nor would it have been polite or politic to do so. But I
do not admire either the taste or the wisdom of those orators who,
in welcoming the distinguished visitors; applauded them for their
graceful dress and stately carriage. If that indiscreet flattery
had any effect it merely tended
[Page 293]
to postpone a change which is now in progress. All the soldiers
of the Empire will ere long wear a Western uniform, and all the
school children are rapidly adopting a similar uniform. To me few
spectacles that I have witnessed are so full of hope for China as
the display on an imperial birthday, when the military exhibit
their skilful evolutions and their Occidental uniform, and when
thousands of school children appear in a new costume, which is
both becoming and convenient. But the Court and the mandarins cling
to their antiquated attire. If the peacock wishes to soar with
the eagle, he must first get rid of his cumbersome tail.

This subject, though it savours of the tailor shop, is not unworthy
the attention of the grand council of China's statesmen. Has not
Carlyle shown in his "Sartor Resartus" how the Philosophy of Clothes
is fundamental to the history of civilisation? The Japanese with
wonderful foresight settled that question at the very time when
they adopted their new form of government.

When Mr. Low was U. S. Minister in Peking some thirty years ago,
he said to the writer "Just look at this tomfoolery!" holding up
the fashion plates representing the new dress for the diplomatic
service of Japan. Time has proved that he was wrong, and that the
Japanese were right in adopting a new uniform, when they wished to
fall in line with nations of the West. With their old shuffling
habiliments and the cringing manners inseparable from them, they
never could have been admitted to intercourse on easy terms with
Western society.

[Page 294]
The mandarin costume of China, though more imposing, is not less
barbaric than that of Japan; and the etiquette that accompanies
it is wholly irreconcilable with the usages of the Western world.
Imagine a mandarin doffing his gaudy cap, gay with tassels, feathers,
and ruby button, on meeting a friend, or pushing back his long
sleeves to shake hands! Such frippery we have learned to leave
to the ladies; and etiquette does not require them to lay aside
their hats.

Quakers, like the mandarins, keep their hats on in public meetings;
and the oddity of their manners has kept them out of so