British would claim the right, because they have the power, to squeeze out the American. So far as China is concerned, the American would fare no better under the Briton's haughty domination, than under the German. In fact it is the British, who are crusading for trade, and the weakening of other traders, and this when as yet they have done but little in winning any great battle. As for China, she may well fear any such outcome of the war, as she may fear a German victory all along the line.

Now comes in the third supposition, that of a "draw,' some kind of compromise, peace with honor for all, with justice to all, and with none of this barbaric craze for crushing. This view, which others cast aside with a slur, is to me best from the standpoint of China's interests. The Briton who demands the right to rule both sea and land, and fights to crush, and the German, proud and stern, who also wishes to rule and to have the first "place in the sun, " and to crush the Allies and especially England, will suffer equal disappointment. No one country and no one man carries all the blame for this awful war. No one nation in these days of international brotherhood need expect that other nations will cease to float a flag, to trade under the flag, or to sail ships with that flag at the mast. In this war each nation is blaming some other nation, and all must suffer together. No nation need expect to gain any great advantage over the rest. The war is one of the highest folly, and only One can be the arbiter, the One who never does wrong, and whose name is One and the same with the word Good.

Under this supposition what will happen in China? The Germans as well as others-British, French, Russian, Japanese, Americans will have the right to live and to do business. They will have the same chance to render service to God and to man, in their own way. No one can say, "I am holier than thou." Tsingtao will revert to Germany, for her to hand back to China when the right time has come and remuneration is given. All that the Germans have started to do for the good of China, and all that others have started to do, will one and all, in the spirit of fairness,

be allowed scope in coming generations. Every nation will have the same right to trade, to teach, to preach, and to sing his own national anthem, "with none to fear or make afraid." Nations as well as individuals will learn contentment. China will be left in possession of her own territory, having any kind of a flag that she wants, giving the same privileges to all peoples, and receiving from them help, good-will and confidence.

This fine prospect of conditions of China is what we were coming to, before the war. We certainly preached "equal opportunity for the commerce of all nations," and included in treaties and conventions and official Notes this pious profession of good-will to China. Through force of circumstances the theory of each nation, allotted a special "sphere of influence," was gradually being discarded. There was more and more the feeling that we all had better try to help China, and be friends to each other, in true cosmopolitanism.

Since the war, lines of demarcation have been drawn, and, if I am to speak the truth, mostly on the part of England. The Trading with the Enemy Act was issued from London, not from Paris, Petrograd, Toyko, or Berlin and Vienna. Under this semblance of law, the British officials in China have issued prohibitive mandates to every one. They not only tell their own people to attempt no trade with an 'enemy," but they hamper in every way possible the trading instincts of other people, and put on their Black List the firms of neutral countries. The British have great schemes on foot for excluding German trade from China, both during the war and after. A friend of a German is also put under the ban. Thus has the honorable Briton been metamorphized out here in China, presenting a pitiable spectacle to the "heathen Chinese," and even to the Japanese Ally.

Does any one wonder, then, that I devoutly pray, that for the sake of China and the rest of humanity, victory will descend on the arms of neither side? We need to come back to the sentiments and ideals more and more springing into being, before the war-the sentiments of brotherhood

and charity, and the ideals of universal peace, free trade, free seas, fair competition, and a Court of International Justice, to decide the questions between nation and nation. I hope for a return of the policy of allowing all nations to trade in China, and to coöperate, not in the subjugation of China, but in her peaceful development and the maintenance of her rights, inalienable and God-giving.

The third hypothesis appeals to me, and I believe it is what China, realizing her own best way of salvation, will also pray to see most speedily fulfilled. Even superficially it is more just and generous, yea, more Christian, than any theory of crushing.

THE LATE YUAN SHIH-K'AI

By Gilbert Reid, D.D., Director-in-Chief of the
International Institute of China, Shanghai

If a clergyman is called upon to perform a funeral service, it is generally regarded as not being in good form to seize the occasion for berating the deceased. Polite society in the West invariably speaks of a man's good points, when Destiny has once ended his earthly activities. Polite Westerners are eager enough to disparage a man while he is living, but are chivalrous enough to condone one's mistakes and exalt one's virtues, when he has passed to the Beyond, out of all hearing. There is a vice that craves nourishment in scandal and misrepresentation, and there is a charity, born from above, which is prompt to cover a multitude of sins. No higher courtesy and larger charity have ever been illustrated by a nation's leaders, than in the British Parliament, when on the decrease of a member of the government or a member of the House, the leader of the opposition arises from his seat to pay a tributea Gladstone mourning an Earl of Beaconfield.

Every public man is apt to be misunderstood and misjudged, certainly from those who are opponents. Correct judgment, a fair-minded and charitable criticism of any strong man, who has enemies as well as friends, must await the passage of the years, and sometimes it comes not at all.

The late President of China, Yuan Shih-k'ai, has established a reputation among all nations. Like Li Hungchang, he is one Chinese who has become a familiar name and a real personality to all in the world whose thoughts turn to China. And yet his death is a sad one. On his last days the shadows rested. He knew that he had not reached the mountain-top of a nation's affection. He was conscious that he had foes, who misread his every deed, and though he had the courage to meet the strife,

he could not escape the depression which the irrevocable placed before him. One thing he did not know, and it is to be hoped he does not know it now, and that is how few are the words of appreciation, which his own countrymen have chivalrously uttered, now that he has gone, and can grant them no more favors nor determine their future prospects.

For several years I have been drawn to other religious faiths, merely through the process of speaking of their good points alone. I fancy most of us would soon feel the thrill of admiration for Yuan Shih-k'ai, if we could only take time to follow the same process. I am pleased to offer a mere iota of eulogium, all the more pleased to do so, now that I have nothing to ask or he to give.

Before remarking on his public career, his motives, and his character, it is a pleasant duty to record his friendly acts to the International Institute and to me personally. With an acquaintance begun over twenty years ago, there have been many marks of his personal favor. At the Centenary Missionary Conference, he, while acting as Viceroy of the metropolitan province, designated a special deputy to speak at a reception which the Institute gave to the missionaries and guests from afar. During the closing days of the Manchu House, when I visited Peking to advise the princes to consent to abdication, Premier Yuan assured me of his appreciation of my mediating efforts. When in 1914 I was in Peking to secure presidential approval of an international museum, it was President Yuan whose known countenance of my plans made them a success, resulting in a rescript granting taels 35,000 (about $20,000). He also accorded me an audience. At the twentieth anniversary of the International Institute, the President appointed a delegate to represent him to express his good wishes. Most of the documents and memorials which I have prepared on public questions have been submitted to him, and more than once has he let me know that he appreciated my independent, but sympathetic criticisms.

His first responsible position was as Chinese resident