The Storyteller.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2161, 17 August 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Storyteller.

A QUESTION OF DIPLOMACY. I (By G. Stanley Ellis.. in London Sketch.! The Lieutenant and Sergeant Harding went up the river to take the read for Bamboo. Forward ami amidships the black men sweated at the paddles, and aft the white men. sittine idle, sweated likewise. In the blue-Ulack shadows of the trees they all sweated in the humid air, and the white men aft sot as far as the small ship would allow them from their black fellow-creatures. l'Lo - night fell, and the mists rose from the mangrove swamps, and showed persistently white in the dense blackness of the tropical night. Then black niul white alike sweated cold, and shivered through the short night of fever. The day broke all of a sudden, and the white men, with chattering teeth, took their morning doso of quinine, as much powder as would cover a sixpence. Soon they left the river and took the rough track that leads northwards through the forest to Bnmboa. The white men lay and sweated in the hammocks, while the black men, changed from boatmen to bearers, sweated and grunted under their burdens as they bad done at their paddles. “Charmin’ preparation for the nerves, Hardin’,’* said the Lieutenant. “Focr what, 6ir?” asked Harding, trying to infuse into the respectful tones of the N.C.O. a suspicion of offence that, in a place where the difference between black and white much greater than the difference between the commissioned and the noncommissiond ranks, he had not been informed of the reason of the visit they were making. “For the conflict I’m goin’ through when wo get to Batnboa, Hardin,’.” “Yes, sir,” said Harding, with a. trace of interrogation in his voice, but too offended yet to ask a direct question.

“Anyone of your inquirin’ miiiul, Hardin’, will possibly ha.ve noticed since bein’ on the Coast, that there have been not infrequent differences of opinion between our next-door neighbors and ourselves totichin’ our respective frontiers.” “Having, sir, been. I believe, of some assistance to you in bluffing them time after time about those frontiers, I have,” said Harding. His fixed idea was that he had bluffed our friends the enemy, and had'been occasionally assisted by the Lieutenant. But lie didn’t quite like to put it thus baldly to his superior officer. “Now the Colonial Office lias intimated. quite unofficially, you know, that there’s a strong feelin’ now in England in favor of bein’ friendly with our friends, don’t you know. So the Colonial Office has suggested to me that it’s had enough of my writing complaints home about the other people, and we must avoid r’riotian and be a happy family. "\Ve nnisn’t quarrel, and if we bluff, we must bluff in such a manner that nobody notices it, even after tlio event.” “Which is almost as much to say, sir, we musn’t bluff at all.” “Almost. And I’ve been told that I’d better meet Captain Blanc and settle matters with him without worryin’ his masters and ours, who are too busy drinkin’ one another’s healths and lettin’ off fireworks in one another’s honor to be bothered.” “I have always thought duelling was forbidden in the English army, sir.”

“Wha,t has duellin’ to do with it?” “If you’re to meet Captain Blanc and settle with him, sir, I don’t see any other way ” “What a thick-headed chap you are, Hardin’ ! This isn’t a blessed war; this is a conference of the Powers. We’ve to be as friendly as we can, but we’re not to give anything away for nothin’. My instructions are to he kind but firm, and if we can’t agree on the boundary line, I shall just pack my kit-hag and come home. That I should call any place hereabouts home! I know jolly well from my letters that Captain Blanc’s old folks at home are not willin’ to back him up very far. They want peace at any price, while, to do our chaps justice, though they don’t want to be bothered, they’ll back us up through thick and thin once we call on them for help.” “You’re both pleni—plena—-wh'at-d’-you-call-its, then, sir?” T, Got it in once, Hardin’. If I find we can’t agree, I shall just out and tell you at once to get my kitbag packed, so that we may waste no time in trelckin’ after tho sittin’ is all over. For I shall give him just one sittin’ after I’ve made up my mind he’s impracticable, just to prevent his havin’ a chance of savin’ we’ve jumped at the chance of breakin’ off negotiations.” “Then when you tell me .to get your kit-bag packed, sir, I may know that peace is off, and there’s a chance of promotion?”

