Review oj Reviews, 1/10'13. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



797 



PARAGRAPHS ABOUT PEOPLE. 



YUAN SHIH-K'AT. 



Stephen Harding contributes to the 

 Dublin Review some very outspoken 

 views on the President of the Chinese 

 Republic, whom he considers to be a 

 prince of opportunists. The writer 

 says : — ■ 



In fact, in his own country, Yiian has 

 never been trusted. He is a Mazarin rather 

 than a Richelieu, and his successes have been 

 gained not by force so much as by intrigue. 

 During Kuang Hsu's lifetime he was already 

 accused of conspiring for the Throne., for 

 among the complimentary scrolls hanging on 

 his walls on the occasion of his fiftieth birth- 

 day was one which read, " May the Emperor 

 live ten thousand years ! May your excel- 

 lency live ten thousand years!" The words 

 loan sui, meaning "ten thousand years," are 

 not applicable to any but the Sovereign, so 

 the inner meaning of the greeting was ob- 

 vious. 



Mr. Harding" pictures a politician who 

 is prepared to be " all things to all 

 men," with his eye on " the main 

 chance," and accordingly already sus- 

 pected by the revolutionaries as likely to 

 betray their cause ; this would not, how- 

 ever, clash with the writer's anticipa- 

 tions, for he says : — 



But supposing that the estimate of Yiian 

 Shih-k'ai suggested in this article is correct, 

 and that he should one day proclaim himself 

 Emperor, need it be regarded as a misfor- 

 tune? It is possible to combine ambition with 

 statesmanship, and he has given abundant 

 evidence that he will be no narrow-minded 

 reactionary. 



China has had many revolutions in the 

 past, but she has always had an Emperor. 

 It is a cardinal principle that if the reigning 

 famiiy betrays its trust it may be deposed, 

 for did not Mencius teach two thousand years 

 ago " the people are of the highest import- 

 ance, the gods come next, the Sovereign is of 

 lesser weight " ? But the Chinese have an 

 immense -espect for the monarchial idea. 



A BLACK NAPOLEON. 

 In the Dublin Review Harry Graham 

 presents a vivid sketch of Toussaint, 

 " The Napoleon of San Domingo," al- 

 though this is hardly a compliment to 

 the man of colour if one gives the 

 fullest consideration to the circum- 



stances of Toussaint's life as outlined 

 by Mr. Graham :— 



Born in bondage in 1743, and for over fifty 

 years a serf on an obscure West Indian plan- 

 tation, Toussaint never ceased to cherish 

 within his bosom the deathless spark of 

 Liberty. Armed with this sacred torch he 

 was destined to kindle those flaming pyres 

 which presently flashed forth their message 

 of Freedom from every hill-top in the An- 

 tilles, and were finally reflected in the 

 answering bonfires lighted on the distant con- 

 tinent of America to celebrate the emancipa- 

 tion of the negro slave. Finding his country 

 in a state or internal anarchy, and the 

 majority of his fellows in a condition of in- 

 tense misery, he bestowed upon the one peace 

 and prosperity, upon the other independence 

 and those rights of citizenship which had for 

 centuries been denied to " men of colour." 

 And though his triumph was shortlived, and 

 he died in cruel confinement, broken, be- 

 trayed, deserted, he never gave way to de- 

 spair or embitterment, and his career is still 

 one of those "landmarks of human energy" 

 by which \Ve may trace the upward path of 

 the world's progress. 



Toussaint's military genius naturally 

 makes the comparison with " the Corsi- 

 can " possible, but in every other respect 

 Napoleon was hardly the equal of the 

 man he destroyed. 



ALFRED LYALL. 

 In the Quarterly Review Lord Cromer 

 gives the reader an insight into the life 

 of that remarkable man, Sir Alfred 

 Corny n Lyall. The secret of Lyall's 

 success as an administrator is revealed in 

 the following passage :- 



Only half-reconciled, in the first instance. 

 to Indian exile, and, when once lie had taken 

 the final step of departure, constantly brood- 

 ing over the intellectual attractions rather 

 than the material comforts of European life, 

 Lyall speedily came to tin- conclusion that, 

 if he was to bear a hand in governing India, 

 the first thing he had to do was to under- 

 stand Indians. 11.- therefore brought his 

 acutely analytical intellect to the ta.sk of 

 comprehending the Indian habit of thought. 

 In the course of his researches he displayed 

 that, thoroughness and passionate love of 

 truth which was the distinguishing feature 

 of his character throughout life. That he 

 succeeded in a manner which has been sur- 

 passed by none, and only faintly rivalled by 

 a very few. is now generally recognised both 

 by his own countrymen and also which is 

 far more remarkable by the inhabitants of 



