1138 
powers become involved. This policy 
was not adopted by the Manchus without 
majority support of the Chinese states- 
men, among whom were Yuan Shi Kai 
and Sheng Hsuan-Huai. 
Owing to the great prosperity and in- 
creased power of the Chinese during the 
brilliant Manchu era, they have been able 
to achieve success in revolution, but the 
parsimonious, inhospitable, and corrupt 
treatment meted out by them to the 
throne, and the placing of their govern- 
ment at Peking in point of imperial reve- 
nues on a level with the smallest inde- 
pendent states of Europe, have had most 
to do with this success. 
The provinces that have set up a re- 
public have not been willing, after im- 
memorial independence, to surrender so 
little of their states’ rights as was de- 
manded by the imperial policy, nor to 
support a reform which would increase 
the revenues of the central government, 
and by the extension of railways and 
other communications extend its power. 
The Manchus have not been without 
fault. They have been too Chinese, too 
conservative, too exclusive. But in their 
policy for the welfare of China, those 
wise statesmen of the Chinese race, like 
Yuan Shi Kai, have found no fault with 
them. 
CHINA’S GREATEST DANGER 
The revolution has been developed and 
organized by the independent students, 
chiefly from the provinces of Szechuan 
and Hunan, and its greatest support 
comes from the champions of states’ 
rights. ‘Those forces found in the ques- 
tion of loans, promoted by the four capi- 
talistic powers of the world—Great Bri- 
tain, France, Germany, and the United 
States—with the desire and willingness 
of the Chinese government, an excuse 
for rebellion, secession, and independ- 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
ence. The blow struck at Chengtu, the 
capital of Szechuan, although only par- 
tially successful, is the event that inaugu- 
rated the revolution, which it is evident 
is a revolt against the immemorial Chi- 
nese system. ‘The Manchus may go down 
before the immense figure of rebellion. 
It will be, on the whole, a glorious de- 
feat; for, notwithstanding the fact that 
for the last decade or two the throne 
has made as great mistakes as it could 
make, its annals are filled with great 
Manchu names. If this is the end, it is 
illuminated as brilliantly in this respect 
as was the beginning. 
It is apparent that some time must 
elapse before both sides in China will be 
able to appreciate the “golden mean” in 
which China is to realize a new union. 
There are two kinds of revolutionaries 
and reformers: those favoring a modern 
monarchy under the Manchu Emperor, 
and those favoring a republic and the 
extinction of the Manchu dynasty. ‘The 
possibilities of the revolutionary situa- 
tion in China under the circumstances 
are enough to make the friends of China 
shudder. Encroachment on states’ rights 
is the grievance in the hearts of rebel 
republicans at Wuchang, and in the mak- 
ing of the new constitution states’ rights 
will be the sinister rock which the ship 
of the new Chinese state must avoid. 
China’s greatest danger after her pre- 
dilection for extremes and horrors is 
foreign intervention. Her best and most 
conservative reformers look forward to 
a leader who has not yet appeared, and 
who will unite the various reform ele- 
ments and reorganize the Empire as a 
monarchy. Whether as a monarchy or 
republic, China must always be a nation 
in whom the United States must find a 
friend and in whose fate she must count 
herself concerned. 
