72 SUEGEON-GENERAL C. A. GORDON, M.D., C.B., Q.H.P., ETC., 



other countries, must of necessity aft'ect the train of thought by 

 which during some thousands of years past the ruling classes and 

 the people in general have been educated." We must remember 

 that this introduction of new ideas can only be regarded as only 

 just beginning, in such a length of life as China has enjoyed. It 

 was not before we became established at Peking in I860 that, by 

 the treaty which Lord Elgin signed in 1858, foreigners obtained 

 access to the interior of the country, and up to a late date there 

 was, and is indeed still, great opposition to the introduction of 

 fresh knowledge at all. The passage that the Author read out to 

 us would explain why there should be such an opposition. Boldly 

 stated, the objection (putting aside the common dislike which 

 many of us feel to changing our old ways), is in large part sug- 

 gested by the precept. of Confucius, that strange ways must be 

 wrong. He particularly desires his followers to avoid new 

 doctrines and new principles ; to avoid fresh ways ; and one sub- 

 sidiary reason for the prescription that is given by him and by 

 others up to this hour, is that not only may a now principle be 

 directly wrong, but that new ways, particularly inventions, such as 

 those that to our thinking have become so necessary to mankind in 

 the present day, steamers and railways and such like, while they do 

 violence to the theoretic simplicity approved by the ancient sages, 

 promote also a desire for the accumulation of wealth, which 

 according to the same teachers, must be harmful. 



As to the last words of the Author, I heartily agree with him 

 that the danger besetting the progress of China is immense. We 

 should differ somewhat perhaps as to the means of protection 

 at her disposal. She is in contact with more than the three 

 powers mentioned — Russia, France, and England — all possibly 

 dangerous by reason of their jealousies and conflicting interests. 

 She is also in contact with Germany and the United States, and 

 the Author suggests that the United States and England would 

 be found her most valuable allies. If China does not move with 

 greater rapidity (she is moving a little) she will certainly not 

 prove equal of herself to face the consequences of any collision 

 into which her disregard of treaty obligations to any treaty power 

 may bring her. Meanwhile she is much too prone to disregard 



