Influential deputations were sent to him to implore him to
remember the parlous international situation China found herself
in,--a situation which would result in open disaster if subjected
to the strain of further discords. For a time he hesitated
launching his counter-stroke. But at length the Republican Party
persuaded him to deal the tyrant the needed blow; and his now
famous accusation of the Chief Executive was published.
Its effect was immediate and very far-reaching. Men understood
that armed revolt was in the air. The almost Biblical fervour
which pervades this extraordinary document shows an unusual sense
of moral outrage. The masterly analysis of the Diaz regime in
Mexico coupled with the manner in which--always pretending to be
examining the conduct of the Mexican--he stabs at Yuan Shih-kai,
won the applause of a race that delights in oblique attacks and
was ample proof that great trouble was brewing. The document was
read in every part of China and everywhere approved. Although it
suffers from translation, the text remains singularly interesting
as a disclosure of the Chinese mentality; whilst the exhaustive
examination of political terms it contains shows that some day
Chinese will carry their inventive genius into fields they have
hitherto never openly invaded. Especially interesting is it to
contrast the arguments of such a man with those of a decadent such
as Yang Tu.
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