The Progress op the World. 



121 



preparation for future war which has been the bane of 

 Asia ever sine : the Crimean War. After nearly forty 

 years of active participation in international politics, 

 I can hardly remember any case of such fatuous folly 

 as that ill which a certain section of the Radicals are 

 indulging at present. It is an apostasy, to begin with, 

 a repudiation of the best traditions of the Radical 

 Party, and it is of all others the cause most calculated 

 to defeat the end which they desire to attain. 



.Ml last month China was in a 



The Crisis state of Unrest. Negotiations have 



China. '"-'6" going O" between Yuan Shih 



Kai, as representing the Manchus 

 in the north, and Wu Ting Fang, as representing 

 the Republican revolutionary movement, which is in 

 the south. At one time there seemed to be a fair 

 prospect that the .Manchu Princes would abdicate 

 and that the State of China would come into being 

 under the Presidency of Sun Yat Sen. Oifificulties, 

 however, arose, and misunderstandings cropped up. 

 The Manchus reconsidered their position as to 

 abdication, and in the last week in January China 

 seemed to be heading straight for civil war. Mr. 

 Sidney Webb, who passed through China on his 

 way home, reports that the revolutionary Republican 

 forces have been recruited by the simple process of 

 emptying all the giols of their adult males. Thesi 

 criminals were at once furnished with arms and 

 enrolled in the revolutionary ranks. There will be 

 some wild work when the ex-gaol birds are let loose 

 on the peaceful population of the North. Both sides 

 seem to be feeling the pinch of money, for without 

 money armies cannot fight, even in China, and even 

 the greatest • optimist contemplates the immediate 

 future with dismay. As the result of the war the 

 vast outlying provinces of China are breaking loose. 

 Thibet and the great Mongolian desert have already 

 declared their determination to be independent of 

 the rule of Pckin. Unless the Republicans and 

 the Manchus can arrange their differences rajjiilly the 

 integrity of China will be gone. And it should be 

 noted, by the way, that the Japanese Government 

 have issued a signifiermt declaration to the effect that 

 they do not think Republican institutions are suited 

 to China. This may be a declaration of pious 

 opinion, but on the other hand it may be the 

 precursor of active intervention against the 

 Republican forces. Japan holds that the Anglo- 

 Japanese Alliance coinmits both Japan and England 

 to the maintenance of the integrity Of the Chinese 

 ' I'.mpirc. It will !" a pleasant prospect if, in 

 iddition to qiiarrelliii|; with Russia aboiu i'crsia, the 



Japanese should call upon us to compel Thibet and 

 Mongolia to return to the Chinese fold. 



The country has been scandaUsed 

 The mght jj^, j,,y incident of Mr. Winston 



Free Speech Churchill's acceptance of an in- 

 vitation from the Belfast Liberals 

 to address a meeting of Protestant 

 Liberal Home Rulers in Ulster Hall, Belfast. Mr. 

 Churchill acc;;pted the invitation, never dreaming what 

 a commotion his appearance in 4;he capital of the 



m 

 Ulster. 



liy permission oftheptoprittors of " Puftcfty\ 



A^Silly Game. 



.•^IR Kdward Carson ": " Ulster will fii;lil ! " 

 Mk. ruNCIt : " Whni ! .\i;iin^i iVre sp.,, :li ? Tlion Ulster 

 will be wrong! " 



Orangemen won It 1 occasion. Lord Londonderry 

 and the other members of the Ulster Unionist 

 (jouncil no sooner heard of the intended visit than 

 with incredible insolence they publicly declared 

 they would not allow the niecling to take 

 place. 'I'hc proper course for the ( Jo.verninent to 

 have taken would have been to at once sunnnon I,ord 

 Londonderry and his fellow councillors to show cause 

 why they should not be at once bound over to keep 

 the pea. I-. Many bettor men than Lord London- 



