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302 enlists them all in the race of improvement and establishes the most friendly relations with them. The leading idea upon which the plan is framed is that of building on the foundations which the people themselves have laid and of employing them on the scaffolding and outworks, so that when they shall see the noble superstructure rising, and finally raised complete in all its parts, they will almost, if not altogether, believe it to be the work of their own hands. The plan will thus maintain the most perfect congruity with existing national institutions, and at the same time admit of the gradual expansion and improvement which European civilization demands.

Another recommendation of the plan is the simplicity of the means employed. The examiner with his books and his public examinations is the prime agent, both giving and prolonging the impulse. For this purpose he will not, as in other cases, have to follow the school-masters and the scholars into their villages, their huts, and their school-rooms; to reprove into order and quiet the noisy irregularity of the teacher; to guide in detail the desultory labors of the scholar; and to stimulate to some effort or sacrifice the stolid ignorance of the parent. If the plan work at all, it will make parents, scholars, and school-masters all alike ambitious to earn the distinctions and rewards which it holds out. It contains within itself a self-acting principle which only requires to be directed and controlled.

It is, perhaps, an effect of this simplicity, but still a separate and distinct advantage, that the plan, whether tried on a large or on a small scale, and whether fully successful or not successful to the extent anticipated, can be productive only of good unmixed with evil. It may be introduced into new districts as they are found prepared for it, or it may be discontinued without injury or injustice in any district where it has been found to work unsatisfactorily, provided always that all promises and engagements shall be faithfully performed. The good done will be certain, and Government may either extend, contract, or abandon the plan without embarrassing any native institution, but on the contrary leaving those who have been influenced by it with an increased power of self-dependence.

Instead of considering the expense an objection, the plan will be found economical when compared with the completeness and diffusiveness of the effect. The expense of a school is made up of various items, the cost of a school-house and its furniture, the pay of the teacher, the price of pens, ink, leaves, paper, and books, and if the institution is a Government one, the charge for superintendence. In ordinary cases much of this apparatus produces no distinct or appreciable result. Of any given number of scholars, say 100, who engage in a particular course of study, perhaps not more than 50 generally acquire a satisfactory proficiency.


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Rh The incapacity and negligence of both teachers and scholars cause a great waste of time, of labor, and of money; and even the successful student is successful with a much greater consumption of these means than is indispensable. The economy of the plan now submitted is that in respect of time, of labor, and of money, it throws all the expense of many of the preliminaries of education and of all inefficient study and instruction upon parents, teachers, and scholars, and that it bestows the resources of Government only in reward of efficient study, for the production of the actual and perfect result of successful instruction, and for such apparatus as is necessary to prove that this result has been attained. The effect also will be more general than might at first appear. Let it be supposed that in a district of eighteen thanas, twenty-five school-masters in each thana will annually bring forward their pupils for examination; that each teacher can pass only six of his scholars; and that he is at liberty to offer to the extent of twelve, if any of the first six should be rejected. They will, according to this arrangement, bring forward 5,400 of their scholars, but of these not more than 2,700 can be declared qualified, and perhaps not more than half that number will pass the examination successfully. Even 1,350 scholars in one district and within one twelve-month thoroughly instructed in any one of the school-books I have described would be an ample return to Government for the expenditure incurred. But the benefit would not rest here. The whole number of scholars, 5,400, must be deemed by their teachers qualified for examination, else they would not be brought forward; and the unsuccessful condidatescandidates [sic] or those scholars whom, as it may happen, it was not necessary to examine at all, must have attained much, and many may have attained all, that would have been required of them. It is by no means necessary to suppose that even the whole number produced for examination will be the whole number instructed. On the contrary, they will be the very elite of the little village flocks, and those flocks will be composed of hundreds and thousands of other scholars in various degrees instructed in the same useful knowledge, all hoping one day to distinguish themselves, and all stimulated by the impulse which Government will have given to the cause of public instruction. The plan will ultimately be as economical to the people as to the Government. At first the approved teachers will probably affix a higher price on the superior instruction they will be qualified to bestow; but the facilities to acquire this superior qualification will be open to all, and many new competitors with equal advantages will rapidly enter the profession, while at the same time the demand for instruction will keep constantly increasing. Under those simultaneous and counteracting influences, a new rate of remuneration will come to be formed, the advantage of which, as in all improved processes that are in general demand will be in favor of the community; and when this new rate shall

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304 be modified in any district, by the general adoption of the system of endowments, the cost of educating their children will be reduced to the people to the extent of one-half. Even if the amount of fees and perquisites should remain the same without reduction, the value received from the teachers of youth will be far greater, which both to parents and scholars is the best kind of economy.

It is, perhaps, admissible to regard as an advantage arising from the plan that it affords an opportunity of employing for the benefit of the country the class from which I propose to draw the inspectors and examiners. Extraordinary efforts have been made to extend a knowledge of the English language to the natives; but those who have more or less profited by the opportunities presented to them do not find much scope for their new attainments, which, on the other hand, little fit them for the ordinary pursuits of native society. They have not received a good native education, and the English education they have received finds little, if any, use. There is thus a want of sympathy between them and their countrymen, although they constitute a class from which their countrymen might derive much benefit. There is also little sympathy between them and the foreign rulers of the country, because they feel that they have been raised out of one class of society without having a recognized place in any other class. If they were employed in visiting the different districts as the agents of Government for promoting education, they would fulfil a high destination satisfactory to their own minds and would not fail to enjoy the respect and affection of their countrymen. The qualifications required of them would teach them, what is so important to their own usefulness and hitherto so much neglected, to unite the acquirements of an English and a native education, since it is only by means of the latter class of acquirements that English principles and ideas can be generally transfused into, and incorporated with, the native character.

The only other recommendation of the plan which I will now suggest is that it would be a proper complement to a measure that has been already adopted. It would be worthy of the Government which has decreed that the business of the country shall be conducted in the language of the people. This is so important a measure and bears so directly upon the present subject that I subjoin here the Resolutions of Government relating to it. The following is the Resolution of the Governor General of India in Council:—

“The attention of His Lordship in Council has lately been called to the Regulations of the Bengal Code, which positively enjoin the use of the Persian language in Judicial and Fiscal proceedings. His Lordship in Council is sensible that it would be in the


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Rh highest degree inexpedient hastily to substitute any other language for that which has, during a long course of years, been appropriated to the transaction of public business. He is satisfied that in many parts of the country a sudden and violent change would produce serious public inconvenience, and that it would reduce many old and useful servants of the public to distress,—such as no humane Government would willingly cause. At the same time His Lordship in Council strongly feels it to be just and reasonable that those judicial and fiscal proceedings on which the dearest interests of the Indian people depend should be conducted in a language which they understand. That this great reform must be gradual, that a considerable time must necessarily elapse before it can be carried into full effect, appears to His Lordship in Council to be an additional reason for commencing it without delay. His Lordship in Council is, therefore, disposed to empower the Supreme Executive Government of India, and such subordinate authorities as may be thereunto appointed by the Supreme Government, to substitute the vernacular languages of the country for the Persian in legal proceedings and in proceedings relating to the revenue. It is the intention of His Lordship in Council to delegate the powers given by this Act for the present only to the Governor of Bengal and to the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, and he has no doubt that those high authorities will exercise these powers with that caution which is required at the first introduction of extensive changes, however salutary, in an old and deeply-rooted system.”

In conformity with this Resolution Act XXIX. of 1837 was passed, making it lawful for the Governor General of India in Council by an order in Council to dispense with the provisions which enjoin the use of the Persian language and to prescribe the language and character to be used in its stead, and further empowering him to delegate those powers to any subordinate authority. Such a delegation of powers having, accordingly, been made to the Deputy Governor of Bengal, that authority passed the following Resolution:—

“The President of the Council of India in Council having been pleased on the 4th ultimo, in conformity with Section 2, Act XXIX. of 1837, to delegate to the Deputy Governor of Bengal all the powers given to the Governor General in Council by that Act, the Deputy Governor has resolved that, in the districts comprised in the Bengal division of the Presidency of Fort William, the vernacular language of those districts shall be substituted for the Persian in judicial proceedings and in proceedings relating to the revenue, and the period of twelve months from the 1st instant shall be allowed for effecting the substitution. His Honor is sensible that this great and salutary reform must be introduced with caution, involving as it does


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306 the complete subversion of an old and deeply-rooted system. He, therefore, vests the various heads of departments with a discretionary power to introduce it into their several offices and those respectively subordinate to them by such degrees as they may think judicious, only prescribing that it shall be completely carried into effect within the period abovementioned. For His Honor's information, a report of the progress made in the introduction of this measure will be required on the 1st July next, and again on the 1st January 1839. Ordered that a copy of the above Resolution be transmitted to the General Department for the issue of instructions to the above effect in respect to the offices subject to that Department.”

