s of the future constitution take anything from the nineteen
capitulations offered by the Manchu Government, which gave too much
power to the legislative organ. According to the Nineteen Articles
the Advisory Council was to draw up the constitution, which was to
be ratified by the parliament; the Premier being elected by the
parliament; whilst the use of the army and navy required the
parliament's sanction; the making of treaties with foreign countries
have likewise to be approved by the parliament, etc., etc. Such
strict stipulations which are not even known in such an advanced
country in matters constitutional as England were extorted from the
imperial family by the advisory council. Therefore it is most
unlikely that the makers of the future constitution will take any
article from the nineteen capitulations of "confidence." They will
use the Constitutions of Japan and Prussia as joint model and will
always have in their mind the actual conditions of this country and
the standard of the people. In short, they will copy some of the
articles in the Japanese constitution, and adopt the Prussian method
of procedure for the making of the constitution.

Mr. Ko: What do you mean by honesty?

Mr. Hu: It is a bad policy to deceive the people. Individually the
people are simple, but they cannot be deceived collectively. The
Manchu Government committed an irretrievable mistake by promising
the people a constitutional government but never carrying out their
promise. This attitude on the part of the then reigning house
brought about the first revolution. As the standard of our people at
the present time is not very high, they will be satisfied with less
power if it is properly given to them. Should any one attempt to
deceive them his cause will finally be lost. I do not know how much
power the people and the parliament will get in the constitutional
monarchy, but I would like to point out here that it is better to
give them less power than to deceive them. If they are given less
power, and if they want more, they will contend for it. Should the
government deem it advisable to give them a little more, well and
good. Should they be unfit for the possession of greater power, the
government can issue a proclamation giving the reasons for not
complying with their request, and they will not raise tr