Semi-weekly herald., 1912-07-01
THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN
CHINA.
Continued from Pace 2l

Continued from Page ~
dynastic turn. But with her remark
able skill of intrigue, the old empress
succeeded in turning the movement
against the foreigners, and then ca
in her lot with them, believing that
with the aid of these Boxer hordes
and their much boasted rites which
made them invulnerable, even by rifle
or cannon she could rid her land OF
the hated foreigner whose new ideas
were making the task of governing the
nation in the good old way so diff
cult.
In the interest of justice it must be
stated that there were hundreds and
probably thousands among the more
enlightened Chinese, and few also
among the Manchus, who recognized
and heartily deplored the folly and
wickedness of the course which the
old empress had chosen. But they
were powerless. To resist her will in
the least degree was to invite imme-
diate death.
1t was not until the armies of the
allies took Pekin and the old empress
was compelled to flee, unattended anJ
disguised as a common peasant, that
she awoke from her folly. But her
lesson was well learned, and no soon.
er was she back in her Pekin palace,
after the establishment of peace, than
she set out on a program of reform
that made the young emperor's eff
forts of few years previous appear
like child's play.
From 1901 until the death of the
empress in 1908, reforms were insti-
tuted in almost evefy department. Of
the government. So drastic were some
of these that they amounted to a
complete revolutionizing of the old
system.
When the baby emperor was ell
throned, and the reins of government
put into the hands Of his ra.rer as
prince regent, the work of transforma-
ton was carried forward even more
energetically.
But the Mannhu could not satisfy
the demands of the newly awakened
patriotism merely by granting re-
forms. The cry now became China
for the Chinese" and its inevitable
corollary was "Out with the Manchu
usurper."
The propaganda of education car
ried on by the exiled reformers by
means of literature which was spread
broadcast throughout the empire, and
By the still more effective seed sow
ing among the thousands cf Chinese
students who flocked to the schools
of Japan to fit themselves for the
new regime when the olo empress be-
gan her reforms, very soon created a
sentiment which the AianchI rulers
were unable u eradicate and power-
less TO resist.
The work of preparation was neces-
sarily carried on with the utmost Sc
crecy, for to be known as a reformer
was to be marked for speedy death.
The plan Of procedure was to organize
little circles of converts to the new
idea. The individual members of each
circle became the organizers of new
circles, and thus the movement in
creased by geometical progression and
spread like a forest fire to all parts
of the land. Practically all the stu
dents in the government schools of
higher grades were secret revolution
lists. A large proportion of the re-
cruits in the newly organized modern
army were converts to the new doc
trines. Ali the government arsenals
were manned with revolutionists. Thus
the country was being quietly taken
out of the hands of the Manchu rul-
ers in spite of all they could do. II
was planned to carry on this work Of
the secre, propaganda until there
would tc no one left to fight fer the
Manchu throne except the few thou
sand Mancfu troops. The date set
fo' the cor.summation of the revolu.
tion was in the year 1913. IN. tho
excitement which arose over the ef-
fort of the central governm .ut % taee
control of all the railroads Of the en-
pire led to an outbreak of serious
nature at Hankow in October, 1911
Almost before the government was
aware of what had happened, fourteen
of the eighteen provinces had raised
the flag of revolution and declared
their independence from the rule Of
the Manchu. The rest of the history
is too recent to need recounting. Suf.
flee it to say that within four months
time, and with a minimum of blood.
shed, the worlds largest and Oldest