It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of this measure to the character of the Government and the welfare of the people. The object is to give the people, or to enable them to acquire through their own language, a knowledge of what may affects their interests—what constantly, deeply, and extensively affect their interests—in the judicial and fiscal departments of Government. The effect will be to bring within the reach of Government for administrative purposes a large amount of cheap and useful native agency of which it has hitherto voluntarily deprived itself, and to rescue the great body of the people who know only their own language from those who, under the covert of a foreign tongue, misrepresent and pervert the cases of prosecutors and accused, the claims of plaintiffs and defendants, the evidence of witnesses, the wishes of petitioners, and the decisions of Judges, defiling the stream of justice, impeding its course, and exciting the disgust and disaffection of those who seek healing in its waters. The facility of complaint through the vernacular tongue will also deter many from the commission of crime and injustice who are now encouraged to the perpetration of them by the knowledge that the injured will be prevented from seeking redress through the difficulty, expense, and liability to abuse of the official medium of communication. But if this measure will prove important and useful, as it undoubtedly will, standing alone and by itself, its importance and utility will be incalculably increased if followed by the establishment of a national system of instruction through the medium of the vernacular tongue. If the use of the language of the people will enable every man to understand the statement of his own case, even when he is wholly ignorant of his mother tongue except as a spoken language, how much more complete his protection if he knows it as a written language. If the employment of a cheap Bengali writer, or pleader, or attorney, or agent instead of a dear Persian one will be economical and protective to the poor man, how much more economical and protective will it be if he can make known his wishes, explain his case,


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Rh prefer his complaint, or engage in his defence in his own name, or through another under his own intelligent control and superintendence. If Government by this measure, even in the present state of vernacular instruction, will find ampler means placed at its disposal for the cheaper and more efficient administration of local affairs, how much greater will be the scope afforded when the kind of instruction shall be improved, and when this superior instruction shall be generally diffused. Now, then, is the time for Government to step forward and provide good teachers for the people and good books for teachers. Every consideration combines to show the advantage of following up the measure that has been already adopted with that which is now recommended. If any other consideration were wanting, it would be found in the grateful affection with which, under any circumstances, but especially in such a connection, it would be received by the people.

The whole of the preceding details and reasonings contemplate the application of the plan to vernacular schools only. The principle, however, is to build on the foundation of native institutions generally, and, wherever they are to be found, to employ them as the instruments through which instruction may be most salutarily and most effectually communicated. I shall now consider what means may be employed to improve the system of instruction in the class of Sanscrit schools which are found in every district, and of which some account is given in the seventh and eighth Sections of the first Chapter. I do not propose that any thing should be done to extend or multiply such institutions. All that is proposed is, since their number and influence are undoubted, to bring them over to the side of true, useful, and sound knowledge. If there were no vernacular schools, it would still be desirable that there should be such schools for the instruction of the people. If there were no Sanscrit schools, their existence perhaps would not be desirable merely for the purposes of public instruction, which is the only subject now under consideration. But since they do exist, and since we cannot, if we would, cause them not to be, it is the plain dictate of common sense and of a wise policy not to despise and neglect them, but to conciliate, if possible, the good feelings of the learned and to employ their extensive and deep-seated influence in aid of the cause of public instruction. For the information of the reader I shall quote in this place some of the most prominent authorities I have met with on the encouragement to be given to native learning and the use to be made of it.


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 enough, they will need no Explanations; is they pretend to it, they will be too easily confuted, by referring them to their own Practice.

is true, there are still some ill Usages among these People, some Matrimonial Whoredoms which are wholly omitted, which it is impossible to mention, no not at the greatest distance, no not by Simily, Allegory, or any other Representation. They are too wicked to admit the least Suggestion about them, or so much as to guide the Reader to guess at them. Nor are they a few Things which I am thus obliged to overlook. But there is no doing it; they must be buried in Silence if they cannot be reprov'd, because they cannot be mentioned. Let the Offenders, the guilty Persons, consider, Heaven can find out Ways to punish them, tho' we cannot find out Words to reprove them.

Justice, that brings to light the hidden Works of Darkness, can make the Crime publick in the Punishment; and there it may be read with Terror by every one that looks on it, when their Ears will not be offended with the Description. Nor is it an unusual Method; Providence often thinks fit to do so. Drunkenness, tho' in secret, is made publick by Solomon's Signals, Who has redness of eyes, who hath wounds without cause? they that tarry long at the Wine, &c. Prov. xxiii. 29.

it may be said again, who hath leanness of Countenance, who hath rottenness of Bones, who hath loathsome Diseases? Are they not the People I speak of? Let them take heed; 'tis not the Whoremaster and the Strumpet alone that contract Filthiness and Distempers; and 'twill be a dreadful Rebuke for a pretender


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308 In the records of the General Committee of Public Instruction I find a copy of a Minute dated 6th March 1811, ascribed to the Governor General, Lord, and bearing also the signatures of the Members of Council, G. Hewett, J. Lumsden, and. This Minute possesses the greater interest both because it bears Mr. Colebrooke’s signature, and because it is believed to have suggested the provision on the same subject in the 53rd of George III. The following is an extract:—“It is a common remark that science and literature are in a progressive state of decay among the natives of India. From every inquiry which I have been enabled to make on this interesting subject, that remark appears to me but too well founded. The number of the learned is not only diminished, but the circle of learning, even among those who still devote themselves to it, appears to be considerably contracted. The abstract sciences are abandoned, polite literature neglected, and no branch of learning cultivated but what is connected with the peculiar religious doctrines of the people. The immediate consequence of this state of things is the disuse, and even actual loss, of many valuable books; and it is to be apprehended that, unless Government interfere with a fostering hand, the revival of letters may shortly become hopeless from a want of books, or of persons capable of explaining them. The principal cause of the present neglected state of literature in India is to be traced to the want of that encouragement which was formerly afforded to it by princes, chieftains, and opulent individuals under the native governments. Such encouragement must always operate as a strong incentive to study and literary exertions, but especially in India, where the learned professions have little, if any other, support. The justness of these observations might be illustrated by a detailed consideration of the former and present state of science and literature at the three principal seats of Hindu learning, viz., Benares, Tirhoot, and Nudiya. Such a review would bring before us the liberal patronage which was formerly bestowed, not only by princes and others in power and authority, but also by the zemindars, on persons who had distinguished themselves by the successful cultivation of letters at those places. It would equally bring to our view the present neglected state of learning at those once celebrated places; and we should have to remark with regret that the cultivation of letters was now confined to the few surviving persons who had been patronized by the native princes and others under the former Government, or to such of the immediate descendants of those persons as had imbibed a love of science from their parents. It is seriously to be lamented that a nation particularly distinguished for its love and successful cultivation of letters in other parts of the empire should have failed to extend its fostering care to the literature of the Hindus, and to aid in opening to the learned in Europe the repositories of that literature. It is not, however, the credit alone


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Rh of the national character which is affected by the present neglected state of learning in the East. The ignorance of the natives in the different classes of society, arising from want of proper education is generally acknowledged. This defect not only excludes them as individuals from the enjoyment of all those comforts and benefits which the cultivation of letters is naturally calculated to afford, but, operating as it does throughout almost the whole mass of the population, tends materially to obstruct the measures adopted for their better government. Little doubt can be entertained that the prevalence of the crimes of perjury and forgery so frequently noticed in the official reports is, in a great measure, ascribable both in the Mohammadans and Hindus to the want of due instruction in the moral and religious tenets of their respective faiths. It has been even suggested, and apparently not without foundation, that to this uncultivated state of the minds of the natives is, in a great degree, to be ascribed the prevalence of those crimes which were recently so great a scourge to the country. The latter offences against the peace and happiness of society have indeed for the present been materially checked by the vigilance and energy of the Police, but it is probably only by the more general diffusion of knowledge among the great body of the people that the seeds of these evils can be effectually destroyed.”

The Minute then proceeds to recommend certain measures consisting in the reform of the Hindu College at Benares and the Mohammadan College at Calcutta, and the establishment of two new Hindu Colleges, one at Nudiya and the other in Tirhoot; and of two new Mohammadan Colleges, one at Bhaugulpore and the other at Jaunpoor. The cost of the two new Hindu Colleges was estimated at sicca rupees 25,618 per annum. The recommendations have been, in a great measure, superseded by subsequent arrangements, but some of them contain useful hints which may still be turned to account,—one is that pensions should be granted to distinguished teachers on condition that they deliver instructions to pupils at their own houses, another is that public disputations should be held annually at which prizes, rewards, and literary honors should be conferred on such of the students as shall have manifested the greatest proficiency. Both are judiciously adapted to Hindu usages.