“You may bo quite sure, Hardin’, tliat the worst will have to come to the worst when I tell you to get my kitbag packed.” “Did you notice, sir,” asked Harding. when they wore encamped for tho might, “the ears of your near leader when you were talking of the conference and the packing-up? Heaven forgive me for speaking in such terms of human beings who are supposed—though I, for one, see no outward and visible signs of it —to have souls.” “The hearer on the port how, d’vou mean?” asked tho Lieutenant. “Yes, sir.”

“So. I noticed nothin’. Are his ears lugger than the ordinary run f niggers’ cal's?” “No, .sir. But according to whn.t

Sergeant Big Tom told me, they’re a bit longer than most. That’s the man he sjy-s scr.ds word to Captain Blanc of anything we don’t want him to know. And I saw his ears twitch. 1 told you Big Tom’s idea before you picked the bearers for the journey.” “So you did, Hardin’. Stupid of mo to forget it, and to post him to my own dhooly, where’s he sure to overhear everythin’.” And yet Harding didn’t think tho Lieutenant looked as if lie realised tho full seriousness of his plans being carried to the enemy’s ears.

“Ti.-lighted, most delighted, to see '-vi once more, my dear sir,” said Captain Blanc the next day, as he the litis procession outside tho •vails "f Bamboa. “Especially,” and ho smoothed his nicely-waxed moustache, for lie was the only man in the Hinterland whose stock of Pomade Hongroiso never ran out, and passed liis hand mechanically over his smoothly-shaven chin as lie gazed at

the Lieutenant’s and Harding's chins bristling like the barrel of a musicalbox —“especially ns our business is this time entirely that of peace.”

••I’m glad your Government has impressed the same thing on you as mine has on-me,” said the Lieutenant “Anythin’ in reason for an amicable settlement of our little differences.” “Just what they told mo, my dear Lieutenant. Anything—in reason. And here is also my old friend, Sergeant Maiding, who has amiably seconded .von in your efforts to keep my poor country out of Africa. More than that, lie has come near to getting me shot, quite by accident, of course. All, that might have been a lucky accident for your colony, but it would have been a most unlucky accident for me. But here. Sergeant Harding, 1 bear no malice. You English are a nation of shopkeepers, and it’s all in the way of business, I know. It’s my business to risk being shat, just as it’s your business to shoot me if possible —by accident.” “Yes, sir,” said Harding, somewhat sheepishly. It may be an error of judgment to slioot at a man. It is always a crime to shoot and miss.

“Come, gentlemen,” said Captain Blanc, “you are my guests, and I hope you will enjoy yourselves and will not hesitate to ask me for anything with which I can supply you. Let us be friends to-dav, oven if we have to fight over the delimitation tomorrow. Is there anything I can got for you, my dear Lieutenant?” “There is somethin’,” said the Lieutenant. “But I hardly like to ask for it, because you probably want all you’ve got; and, really, I don’t use it very much, you know, except on Sundays.’

“What is it, my dear Lieutenant?” “It’s difficult to get hero, don’t you know,” said the Lieutenant diffidently, “and that’s my only excuse for asking you for it.” “What is it?”

“You won’t mind saying ‘No’ if it’s very inconvenient for you to give it to me?” “Of course not.” “It’s just a tube of Pomade Hongroise. I’ll give you several times it’s weight in gold, but I can it eat soup here without getting my moustache in my mouth.” “I think I can manage that for you,” saiid Captain Blanc with a laugh. “And is there anything with which I onn provide you, Sergeant Harding?” “Can’t say that there is, sir. Some of your presents have been something like gifts that the dev that fairies and enchanters give people in nursery tales, and that do just what the folks wanted them to do in the letter, but just the opposite in the spirit.”

“ ‘Tinieo Danaos et dona fenentes,’ eh, Sergenat Harding?” said Captain Blanc.

