, chief among 

 them being the rise of the power of Japan and her 

 complete victory over China. What is very remark- 

 able is that China, " the Quaker atnong nations," is 

 fast becoming highly military. Once having made 

 up her mind that a well-drilled army is necessary, she 

 is doing everything in her power to get such an 

 army, and now even young men of good families are 

 induced to enter the once despised professions of the 

 army and the navy. 



^ir. Diosy says that the form of government fixed 

 upon by the Revolutionaries as the best for China is 

 the United States Constitution minus its glaring 

 defects and inelasticity. But it is obvious from the 

 details into which he enters, that it will be not unlike 

 the Swiss form of republican government, with such 

 matters as foreign relations, national defence, national 

 finance, fiscal policy, constitution of a Supreme Court 

 etc., controlled by the F"ederal Legislature, and 

 smaller matters under the control of the dilTerent 

 provinces which are to enjoy a large measure of 

 autonomy, similar to that enjoyed by the Swiss 

 Cantons. As for the acceptance of the new system 

 of government by the Chinese nation, the writer thinks 

 that it is so weary of Manchu administration as to be 

 ready to accept any form of government which its 

 deliverers recommend. 



As to the highly resi)ected mercantile community, 

 "they are practically unanimous in their desire for 

 radical reform," and, as Dr. Sun Yat-Sen has stated, 

 they have given bountifully of their wealth, sometimes 

 more than half their fortune, to further the revolu- 

 tionary cause. But not the merchants alone have 

 contributed their thousands. Poor labourers have 

 often added a siring or two of " cash " from their harJ- 

 earned savings, whilst Chinese working abroad send 

 regular monthly remittances. Mr. Diosy concludes : ~ 

 Two significant facts must still be mentioned. The Revulu- 

 lion has partisans even within the precincts of the I'orludden 

 City, and amonyst the olVicials of the M.anchu dynasty a large 

 number are active, though secret, sympathisers. High offici.ils 

 connnunicutc abnost daily with the Republican leaders, often 

 over the CcveriimenI wit cs. The other tact still to lie noted is 

 of the greatest importance, not only for the success of the 

 Revolution, but as an indication of lh-_- extraordinary changes 

 taking place in the Chinese social fabric. Many women in 

 China arc aiding and aliening the Deliverers, some of them, 

 lailies in high social positions, risking their lives for the cause. 

 Herein lies a powcrlul element of success. In Old China the 

 pmver of woman has always been felt, in spite of, perhaps 

 b'CUHe of, her «//<»;■<•/;//)• subjected slate; in the New Cliina 

 her influence greater than ever. 