With apparent reference to this Minute of 1811, it was enacted in the 53rd George III., Cap. 155, Section 43, “that it shall be lawful for the Governor General in Council to direct that out of any surplus which may remain of the rents, revenues, and profits arising from the said territorial acquisitions after defraying the expenses of the military, civil, and commercial establishments, and paying the interest of the debt in manner hereinafter provided, a sum of not less than one lakh of rupees in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the


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 to lawful Things, and no more, to see himself brought to the same Distress by his Excesses, that others are reduc'd by their Vices and open Wickednesses, and loaded with those Diseases, which so strongly intimate another kind of Guilt, that no Body will believe him Innocent, tho' he really be so.

I leave it to Physicians to explain what I say, and to tell whether there are not many scandalous Diseases which People bring upon themselves by their Intemperances and Excesses, which are so near the main Contagion, that no People will believe they are Innocent that have them, and that yet may befal those who have never been guilty out of the Marriage Bed.

such People reflect upon the Grief it will be to them, to be universally condemn'd where they are not guilty; and to bear the reproach of a Crime they have not committed for the Crime which none imagine, and which they have dwelt unreprov'd in so many Years, till they come to be a Reproof to themselves, and a Reproach to all about them.

I could give Examples of several who have fatally suffered in this Manner, under the Weight of their own immoderate Practices, to say no worse of them; and I could, I believe, find some Instances of those who have perished under the Misery, rather than discover the Grief they lay under, least they should be supposed guilty of what they abhorred so much as to think of.

how just is divine Vengeance thus to reprove those Intemperances in his own Way, which were otherwise out of the reach of human Laws, and indeed of human Eyes? And


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 how should the People I speak of, whose Con duct I cannot reprove, because too foul to be mentioned, reflect, that Heaven can find out Ways to make them a Punishment to themselves, and join their Sin and their Shame together?

I could have also given some living Examples of the Intemperances which I have mentioned, which have liv'd to be extreamly exposed, even tho' they have not been spoken of in print; in whom the distemper'd Bodies, aching Heads, tottering Joints, besides the many nameless, filthy and unclean Diseases that have hung upon them, have been their lasting Reproof, and they have carried the reproach of their follies about with them where-ever they went, till no Body has car'd to come into their Company, and they have been a Shame even to themselves.

Things have been the Fruit of those Doings, which they call lawful; their conjugal Excesses, those Liberties which they have all along pretended Heaven allow'd them; Liberties Nature dictated, Love prompted, and Matrimony made lawful; as if Heaven, Nature and the Matrimonial Law, which is founded on the Laws both of and Nature, had directed them to an immoderate Use of the Liberties they allow'd; which is no more true, than that because  gave the Wine (a noble Plant) and the Juice of its Fruit, for our Comfort, and for the support and supply of the Spirits, had allowed us to drink, and to drink it with Pleasure; and that Nature, conforming to the Bounty of Heaven, had given us a gust or love to the Liquor it self, that therefore  and Nature allowed us to be drunk, to drink to Excess,


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Washington Conference, and the simultaneous conference, at Washington, between the Chinese and Japanese, have somewhat modified the Far Eastern situation. The general aspects of the new situation will be dealt with in the next chapter; for the present it is the actual decisions arrived at in Washington that concern us, as well as their effect upon the Japanese position in Siberia.

In the first place, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance has apparently been brought to an end, as a result of the conclusion of the Four Power Pact between America, Great Britain, France and Japan. Within this general alliance of the exploiting Powers, there is a subordinate grouping of America and Great Britain against France and Japan, the former standing for international capitalism, the latter for national capitalism. The situation is not yet plain, because England and America disagree as regards Russia, and because America is not yet prepared to take part in the reconstruction of Europe; but in the Far East, at any rate, we seem to have decided to seek the friendship of America rather than of Japan. It may perhaps be hoped that this will make our Chinese policy more liberal than it has been. We have announced the restoration of Wei-hai-wei—a piece of generosity which would have been more impressive


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The position of China among the nations of the world is quite peculiar, because in population and potential strength China is the greatest nation in the world, while in actual strength at the moment it is one of the least. The international problems raised by this situation have been brought into the forefront of world-politics by the Washington Conference. What settlement, if any, will ultimately be arrived at, it is as yet impossible to foresee. There are, however, certain broad facts and principles which no wise solution can ignore, for which I shall try to give the evidence in the course of the following chapters, but which it may be as well to state briefly at the outset. First, the Chinese, though as yet incompetent in politics and backward in economic development, have, in other respects, a civilization at least as good as our own, containing elements which the world greatly needs, and which we shall destroy at our peril. Secondly, the Powers have inflicted upon China a multitude of humiliations and disabilities, for which excuses have been found in China's misdeeds, but for which the sole real reason has been China's military and naval weakness. Thirdly, the best of the Great Powers at present, in relation to China, is America, and the worst is Japan; in the interests


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 to drink away our Sense, our Understanding and our Life, as many daily do.

I would conclude this with an earnest and serious Monition to all the considering, rational Part of Mankind, who call themselves Christians, and would be called so, who are willing to act as such, and to answer to themselves, not supposing they had any other Account to give for all their Behaviour; I say, I would move them to enter so far into the Government of themselves, as becomes Men of Sense and of Virtue, to put a due Restraint upon themselves in the use of lawful Liberties, and to act, not like Madmen and Furies, but like Men of Understanding, to act in such a Manner, as they may not reproach themselves hereafter with wasting their Youth and Strength, and bringing Age and Weakness upon themselves before their Time.

Almighty, who form'd the Man, and who committed him, in a great Measure, to the Government of himself, did not do so with a general leave to live how he pleased; did not leave him to the gust of his Appetite, without giving the least Limits to himself by his Reason, but as he gave him superior Faculties, so he gave those Faculties, and placed them in a superiority one to another, that they might be a Check to the separate Motions and Operations, and keep the whole Machine in order.

the Man breaks this Order; if he inverts Nature; if he gives himself Liberties that and Nature intended him not, and such as are inconsistent with the good Order of the Machine, he will put the whole Fabrick out of Tune; nor can he expect the rest of the Motions can perform as they would otherwise do.


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modern China, the most important foreign nation is Japan. In order to understand the part played by Japan, it is necessary to know something of that country, to which we must now turn our attention.

In reading the history of Japan, one of the most amazing things is the persistence of the same forces and the same beliefs throughout the centuries. Japanese history practically begins with a "Restoration" by no means unlike that of 1867–8. Buddhism was introduced into Japan from Korea in 552 At the same time and from the same source Chinese civilization became much better known in Japan than it had been through the occasional intercourse of former centuries. Both novelties won favour. Two Japanese students (followed later by many others) went to China in 608, to master the civilization of that country. The Japanese are an experimental nation, and before adopting Buddhism nationally they ordered one


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modern Japanese nation is unique, not only in this age, but in the history of the world. It combines elements which most Europeans would have supposed totally incompatible, and it has realized an original plan to a degree hardly known in human affairs. The Japan which now exists is almost exactly that which was intended by the leaders of the Restoration in 1867. Many unforeseen events have happened in the world: American has risen and Russia has fallen, China has become a Republic and the Great War has shattered Europe. But throughout all these changes the leading statesmen of Japan have gone along the road traced out for them at the beginning of the Meiji era, and the nation has followed them with ever-increasing faithfulness. One single purpose has animated leaders and followers alike: the strengthening and extension of the Empire. To realize this purpose a new kind of policy has been created, combining the sources of strength in modern America with those in Rome at the time of the Punic Wars, uniting the material organization and scientific knowledge of pre-war Germany with the outlook on life of the Hebrews in the Book of Joshua.

The transformation of Japan since 1867 is amazing,


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going into the detail of Japan's policy towards China, it is necessary to put the reader on his guard against the habit of thinking of the "Yellow Races," as though China and Japan formed some kind of unity. There are, of course, reasons which, at first sight, would lead one to suppose that China and Japan could be taken in one group in comparison with the races of Europe and of Africa. To begin with, the Chinese and Japanese are both yellow, which points to ethnic affinities; but the political and cultural importance of ethnic affinities is very small. The Japanese assert that the hairy Ainus, who are low in the scale of barbarians, are a white race akin to ourselves. I never saw a hairy Ainu, and I suspect the Japanese of malice in urging us to admit the Ainus as poor relations; but even if they really are of Aryan descent, that does not prove that they have anything of the slightest importance in common with us as compared to what the Japanese and Chinese have in common with us. Similarity of culture is infinitely more important than a common racial origin.

It is true that Japanese culture, until the Restoration, was derived from China. To this day, Japanese script is practically the same as Chinese, and Buddhism,


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most urgent problem in China's relations with foreign powers is Japanese aggression. Originally Japan was less powerful than China, but after 1868 the Japanese rapidly learnt from us whatever we had to teach in the way of skilful homicide, and in 1894 they resolved to test their new armaments upon China, just as Bismarck tested his on Denmark. The Chinese Government preserved its traditional haughtiness, and appears to have been quite unaware of the defeat in store for it. The question at issue was Korea, over which both Powers claimed suzerainty. At that time there would have been no reason for an impartial neutral to take one side rather than the other. The Japanese were quickly and completely victorious, but were obliged to fight Russia before obtaining secure possession of Korea. The war with Russia (1904–5) was fought chiefly in Manchuria, which the Russians had gained as a reward for befriending China. Port Arthur and Southern Manchuria up to Mukden were acquired by the Japanese as a result of the Russo-Japanese war; the rest of Manchuria came under Japanese control as a result of Russia's collapse after the Great War.


