Present Conditions in China 



66 5 



several things must be accomplished. 

 The existing official organization must 

 be reformed and purified ; education must 

 be extended ; the finances put in order ; 

 the military system improved, and the 

 gentry and people made to understand 

 political affairs. In a few years, when 

 the system shall have been studied and 

 outlined, a form of constitution will be 

 announced and the date for putting it in 

 operation fixed. 



FOREIGN CRITICISM 



It is somewhat discouraging to note 

 that this great proclamation, although 

 recognized as a memorable document, 

 has met with severe criticism from for- 

 eign sources. The most intelligent and 

 fair-minded of these critics to which I 

 have access is the Shanghai News* an 

 English daily, which has devoted to it 

 a number of recent editorials. Its chief 

 criticism is that no time is fixed for an- 

 nouncing the constitution or putting the 

 representative assembly in operation; 

 that the preliminary work marked out 

 may require ten or twelve years, or even 

 a lifetime, and thus the promised reform 

 be postponed indefinitely, as, it is alleged, 

 the history of China for the last half a 

 century has been largely a record of bro- 

 ken promises. It recognizes that it is a 

 great ambition of a monarch to be the 

 ruler of three hundred millions of united 

 and prosperous people ; that the granting 

 of a constitution and parliament would 

 increase their patriotic pride, while 

 making them more serviceable to the 

 throne, and if sincerely issued and car- 

 ried out it would be the acme of shrewd 

 statesmanship, but that the cry for re- 

 form seems to come from those who will 

 not reform themselves. 



The answer to the first part of this 

 criticism may be found in the conduct of 

 Japan. In the year 1869 the Mikado 

 took what is termed the "charter oath," 

 promising the give the people of Japan 

 a deliberative assembly, and in the mean- 



* Acknowledgment is made of indebtedness 

 to the Shanghai News for many of the facts 

 stated in this paper. 



time to study the institutions of other 

 countries; but not until 1881, twelve 

 years later, did he fix definitely the period 

 when the promised parliament would be 

 convened, which was to be ten years 

 later still, before which latter date he 

 gave assurance that the constitution 

 would be promulgated, and he warned 

 his people that they should "hasten slowly 

 toward constitutional and representative 

 government." It is too true that very 

 many of the ruling party in China who 

 are opposed to the reforms inaugurated 

 are unworthy and corrupt officials ; but 

 this fact is recognized in the edict from 

 the throne and a determination is ex- 

 pressed to make an earnest effort to im- 

 prove the methods and morals of public 

 administration; and the critics must 

 admit that the men who are directing the 

 constitutional movement, such as Chang 

 Chih-tung, Yuan Shi-kai, Tuan Fang, 

 and Tang Shao-yi, are serious-minded 

 men, and will compare favorably with the 

 statesmen of other lands for uprightness 

 and personal integrity. 



Against them there cannot be brought 

 the criticism that the reform comes from 

 those who will not reform themselves. 

 There is no doubt, however, that the most 

 serious opposition to the constitution 

 comes from the bureaucracy. This oppo- 

 sition among the high officials at Peking 

 has been so strong that Prince Tsai Tseh, 

 the head of the traveling commissions, 

 felt it necessary a few weeks ago to ad- 

 dress another memorial to the throne, 

 in which he argues that "constitutional 

 government is beneficial both to the state 

 and the people, but most unbeneficial to 

 the official classes." And he proceeds to 

 condemn the lack of loyalty on the part 

 of high dignitaries, who put their per- 

 sonal advancement before their duty to 

 the country, and he warns their majesties 

 against arguments springing from such 

 selfish motives. After giving very forci- 

 ble reasons in favor of a constitution, he 

 closes with this significant statement: "If 

 the throne does not grant the people their 

 rightful privileges when they qualify 

 themselves to enjoy them, they will un- 



