their time; there were no revolutionary organizations or organs to furnish exciting topics for discussion. When authentic news arrived, it was about a month old and later developments might have already changed the situation, with the result that students could only speculate as to the outcome. That was why the students in Japan sent far more telegrams to the Government advising certain courses of action on great political issues than did the students in Europe and America. In the second place, most of the students here are younger and the technical courses taken by a large number of them in engineering, agriculture and other professional studies, are not conducive to revolutionary conceptions. The wide difference in languages and comparatively poorer scholarship in Chinese literature, make it impossible to transcribe any of our new ideas readily into Chinese for publication in China. Then, the local political conditions pursue an even tenor, the commercial spirit is transcendent, and the constructive element is based upon educational, social and religious reformation. No professors or friends were sufficiently versed in Chinese literature and history to advise a revolution which might endanger the lives and property of all their missionary friends and other foreign residents in China. The Christian influence and missionary interest point to a goal of evolutionary development and Christian service to our country. Under such circumstances, in our more liberal students there has been built a broader and deeper personality adapted for slower constructive work. In the last place, the cold reception of the earlier returned students given by the government and people at home, does not lead us to expect any large following upon our immediate return as any revolutionary course of action would necessitate. We would have to vindicate ourselves by deeds and action that we are not semi-foreigners but as sincerely and deeply interested in the welfare of our country and people as any others who are loud in denunciation and quick in popularising the knowledge acquired. Besides of the 800 students in America and the 400 in Europe, 250 here and about 200 on the other side are government students and sons of influential officials who would not desire to be left stranded in distant lands by premature iconoclastic expressions which would not materially help the cause. They had too much to lose and little to gain. Quite a large percentage of them, approximately 50 per cent, received their earlier training in missionary schools and their views have been tempered by the element of service which could be performed under any circumstances. Moreover, the contrast seen between the conditions in the west and those of China is greater than that between Japan and China; consequently the problems thy aim to solve are deeper rooted, and a change of government-desirable if it could be accomplished without endangering too much the status quo, is not the sine qua non for the modernization of China. That is why the students in the west would have liked to see a constitutional government through a peaceful reformation rather than a republic via a revolution. Nevertheless, while the greater part of the destructive work was done by the larger body of students from Japan, as soon as the students from Europe and America saw the desperate situation, they all heartily joined the cause, for they saw the die was cast, the Rubicon was crossed, and no alternative was possible. Some twenty-five students returned from America and about the same number went from Europe, while Japan emptied her whole consignment into the cauldron. The students in America declared themselves for the Republic through the columns of The Chinese Students' Monthly, the official organ of the Students' Alliance in February of 1912 in an announcement which read in part as follows: It might seem as if the student body here has not declared its interest in the political controversy of vast consequences early enough, but that evidently has been due to the lack of first hand information, the deliberate nature of our students, the indefiniteness of the revolutionary leaders, and more especially the one-sided statements of the newspapers in this country. However, our sympathy has always been with the revolutionaries, for they represent the progressive cause that will ultimately render it possible for China to come to her own. In the meantime, the provisional republican government has been established and news from our fellow students, brothers and friends who are in the midst of the struggle, elucidate the actual conditions in China. Knowing them, we publicly announce the definite stand that the students are willing to make for the republic, the establishment of which will go down into history as the greatest event of the twentieth century-the political emancipation of 400,000,000 souls. New occasions teach new duties, -Lowell. Again, it was estimated that no less than 75 per cent of the provisional Republican Cabinet of Dr. Sun consisted of returned students from Europe and America, while even the coalition provisional cabinet of President Yuan Shih Kai had 50 per cent of them with Tang Shao Yi as the first premier. To say that returned students from America and Europe would not entertain revolutionary ideas on account of materialistic and selfish ambitions would be a charge too extravagant and the contention would fall by its own weight of exaggeration. For did not Dr. Yung Wing, the first student graduated in America, stake his whole life in a revolutionary attempt after four great constructive institutions, namely, the Kiangnan Arsenal, the China Merchants' Steamship Navigation Company, the National Telegraph System and the Educational Mission of the seventies. It was indeed an inspiring experience when the speaker called on this "Father of Modern Education in China" to discuss for two hours upon the comprehensive plan he was laying for the educational, industrial and military reorganization of China, when he was invited by his friend, Dr. Sun Yat Sen to give his advice after the establishment of the republic. The ideal returned student from America is therefore not a destructive but a constructive man, and it was only when repeatedly defeated that he will adopt destructive measures as proved by Dr. Yung Wing and Dr. Sun Yat Sen, both of whom received the American and European influence of living a broader and deeper life. Nevertheless, we must give all credit to our fellow students from Japan from their intense enthusiasm and patriotism and to the many earnest reformers among the people at home that gave such an impetus to the Revolution from the very start. THE TASK OF RECONSTRUCTION A cowl does not make a monk and the name alone cannot transform China into a real republic. Reality and not idealism is the sure basis of a modern state. Rabid emotion has played its part, and a mighty important part, in stirring up enthusiasm and devotion, but any continued indulgence in it, would sweep an individual or a community off its own feet, as history has proved time and again. China is no exception, and as the republic is established, it is time that enthusiasm should be superseded by discerning foresight and cool judgement, so that a strong, prosperous and centralized republic might be insured for the generations to come, as the problems yet to be surmounted are stupendous. During the revolution, the public sentiment in China demanded the adoption of the American government as the model and since the number of students in Japan is rapidly diminishing and as more students are coming to America, the responsibility resting upon their shoulders to develop China along republican ideals is consequently increased. If they are true to their training as was Dr. Yung Wing, the first student, then "there is also a hope and promise that God means to build up in that land some strong, free and characteristic manhood which shall help the world to its completeness.' AMERICAN AND JAPANESE DIPLOMACY IN CHINA By Masujiro Honda, D. Litt, Tokyo, Japan; Recently Editor of "The Oriental Review" From geographic and other causes, the United States of America has been comparatively independent, both politically and commercially, of the continents other than its own. This fact has enabled the Washington government occasionally to project unconventional ideas and principles into the arena of international dealings. While American diplomacy, therefore, may be a source of irritation to some nations, to others it may prove a cause for thankfulness. Whatever the result, American diplomacy bears a distinct stamp of its own, and does credit to the country of great ideals. Only when it is actuated by self-interest does this attitude defeat its own purposes and alienate the sympathy and respect of other nations. Japan's relations with China are as vital as those of England with the continent of Europe. Tokyo diplomacy can neither be purely academic, nor ignore the claims and sentiments of the four hundred million co-racials. Just as the British Empire would be threatened by the rise of a continental rival, so Japan's safety demands that no one of her three great neighbors, Russia, China, or America, should obtain an undue share of influence in the Far East. Moreover, the fact that European powers have vested interests more firmly planted in China than has America, requires Japan to be more or less on the side of the former when Chinese problems are to be internationally settled. Besides this fundamental difference between American and |