examinations, to the humblest peasant in the empire. It
is solely a question of natural ability coupled with an intellectual
training; and of the latter, it has already been shown that there is no
lack at the disposal of even the poorest. China, then, according to a
high authority, has always been at the highest rung of the democratic
ladder; for it was no less a person than Napoleon who said: "Reasonable
democracy will never aspire to anything more than obtaining an equal
power of elevation for all."

In order to enforce their rights by the simplest and most bloodless
means, the Chinese have steadily cultivated the art of combining
together, and have thus armed themselves with an immaterial, invisible
weapon which simply paralyses the aggressor, and ultimately leaves them
masters of the field. The extraordinary part of a Chinese boycott or
strike is the absolute fidelity by which it is observed. If the boatmen
or chair-coolies at any place strike, they all strike; there are no
blacklegs. If the butchers refuse to sell, they all refuse, entirely
confident in each other's loyalty. Foreign merchants who have offended
the Chinese guilds by some course of action not approved by those
powerful bodies, have often found to their cost that such conduct
will not be tolerated for a moment, and that their only course is to
withdraw, sometimes at considerable loss, from the untenable position
they had taken up. The other side of the medal is equally instructive.
Some years ago, the foreign tea-merchants at a large port, in order to
curb excessive charges, decided to hoist the Chinese tea-men, or sellers
of tea, with their own petard. They organized a strict combination
against the tea-men, whose tea no colleague was to buy until, by what
seemed to be a natural order of events, the tea-men had been brought
to their knees. The tea-men, however, remained firm, their countenances
impassive as ever. Before long, the tea-merchants discovered that some
of their number had broken faith, and were doing a roaring business for
their own account, on the terms originally insisted on by the tea-men.

There is no longer any doubt that China is now in the early stages
of serious and important changes. Her old systems of education and
examination are to be greatly modified, if not entirely remodelled.
The distinctive Chinese dress is to be shorn of two of its most
distinguishing features--the _queue_ of the man and the small feet of
the woman. Th