“I don’t speak French myself, sir,” said Sergeant Harding. “But I’ve no doubt you’ve put it right,” “Come on, then. Pleasure first, business afterwards.” And he shot liis spotless white cuff over his knuckles. “To-day wo shall enjoy ourselves as fellow-6oldiers. To-morrow we shall conflict as rival diplomatists.” To-morrow came. Comradeship was put well away. Captain Blano and the L isn't eu;i nt were closeted inside the room which served as the Colonial Office-'of our dear friends the late enenny. All day they sat with old faulty maps, and newer faultier maps, and parallel rulers, and wished to heaven that Nature had made rivers to run, mountains to tower,' •and seas to ©rode, reotilineally, that colonies might be laid out like an American town. They discussed, they argued, they disputed. There is no doubt they would have quarrelled bitterly, each in bis own way, the Captain somewhat energetically, the Lieutenant with the frigidity of the well-born Englishman—and that is probably the more deadly way of quarrelling—had they not had the fear of their respective Governments behind them.

“It is useless going on,” said Captain Blanc. “We had better suspend the sitting for the morning, and then we can get our lunch. Perhaps after lunch, my dear Lieutenant, you may feel in a more reasonable frame of mind. I am sure, if you oarry out the wishes of your Government, you will do everything in reason to settle matters amicably.” “As you yourself said, sir, when we met you yesterday : anythin’—-in reason. But what you ask is not In reason—for you ask everythin’ in dispute, and are willin’ to give way in nothin’.”

“Well, well, after lunch, perhaps, we may both be more amiable.” So they lunched, and Harding was invited to lunch. Captain Blanc belonged to a Republican country, so, naturally, lie didn’t like to have a ranker sitting at tho same table with him; but, as host, he couldn’t well help the invitation. The Lieutenant, being of an aristocratic caste, didn’t mind, once he knew that a white man was white all through, sharing his rations with a sergeant, or even, as a far greater mark of comradeship, taking a share of the sergeant’s rations. -

So Captain Blanc and the Lieutenant talked of everything as far removed as possible from frontiers and the delimitations thereof. And Harding listened silently and uncomfortably. With lias own officer he would has chatted freely enough. But Society, and part of that Republican, was far and away above his head.

“And now, my dear Lieutenant,” said Captain Blanc, “just a short slop before we proceed with our arduous work. Tho better tho temper we are each in, the better chance we have of settling things to the mutual benefit of '"our respective countries. So. may you sleep well my dear Lieutenant.”

“And may you sleep even better than I, Captain Blanc,” said the Lieutenant.

The I,lcmcircuit and Harding Sat igc” ' he hatter’s position pre-

vente’ ’ . icing what had happened d" ing tlie morning, hut he took care to ; jck as near a note of interrogation as lie could.

“In reply to your kind inquiry, Hardin’,” said the Lieutenajit, looking at him quizzically, “nothin’ We have played very light while feintin’ to hit hard. We have been askin’ each other for a lot of things—and seemin’ to lose our tempers because we didn’t get them —that neither of us wants and which each of us is quite ready to give up to the other.” “What do you want, then, sir?” asked Harding, emboldened by his superior’s frankness to ask a downright question this time.

“What do wo want, Hardin’? Why wo both want ” Just then Harding so far forgot discipline and the respect duo to his superior as to lay I)its hand ou that superior’s thigh, ami to pinch it ha rd. “What the (lev " began til© Lieutenant. Bat Harding whispered hurriedly, “That hearer with Hie long ears, sir, lie’- listening.” “Nonsense.” said the Lieutenant. Then he added in a loud ami distinct voio". a.ml speaking v'-y <do;vl.v and deliberately—“Wluit wo both want is Manila. The other people want it because they think there’s gold there. I know, although some has been found, there’s no more gold there, because 1 know the man who salted it with grains of gold fired out of an old smooth-bore. But, as a point of honor, we shall have it, even if I involve the two Powers in war.” “Remember the mail with the long ears.” said Harding, in a state of holy terror anil n whisper. Tho Lieutenant gave him a long and comprehensive wink,which Harding took as am acknowledgment of error, till the Lieutenant smacked him heartily on the shoulder, and almost- shouted :

“Mamla or war. Man da or you pack my kit-bag, and that means the end."

