Remew of Reviews, 20JSI06. 



Leading Articles, 



277 



ASIA FOR THE ASIATICS! 



Some Fruits of the Japanese Victories. 



The ejection of the European from Asia, which 

 began when Port Arthur surrendered to the 

 Japanese, is one of the results of the Anglo-Japanese 

 treaty not contemplated by Lord Lansdowne. The 

 consequences of the Japanese victories can be seen 

 at work both in China and in India. 



(1) THE EESUERECTION OF CHINA. 



A Japanese, Adachi Kinnosuko, contributes to the 

 Forum for January an interesting account of "The 

 New China." He says when " the war came it 

 made it plain to both us and to China that Japan 

 can and will shelter China in the critical hours of 

 her rebirth." The first symptom of this rebirth was 

 the reversal of the old policy as to the granting of 

 concessions. But a very few years ago " Russia 

 received the East China Railway concession ; Ger- 

 many, that of Kiaochau (343 miles) ; England, the 

 Tientsin-Shanghai-Kwan (130 miles) ; the Shanghai- 

 Kwan and Shinmin-tun (240 miles); the Tientsin 

 and Chin-kiang (600 miles) ; and seven other call- 

 ing for the construction of over two thousand miles 

 of railroad. The French and the Belgians received 

 the Peking-Hankow and five other concessions, 

 while the Americans received the Canton-Hankow 

 concession." A sudden halt has been called to this 

 policy of concession-granting. As many of the con- 

 cessions already granted as can be cancelled will be 

 cancelled; others will be bought out. China is not 

 going to allow herself to be exploited by the Foreign 

 Devils : — 



Nothing is more remarkable than the rise of Chang: 

 Ohihtuiig of Nan-p'i, the famous viceroy at Hankow, to the 

 supreme power in the council eiiamber of the Chinese 

 empire. It was this enlightened Viceroy who wrote, in 

 his famous work, ' Chuen Hio Pien," which he published 

 shortly after the China-Japanese war: "In order to ren- 

 der China powerful, and at the same time preserve our 

 institutions, it is absolutely necessary that we jhould 

 utilise Western knowledge. But unless Chinese learning be 

 made the basis of education, and a Chinese direction be 

 given to thought, the strong will become anarchists and 

 the weak slaves. Thus the latter end will be worse than 

 the former." Happily for China, he looks upon education 

 as the salvation of the Chinese empire. Be was the 

 pioneer in sending students to Japan. 



All over China schools for gir's as well as for boys are 

 ppringing up to-day; and many Japanese women, graduates 

 of the various normal schools of Japan, have been ensaged 

 by the Chinese vicerovs to instruct in their scliools. To-da.v 

 over four thousand Chinese students, including both sexes, 

 are to be found in the Japanese colleges and schools. 



(2) THE STIRRING OF DRY BONES IN INDIA. 

 The Indian World, which is edited by Prithwi.s 

 Chandra Ray, published in October a demand for 

 constitutional responsible government in India. In 

 the November number — which, by the way, contains 

 a new metrical version of the lovely idyll of Savitri 

 and Satyavan — the editor, Mr. Prithwis Chandra 

 Ray, returns to the charge. He reproves those of 

 his countrymen who wish to revert solely to Hindoo 

 science : — 



"We mui, lea'^n to fight a modern battle with modern 

 weapons, and ur traininp' and enuipment must be equally 

 modern ai.d up to date. That ia the lesson that Japan has 

 to teach India and all other Asiatic countries, and we 



must either profit by that lesson or go to the wall. It 

 must not be forgotten that even in Japan, a country which 

 serves as our model in everything and arouses so much 

 enthusiasm in js most of the text-books for collegiate edu- 

 cation are written either in German or in French. 



Thus inspired by the example of Japan, the Indian 



World declares : — 



Now is the time to begin a strenuous agitation against 

 despotic and autocratic rule in India. India should not be 

 adm nistered as a close preserve for the personal aggran- 

 d.sement of vain-glorious and prancing Pro-consuls. Pro- 

 posals would only curtail the powers of autocratic rulers 

 and e'.evato the status of secretariat government into a 

 government by Boards, and shift the responsibility of 

 administration from individuals to small departmental 

 councils 



He deprecates an agitation for a representative 

 form of government. What India ought to demand 

 is an alteration in — 



the maleficent character of the present system of government, 

 and for a representative form of government we might 

 possess our souls in patience for some while yet. It is no 

 good, therefore, crying for greater representation in those 

 Councils or tor a diiect representation either in the Execu- 

 tive Council of the Viceroy or in the India Council, or 

 even in the English Parliament, where, in the nature of 

 things, the repiesentative members are bound to be in an 

 impotent minority. The right of inflicting a speech upon 

 an unwilling audience in an unsympathetic council cham- 

 ber is. after all, not a great boon. It is by moral influ- 

 ence, and not by physical power, that England still holds 

 India. The " rule by the sword " is an absurd threat held 

 out to the i)eople by amateurish politicians. 



"POOR RICHARD." 



The Franklin Bicentenary. 



The January issue of the Critic of New York 

 publishes two articles on Benjamin Franklin, in con- 

 nection with the bicentenary celebration of the birth 

 of Franklin. 



To many people, says Mr. Ruggles, Franklin is 

 best known as the author of the sa\ings of "Poor 

 Richard " and as " the inventor of lightning."' In 

 1732 " Poor Richard's Almanac " first appeared, and 

 it was continued for nearly tw^enty-five years. About 

 10,000 copies were sold annually. The " Auto- 

 biography " only comes down to 1757, and Franklin 

 lived till 1790. 



Mr. Joseph H. Choate, in the second article, en- 

 deavours to show how Franklin, without any tuition 

 of any kind after he was ten years old, came to be 

 the most famous American of his time. He says: — 



It was bv sheer force of brains, character, severe self- 

 discipline, nnti-ing industry and mother-wit. His pre- 

 dominant trait was practical common sense amounting to 

 cenius. God crave him the sound mind in the sound body, 

 and he did the rest himself. 



He rigidly scliooled himself in the virtues of temperance, 

 order, resolution, frugality, industry, since-itv. moderation, 

 and cleanliness. By constant reading, studv and observa- 

 tion, he made the very best of the great mental capacity 

 with which he has been endowed by Nature. 



After " Poor Richards Almanac," l-'ranklin pub- 

 lished " Father Abraham's Speech," a comprehen- 

 sive summing-up of Poor Richard's good things, 

 " tnurhing the conduct of life at all points, so far as 

 utility and worldly advantage are concerned." Mr. 

 Choate also deals with Franklin as a scientist and as 

 a politician, and his life during fifteen years in Lon- 

 don and ten in Paris. 



