nce, and to retard their progress to the same pace they
themselves go, if it can be called a pace at all.

"It is therefore a maxim that 'no progress can be made by the
Pekin Government.' To them any progress, whether slow or quick,
is synonymous to slow or quick extinction, for they will never
move.

"The term 'Pekin Government' is used advisedly, for if the
Central Government were moved from Pekin into some province where
the pulsations and aspirations of the Chinese people could have
their legitimate effect, then the Central Government and the
Chinese people, having a unison of thought, would work together.

"From what has been said above, it is maintained that, so long as
the Central Government of China isolates itself from the Chinese
people by residing aloof at Pekin, so long will the Chinese
people have to remain passive under the humiliations which come
upon them through the non-progressive and destructive disposition
of their Government. These humiliations will be the chronic state
of the Chinese people until the Central Government moves from
Pekin and reunites itself to its subjects. No army, no purchases
of ironclad vessels will enable China to withstand a first-class
Power so long as China keeps her queen bee at the entrance of her
hive. There is, however, the probability that a proud people like
the Chinese may sicken at this continual eating of humble pie,
that the Pekin Government at some time, by skirting too closely
the precipice of war may fall into it, and then that sequence may
be anarchy and rebellion throughout the Middle Kingdom which may
last for years and cause endless misery.

"It may be asked--How can the present state of things be altered?
How can China maintain the high position that the wealth,
industry, and innate goodness of the Chinese people entitle her
to have among the nations of the world? Some may say by the
revolt of this Chinaman or of that Chinaman. To me this seems
most undesirable, for, in the first place, such action would not
have the blessing of God, and, in the second, it would result in
the country being plunged into civil war. The fair, upright, and
open course for the Chinese people to take is to work, through
the Press and by petitions, on the Central Government, and to
request them t