is he was obliged
to return to the state after the ingathering of the harvest. The power
of the overseer went farther; it was he who determined what crops the
husbandman might sow and who fixed day by day the price of every salable
commodity in the district. As the state reserved to itself the right to
buy all agricultural produce, it was bound in return to save up a part
of the profits to be used for the benefit of the people in years of
scarcity, and also at other times to be employed in works needed by the
community. Wang Ngan Shen also ordained that only the wealthy should pay
taxes, the proceeds of which were to be employed in relieving the wants
of the poor, the old, and the unemployed. The theory was smooth and
attractive.

For over thirty years those laws are said to have remained in force, at
any rate on paper. To what extent they were carried out is
problematical. Probably a beginning was actually made, for during Wang's
tenure of office confusion was worse confounded than before, and misery
more intense and widespread. The opposition to his regime increased,
spread, and finally got the upper hand. Wang Ngan Shen was banished,
together with those of his partizans who refused to accept the return to
the old system. Such would appear to have been the first appearance of
Bolshevism recorded in history.

Another less complete parallel, not to the Bolshevist theory, but to the
plight of the country which it ruined, may be found in the Chinese
rebellion organized in the year 1850 by a peasant[285] who, having
become a Christian, fancied himself called by God to regenerate his
people. He accordingly got together a band of stout-hearted fellows whom
he fanaticized, disciplined, and transformed into the nucleus of a
strong army to which brigands, outlaws, and malcontents of every social
layer afterward flocked. They overran the Yangtse Valley, invaded twelve
of the richest provinces, seized six hundred cities and towns, and put
an end to twenty million people in the space of twelve years by fire,
sword, and famine.[286] To this bloody expedition Hung Sew Tseuen, a
master of modern euphemism, gave the name of Crusade of the Great Peace.
For twelve years this "Crusade" lasted, and it might have endured much
longer had it not been for the help given by outsiders. It was there
that "Chinese" Gordon won his laurels and accomplished a beneficent
work.

There were politicians at the Conference who argued that Russia, being