New Britain herald., 1915-02-02
The Ma StCr of China.
(COngreg ga tiOnaliSt. )

| III Ille midst or the Cla1n or war. 1 the steady progress of Chinese or 1 ganiZation under the leadership of l President Yuan must not be overlooked 1 by the observers of passing events. | Yuan's ascendance is in fact. one of the most remarka ble personal achieve- ments of recent history. He has passed through serious external and internal difficulties, has apparently gotten the various rebelions under, has raised money enough to go on and has concentrated authority in his own hands at the expense of popular representation and the parliament. The latest steps in his progress toward what many think may easily become the founding of a new Chinese i'm perial dynasty have been nota ble
 events in the history of Chinese re- ligiOn and politics.
 By immemorial custom the Chinese emperor. who theoretically was re- garded as the father of his people. at the winter solstice offered a formal and special sa acrifice at the great altar of heaven in one of the imperial parks near Pekin. This peculiarly representative and imperial annual custom President Yuan has now re- vived, surrounding it with all the
 
 fcial robes and standing before the
 altar as the living representative of
 the whole Chinese people,
 The long training of the Chinese
 mind in Confucian principles of rever-
 ence for fathers and governors and ancestors has made this act a natural
 expression of popular feeling and de-
 sire. Outside the little groups of Christians, the Chinese people are probably more nearly a unit in their acceptance of patriarchial ideals of
 government and personal relations
 than at any other point of thinking. If 1uan'S life is spared for few years, the recurrence of these imperial func- tons at which he takes the part hitherto belonging to the emperor might easily pave the way for his ac-
 ceptance as emperor. If this should
 happen it would continue in the
 central place of Chinese authority
 man who has shown his interest in
 Christianity by educating his own sons
 in Christian schools and who has
 shown more than tolerance for Chris
 tian missionary endeavor.
 Tn the political sphere, the decree
 just issued still more openly and
 Ccnclusively points the way toward the continuance of President Yuan'S
 present authority in China. As presi-
 dent his term has already been eN- tended for a period of ten years and
 if at the end of tn" ten years period
 the senate believes it to be for the
 interest of China, that term may be
 continued indefinitely by twO-thirds NCte All these conditions seem to
 Fl Ovc not merely the vast present as-
 tendency which Yuan has attained in
 China, but suggest the opening of a
 road which will lead naturally and
 almost imperceptably toward such an
 empire as DctaVian,- under somewhat
 similar conditions, established in the
 Urea l-up of the Roman republic. The
 Chinese equivalent of our word "presi-
 dent" might in that case easily come
 to mean what the Roman word lem
 nerOr'' stood for in the thought of the Roman imperial ages, and stands for today in half a dozen great modern nations.
 Nevertheless, we have reason to
 hope as our missionaries continue to
 hope that China is it's way to a
 national status cOnsOnant with the
 iGCals of democracy and Christianity.
 The strong hand of Yuan may be
 needed just at this time of transition
 and some old time customs and ference to many of his people need not of themselves impede the march
 of progress.