vernment and leaving the mere form of state in the background is a
principle that is applicable under all circumstances and should be
followed by all critics of politics.

II. THE ARGUMENT AGAINST CHANGE

No form of government is ideal. Its reason of existence can only be
judged by what it has achieved. It is the height of folly to rely on
theoretical conclusions as a basis for artificial arbitration as to
what should be accepted and what discarded. Mere folly, however, is
not to be seriously condemned. But the danger and harm to the
country will be unmeasurable if a person has prejudiced views
respecting a certain form of government and in order to prove the
correctness of his prejudiced views, creates artificially a
situation all by himself. For this reason my view has always been
not to oppose any form of government. But I am always opposed to
any one who engages in a propaganda in favour of a form of
government other than the one under which we actually live. In the
past I opposed those who tried to spread the republican form of
government while the country was under monarchical government, and
the arguments I advanced in support of my views were written in no
fewer than 200,000 words. Even so late as the ninth month after the
outbreak of the Revolution I issued a pamphlet entitled "The Problem
of the Building of the New China," which was my last attempt to
express my views respecting the maintenance of the old form of
government.

What obligations had I to the then Imperial House? Did it not heap
persecution and humiliation on me to the utmost of its power and
resources? I would have been an exile even to this day had it not
been for the Revolution. Further, I was no child and I was fully
aware of the disappointment which the then Government caused in the
minds of the people. Yet I risked the opposition of the whole
country and attempted to prolong the life of the dying dynasty. I
had no other view in mind except that there would be some
possibility of our hope being realized if the whole nation would
unite in efforts to improve the administration under the then
existing form of government. I believed that because the people were
not educated for a change. But if the status of the country should
be changed before the people are educated and accustomed to the new
or