Then the long-ear vanished

Tlio afternoon sitting began with a sweetness worthy of honey. Surely those sleeps must have been sound. Point after point which had been raised by one or other was brought forward only to he at once thrown to the wolves by its originator. There seemed to be a self-denial race toward, and self-denial was not usually a particularly strong point of either the Captain or the Lieutenant. “,Mv instructions from my Government,” said Captain Blanc, “were to give way all possible in order to come to a friendly understanding. Now‘l think,” and he shot bis right cuff a little, and contemplated pensively his perfectly trimmed nails,“l have given way in almost everything. Have I not?” “Yes,” said the Lieutenant, “and you must admit- that I have done the same.”

“Certainly—-this afternoon.. Now there is one thing on which my Government has given" me no discretion. That is Man chi. My Government insists on having Mamla.” “So does mine,” said the Lieutenant.

“Then I fear we must part without coming to any conclusion. That is a great pity, after you have had such a tiresome journey up here.” "While waiting for an answer, Cap-

tain Blanc pulled out of his pocket a little washleather hag, about tho length of a man’s middle finger From this he took a small brush, rather like a soft toothbrush w.itli the handle cut short. Then he took out a small, ivorv-backed folding mirror, in which he surveyed his moustache, while he carefully smoothed it with tho brush.

“Yes, it’s a pity,” said tho Lieutenant.

ffls it not?” said Captain Blanc absently. “Pomaded moustaches never look so well as curled moustaches. But then, the hot curling irons will make the hairs come out so. I beg your pardon, you were saying ” “I was sayin’,” said the Lieutenant, not knowing whether to feel amused or to despise this little dandjt,' so taken up with his appearance tliis important juncture, that mightmean European peace or war. “Iwas say-in’ it was a pity to come all this way up for nothin’, ’’ Then he thought he’d feel amused only. For hero was the little dandy at the back of the bush, taking his life in his hand every day, and from morning till night; and, most especially, from night back to morning again. Truly he bad many characteristics which were more feminine than masculine. Not that women wax their moustaches, but they curl their hair, which is the same idea. At the same time, Captain Blanc had most of the best masculine characteriti.es. If he chose to dress for the Hinterland as if he were going to a garden party, surely that was his own affair.

“Yes. It is a great pity,” said the Captain again. “I wish "your Government had given you some kind of discretion about Man da.”

“It’s the one point on which they didn’t,” said the Lieutenant. “Excuse me one moment,” He went to the door, which lie opened. “Sergeant Harding,” he bellowed, “get my kit-bag packed.’ “Very good, sir,” replied Harding. Then the Lieutenant returned to the Council Chamber and shut the door. . “You have absolutely no discretion to make a reasonable compromise?” asked the Captain. “Not a shade.” “Then, Lieutenant, as my Government is so set oh peace, I must reluctantly take upon myself discretion to give up Manda. .My superiors will probably relieve me of my command, but I cannot, seeing how much my friends wish for peace, assume the responsib.ilites of making war.” They shook hands, both feeling rather mean.

“By tho way, Lieutenant,” said Captain Blanc, “I understand the gold-mines at Manda were salted.” “So I’ve been told,” said the Lieutenant.

The sweating hearers boro the sweating whito men once more through the forest. “Are you quite sure, sir” asked Harding, “that those mines at Manda were salted? I’ve heard something about them, and the general idea was that they were good.” “To talk on some subjects from one litter to another, Sergeant Hardin’,” said tlio Lieutenant, cocking his eye at tho near leader, “is to discuss rather too publicly. Some of our friends have long ears.” “But you didn’t mind before, sir

“Nor shall I mind another time,” replied the Lieutenant, lowering his voice so that his words did not reach the pricked black right ear, “when I have equally authentic misinformation wheih I wish to reach the same quarter.”

UP TO THE NINES. “Punch.*' Tompkyns is a fino billiard pity or, ami I am not a fino billiard player, hut—l havo beaten Tompkyns at billiards. This is how I did it. At his hospitablo hoard tho min 'Jompkyns was presuming upon our courtesy to talk to us nbout his 1.1liards. Ho did nut say outright, “I, Tompkyns, am a fine player 1” That we could have borne with patience. And then the subject woU'.l have been deftly changed. What lie did say was, “Of course I’m not as u very good judgo, but I did so and so tho other night.” That sort of thing is disgustful—and, worse, inter min able.