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Far Eastern situation is so complex that it is very difficult to guess what will be the ultimate outcome of the Washington Conference, and still more difficult to know what outcome we ought to desire. I will endeavour to set forth the various factors each in turn, not simplifying the issues, but rather aiming at producing a certain hesitancy which I regard as desirable in dealing with China. I shall consider successively the interests and desires of America, Japan, Russia and China, with an attempt, in each case, to gauge what parts of these various interests and desires are compatible with the welfare of mankind as a whole.

I begin with America, as the leading spirit in the Conference and the dominant Power in the world. American public opinion is in favour of peace, and at the same time profoundly persuaded that America is wise and virtuous while all other Powers are foolish and wicked. The pessimistic half of this opinion I do not desire to dispute, but the optimistic half is more open to question. Apart from peace,


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is at present in China, as we have seen in previous chapters, a close contact between our civilization and that which is native to the Celestial Empire. It is still a doubtful question whether this contact will breed a new civilization better than either of its parents, or whether it will merely destroy the native culture and replace it by that of America. Contacts between different civilizations have often in the past proved to be landmarks in human progress. Greece learnt from Egypt, Rome from Greece, the Arabs from the Roman Empire, mediæval Europe from the Arabs, and Renaissance Europe from the Byzantines. In many of these cases, the pupils proved better than their masters. In the case of China, if we regard the Chinese as the pupils, this may be the case again. In fact, we have quite as much to learn from them as they from us, but there is far less chance of our learning it. If I treat the Chinese as our pupils, rather than vice versa, it is only because I fear we are unteachable.

I propose in this chapter to deal with the purely cultural aspects of the questions raised by the contact of China with the West. In the three following chapters, I shall deal with questions concerning


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is a theory among Occidentals that the Chinaman is inscrutable, full of secret thoughts, and impossible for us to understand. It may be that a greater experience of China would have brought me to share this opinion; but I could see nothing to support it during the time when I was working in that country. I talked to the Chinese as I should have talked to English people, and they answered me much as English people would have answered a Chinese whom they considered educated and not wholly unintelligent. I do not believe in the myth of the "Subtle Oriental": I am convinced that in a game of mutual deception an Englishman or American can beat a Chinese nine times out of ten. But as many comparatively poor Chinese have dealings with rich white men, the game is often played only on one side. Then, no doubt, the white man is deceived and swindled; but not more than a Chinese mandarin would be in London.

One of the most remarkable things about the Chinese is their power of securing the affection of foreigners. Almost all Europeans like China, both those who come only as tourists and those who live there for many years. In spite of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, I can recall hardly a single


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the above pages were going through the Press, some important developments have taken place in China. Wu-Pei-Fu has defeated Chang-tso-lin and made himself master of Peking. Chang has retreated towards Manchuria with a broken army, and proclaimed the independence of Manchuria. This might suit the Japanese very well, but it is hardly to be supposed that the other Powers would acquiesce. It is, therefore, not unlikely that Chang may lose Manchuria also, and cease to be a factor in Chinese politics.

For the moment, Wu-Pei-Fu controls the greater part of China, and his intentions become important. The British in China have, for some years, befriended him, and this fact colours all Press telegrams appearing in our newspapers. According to The Times, he has pronounced in favour of the reassembling of the old all-China Parliament, with a view to the restoration of constitutional government. This is a measure in which the South could concur, and if he really adheres to this intention he has it in his power to put an end to Chinese anarchy. The Times Peking correspondent, telegraphing on May 30, reports that "Wu-Pei-Fu declares that if the old Parliament will reassemble and work in national interests he will support it up to the limit, and fight any obstructionists."

On May 18, the same correspondent telegraphed that "Wu-Pei-Fu is lending his support to the unification movements, and has found common ground for action with Chen Chiung Ming," who is Sun's colleague at Canton and is engaged in civil war with Sun, who is imperialistic and wants to


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, like Italy and Greece, is frequently misjudged by persons of culture because they regard it as a museum. The preservation of ancient beauty is very important, but no vigorous forward-looking man is content to be a mere curator. The result is that the best people in China tend to be Philistines as regards all that is pleasing to the European tourist. The European in China, quite apart from interested motives, is apt to be ultra-conservative, because he likes everything distinctive and non-European. But this is the attitude of an outsider, of one who regards China as a country to be looked at rather than lived in, as a country with a past rather than a future. Patriotic Chinese naturally do not view their country in this way; they wish their country to acquire what is best in the modern world, not merely to remain an interesting survival of a by-gone age, like Oxford or the Yellowstone Park. As the first step to this end, they do all they can to promote higher education, and to increase the number of Chinese who can use and appreciate Western knowledge without being the slaves of Western follies. What is being done in this direction is very interesting, and one of the most hopeful things happening in our not very cheerful epoch.


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is as yet only slightly industrialized, but the industrial possibilities of the country are very great, and it may be taken as nearly certain that there will be a rapid development throughout the next few decades. China's future depends as much upon the manner of this development as upon any other single factor; and China's difficulties are very largely connected with the present industrial situation. I will therefore first briefly describe this situation, and then consider the possibilities of the near future.

We may take railways and mines as the foundation of a nation's industrial life. Let us therefore consider first the railways and then the mines, before going on to other matters.

When railways were new, the Manchu Government, like the universities of Oxford and Cambridge (which it resembled in many ways), objected to them, and did all it could to keep them at a distance. In 1875 a short line was built by foreigners from Shanghai to Woosung, but the Central Government was so shocked that it caused it to be destroyed. In 1881 the first permanent railway was constructed, but not very much was accomplished until after the Japanese War of 1894–5. The Powers then thought


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 the Spring of a Watch be over-strained, it will cease to Draw; if the Ballance be overloaded, the Motion stops. It is the like in all other natural Motions, and 'tis so in this of the Man. He that will put Nature out of her proper Course, and upon Extreams which he has not equal Powers to perform, will ruin those Powers which she has, and, in a word, ruin the whole Fabrick.

the Man is himself; if he is Master of his Reason, and sound Argument can make any due Impression upon him, he will consider this Part for his own sake, abstracted from its being an Offence against his Superior, the Governor of his Life, to whom he must Account; if, I say, he would only consider himself, act like a rational Creature, and study his own Interest, it must move him to behave himself prudently.

I know nothing, no not one Instance in Life, wherein Virtue may be more truly said to be its own Reward, than in this Particular: Take the Case inverted, who has length of Days, who sound Constitution? who has strength of Body, agility of Limbs, who enjoys an uninterrupted Health, but the Temperate, the Moderate, and the Virtuous? Their Vitals are not exhausted, Nature is not oppress'd; the Vigour of the Spirits expended, and the Marrow of their Bones wasted: Their Youth has not robbed their old Age; or their untimely Vice diverted the Channels of Nature, and turn'd the Water from the Mill.

Modest, the Chast, the temperate Youth, is the hail, the chearful, and the healthy old Man: He that lives too fast, goes to his Grave too soon; 'tis a course, but significant Expression, He that lives a Gallop, goes to the Devil a


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this chapter I propose to take, as far as I am able, the standpoint of a progressive and public-spirited Chinese, and consider what reforms, in what order, I should advocate in that case.

