The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29
Practical Dictator of China Believed
to Hesitate Between Coup d'Etat
and REPATRIATION
n, =. C~uNLIFFE-OwEN.

ullll III Nv past bHoiitil "a |
pleted the purchase OF n of
,he finest If English country seats in
,be MIDLAND counties. The price paid
il said To rave been very large, which
lie not altogether surprising, in view of
tho fact that the big park. with trees
hundreds " years old. is entirely sur
rounded by either stone walls OF high |
iron ratings.
That he should thus have purchased
a nropertv Of this kind in Great Brit,
ain. where no less than five Of his IONS |
have been receiving their education |
for the last two years. lends color to |
the rumors according to which he Is
heartily tired Of his dictatorship at
pekin. Of the terribly hard work which /.
its possession entails, and, moreover. |
is vearied beyond all measure of the |
constant attempts that are being made
on his life. and which necessitate |
such elaborate precautions that his
existence has been reduced to a spe-
cles of gilded captivity comparable
only to that suffered in the Forbidden
city by the late Emperor Kwang-Su. |
Yuan Shih-k'ai has been led to H.
licyc that once settled IN England his
life. and that Of his wives, of his dep
uty wives and of his children, TO
whom, by the bye, he is deeply at
tached, vii, he safe from all harm,
that he will he relieved of all further
anxiety in this connection, thanks to
the efficiency of the English police
and to the protection afforded by Eng
llsh laws; also that the colossal for
tune which he has succeeded in
amassing will he absolutely secure in
Great Britain from that peril OF con-
fscation which would in all proba-
b.,ity Immediately follow his death or
his downfall II it remained in China.
lie has likewise been informed that
tho English authorities are very tole-
rant with regard to the religious OBJ
servances and the national customs
and ways of foreigners of distinction
residing in the United Kingdom. that
Moslems. Fire Worshippers. Buddhists,
Shinto!sts. and even pagans from
Africa. are allowed to worship their
own particular divinities as they may
,-e fit. without any Interference. and
rat provided the foreigner is an
oriental no limit is set upon the num-
ter Of his wives. and no restrictions
upon IN domestic affairs. during his
Say In Britain.
Yuan Shih-k'ai has perhaps also
icon told that as a great ter
riturial macnate in England, and
as n notable figure in the coun-
Is in which his country seat
Is situated, he may be in
vited To become one cf the county
Magistrates. and to occupy the bench
~ Quarter Sessions. This is. however,
% 'r!nr far fetched. For, although I
have known foreigners possessed of
'auded property to become Justices of
'hc Peace in England, and to exercise
maGisterial powers, ! cannot quite
fancy old Yuan Shih-k'ai, the patri-
archal polygamist, helping to try some
country yCkel for higamy, or being
permitted to sentence any Of the pris-
nners brought before him to some Of
those horrible punishments that are
so entirely accepted in China, such as,
FOR Instance. the so-called lingering
death" or slicing a man by slow de-
Ereos into a thousand pieces merely
because he happens tn have acciden-
i-lly killed his mother, or his father.
In cndeavCring to defend him or her
against ONE assailant.
rhc alternative Of this life Of ar
English country squire and county
mtgnate. by which Yuan Shih-k'ai is
confronted. is that OF becoming EN- !
yorur # China, and of assuming pos
session Of her throne. \. continuance
Z the present condition of affairs at
Fciin is not only improbable but
oven impossible. 1t is SO regarded by
those foreigners who have lived long
est in China and who are more thor
olghly acquainted with conditions
that prevail there than any OF their
counlrymen. |
Americans and Europeans who have
vast interests of a commercial II OF
a financial character in China, also
that picked body of foreign officials
Who Will the sanction Of their respec-
tive governments have been most
carefully selected by Yuan Shih-k'ai to
hH"om" his advisers, are all agreed
Wat the actual regime as now con-
oi'uicd oaunut last, and that the pres
cat and future welfare of China de-
mauI the speedy establishment Of
a monarchy. 1t Is significant that
th.s view Is held by DR.. George Il.
Morrison, for many years the world
4d"N'u correspondent OF the London
itmCS i'm China, and for the past two
years one of the most influential of
IN" foreign licutenants of Yuan Shin
ka'. Or Morris'n's relations with his
own Government, namely, that OF
Great britain, are so close and init
mate that il may he taken for granted
dhaoJ Tho circumstances that since he
presses Yuan Shih-k'ai to assume pos
session ut the throne England APP
Proves of the plan.
The fact Of The matter Is that the
republican system Of government a
neon tried in China during the last
t'ur years, and has proved a failure. J
IN" people are not ripe for anything
"f tho kind. \ democratic system of
A"Nrrhment, such as that of a repub-
"', cannot be imposed in a day upo
" nation that has been accustomed
I"r thousands of years to monarchy Of
the most despotic character and to
'dlFIdrchal forms of rule.
Ine reformers who sought to endow
N"Ini over night with "a republican
constitution, almost identical with that
81 IN" United States, failed to realize
me radical differences that exist be-
tween the civilization Of the Orient
ana If the Occldent. The yellow and
inc white race have little or nothing
w common, their whole train OF
'hought being profoundly dissimilar;
md I