places were
thrown open to foreign trade and Chinese civil administration was
re-established. The important results of the war, so far as China was
concerned, were not to be looked for in Manchuria, but in the new spirit
generated in the Chinese. They had been deeply humiliated by the fact
that in the struggle between Russia and Japan China had been treated as
a negligible quantity, and that the war had been fought on Chinese
territory. The lesson which the loot of Peking and the fall of the
Boxers in 1900 had half taught was now thoroughly mastered; the
awakening of China was complete. The war had shown that when an Eastern
race adopted Western methods it was capable of defeating a European
nation.

Army reform.

It was fortunate that among the influential advisers of the throne at
this time (1905-1908) were Prince Chun (the prince who had visited
Germany in 1901), Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, and Chang
Chih-tung, the viceroy of Hu-kwang (i.e. the provinces of Hu-peh and
Hu-nan), all men of enlightened and strong character. In 1907 both the
viceroys named were summoned to Peking and made members of the grand
council, of which Prince Ching, a man of moderate views, was president.
Yuan Shih-kai was an open advocate of a reform of the civil service, of
the abolition of Manchu privileges, of education and other matters. He
had specially advocated the reconstitution of the military forces of the
empire, and in Chih-li in 1905 he demonstrated before a number of
foreign military attaches the high efficiency attained by the forces of
the metropolitan province. The success achieved by Yuan Shih-kai in this
direction incited Chang Chih-tung to follow his example, while a decree
from the throne called upon the princes and nobles of China to give
their sons a military education. The formerly despised military
profession was thus made honourable, and with salutary effects. The
imperial princes sought high commands, officers were awarded ranks and
dignities comparable with those of civil servants, and the pay of the
troops was increased. The new foreign drilled northern army was called
upon to furnish a large proportion of a force sent under Prince Su into
Mongolia--a country which had been on the point of falling into the
hands of Russia, but over which, as one result of the Russo-Japanese
War, China recovered control. In 1906 a step was taken towards the
formation of a national army by withdrawing portions of the t