To begin with, it is clear that China must be saved by her own efforts, and cannot rely upon outside help. In the international situation, China has had both good and bad fortune. The Great War was unfortunate, because it gave Japan temporarily a free hand; the collapse of Tsarist Russia was fortunate, because it put an end to the secret alliance of Russians and Japanese; the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was unfortunate, because it compelled us to abet Japanese aggression even against our own economic interests; the friction between Japan and America was fortunate; but the agreement arrived at by the Washington Conference, though momentarily advantageous as regards Shantung, is likely, in the long run, to prove unfortunate, since it will make America less willing to oppose Japan. For reasons which I set forth in Chap. X., unless China becomes strong, either the collapse of Japan or her unquestioned ascendency in the Far East is almost certain to prove disastrous to China; and one or other of these is very likely


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 Trot. The meaning is plain; excess in Youth anticipates old Age; they that will tear themselves in Pieces, who can patch them up? 'Tis in vain to fly to Art; Physick may cleanse the Blood, correct the noxious Humour, clear the Stomach, and help the Digesture; but Physick cannot make the Body anew; Physick cannot give a new Fund of Life, and form Nature upon a new Foundation. Physick cannot restore when the Liver is wasted, when the Lungs are spit out of the Mouth by early Catarrhs, when the Wheel is broken at the Cistern: when, as Job says, the Reins are consumed within us, what can Physick do for us? Art may assist Nature, but Art cannot give Youth, nor restore that Vigour which Vice has exhausted. When the Dart is struck through the Liver, when the Heart ceases to beat Time to the Pendulum, 'tis in vain to talk to Physicians: As you have put your selves in the Devil's stead to destroy, Physicians cannot put themselves in stead to Create: Who shall supply in Age what the Spendthrift, the Extravagant has wasted in Youth? A frugal Use of an Estate preserves it for the Heirs; whereas he that cuts the Timber down young, shall have no large high Trees to leave behind him; and he that, without manuring and good Husbandry, leaves the Land to be beggar'd, and plough'd out of Heart, shall be sure not to keep up the Rent; but the Estate will decay, and the Heir be reduc'd.

a Word, Temperance and Moderation keeps Nature in a due state of Health, and lays in an early Provision for Time, a Stock for old Age to live upon, hands on Vigour with the Years, and makes Age triumph in the goodness


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Munich we left our luggage at the station, and went in search of breakfast. Of course, at eight o'clock in the morning none of the big cafés were open; but at length, beside some gardens, we found an old-fashioned looking restaurant, from which came a pleasant odour of coffee and hot onions; and walking through and seating ourselves at one of the little tables, placed out under the trees, we took the bill of fare in our hands, and summoned the waiter to our side.

I ordered the breakfast. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to try my German. I ordered coffee and rolls as a groundwork. I got over that part of my task very easily. With the practice I had had during the last two days, I could have ordered coffee and rolls for forty. Then I foraged round for luxuries, and ordered a green salad. I had some difficulty at first in convincing the man that it was not a boiled cabbage that I wanted, but succeeded eventually in getting that silly notion out of his head.

I still had a little German left, even after that. So I ordered an omelette also.

"Tell him a savoury one," said B., "or he will be


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 bringing us something full of hot jam and chocolate-creams. You know their style."

"Oh, yes," I answered. "Of course. Yes. Let me see. What is the German for savoury?"

"Savoury?" mused B. "Oh! ah! hum! Bothered if I know! Confound the thing—I can't think of it!"

I could not think of it either. As a matter of fact, I never knew it. We tried the man with French. We said:

"Une omelette aux fines herbes."

As he did not appear to understand that, we gave it him in bad English. We twisted and turned the unfortunate word "savoury" into sounds so quaint, so sad, so unearthly, that you would have thought they might have touched the heart of a savage. This stoical Teuton, however, remained unmoved. Then we tried pantomime.


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 Pantomime is to language what marmalade, according to the label on the pot, is to butter, "an excellent (occasional) substitute." But its powers as an interpreter of thought are limited. At least, in real life they are so. As regards a ballet, it is difficult to say what is not explainable by pantomime. I have seen the bad man in a ballet convey to the première danseuse by a subtle movement of the left leg, together with some slight assistance from the drum, the heartrending intelligence that the lady she had been brought up to believe was her mother was in reality only her aunt by marriage. But then it must be borne in mind that the première danseuse is a lady whose quickness of perception is altogether unique. The première danseuse knows precisely what a gentleman means when he twirls round forty-seven times on one leg, and then stands on his head. The average foreigner would, in all probability, completely misunderstand the man.

A friend of mine once, during a tour in the Pyrenees, tried to express gratitude by means of pantomime. He arrived late one evening at a little mountain inn, where the people made him very welcome, and set before him their best; and he, being hungry, appreciated their kindness, and ate a most excellent supper.

Indeed, so excellent a meal did he make, and so kind and attentive were his hosts to him, that, after supper, he felt he wanted to thank them, and to convey to them some idea of how pleased and satisfied he was.

He could not explain himself in language. He only knew enough Spanish to just ask for what he wanted—and even to do that he had to be careful not to want much. He had not got as far as sentiment and emotion at that time. Accordingly he started to express himself in action. He stood up and pointed to the empty table


text: Scenes in my Native Land/The Snow-Storm

title: Scenes in my Native Land/The Snow-Storm


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 what had happened to me, railed against and cursed the villain who had robbed me, but nobody would lend me money—-scarcity of cash, the backwardness of the debtors; alas! these and a thousand other obstacles prevented my friends from assisting me. I went home in a gloomy melancholy mood, and did not know what to do. It struck one, the dinner was on table, but I could not eat. I was standing in my room with a downcast look, and musing on my distress, a son of misery and a slave of cruel necessity. I cannot tell how long I had been in that desponding situation, when a gentle knocking at my door roused me suddenly from my reverie: I exclaimed in an agony, come in! The door opened, and I was thunderstruck when I beheld the unknown gentleman before me. My soul was filled with rapture, I ran almost frantic with joy towards the stranger, clasped him in my arms, and exclaimed, "Have you, have you found it?"

"I have not!" answered he.


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What do the October events prove? They prove that a Workers' Government can be formed only if the revolutionary forces are so disposed that at the very next moment the Workers' Government gives place to the fight for the dictatorship.

(From the Left: The Leipsic Congress!)

Comrades, I say emphatically that this applies particularly to Germany. What the situation is in other countries I cannot judge. Perhaps under certain circumstances things might be quite different from Germany. But in the conditions existing in Germany there can be no question of a Workers' Government except at the moment of direct transition to the fight for power.

Comrades, the resolution of the Fourth Congress envisages other possibilities. It is an international decision. But I believe that in the problem we are now considering it must be definitely stated that if a similar combination of circumstances again occurs in Saxony, the experiment must only be attempted if the necessary conditions making the fight possible have been created; then only can it be undertaken.

These are the experiences we have learned from the October events.

I will now consider the problems arising out of the events which occurred in Germany. One of the most important was the problem of the relation of forces. Let me briefly describe the situation as it existed at that time. In January, when the fight in the Ruhr began, the International quite rightly foresaw that the fight in the Ruhr would produce similar results—if not on quite the same scale, nevertheless quite similar political results—in Germany, as the war has produced. Let me remind you here of the decisions which were taken in Essen in January and in Frankfort in March. In these resolutions it was already clearly recognised that the fight in the Ruhr must lead to an extraordinarily difficult economic and political crisis in Germany, and that it will lead us into quite serious fights. This view was very. soon confirmed. The fight in the Ruhr produced exactly similar situations in Germany as existed after or towards the end of the war—acts of desperation, great uprisings. There were not only large strikes, as has been repeatedly pointed out, but throughout large areas of Germany a chaotic state of affairs existed, in which locally and provincially the organisations of the workers to some extent had power in their hands. I must point out that very often in large strike areas, political power was in the hands of the workers, and the various State Governments were not able to carry out a policy of preventing the uprising of the workers. In other words, the movement has reached the pitch which we would very much have desired at the moment when the state of siege was decreed in the Reich.


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 Let me point out that during the time of the Fascist Movement demonstrations were carried out in spite of the prohibition, not only in the Stuttgart but also in Central Germany, in the north, in the west, and the east of the Reich. We had then in Thuringia and in Central Germany in July and in August a situation in which the workers had the food supplies in their hands: they seized motor trucks and drove into the country to get supplies directly from the peasants, and nobody had the least doubt that we were on the eve of great events. Undoubtedly, the Cuno strike was the apex of the movement, but it is my profound conviction that it was also the turning point of the movement. When the Social-Democrats entered into the great coalition, the Social-Democratic workers were again filled with illusions.

In the middle of August, as a result of the entry of the Social-Democrats into the Government, a certain ebbing of the revolutionary flood set in. When we came to discuss with the Social-Democrats it appeared that they had set fresh hopes upon the entry of Hilferding into the Government. Social-Democrats who had spontaneously come into our camp, who had taken part in the Cuno strike, became filled with new illusions. The kernel of the problem is to win over the Social-Democratic majority.

Now as to what occurred within the Party. What was the attitude of the Party towards the situation? I remember that we held a session of the Central Committee in September to discuss what our attitude should be towards the situation. A member of the Central Committee expressed the point of view that if conditions were ripe in Saxony we should attack. This the Central Committee at that time rejected, on the ground that they were opposed to this Putschist outlook. On the next day arrived the resolution adopted by the Executive here. And so the whole policy of the Party was directed to that which they had rejected the day before. A plan of attack was adopted which made Central Germany the point of concentration. The Party and the whole Party machinery was then mobilised for the armed uprising. All other Party work, the mobilisation of the masses, the organisation of the Factory Councils, was neglected, since the whole Party machine and all the Party officials were employed exclusively on the problem of arming and organising the fight. And so it came about that all other bridges leading to the proletariat were neglected. In our opinion, one of the greatest errors, which must be attributed to the weakness of the Party, was that the problem moved upon us very rapidly and that we concentrated all the efforts of the Party upon the question of arming.

