hey live as in prison, for it is not an air in which wings can soar.
But for solid walking on the ground he has not his equal. The phrase
"Solvitur ambulando" must surely have been coined for him. And no doubt
on his road he has passed, and will pass again, the wrecks of many a
flying-machine.

VI

CHINA IN TRANSITION

The Chinese Revolution has proceeded, so far, with less disturbance and
bloodshed than any great revolution known to history. There has been
little serious fighting and little serious disorder; nothing comparable
to that which accompanied, for instance, the French Revolution of 1789.
And this, no doubt, is due to the fact that the Chinese are alone among
nations of the earth in detesting violence and cultivating reason. Their
instinct is always to compromise and save everybody's face. And this is
the main reason why Westerners despise them. The Chinese, they aver,
have "no guts." And when hard pressed as to the policy of the Western
Powers in China, they will sometimes quite frankly confess that they
consider the West has benefited China by teaching her the use of force.
That this should be the main contribution of Christian to Pagan
civilisation is one of the ironies of history. But it is part of the
greater irony which gave the Christian faith to precisely those nations
whose fundamental instincts and convictions were and are in radical
antagonism to its teaching.

Though, however, it is broadly true that the Chinese have relied on
reason and justice in a way and to a degree which is inconceivable in
the West, they have not been without their share of original sin.
Violence, anarchy, and corruption have played a part in their history,
though a less part than in the history of most countries. And these
forces have been specially evident in that department to which
Westerners are apt to pay the greatest attention--in the department of
government. Government has always been less important in China than in
the Western world; it has always been rudimentary in its organisation;
and for centuries it has been incompetent and corrupt. Of this
corruption Westerners, it is true, make more than they fairly should.
China is no more corrupt (to say the least) than the United States or
Italy or France, or than England was in the eighteenth century. And much
that is called corruption is recognised and established "squeeze,"
necessary, and understood to be necessary, to supplement the inadequate
salaries of