Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



507 



CHINESE PRESIDENT AND PREMIER. 

 Dr. Dm.i.on in ihe Caiitrm/torary Review gives a 

 short cliaracter-skeltli of Vuan-Sbi-Kai and Tang 

 Stiao Yi. He tells how the new President, when 

 Covornor of Shan-Tung, suppressed the Bo.xcrs. 

 They clainud that they were invulnerable. 



PUTTING THE BOXERS TO THE TEST. 



'ihe Governor asked, would they submit their 

 claim to a test ? Twelve came forward. Next 

 day — 



An enormous throng collected to witness the niir.icle or the 

 tragedy. The Governor h.id the twelve Boxers stationed over 

 .ngainst a company of his own soldiers who had been drilled in 

 lOuropean fashion. There were a few moments of intense 

 silence, then ihc word of command was heard, followed by a 

 volley. .Ml twelve inviilnerables fell de.id. Then Vuan-.Shi- 

 Kai, liirninc; to the people, delivered a tellinsj speech. The 

 dead men, he affirmed, were lying mischief-makers who had 

 sought to deceive Ihe credulous people and lure them on to 

 death. Therefore they deserved the fate they had brought 

 ilown upon themselves, and now that the real character of the 

 lioxer sect had been revealed, it wculd be his duty to 

 exterminate the noxious brotherhood root and branch. And he 

 was as good as his word. He gave them no quarter. Re- 

 pression pure and simple in all its Chinese forms w.as applied, 

 and Doxerdom stamped out. While anarchy prevailed else- 

 where, the province of Shan-Tung remained quiet. 



Under the old Empress, Tse Si, Yuan-Shi- Kai's 

 position was stable. He put his strength into the 

 schools and the army. He said, " \Vhen we have 

 good schools and trained soldiers, and enough of 

 them, then we can take our place in the world." 

 Had he opposed the new regime it would have been 

 stillborn, Dr. Dillon thinks. 



IHE president's POLICY. 



He says : — 



The services which he rendered the embryonic army made 

 his name popular among the land and sea forces, and rendered 

 his co-operation desirable, not to say indispensable, later on. 

 Again, it was he who coaxed Ihe Tsing dyn.-isty to come down 

 from the Dragon throne into obscurity, and exchange an active 

 for a contemplative life. .\s a ruler his hand is of iron, though 

 it is cased in velvet. Mis treatment of the lioxcrs was a scant- 

 ling of the ruthlessness with which he can sacrifice the lives of 

 any ninnber of marplots to the interests of the State. It is he, 

 too, whose own army is the best-drilled, best-disciplined, and 

 readiest to strike. Mis fairness to non-Chinese nationalities 

 and to foreigners is another feather in his cap which enhances 

 his attractiveness to the nation and 10 foreign Powers. N'uan- 

 Shi-Kai is no Jingo or Chauvinist, lie will give every race its 

 due, and for this, among other reasons, he is the one man 

 capable- if any man is— of keeping together such provinces as 

 Tibet and Mongolia. 



THE premier's EUROPEAN TRAINING. 



As Yuan-Shi- Kai was the protege of Li Hung 

 Ghang, so Tang Shao Yi, the present Premier, was 

 private .secretary to Yuan-Shi- Kai. The two men 

 know and trust each other thoroughly : — 



The Premier is still a relatively young man. Although he 

 was eduralcd in the Colombo UniveiMly, New York, where he 

 imbibed Western and Republican ide.is, he has remained a 

 Chinaman at he.ul, and takes things and persons as Ihcy are. 

 I'loin North America, however, he borrowol many useful 

 maxims and some harmless fads, lie wore ICuropenn clothes 

 and spei tacles, rode a bicycle, kept an English iiulhlog, and 

 generally behav«.l as an Anglo.maniac. Hut lontait with the 

 world which wa!s not parliculnrly lenicnl tn his failings ridb' d 



away the sharp cnrners of his pcr>or.,Tlily. For a time he failed 

 to find his social level. But knowing himself well, he sought 

 for a career with confidence. .\t first any fulcrum would satisfy 

 him, and he found one in the precarious situation of occasional 

 interpreter and secretary to foreigners and Chinamen which 

 brought him in a mere pittance. 'Ihe first piece of luck he had 

 was w hen Vuan-Shi-Kai crossed his path, discerned what manner 

 of man he was, and eng.aged him as private secretary. 



Tang ro.se to be Consul-General in Seoul, then 

 administrator of the northern railways, Director of the 

 ("ustoms at Tientsin, representative of the Emperor 

 at Lhassa, Tibet, Adjoint Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Governor of Mukden. Next followed a visit to 

 F.uiope to study the financial systems of the West. 



HIS CHARACTER, 



On this journey England attracted him imnienselv. 

 But he never lost touch with the United States. He 

 was Minister of Ways of Communication till the end 

 of 191 1 : — 



As a Cantonese byi birth, he was n.aturally a friend of the 

 Manchus" enemies, and he won the hearts of the revolutionists. 

 In the North, too, he had numerous friends and admirers, not 

 only an.ong the population, but also among officials, whom he 

 always treated with consideration. For he is tolerant, liberal, 

 humane, and upright, qualities which arc uncommon among 

 (Jhinese bureaucrats. His ir.fluence in public life w.as whole- 

 some even under the demoralising government of the Manchus, 

 and one of the things which enlightened Chinamen will not 

 readily forget to his credit is the beneficial and successful 

 campaign he inaugurated against the deadly habit of opium 

 smoking, which culminated in Ihe famous edict of the Kmperor. 



Dr. Dillon thinks that perhaps "after all Yuan- 

 Shi-Kai may turn cut to be a brilliant architect residing 

 in an oasis of the great desert, where there is neither 

 stone nor timber." Dr. Dillon expects a new grouping 

 of world-Powers, Russia and Japan drawing together 

 in tiie common desire to dismember or obtain special 

 interests in China, and the four Great Powers, Great 

 liritain, France, Germany, and the United States. 

 Dr. Dillon sees already incipient disintegration, with 

 Mongolia leaning on Russia, who will absorb her. 

 Yuan-Shi-Kai mistrusts Russia profoundly, and means 

 to keep outer Mongolia connected with China on a 

 Federal basis. 



Dr. Dillon anticipates that the period of storm is 

 only beginning : — 



What China needs, therefore, at the lop is a demoniacal 

 leader, a superman, gifted with the vision of a Cavour, the quick 

 resolve of a Cromwell, and the luck of a Julius Cxsar. The 

 nearest approach to this imaginary type is Vuan-.Shi-Ivai, a man 

 of exceptional powers, who may be relied upon to give his best 

 work to the nation. 



For Youths and Maidens. 



The Little Jinmns, by .Mabel !•:. W'atkin (iilackic. 

 IS.), arc a delightful set of youngsters whose adven- 

 tures cannot fail to be popular. Ked Apple a tid Silver 

 Bells, a book of verse for children of all ages, by 

 Ilamish Hciidry (Blackie. is. fid.). 



Prester John, by John Htu h.in (Nelson. 3s. 61K), 

 is more than a boy's book, it appeals also to grown- 

 ups. This new edition is handsomely got up, and as 

 the story is far above the average, should l)e a welcome 

 [ircscnt. 



