Although the Peking
administration was still nominally the Central Government of
China, it was amply clear to observers on the spot that by a
process of successive collapses all that was left of government
was simply that pertaining to a city-state of the antique Greek
type--a mal-administration dominated by the enigmatic personality
of Liang Shih-yi. The writ of the capital no longer ran more than
ten miles beyond the city walls. The very Government Departments,
disgusted with, and distrustful of, the many hidden influences at
work, had virtually declared their independence and went their own
way, demanding foreign dollars and foreign banknotes from the
public, and refusing all Chinese money. The fine residium of
undisputed power left in the hands of the Mal-administrator-in-
Chief, Liang Shih-yi, was the control of the copper cash market
which he busily juggled with to the very end netting a few last
thousands for his own purse, and showing that men like water
inevitably find their true level. In all China's tribulations
nothing similar had ever been seen. Even in 1900, after the Boxer
bubble had been pricked and the Court had sought safety in flight,
there was a certain dignity and majesty left. Then an immense
misfortune had fallen across the capital; but that misfortune was
like a cloak which hid the nakedness of the victim; and there was
at least no pretence at authority.
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