I sat- there, musing upon tho ch Irtish vanity of mankind and Tompkyns until I heard a voice. It was not the voice of my neighbour, a querulous, heavy man, who kept trying to begin a sentence which Tompkyns, invariably nipped in the bud. I heard later that he had been tlio undisputed Pin-Pong Champion of Upper Tooting, and naturally loved to talk about his triumphs.) No, it was an inward voice that f heard, and T havo heard it before upon great occasions of my life. It said, “Challenge this man Tompkyns'to a billiard match. lam weary of his braggi.lg. I guarantee that you shall liumili i t o him to the dust!” I had every confidence in tlio voico, but for a moment I hesitated. I knew that it meant well by mo, but I fancied iliat it was making a mistake. For, as a matter of fact, I had never played billiards in my life. I had watched people playing, hut my practical experience of the game was nil. T pointed this out to tlio voice. I said, “I quite agree with your view of Tompkyns. Tompkyns is a maddening man to liston to. I should like to humiliate him in the dust. But do you think that I’m the men to do it—at billiards?”

The voice quite snapped at me. “You heard what I said! Do you want me to wash my hands of you?” “No,” I said desperately, “I don’t.” It was mollified in a moment. It merely demands implicit obedience, that voice.

“Good for you!” it sad quite genially. “Toll him you will take seventy in a hundred, and play him for a fiver.”

I gasped. The voice spoke of a fiver as though it had been a si.; lienee! But I have a loyal nature. “Tompkyns,” I said rather huskily’, “I challenge you to a match ms very evening!” He was telling us about, his la-t break. The ihteruption amazed him “But I thought that you didn’t play,” he said doubtfully. “I do not a? a rule,”l answeted with the calm of a great nature “But something tells mo that I am a natural player, and that I shall surely heat you. You shall give me seventy in a hundred, and I will piny you for a fiver.”

“Done with you 1” ho said quite eagerly, and the Ping-Pong Champion looked at me with doglike admiration in his sullen eyes.

"We adjourned to the billiard-room. It was a bachelor dinner. Tompkyns does not care for women. He finds that they are less patient listens.-s than men. I preserved a rnassi -*e outward calm, but I was slightly nervous.

Some instinct impelled mo to select the thickest-ended cue that I could find. Perhaps it was the watchful but temporarily silent voice. *,. Tompkyns conceded a miss to start with) and I did the same. His vas intentional.

The score was called one, seventyone. So far I had contrived to hold my own. But at this point Tompkyns did some juggling with balls, and when he had finished the score was seventy-one, twenty-six. Something would have to done.

The red was far away, but his ball was quite near me, and hanging over a pocket. I aimed at his ball, and it disappeared. Then I aimed at the red ball and the score was called twenty-seven, seven ty-tbree.

Tompkyns was at it again. He was forty-three before I had another chance. Both balls were at a great distance, and I aimed at the nearest. It was the other hall that I hit. It vanished, but my ball was still full of heart.- It came hack and hit tho red, and they rushed together towards a pocket. They went into it together, and it seems that the stroke was worth nine. The red was put on the spot, and I conceded another miss. But only by a hair’s-beadtli. Eighty-two, forty-four. Tompkyns made twenty in a fortuitous sort of fashion, as I fancied, and for a while I adhered to safety methods. Certainly, in several attempts, I once conceded a three to Tompkyns. This might have happened oftener, if I had chosen to play a more dashing game. Tompkyns replied with a chancy ton, and tho score was eighty-two, seventy-seven, in my favour.

Then, nerved by desperation, I did it again. I “worked tho balls into position” whatever that- may mean. IV hat I mean by it is that I gave my heavy cue my full strength, and scored another brilliant nino shot. The break was terminated by a safely miss (by full two inches, hut my foot slipped slightly, and Tompkyns, roused to madness, came out witli a lucky thirteen. The scores wero level, nine-ty-one all 1

The exeitment in the room was painful. In the dead silenco you might have almost heard tho long rest fall. A lesser mail would have thrown up tho sponge. Tompkyns grinned fiendishly in anticipation of his triumph. The Ping-Pong Champion was pale and despairing. I gripped my massive cue, and the voice whispered “Courage! And give it plenty of stick 1”

I wondered what it meant. It was absurd to ho technical at such a moment. But I had to play.

