the slightest right to ask that China should
give proof of her genuineness about reform until we show more proof of our
own genuineness about reform, and until we suppress the opium traffic
where we can. China has taken this difficult reform in hand. She has done
much, but not everything. In Shanghai, Hongkong, and the Straits, we have
done nothing at all. I want to say this morning, as pricking the bubble of
our own Pharisaism, that from the point of view of reform, the blackest
opium spots in China are the spots under British rule."

And then, in conclusion, this:

"I am convinced, and deeply convinced, as every observant and thoughtful
man is that knows anything of China, that China is a great coming power. I
was talking to a fellow member of the House of Commons who lately went to
China, and went into barracks and camps with the Chinese, and who made it
his business to study Chinese military affairs, which generally excite so
much laughter outside China. He spent a good deal of time with the Chinese
soldier. He said to me, as many other people have said to me, 'The
Chinaman is splendid raw material as a soldier, and, if his officers would
properly lead the Chinaman, he would follow and make the finest soldier in
the world, bar none.' It will take China a long, long time to organize
herself; it will take her a long time to organize her army and navy; it
will take a long time to get rid of the system of bribery in China, which
is one of the hindrances to putting down the opium traffic; but, depend
upon it, the time is coming, not perhaps very soon, but by and by--and
nations have long memories--when those who are alive to see the
development of China will be very glad that, when China was weak and we
were strong, we, of our own motion, without being made to, helped China to
get away from this terrible curse."

Appendix--A Letter from the Field

THE OPIUM CLIMAX IN SHANGHAI

_Editor "Success Magazine":_

It is fitting that in the columns of _Success_, a magazine which has so
recently investigated and so thoroughly and ably reported upon the opium
curse in China, there should appear the account of a unique ceremony held
in the International Settlement of Shanghai, illustrating in a striking
manner the general feeling of the Chinese towards the anti-opium movement
and setting an example that will make its influence felt in the most
remote provinces of the empire. In response to liberal advertising there
as