dly form the nucleus of a navy. That the Government intend
to create a navy may be inferred from the establishment of a Naval
Board. In view of the naval exploits of Japan, and under the guidance
of Japanese, they are certain to develop this feeble plant and to
make it formidable to somebody--perhaps to themselves.

Their merchant marine is more respectable. With a fleet of fifty
or more good ships the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company
are able by the aid of subsidies and special privileges to compete
for a share in the coasting trade; but as yet they have no line
trading to foreign ports.

In 1860 a wild horde with matchlocks, bows, and spears, the land
army is now supplied in large part with repeating rifles, trained
in Western drill, and dressed in uniform of the Western type. The
manoeuvres that took place near Peking in 1905 made
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a gala day for the Imperial Court, which expressed itself as more
than satisfied with the splendour of the spectacle. The contingent
belonging to this province is 40,000, and the total thus drilled
and armed is not less than five times that number. In 1907 the
troops of five provinces met in Honan. Thanks to railways, something
like concentration is coming within the range of possibility. Not
deficient in courage, what these raw battalions require to make
them effective is confidence in themselves and in their commanders.
Lacking in the lively patriotism that makes heroes of the Japanese,
these fine big fellows are not machines, but animals. To the mistaken
efforts recently made to instil that sentiment at the expense of the
foreigner, I shall refer in another chapter. A less objectionable
phase of the sentiment is provincialism, which makes it easy for an
invader to employ the troops of one province to conquer another.
In history these provinces appear as kingdoms, and their mutual
wars form the staple subject. What feeling of unity can exist so
long as the people are divided by a babel of dialects? More than
once have Tartars employed Chinese to conquer China; and in 1900 a
fine regiment from Wei-hai-wei helped the British to storm Peking.
It may be added they repaid themselves by treating the inhabitants
as conquered foes. Everywhere they were conspicuous for acts of
lawless violence.

Three great arsenals, not to speak of minor establishments, are
kept busy turning out artillery and small arms for the national
army, and the Board of Army Reform has the supervisi