INTRODUCTION 



The romantic story of the Mongols and their achievements 

 has been written so completely that it is unnecessary to repeat 

 it here even though it is as fascinating as a tale from the 

 Arabian Nights. The present status of the country, how- 

 ever, is but little known to the western world. In a few 

 words I will endeavor to sketch the recent political develop- 

 ments, some of which occurred while we were in Mongolia. 



In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the great Genghiz 

 Khan and his illustrious successor Kublai Khan "almost in a 

 night" erected the greatest empire the world has ever seen. 

 Not only did they conquer all of Asia, but they advanced in 

 Europe as far as the Dnieper leaving behind a trail of blood 

 and slaughter. 



All Europe rose against them, but what could not be ac- 

 complished by force of arms was wrought in the Mongols 

 themselves by an excess of luxury. In their victorious ad- 

 vance great stores of treasure fell into their hands and they 

 gave themselves to a life of ease and indulgence. 



By nature the Mongols were hard riding, hard living war- 

 riors, accustomed to privation and fatigue. The poison of 

 luxury ate into the very fibers of their being and gradually 

 they lost the characteristics which had made them great. The 

 ruin of the race was completed by the introduction of Lama- 

 ism, a religion which carries only moral destruction where it 

 enters, and eventually the Mongols passed under the rule of 

 the once conquered Chinese and then under the Manchus. 



Until the overthrow of the Manchu regime in China in 1911, 

 and the establishment of the present republic, there were no 



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