history has the country been in greater danger than at the present moment.  China can enjoy peace so long as His Excellency Yuan Shih-kai remains the President, and no longer.  Should anything befall the President, every business activity will at once be suspended, shops will be closed, disquietude will prevail, people will become panic-stricken, the troops uncontrollable, and foreign warship will enter our harbours.  European and American newspapers will be full of special dispatches about the complicated events in China, and martial law will be declared in every part of the country.  All this will be due to the uncertainty regarding the succession to the presidency.

It will be seen from the first section of this long and extraordinary pamphlet how the author develops his argument.  One of his major premises is the inherent unruliness of Republican soldiery,—­the armies of republics not to be compared with the armed forces of monarchies,—­and consequently constituting a perpetual menace to good government.  Passing on from this, he lays down the proposition that China cannot hope to become rich so long as the fear of civil war is ever-present; and that without a proper universal education a republic is an impossibility.  The exercise of monarchical power in such circumstances can only be called an inevitable development,—­the one goal to be aimed at being the substitution of Constitutional Government for the dictatorial rule.  The author deals at great length with the background to this idea, playing on popular fears to reinforce his casuistry.  For although constitutional government is insisted upon as the sole solution, he speedily shows that this constitutionalism will depend more on the benevolence of the dictator than on the action of the people.  And should his advice be not heeded, when Fortune wills that Yuan Shih-kai’s rule shall end, chaos will ensue owing to the “uncertainty” regarding the succession.

Here the discussion reaches its climax—­for the demand that salvation be sought by enthroning Yuan Shih-kai now becomes clear and unmistakable.  Let the author speak for himself.

Mr. Ko:  But it is provided in the Constitutional Compact that a president must be selected from among the three candidates whose names are now kept in a golden box locked in a stone room.  Do you think this provision is not sufficient to avert the terrible times which you have just described?

Mr. Hu:  The provision you have mentioned is useless.  Can you find any person who is able to be at the head of the state besides His Excellency Yuan Shih-kai?  The man who can succeed President Yuan must enjoy the implicit confidence of the people and must have extended his influence all over the country and be known both at home and abroad.  He must be able to maintain order, and then no matter what the constitution provides, he will be unanimously elected President.  He must also be able to assure himself that the two other candidates for the presidency have no hope for