180 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



the stupendous peculations of which he was guilty, and the employment 

 of a corrupt entourage who aided him in his maladministrations, and 

 whose lust of gain was in turn fed by the example of their chief, stamp 

 him at once as a 'hsiao jen,' the petty man. That he knew the classics 

 and was endowed with a memory that could repeat backward that 

 difficult work, The Chronicles, only condemns him all the more, and 

 demonstrates that he had no true share with the great men and 

 honoured sages of China. He knew the good, but followed the bad. 

 These sins and foibles are what is driving China rapidly to ruin to-day. 

 If the Empress Dowager had made a short shrift of him like her 

 predecessor did with the voracious money grabbers, able men though, 

 they were possibly, later officials would pause before they wholly en- 

 gulfed China in disaster. Lies and decay always go hand in hand. But 

 it means too much to have expected such an action from her. She was 

 as corrupt as Li. Possibly this chameleon character of their able man 

 is the cause of a certain incongruity in the narrative. Mr. Bland 

 constantly indulges in paeans of praise, followed by strong condemna- 

 tion of Li's scandalous venality. In attempting to arrive at a just 

 balance Mr. Bland is often led into these alternate opposites. 



And this possibly is enough, of an index of the character presented 

 in these pages : a man of great capacity for good or ill : a man whose 

 public service is often marred by utter and callous selfishness : a man 

 who would only be too glad to see foreigners driven into the sea to 

 free his own country of their presence, yet who was not averse to 

 receiving large bribes from these barbarians for favourable concessions, 

 and so on. 



In spite of certain advantages of talent and opportunities and 

 experiences, Li 'it must be confessed was an unmitigated Chinese 

 official, the results of his administration therefore is not very different 

 from that of others.' His countrymen had a secret admiration for the 

 man who had discovered and exploited for the benefit of his family 

 and friends new fields of profitable squeeze. 



On the other hand the fine traits in his character are fully re- 

 cognised by the author. His fine loyalty, his devotion to his royal 

 mistress : his five hours study of Mencius at Potsdam in memory of 

 his mother showed another feature of his life : his bonhomie, his 

 cordiality were captivating. 



He was a believer in the new learning but did nothing to advance 

 it, possibly not so much as the more conservative and bookish Chang 

 Chih Tung, on whom Mr. Bland passes, unjustly we think, the most 

 severe and unjust strictures. One can't help reaching the conclusion 

 indicated once and again by Mr. Bland that the human equation failed 

 absolutely and blighted everything that was touched. If Li' and the 



