NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1527, 24 August 1912, Page 9

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

"Sun Yafc Sen, or The Awakening of China," by J. Cantlie, M.A., M.D., and C. S. Jones. London: Jarrold and Sons.

Over and over agaiu we have heard it said and seen it written that the twentieth century has seen the death of romance, but it has been said by people ,? h a vc wilfully blinded their eyes and their intelligence to the great movements that are taking place all about them.' Probably no greater romance and no greater event in the history of the world has been gradually unfolded in lalo years than that of the awakening of China, and what tremendous forces it is going to unleash no one can possibly foresee. Glimpses of what this will mean to China arid to the world in general are outlined in the fascinating book "Sun Yat Sen," written by James Cantlie, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., Dean of the College of Medicine, Hong-Kong, 1889-1896, and C. Sheridan Jones. In this 'book the character of the man Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who, with the aid at first of but a few devoted friends, without resources of his own, with his life and safety perpetually menaccd by the übiquitous Alanchu agents who left no stone unturned to destroy him, is vividly portrayed. That he should have succeeded m making China throw off tho sloth of centuries and in surmounting the overwhelming difficulties that faced him, stamped him as being one of the most remarkable men of his race. Against him there was the magnitude of Chinese territory, and when one romembers that it is bigger than the United States with Alaska and Great Britain added, that it is a fourtliof the habitable globe, some idea of its size may be gleaned; then there was the temperament of tho 'people, a people that moved less in ccntivries than Western people do in dccades; the paralysing blight of spiritual pride, and greater than all, the hideous ceaseless pressure of the Manchus tyrannv that kept its' hold upon China by a system of terrorism and spying, and a despotism that stood armed at all points between tho people and every avenue of knowledge. These obstacles would havo appeared insuperable to most men, but Sun Yat Sen has conquered them.

■ Dr. Cnntlie, who knows Sun Yat Son intimately, was one of his greatest friends in times of stress and danger, and describes him as being a man to whom an. unkind thought, far les* an unkind word, .was a foreign thing; he had an innate unselfishness undreamt of by modem meu and was a living expression of tho Sermon on tho Mount. The transparent honesty of the man, his manifest patriotism, his simplicity, ami readiness to endure all things for his country's sake, have gained him men willing to devote their energies, their time, their lives, for his cause. Necessarily, in placing before readers some ideas of the difficulties this man had to encounter, the pa«t history of the country had to bn'taken into account and much that is intensely interesting is told of the J.fauohus dynasty,- and of tho dynasties that had gone before. China, her \;eiple, and her resources are told of by one who knows these matters and who also has no great idea of the p?rspicacity of a press that wrole disparagingly of the man who brought about the revolution. Tho press sought advice from those of tho old Tegime who closed their eves wilfully to what was hannening about them. persisted in believing that Yuan-Shih-Kai was tho man to look to, a man totally without power save that which reformers thrust upon him. Tfc is Sun Yat Sen who is loved devotedly and whose tenchings and nrinoiplos the people will_ follow. Of course Dr. Canllio writes with the strong biasof devoted friendship, but he is a real authority on tilings Chinese, and his book is a valuable one.