The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1918. A REVOLUTION—AND AFTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1878, 11 October 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1918. A REVOLUTION—AND AFTER.

Every man should be proud of his country, and should do his best to increase tho justification for such pride; but it is a poor way of proving one's love for his own nation by contemptuous references to other peoples. Yet many Englishmen aro accustomed to regard tho inhabitants of China as a half-civilised horde, and they would doubtless claim support for this attitude by reoent political events at Peking. It is easy to laugh at the early efforts of the Chinese to work a Parliamentary machino constructed on European lines. Their method of inaugurating and developing representative government may strike the European mind as decidedly grotesque. But what about ourselves? The British race has had about eight hundred years' experience of the working of tho machine, and yet it is quite possible that the gods have many a good laugh at tho utter futility of some of our political ideas and practices. Our system of party government has been unmercifully ridiouled by philosophers, reformers, and men of letters as being quite illogical and unscientifio. It is some oonsolation, perhaps, that we do not live by logio alone, and no schemo that philosophers or scientists may devise to tako its plaoe is likely to work 'any bettor. The election of the President of China, which took place during the present week, has beon the occasion of many a laugh and jeer at the expense of tho Chinese, and we aro inclined to flatter ourselves on our superior virtue when we read that two hundred votes purchased last week exercised a decisive influence on the election. Yet in the eighteenth century British politics were saturated with bribery and corruption, and the state of political life in the United States at the present time is nothing to bo proud of. Coming nearer home, a disgraceful pugilistic onoounter in the precincts of tho New South Wales Parliament was chronicled in yesterday's Dominion, and a week or two ago the Parliament of New Zealand was humiliated by a ridiculous campaign of obstruction, by which a great deal of valuable time and ■ money was wasted without any adequate justification.

If it is true that people who live in houses should not throw stones, Britishers should certainly abstain from passing ill-considered and unsympathetic judgments on a people who were a civilised race, and "held learning in high esteem whilo our own painted forefathers wero running naked and houseless in tho woods, and living on berries and raw meat.' Tho Chinese may have mado a mistake in endeavouring to fit themselves to exactly into our political clothes, for institutions which are the outcome of tho national character, ideals, and conditions of one race may not suit another raco which has developed_ on entirely different lines, and which has very • different aspirations, manners, and customs. But democracy and liberty are not entirely dependent on parliamentary government. Professor Giles tells us that the ancient Chineßo institutions were autocratic in form, but democratic in operation. "The philosopher Menoius (372-289 8.C.) placed the peoplo first, the gods second, and the Sovereign third in tho scale of national importance; and this classification has sunk deep into the minds of tho Chinese during more than two thousand years past. What the peoplo of China will not stand is injustice." History shows that they have their own ways of dealing with excessive taxation and tyranny. Chinese institutions and customs are permeated by a spirit of personal freedom which unites the people in resistance to oppression; and the national examination system, with all its faults, has had the effect of throwing open to the peasant the highest offices in the Empire. Until the establishment of the Republio the Chinese might bo said to nave accepted the doctrine_ of the divine right of kings: but if a king did not rule in a kingly way ho forfeited his right to obedience. Menoiub was once asked: "May a subject put his Sovereign to death 1" and ho replied that anyone who acted in a brutal way, or failed to do bis duty to hiß neighbour waß an unprincipled ruffian, and such a perßon could not bo an Emperor in the true sense. The implication being that in killing him one would not kill his Sovereign. Wo have heard a great deal lately of the Chinese revolution, the establishment of tho Republic, and the inauguration of parliamentary government. One would think that life in China would be in a state of intense excitement and general turmoil; but the reoent cablegram announcing the election of Yuan Shih-Kai as President states that tho public was absolutely indifferent to tho whole affair. The probabilities are that the great mass of tho people will oontinue to regulate their daily lives In accordanoa with their ancient customs, and that it will be a long whilo before the new method of government will seriously disturb the existing ordor of things outside official and political circles. The astute Yuan Shih-kai will exercise a conservative influence. Now that he has defeated the extreme reformers, he will probably "go slow." _ Indeed, somo people say that his ultimate object iB the foundation of a now dynasty. Tho ideals of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and his supporters may bo more logical than those of the President, Dut it is said that no one knows the temper of the Chinese people better than Yuan Shih-kai, ana he will place the things that.are expedient and practical before the things that are merely logical. Many_ of those who at first sympathised with Dr. Sun Yat Sen and the out-and-out reformers are now beginning to think that the new President is the most likely man to re-ostablish a condition of stable government in China which will enable the people to settle down after a long period of unrest. It is impossible to ohange tho wholo character of an ancient peoplo and their conception of civilisation at a single bound. If the change is to go deep it mußt bo, a slow process. The old must gradually grow into the new, and new and old meet in quite a remarkable manner in tho person of Yuan Shih-kai, the now President. China is now in tho midst of one of tho most farroaching movements in Its long and woudoiful history..