Comrades, once we were compelled to take part in the formation of the Government, the definite moment for the attack could not be delayed. When the instructions of the Executive arrived to the effect that we should enter the Saxon Government, the comrades at first hesitated to carry this decision into effect.


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 Even before the Communists were in the Government, the Reich Government threatened the Saxon Social Democratic Government that the Reich Executive would take proceedings against it. Our comrades therefore hesitated to carry the resolution into effect. Negotiations were carried on with them; they were obliged to enter the Government, and they did enter the Government.

As events developed the Saxon question of necessity occupied the chief role in the whole International. In my opinion the Saxon problem was not at all faced correctly. We shall very sharply criticise the Saxon Ministers for what they neglected to do. The belief that the Ministers could do a great deal was based upon illusions. The decision that our comrades should participate in the Saxon Government was taken on the basis of reports and representations which were without foundation. The decision was taken in the belief that the arming and mobilisation of the Party and the masses had reached such a stage that this move could be attempted. It was presumed that the defeat of the enemy had gone much further than was actually the case.

Thus we arrived in the position in which the enemy took the offensive and dictated the time of attack. The enemy struck, and we were obliged to say, either there will be a White Dictatorship or we must set up the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. In the first moment of deliberation it was decided to attack and to carry out the plan adopted.

Just previous to October 20 movements which were already in action were checked, so that forces might be preserved in order to be brought into play at the moment decided upon.

Consequently, everything was concentrated upon the armed attack, and only the decisive attack for the decisive fight came into question.

After the fight in Hamburg and after the failure of the Saxon Experiment, the Party could once more rally itself. Very shortly after the session of the Central Committee took place, which attempted to perform a given task, to give a foundation for, or to crystallise the point of view upon which we were at the moment setting. The Central Committee neglected to make a retrospect, to examine what was wrong and what was right. This, of course, led to considerable differences of opinion within the Central Committee and in the districts. Confusion and differences arose because the problem was not clarified by the Central Committee, and this found expression at the sessions of the Central Committee. Since what had already occurred was not explained and clarified, a clear policy could not be thought out.

These differences later, when the Executive sent its letter, gave rise to the attempt to secure clarity on the basis of this letter. The discussion showed that within the Central Committee there were in the main three points of view represented: that of the left—comrades Fischer and Thälmann—that represented


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 by Brandler and Thalheimer, and that represented by Koennen and myself.

Comrades, the point of view represented by us was expressed in the examination of what had occurred roughly as follows: was it true that in the stage in which we then were, we could arm ourselves for a decisive struggle? This we denied. On the grounds of the particular structure of Germany and the particular class relationships and class forces in Germany, we declared that we had not yet reached the stage when we could fix the period for the decisive struggle. We declared that before the decisive struggles would come about, we should have first to pass through a period of numerous and powerful armed partial struggles. We should have to pass through a stage in which the relations of forces in Germany would vary extremely. And therefore we declared that we should have foreseen what had still not occurred before the October days, and to the recognition of which we came only because of the October days, namely, that, as Brandler has already declared, we should have to pass through a period of armed demonstrations and armed individual actions before we reached the decisive struggle.

Therefore, comrades, we represent the point of view that the method or the theory pursued in October, namely, that in the practical circumstances as they would arise in Germany, to jump out of a period of agitation and propagandist activity immediately into an armed uprising, was false. And this was one of the essential reasons why we were opposed to the preparations for the October action.

I now come to the problems of future developments in Germany and what our main task must be. Here again, the breaking up of the counter-revolutionary bloc within the working class occupies the front place. Only when it is broken up will the way remain clear for the possibility of the armed decisive struggle.

I affirm that the bloc will be best broken up during the course of the struggle; but that should not prevent us from clearly envisaging what has to be done as long as the fight cannot be started and still does not exist. We believe that the defeat of the counter-revolutionary bloc, that appendix of social democracy within the working class, is a most urgent and important matter and one which has still be to accomplished in Germany. It must be done, while bearing in mind the actual possibilities as they exist in Germany. It has been frequently repeated here that one of the most important problems of our revolutionary ideology is to create, to mobilise, and to make use of the Factory Councils. This is absolutely true, but the question must be put thus: What are the Factory Councils, and what possibilities do they represent?

In Germany there are 370,000 factories employing over twenty workers, which the law obliges to elect factory councils. In spite of all measures we have taken in this sphere—we have sent special secretaries to the various districts to organise these factory


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 councils, we have carried on a tremendous propaganda on behalf of the factory councils and have issued a newspaper—in spite of all this work, we have so far succeeded in mobilising only 5,000 Factory Councils in the 370,000 factories that exist. Yes, comrades, when one hears such figures one cannot help asking: is it indeed possible to seize as many as 370,000? It appears to me that the essential thing is to seize the heavy industries. It is certain that if the factory councils become a true revolutionary element striving forward, the whole working masses will stand behind them. To-day the working masses no longer stand entirely behind the factory councils. But if we succeed in winning almost the whole of the factory councils, in the elections, at least in the heavy industries, then we shall also have the working masses on the side of the revolutionary struggle.

(: And how many of the 2,000 heavy industries have we in our hands?)

That I cannot say exactly, but I believe that we have at least in every factory council one or two comrades on our side who are working with us.

Well, comrades, the question is not that we can perform all our tasks through the factory councils alone or, as Comrade Fischer erroneously stated recently, that the strike in Ludwigshaven was carried on by the factory councils. No. Even the wildest strikes are led by the trade union representatives in the factories concerned. Only large strikes covering considerable areas are led by the factory councils, but the isolated strikes are led by the trade union representatives of the workers.

It is, of course, essential that we should have a perfectly clear policy with regard to the trade union workers.

Comrades, to me it is perfectly clear that the situation as it now stands must lead to a great catastrophe. In October the bourgeoisie had still an extraordinarily powerful force on their side, the official class, which hitherto has been the strongest support of its power. Meanwhile, however, attempts have been made to consolidate the capitalist system at the expense of the officials. We have now a much broader foundation than in August and October.

I represent the point of view that in the next three months there will be many conflicts between the proletariat and the ruling class. The party must be prepared and arm for this. The armed preparation, the armed partial actions as a method of the class struggle must be added to our previous work. It is only in the course of these struggles that the moment for the decisive blow will be determined. Of course, no one can deny that it is possible that bourgeois society will be able to extricate itself from the present situation. It may happen that in the next three months temporary situations such as now exist will arise which will enable the bourgeoisie to extricate themselves from the noose which now hangs about their necks. This possibility


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 exists, but we cannot bank upon two possibilities. The Party must be so directed as to make it possible during this period to do what has to be done, so that the possibility of a fight should not arise while we have a party which is not capable of action and which has a leadership that must itself be led. The subjective forces of the movement will then grow of themselves. For this it is necessary to have a strong hand at the head of the Party, capable of taking advantage of the existing situation, and to lead it into a victorious fight. For this a brief discussion of the differences is necessary, and of the situation as it is and as it should be. Then the strength of the Party must be directed outwards. As long as we dissipate our forces in struggles within the Party, we shall have no strength to fight and to exert influence outside.

The comrades who have developed themselves in the course of the struggle should work together in co-operation, and the leadership should not be left to a single individual. There are many comrades amongst our leaders who have been in the Party for many years, but have only just, in the course of the struggle, found themselves fighting by each other's side.

The Russian comrades say that it is the tradition of the old Bolsheviks that keeps them together, but we cannot speak of an old tradition within the Communist Party in Germany. We can, however, speak of an old tradition of the opposition in the Social-Democratic Party who have been working together for many years. That the bond between these comrades is closer than the bond between them and the comrades who have just come over to us is, of course, only natural.

We have come to the point of view that Brandler, in leading the Party, often acted too independently, so that many things occurred which the comrades did not desire. We have expressed the opinion that it is desirable, if Brandler is to lead the Party, that there should be strong collective action in the leadership of the Party. As to the situation within the Party and as to the Left, I repeat what I said yesterday. The opposition must come into the Central Committee, since Thälmann represents an opposition which arises from a proletarian feeling, from a good proletarian tradition, which Thälmann himself possesses. But the opposition represented by Ruth Fischer and Maslov is not an opposition which has grown out of real situations, but which was born out of theories. That is the criticism which I have to direct against this opposition; they do not represent reality, they believe that the world is created out of their own heads.

I think it is essential that this dispute should now come to an end, that it is our duty to return from Moscow with a strong hand and a strong leadership for the forthcoming struggles. This is essential above all in the period of illegality. If in such a period we have not the absolute confidence in one another, nothing can be done.


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90 Hellenism before they entered into the full light of history in the beginning of the third century.

