224 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



culminated in the downfall of the Manchu Dynasty and the uneasy 

 birth of the Chinese Republic. 



We believe we are right in saying that one of the principal reasons 

 which prompted Mr. Morse to divide his history into sections was the 

 fact that on the completion of the first volume in 1910 his state of 

 health was such that he could not count with any degree of certainty 

 on being able to finish his task. The appearance of these volumes and 

 a consideration of the close and sustained effort which he must have 

 given to their production, may, we trust, be taken by Mr. Morse's 

 friends in China, among whom his many readers must be included, as 

 an indication that his health has happily improved and an encourage- 

 ment to hope that he may live to add yet another volume to his series, 

 for which one would fain wish that he might be able to allot the 

 sub-title "The Period of Reconstruction.''' 



In the preface to the second volume the author mentions that his 

 first idea was to make Sir Robert Hart and the Customs Service his 

 central figures around which he would weave the threads of the story of 

 China's international relations in the nineteenth century. Circum- 

 stances prevented him from carrying out this intention, and while the 

 narrative may have lost somewhat in human interest in consequence, we 

 venture to think that the substitution of a history for a biography has 

 undoubtedly enhanced the educational value of the work for the 

 student of Chinese politics and its usefulness as a book of reference for 

 all who are interested in the welfare of China and her people. At the 

 same time the figure of Sir Robert Hart, the "Great I. G." still 

 looms large throughout the pages of this history and reading of 

 the part he played for so many years in trying to save China from 

 the consequences of the folly of her rulers and his untiring efforts 

 to place her finances on a firm foundation of honest and efficient 

 administration, one marvels at the persistent and almost inexplicable 

 failure of the Chinese Government, whether imperial or republican, 

 to follow the example of Japan and call to her aid in adapting the 

 fabric of China's medieval form of government to the exigencies of 

 modern fashions, the statesmen, scientists and teachers of Europe 

 and America who would so willingly have responded to the call. 



For close on a century China has had regular intercourse with 

 foreign nations and has been gradually forced by irresistible pressure 

 to learn and adopt their ways of life and thought, yet during all these 

 years the few foreigners whose advice her rulers have sought and 

 followed may be counted on the fingers of one hand : Gordon, Hart, 

 and one or two others, among whom one may hope history will find a 

 place for Sir Richard Dane. And even Sir Robert Hart's sound and 

 loyal advice was, as these pages will show, more often neglected than 