Both balls were dim and distant. They were about six inches apart, and I aimed strongly for the space between. It- seemed the best thing to do. Ido not expect you to believe what happened. My own explanation is that Providence had been annoyed by the bragging of Tompkyns, and had chosen me as its unworthy champion. I claim very little credit- for it, but it is a fact that once again I had a clear hoard! When the mists of triumph cleared from before my eyes, the Ping-Pong Champion was grasping my hand, and they were giving brandy to my opponent.

Thus, and not otherwise, did I beat the man Tom'kyns.

the new china. A LOOK THROUGH JAPANESE SPECTACLES. A GUARANTEE FOR PERM AN ENT PEACE IN THE FAR EAST.

(By Count Okuma in Leslio’s AVeokly.)

Tho coming of China to her own—and this is the conviction I have held for many a year —is the foundation for permanent peace in tho Far Eaßt; it ia the koy to all the black problems which wo of the Far East are hoir to. As long as ho ia the Shool of trouble, busy in paying indemnity (which alio ought to receive instead of pay), or watching international robbers loading themselves with valuable concessions, the peace of the Far East is a Hleoping volcano. One can never bo sure of tho morrow. For thirty years I have watched China; sho has always commanded my liveliest enthusiasm. Upon her awakening, upon the coming of New China, I have always put my trust. Wedded to this view, I could not havo been indifferent to her if I tried.

I was hapxty to see, many years ago, that the world in gonoral, and tho students and statesmen of our country in particular, did not allow me to havo tho sole monopoly in my interest in China. Opinions on the future and fate of China were then, as now, aa many as tho number of books published upon xhe theme. One or two of them were masterly, far-sighted, prophetic; a number of them were curious; and a vast majority of them asinino and utterly erroneous. Time was when dreamers of heated dreams placed an oxcessive confidence in the power and possibility of China; the troublo is the facilo way these dreams havo in entombing their great hepss in despair. Reaction came; everybody said that China was tho Sick Man of tho Far East. We came to hear of tho partition of the Chi a vse limpue. I can assure you that it was not whispered in a subdued voics, unlike the early daya of Christian n.aityrs. this cheerful gospel was jt preached ir catacombs; people made merry, ai if Pekin government we:e a huge joke which a certain deplj-tatist suddenly discovered in a certain volume of mythology. This period did not last long. Tho world in gonertl despaired of China; the world, of cou.se, could do as it pleased; as for me, I took my time in burying my hope and confidence in the future of China. I allowed myself to say what I thought; I hold out for the territorial integrity of the Chinese Empire. That was many years ago; I was then Minister for Foreign Affairs. One day, some one brought me an outline map of China. It looked more like a piece of waste paper to me than a map; it seemed that a number of diplomatists had taken a deal of liberty with the map. They used inks of all shades and colors in abusing it. I considered it a sad piece of paper. Perhaps I might have said so in so many words and in a manner, too, that was not the most philosophical. All of a sudden —perhaps it is not,well for me to say suddenly, for I expected nothing else—-one great shout went up; it came from every point of the compass, from near and from far; in the shout I recognised the voice of many of my personal ffiends. “Respect the territorial integrity of China? Impossible!” they all said. Many of my political friends came to see me," and told me to my fafie in so many words that I was foolish; that I was trying to attempt the impossible. There was no room to doubt the sincerity of their advice. Great heavens! they were terribly sincere. I had a friend of ten years’ standing, and in the heated tumult of discussion I lost him and his friendship. He took public measures; preached the doctrine of tho partition of China, and bitterly attacked me. I knew that I was running in the face ef something which has much shorter patience than Providence—the public opinion of this world. That did not trouble me; -I was so deeply convinced on thia point that I did not hesitate to advocate a measure for defending the integrity of China at the expense of the gold and blood of Nippon. Yes, if need were, I thought we, the people of Nippon, as such ought to fight for it. Wily? I have already said that upon the thorough rehabilitation of China as a great Power depended the permanent peace of the Far East. Once more tho pendulum turned. People forgot the high talks ou the partition of China and the sloiglit-of-hand called the “sphere of influence” quite as ready as the moral maxims of their forefathers. And in Nippon I had to look very keenly indeed to find even a single one of my opponents of yesterday. Inded the whole'country almost left me behind in their zeal for the preservation of the Chinese Empire; and we took the troublo of telling how we stood in this affair rather pointedly; tho Russo-Nippon war wai tho outcome.

