ately
since it seems to have been deliberately designed to play into the hands
of a man who was now openly set on betraying the trust the nation
reposed in him, and who was ready to wade through rivers of blood to
satisfy his insensate ambition.

[Illustration: President Li Yuan-Hung and the General Staff watching the
Review.]

[Illustration: March-past of an Infantry Division.]

Nothing precisely similar to this Goodnow Memorandum has ever been seen
before in the history of Asia: it was the ultramodern spirit impressed
into the service of mediaeval minds. In any other capital of the world
the publication of such a subversive document, following the Yang Tu
pamphlet, would have led to riot and tumult. In China, the home of
pacifism, the politicians and people bowed their heads and bided their
time. Even foreign circles in China were somewhat nonplussed by the
insouciance displayed by the peripatetic legal authority; and the
Memorandum was for many days spoken of as an unnecessary
indiscretion.[16] Fastening at once on the point to which Yang Tu had
ascribed such importance--the question of succession--Dr. Goodnow in his
arguments certainly shows a detachment from received principles which
has an old-world flavour about it, and which has damned him for ever in
the eyes of the rising generation in China. The version which follows is
the translation of the Chinese translation, the original English
Memorandum having been either mislaid or destroyed; and it is best that
this argument should be carefully digested before we add our comments.

DR. GOODNOW'S MEMORANDUM

A country must have a certain form of government, and usually the
particular form of government of a particular country is not the
result of the choice of the people of that country. There is not any
possibility even for the most intellectual to exercise any mental
influence over the question. Whether it be a monarchy or republic,
it cannot be the creation of human power except when it is suitable
to the historical, habitual, social and financial conditions of that
country. If an unsuitable form of government is decided upon, it may
remain for a short while, but eventually a system better suited will
take its place.

In short, the form of government of a country is usually the natural
and only result of its circumstances. The reasons for such an
outcome are many, but the principal one is Force. If we