ays emphatically, "is the people; next come the altars of
the national gods; least in importance is the king."

These citations from the revered classics should be sufficient to prove
that the people of China are not necessarily cutting themselves adrift
from the traditions of ages and the teachings of their philosophers
when they rise in their might to overthrow an incompetent dynasty. For
it can not be denied that China has known little prosperity under the
later rulers of the Manchu line, and when the revolutionary leaders
declared that the reigning house had forfeited the _T'ien-ming_ we must
admit that they had ample justification for their belief that such was
the case. But many Western friends of China, while fully recognizing
the right of the people to remove the Manchus, entertain very grave
doubts as to the wisdom of abolishing the monarchy altogether and the
establishment of a republican government in its stead. The _T'ien-ming_
has always passed from dynasty to dynasty, never from dynasty to
people. From the remotest days of which we have record, the Chinese
system of government has been monarchic. If the revolutionaries can
break tradition to the extent of abolishing the imperial dignity, what
guaranty have we that they will not break with tradition in every other
respect as well, and so destroy the foundations on which the whole
edifice of China's social, political, and religious life has rested
through all the centuries of her known history?

Whether the Chinese people--as distinct from a few foreign-educated
reformers--do, as a matter of fact, honestly believe that a republican
government is adapted to the needs of the country, is a very different
question. It certainly has not been proved that "the whole nation is
now inclined toward a republic"--in spite of the admission to that
effect contained in the imperial Edict of abdication. Perhaps it would
be nearer the truth to say that the overwhelming majority of the people
of China have not the slightest idea what a republic means, and how
their lives and fortunes will be affected by its establishment, and
therefore hold no strong opinions concerning the advantages or
disadvantages of republican government.

It can not be denied, however, that the social system under which the
Chinese people have lived for untold ages has in some ways made them
more fit for self-government than any other people in the world. It
would be well if Europeans--and especially