The New China is about to bo born. I watch its coining with pleasure, hail it witli school-boy enthusiasm. Am I ,-not being permitted at last to catch the first glimmer of dawn which shall usher the day of permanent peace for the Far East? It would be strango if I could watch so momentous an event with indifference. What makes me happier than over is that I have a deal of faith in the abiding character of the new Order of Things which is coming into China. If I read tho signs of the times aright, this new movement is none of those hysterical fits of progressive reformation.

Changes which are taking place in China to-day are radical; fundamental in their character. No longer people declaim loudly on tho construction of a branch railway between two treaty ports so modest that you havo no end of trouble in finding them upon tho map, as the sign of the re-birtlx of China. Not so long ago. His Majesty the Emperor, through an Imperial edict, abolished the competitive system of literary examination of the candidates for official positions. The meaning of it, in all its bigness, is not read even in this our Nippon. The literary culture as the sole qualification for official life had been an ancient institution. It was. at the time of abolishment, as firm and deeprooted as the clan system was in Nippon at the time when our Government did away with it once and for all. It was one of the bedrocks on which the official life of China was built. Since the classic days of Sung and T’ang the literary attainment was the only criterion upon which the Government selected its official servants. Let us pause a moment, and point out what a remarkable result this method of encouraging literary

attainment produced. And tho only roason was “to establish themselvoß in life.” That, meant to get a Government position. Learning was nob an end;, a more humble means of securing an office. Save a painfully elementary branch of .setoheo, tlioir education Was. altogether upon the classics; ciphering abstruse old toxts became therefrom one of tho highly practical occupations of getting onb’s bread. It had a wonderful tendency, vory naturally, of turning the entire officialdom of China into a paradise of bookmen. But tho effect of this system upon the m»i« of people at large was still more remarkable; and quite as vicious as remarkable. Common people of China took it into their lioads —or, to state it more correctly, tho officials of China encouraged the mass of people to look upon the officers of the Government as a huge trust in learning. They monopolised the brain of tlie empire. August officers of the Government would look after the brain end of the State affairs; what was the use of tho common pooplo troubling themselves about the matters which required thought and scholarship? That was tho very thing for which tli 0 officers were paid. “Let the people depend upon us, trust in u«,” said tho Chines* official; “do not let them know.” And it was this hoary and classic institution of centuries that tho Imperial edict humbled to dust. In the fifth year of Meiji, that ia to say in 1872, the Impjerial Government of Nippon inaugurated a now system of education. To-day, China is going through her Fifth of Meiji. You know what a tremendous effect the now school system of our country had upon tho life of the New Nippon. The influence of tho Imporial edict of China must of necessity be much more powerful upon the New China to be. For at the time when we introduced a new school system we had no literary examination system of China.

Another thing; for the first time China is hungry. Western civilize-, tion is no longer playing tho ridi-, culoxts role of a man who triee to make hir horse drink. The eyes of China are not turned within her own heart; they ar e drinking abroad. Within a year or a year and a haif since tho -dose of the war, China has sent to Nippon more than ten thousand students. “From this time on,” said Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai to Mr. Uchida-, our Minister at Pekin, “we shall send out our students not by ten thousands, but by hundred thousands.’ Of course these students are being sent to America and Europe as well as to Nippon. On their return homo, the majority of the; young men and women are to enter into the countless schools which are rising all over tho Empire. These are the leaven of the New China 1 which _lias about it the same logic} as that of the Order of Things, whichj never takes no from anybody. Still another thing ; the birth of national-} ism in China. I do not say that it’ is not high time for it to come. At} any rate, one cannot find a happy, hunting-ground for unholy Western! ambitions on the map of China any} longer. At tho same time she is de-; dining to give valuable concessions, railway, mining, harbors, etc.; she is taking back wliat she has given, which is admirable of her. We have} already heard of “China for the. Chi-: nese.’