From Asia Minor came the worship of Cybele with its hymns and dances, its mysterious ideas of a deity dying to live again, its frenzies and trances, its soothsayings, and its blood-baths of purification and sanctification. From Syria came the cult of the Dea Syra, described by Lucian the sceptic, with its sacred prostitutions, its more than hints of human sacrifices, its mystics and its pillar saints. Persia sent forth the worship of Mithras, with its initiations, its sacraments, its mysteries, and the stern discipline which made it a favourite religion among the Roman legionaries. Egypt gave birth to many a cult. Chief among them was the worship of Isis. Before the end of the second century it had far outstripped Christianity and could boast of its thousands where the religion of the Cross could only number hundreds. It had penetrated everywhere, even to far-off Britain. A ring bearing the figure of the goddess’ constant companion, the dog-headed Anubis, has been discovered in a grave in the Isle of Man. Votaries of Isis could be found from the Roman Wall to Land’s End.

The worship of Isis may be taken as a type of those Oriental faiths before whose presence the official gods of Olympus were receding into the background. The cult had a body of clergy, highly organised, a book of prayers, a code of liturgical actions, a tonsure, vestments, and an elaborate impressive ceremonial. The inner circle of its devotees were called “the religious,” like the monks of the Middle Ages; those who were altogether outside the faith were termed “pagans”; the service of the goddess was a “holy war,” and her worshippers of all grades were banded together in a “militia.” Apuleius, himself converted to the faith, has, in his Metamorphoses, described its ceremonies of worship and enabled us to see how desires after a better life drew men like himself to reverence the deity and enrol himself among her followers. He has described, with a vividness that makes us see them, the stately processions which moved with deliberate pace through the crowded narrow streets of .oriental towns, and drew after them to the temple many a hitherto unattached inquirer. We can enter the temple with him and listen to the solemn exhortation of the high-priest ; hear him dwell upon the past sins and follies of the neophyte and the unfailing goodness and mercy of the goddess whose eyes had followed him through them all and who now waited to receive him if he truly desired to become her disciple and worshipper. The initiation was a secret rite and Apuleius is careful not to profane it by description ; but we learn that there was a baptism, a fast of ten days, a course of priestly instruction, sponsors given to the neophyte, and, in the evening, a reception of the new brother by the congregation, when every one greeted him kindly and presented him with some small gift. We can penetrate with him into the secret chamber reserved for the higher initiation where he was taught that he would


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 Rh passage from an order directed against the Cossacks—a name applied to the agriculturists of a certain section:

Steklov, in the Moscow Izvestia, declares that civil war will continue until the Social Revolutionaries and the "koulaks" (the better-off agriculturists) who are hampering the work of construction, particularly that of revictualling, are completely exterminated.

Here is another example. The peasants have in many places organized armies for self-defense which cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called Whites. These so-called "Green Armies" are defending the villages from the foraging and punishment expeditions of the Red armies. This is how a recent decree of the Extraordinary Commission in Southern Russia proposes to deal with them:

The majority of the Greens who are now in the mountains have their relatives in the villages. These have all been registered, and in case of an attack by these bands all adult relatives of those who are fighting against


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34 to his lot, among them the superintendence of the state Post (cursus publicm).

If we may adapt an ecclesiastical phrase which describes the Archdeacon as the oculus Episcopi, we may say that the Vicarius was the oculus Praefecti. He gave a closer eye to details than was possible for his superior within his Dioecesis. At first he was perfecbissimus, afterwards spectabilis. The tendency of the rulers after Constantine was to increase his importance at the expense of the Praefectus; rather however in the field of jurisdiction than in other fields. The Vicarius had but little disciplinary power over the rector provinciae. The governor could in a difficult case seek advice from the emperor without having recourse to either of his superior officers, though he was bound to inform the Vicarius, and the latter could on occasion go straight to the monarch. The court of the Vicarius, like that of the Praefectus, was an appeal court only. The provincial governor was judge of first instance in all civil and criminal matters, except in the cases of some privileged persons, and in those minor affairs which were left to the magistrates of the municipalities within the province. The small size of the province made it unnecessary that its ruler should travel about to administer justice, as in the earlier time. Causes were heard at the seat of government. Much of the time of the governor was occupied in seeing that imposts were duly collected and that no irregularities were practised by subordinates. Responsibility for public order rested primarily with him.

The lower grades of civil servants in the provinces were to a very large extent in connexion with and controlled by the great departments of the imperial service whose chief offices were in the capital. Early in the imperial period three great bureaux were established, whose presidents were named ab epistulis, a libellis, and a memoria. These phrases survived into the age of Constantine and after, but denoted the offices and not their chiefs, whose title was magister. The departments themselves were now described by the word scrinium, which had originally denoted a box or desk for containing papers. The word had therefore undergone a change of meaning similar to that which had passed over fiscus, whereby from a basket for holding coin, it came to mean the imperial exchequer. The demarcation of business allotted to the three great scrinia was not always the same. The magister memoriae gradually encroached on the functions of the other two heads of departments and became much the most influential of the three. A fourth scrinium, called the scrinium dispositionum, was added. Its magister (later called comes) was at first inferior to the other three, who belonged to the class of the spectabiles, but was afterwards placed on a level with them. All these magistri on being promoted became vicarii. All four were subject to an exalted personage known as magister officiorum, who was a vir illustris.

The department known as ab epistulis was early divided into two sections distinguished as ab epistulis Laiinis and ab epistulis Graecis. It


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 60 us will be shot, while their minor relatives will be deported to Central Russia.

In the event of a mass rising of any village, stanitza or city, we shall apply mass terror against these localities; for every Soviet representative that will be killed hundreds of inhabitants of these villages and stanitzas will have to suffer.

The Bolshevist remedy for any and all opponents is to find some opprobrious epithet to apply to them, indicating treason to Bolshevism, and then to crush them with the Red Terror. This method is evidently to be used even against the valiant Red Army. The peasants who constituted ninety per cent, of the Army are being demobilized. The remainder, said to be some hundred thousand men, are either mercenary foreigners, Chinese, Hungarian, Letts, etc., under the name of the "international" army, or communist fanatics. The first step towards the persecution of the rank and file of the Red Army was to deprive them of all rights. Leon Trotzky in his Order of the Revolutionary Military Council, No. 296, dated November 10, 1920, declared:

It may be recalled that the Bolshevists came into power by standing for the rights of soldiers even to the point of the right to elect their own officers. But now, having deprived the peasant soldiers of all rights, Lenin is apparently upon the point of turning the Red Terror against them. To a meeting of the railway


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first question that has to be considered in laying down the plan of a Medieval History is. Where to begin? Where shall we draw the line that separates it from Ancient History? Some would fix it at the death of Domitian, others at that of Marcus. Some would come down to Constantine, to the death of Theodosius, to the great barbarian in- vasion of 406, or to the end of the Western Empire in 476 ; and others again would go on to Gregory I, or even as late as Charlemagne. There is even something to be said for beginning with Augustus, or at the destruction of Jerusalem, though perhaps these epochs are not seriously proposed. However, they all have their advantages. If for example we consider only the literary merit of the historians, we must draw the line after Tacitus; and if we fix our eyes on the feud of Roman and bar- barian, we cannot stop till the coronation of Charlemagne. Curiously enough, the epoch usually laid down at the end of the Western Empire in 476, is precisely the one for which there is least to be said. We should do better than this by dividing in the middle of the Gothic War (535-553). We have in quick succession the closing of the Schools of Athens, the Code of Justinian, the great siege of Rome, and the abolition of the consulship. The Rome which Belisarius de- livered was still the Rome of the Caesars, while the Rome which Narses entered sixteen years later is already the Rome of the popes. It is the same in Gaul. The remains of the old civilization still found under the sons of Clovis are mostly obliterated in the next generation. Procopius witnessed as great a revolution as did Polybius.

But even this would not be satisfactory. We cannot cut in two the Gothic War and the reign of Justinian; and in any case we can draw no sharp division after Constantine without ignoring the greatest power of the world—that Eastern Roman Empire which carried down the old Graeco-Roman civilisation almost to the end of the Middle Ages. In truth, the precise beginning of Medieval History is as indefinite as the precise beginning of the fog. There is no point between Augustus and Charlemagne where we can say. The old is finished, the new not yet


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2 begun. Choose where we will, medieval elements are traceable before it, ancient elements after it. Thus Theodoric’s government of Italy is on the old lines, while the Frankish invasion of Gaul belongs to the new order. If in the present work we begin with Constantine, we do not mean that there is any break in history at this point, though we see important changes in the adoption of Christianity and the fixing of the government in the form it retained for centuries. The chief advantage of choosing this epoch is that as the medieval elements were not strong before the fourth century, we shall be able to trace nearly the whole of their growth without encroaching too much on Ancient History. At the same time, we shall hold ourselves free to trace them back as far as may be needful, and to point out the ancient elements as late as they may appear.

We begin with an outline of Constantine’s life. Its significance we can discuss later.

Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born at Naissus in Dacia, about the year 274. His father Constantius was already a man of some mark, though still in the lower stages of the career which brought him to the purple. On his father’s side Constantius belonged to the great families of Dardania, the hilly province north of Macedonia, while his mother was a niece of the emperor Claudius Gothicus. But Constantine’s own mother Helena was a woman of low rank from Drepanum in Bithynia, though there is no reason to doubt that she held the legal (and quite moral) position of ccmcubina or morganatic wife to Constantius.

Of Constantine’s early years we know only that he had no learned education; and we may presume from his hesitating Greek that he was brought up in Latin lands, perhaps partly in Dalmatia, where his father was at one time governor. In 293 Constantius was made Caesar, and practically master of Gaul, with the task assigned him of recovering Britain from Carausius. But as a condition of his elevation he was required to divorce Helena and marry Theodora, a stepdaughter of Maximian. Constantine was taken to the court of Diocletian, partly as a hostage for his father, and partly with a view to a future place for him in the college of emperors. So he went with Diocletian to Egypt in 296, and made acquaintance on the way with Eusebius, the future historian and bishop of Caesarea. Next year he seems to have seen service with Galerius against the Persians. About this time he must have taken Minervina (most likely as a concubina), for her son Crispus was already a young man in 317. Early in 303 the Great Persecution was begun with the demolition of the church at Nicomedia: and there was a tall young officer looking on with thoughts of his own, like Napoleon watching the riot of June 1792.

When Diocletian and Maximian abdicated (1 May 305) it was generally believed that Constantine would be one of the new Caesars. There was reason for this belief. He had been betrothed to Fausta the


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254-312] daughter of Maximum as far back as 293, when she was a mere child; and daughters of emperors were not common enough to be thrown away on outsiders. Moreover, money had recently been coined at Alexandria with the inscription. But at the last moment Diocletian passed him over. Perhaps he was over-persuaded by Galerius: more likely he was reserving him to succeed his father in Gaul. After this, however, the court of Galerius was no place for Constantine. Presently he managed to escape, and joined his father at Boulogne. After a short campaign in Caledonia, Constantius died at York (25 July 306) and the army hailed Constantine Augustus. He was a good officer, the sons of Theodora were only boys, and the army of Britain (always the most mutinous in the Empire) had no mind to wait for a new Caesar from the East. Its chief mover was Crocus the Alemannic king: and this would seem to be the first case of a barbarian king as a Roman general, and also the first case of barbarian action in the election of an emperor. Willingly or unwillingly, Galerius recog- nised Constantine, though only as Caesar. It mattered little: he had the power, and the title came a couple of years later.

Thus Constantine succeeded his father in Gaul and Britain. We hear little of his administration during the next six years (306-312), but we get a general impression that he was a good ruler, and careful of his people. Such fighting as he had to do was of the usual sort against the Franks, mostly inside the Rhine, and against the Alemanni and the Bructeri beyond it. The war however was merciless, for even heathen feeling was shocked when he gave barbarian kings to the beasts, along with their followers by thousands at a time. But Gaul had never recovered from the great invasions (254-285) and his remissions of taxation gave no permanent relief to the public misery. In religion he was of course heathen ; but he grew more and more monotheistic, and the Christians always counted him friendly like his father.

The last act of Galerius (Apr. 311) was an edict of toleration for the Christians. It was not encumbered with any “hard conditions,” but it was given Sn the heathen principle that every god is entitled to the worship of his own people, whereas the persecution hindered the Christians from rendemig that worship. A few days after this Galerius died. There were novMtour emperors. Constantine held Gaul and Britain, Maxentius Italy, Spain and Africa, while Licinius (more properly' Licinian) ruled Illyricum, Greece and Thrace, and Maximin Daza (or Daia) held everything beyond the Bosphorus. Their political alliances were partly determined by their geographical position, Constantine reaching over Maxentius to Licinius, while Maximin reached over Licinius to Maxentius; partly also by their relation to the Christians, for this was now the immediate question of practical politics. Constantine was


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 Rh workers in Moscow, reported in the Bolshevist Wireless of April 3 (1921) he said:

It is evident that a despot who feels he has the power to wage war against the personnel of his own army is liable to proceed against any other element of his subjects.

The use of the Extraordinary Commission and of terroristic methods against labor is shown in the following passages from the report drawn up on February 1 by the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party:

In Mohilev the entire membership of both the RussionRussian [sic] Social-Democratic Labor Party and the Bund were arrested during the night of the 1st of November. The Extraordinary Commission gave the following motives for the arrest: "guilty of pernicious criticism of the Soviet power and its activities, thereby affecting very badly various measures taken by said power, and, since it occurred in the war zone it affects detrimentally the gallant Red Army." Among those sentenced (to forced labor in various concentration camps until the end of the civil war) were. …

Towards the close of the year the "verdict" (administrative order without trial) was handed down. Astrov, Korobkov, Grossmann, Babin, Tkatchenko, Kuchin-Oransky and others were sentenced "for belonging to the right wing of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party" to confinement in a concentration camp throughout the duration of the civil war.


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 62 In Yekaterinburg our attempt to take part in the election campaign for the Soviet was punished by the arrest of the local Committee of our Party (comrades Kliatchko, Ossovsky and others), together with the member of the Central Committee, D. Dalin and 6 workers of the Verkhne-Issetski Factory. At the home of N. N. Sukhanov a domiciliary search was made. A month later the prisoners were freed by a direct order from Moscow, as the purpose of the arrests had been accomplished, the elections to the Soviet having been most "successful" for the Bolsheviki.

In Tula the outrageous behavior of the factory Commissary caused an outburst among the workmen of the Arms Factory, which spread to all other establishments in that city. The protest took at first the form of a strike, but following the arrest of strikers it assumed the form of so-called "self-imprisonment," i.e., the workmen and their wives compelled the Bolsheviki to arrest them, thus expressing their solidarity with the prisoners. In this way several thousand workers were arrested in those days. The reprisals were severe, wholesale deportations to the front were resorted to and, as a climax, 12 of the strikers were turned over to a field court martial and sentenced to hard labor for life. And in reply to the attempt made by the Social-Democratic group of the local Soviet to have the trouble settled peaceably, the group was arrested during its session.

The Social Democratic Party (Menshevists) have also brought before the labor world a full report of the persecution of the Russian printers and of other Soviet atrocities against labor.

This party finally made a strong appeal to British Labor—prompted by the fact that the British Labor delegation to Russia had issued a report that was in


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 Rh part mildly critical or ambiguous, but, on the whole, was distinctly friendly to the Bolshevist régime. Individual members of the delegation practically half of it, including Tom Shaw, Ben Turner, Mrs. Philip Snowden, Dr. Haden Guest, as well as Bertrand Russell, who accompanied the delegation had issued the strongest adverse statements. But the report, as a whole, was friendly, doubtless owing to domestic politics and to diplomatic motives which do not appear. This was all the more shocking to the Russian Socialists and Trade Unionists since all other foreign labor delegations—Germans, Italians, Swedish and Spanish, had had the courage of their convictions. (See Chapter XII.) The Social Democratic appeal is therefore doubly important, serving not only as a picture of Russian labor persecution but as an indictment of the inexcusable failure of the British delegation even to touch on these vital matters in its one-sided report—from which was excluded also the valuable individual testimony of Mrs. Snowden and other delegates, while the pro-Bolshevist material of the extremists, Robert Williams, Purcell, and Margaret Bondfield, was reproduced.

The Social Democratic appeal secured the following endorsement from Merrheim, Secretary of the largest French labor union, the Metal Workers, a leader of the French Confederation of Labor, and an ultra-pacifist and syndicalist himself:


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 64 The principal paragraphs of this appeal are as follows:

We, the undersigned, Russian socialists, have received from Russia the information stating that the visit of the British labour delegation to Russia last summer has resulted in severe reprisals and persecutions for all the socialists who were bold enough to criticize openly the soviet regime and the actions of the Russian communist party.

Well-known leaders of the labour movement in Russia, who for many years fought against Tsarism, who spent long and weary years in prison and in exile, and who hold prominent positions in the Russian trade union movement, have once more been severely sentenced, imprisoned and exiled by the soviet government.

We wish to repeat here a few facts mentioned in the above circulars:

1. Comrade F. Dan, a member of the central committee of the Russian socialist-democratic labour party, and one of the oldest members of the party, has been exiled from Moscow to Perm.

2. Two members of the central committee of the socialist-democratic party (Mensheviki), Comrades Dalin and Troyanovsky, are in prison in Moscow.

3. All the members of the executive committee of the Moscow printers' union, headed by Comrade Deviatkin, have been arrested; the printers' union is dispersed; workmen who came out on strike to express their protest against such actions of the soviet government have been searched and prosecuted.

4. Victor Chernov, a member of the central committee of the socialist-revolutionary party, spoke at the