t it is unnecessary to repeat it here even
though it is as fascinating as a tale from the _Arabian Nights_. The
present status of the country, however, is but little known to the
western world. In a few words I will endeavor to sketch the recent
political developments, some of which occurred while we were in
Mongolia.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the great Genghiz Khan and
his illustrious successor Kublai Khan "almost in a night" erected
the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Not only did they
conquer all of Asia, but they advanced in Europe as far as the
Dnieper leaving behind a trail of blood and slaughter.

All Europe rose against them, but what could not be accomplished by
force of arms was wrought in the Mongols themselves by an excess of
luxury. In their victorious advance great stores of treasure fell
into their hands and they gave themselves to a life of ease and
indulgence.

By nature the Mongols were hard riding, hard living warriors,
accustomed to privation and fatigue. The poison of luxury ate into
the very fibers of their being and gradually they lost the
characteristics which had made them great. The ruin of the race was
completed by the introduction of Lamaism, a religion which carries
only moral destruction where it enters, and eventually the Mongols
passed under the rule of the once conquered Chinese and then under
the Manchus.

Until the overthrow of the Manchu regime in China in 1911, and the
establishment of the present republic, there were no particularly
significant events in Mongolian history. But at that time the
Russians, wishing to create a buffer state between themselves and
China as well as to obtain special commercial privileges in
Mongolia, aided the Mongols in rebellion, furnished them with arms
and ammunition and with officers to train their men.

A somewhat tentative proclamation of independence for Outer Mongolia
was issued in December, 1911, by the Hutukhtu and nobles of Urga,
and the Chinese were driven out of the country with little
difficulty. Beset with internal troubles, the Chinese paid but scant
attention to Mongolian affairs until news was received in Peking in
October, 1912, that M. Korostovetz, formerly Russian Minister to
China, had arrived secretly in Urga and on November 3, 1912, had
recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia on behalf of his
Government.

It then became incumbent upon China to take official note of the
situation, especially a