Above all, I have a great faith in; the ability and experience of Her Majesty the Empress-Dowager of China. She is no longer young; shei is rich pi experience; hers has been! a bitter school. At the time when; the allied army of England and' France aacked Pekin, she, in com-; pany with Emperor Hien Fung, braved the dust and privations along the Nitzho. She has known the desolate! days of peace that followed, made his-l toric for the enormity of indemnity demanded; then she came to know Ignatieff. She had seen how China; parted with an imposing empire watered by the Amur from Nicholaiev'sk down to Vladivostok and Possiet Bay. She saw all that Russia paid for that splendid empire were a few polished sentences of a diplomatist, and they; were hardly polite. In the south «he' saw the long-haired rebels threaten; the* city of Nankin. It was in the midst of those unhappy days that she was called upon to face the death of Emperor Hien Fung. Her Majesty seems to enjoy more than her share of critics; some of them are very; cheap. Nobody contends that she is; a perfect woman. But there is a wo-i man who has taken upon her delicate shoulders a burden, heavy and big with the fate and destiny of 400;000,-| 000 of people. For well nigh half a; century ahe has fought her way. Of; on© thing you may be sure, hers was, 1 no iris-bordered path. Among the diplomatists which represented the' Christendom of Europe at her Court: she met no Don Quixote; because she; was a woman no political storms tamed her fury. If you wish you can. close your eyes ns much as you please, but you oannot escape one fact; that, she is no ordinary woman; the school to which she went was very far from being tame or commonplace.” And it is this sovereign, with her ability, with all her extraordinary wealth of experience, who is back of this new movement in China to-day. Mark you, all through the French trouble' slio was the conservative among con-' servatives; through the Nippon-Cliina war she was the same;. through the troublesome days between the Manchu and Chinese parties within her own court, through the Boxer trouble; slio has always been a consistent conservative. And now, read in the light of her career, this sudden change in her is full of meaning. For the first time she has read the handwriting in the sky; she has bowed to the inevitable. Her decision is decisive, quite in keeping with the stren-, gth of her character. And we read the Imperial edict abolishing in one day tile whole system of literary examination. And some of iis have had the honor of meeting the high dignataries of the commission which Her Majesty had despatched to 6tiuly the institutions —political, economic, and social of Europe and America, as well as those of Nippon. It was the fourth year of Meiji, as we all remember, that His Majesty, the Emperor of Nippon, sent Iwakura, Kido, Okubo, the greatest statesmen of Nippon of the time, to study the arts, sciences, and the life of the West. The move of China is the same.

Now the reigning Emperor of China it delicate in health. He has always been progressive; years ago he made no secret of it. Up to thia time —that is to tay, at long at the Empress-Dowager remained ultra-conservative-—'there was little haimonv between the views of, the two.

And as a matter of history, this caused no end of unhappy friction. Now, all is changed; liarmonj.reigns within tli 0 palace. That is important —more important than many people have any idea.. In a country like China, in suchiji time as this, tho reigning hptißfr pqnpts for a grqat deal in tho rd-birth of a nation. It matters but little how sincqroly and how ardently people' may look for tho now order of things; the success of tho now day for China depends upon the enlightenment anil, abijity of her Sovereign. Chinji is indeed hajjpy. Not to every country at any time, but especially in its critical hour, is given so able a statesman, so rare a talent, soasoned, as I have said, in such a prodigal wealth of exporeience, as tho Now China will find in Her Majesty tho Empress-Dowager. Tho youthful enthusiasm of the young emperor would command at all times the benefit of tho riper thought of the Dowager. It is almost ideal. Wo of Nippon rejoice as much as the children of the New China. For the coming of China to her own is the best guarantee for the permanent peace of the Far East.