“One reason why the story of China is so short, comparatively, is that Ching Wang, the old fellow who caused the Chinese wall to be built to keep out the Tartars, ordered all books and records previous to his time to be destroyed.  This was to dispose of the stories of wars, in which China, before his time, was always engaged.

“China has always been at war with the Mongolians.  In 1300 A.D., Genghis Khan raised a Mongolian army and captured Peking.  Later, one Kublai Khan overthrew the Sung dynasty and established a Mongolian empire.  The members of the defeated royal family drowned themselves in the river at Canton.  This Mongolian dynasty lasted until the middle of the fourteenth century, when it was overthrown.

“The Chinese governed their own land, then, until 1644, just before which time the emperor was murdered by native sons.  Then the Tartars got to Peking, in spite of the Great Wall, and established the dynasty now on the throne.

“One cause of the growing revolt in China is the fact that the Tartars are still in power.  But the Tartars who were warlike enough when China lay before them for conquest quieted down as soon as Sun-chi took the throne.  Peace has been the rule since then.

“It seem strange, but it is true, that China has not progressed, has not been given the respect conferred on other nations, because she would not, or could not fight.  Talk about peace all you like, but it is the fighters that win whether in private or national life.

“China has been kicked about by all the nations of the world, large and powerful as she is, because it was understood that she could be insulted with impunity.  England put the opium curse on her against only feeble resistance.  She has stood for peace, not conquest, and had been treated condescendingly, like a big booby of a boy at school who is afraid of lads half his size.  The secret organization now forming in this country may overthrow the Manchu dynasty, but if it does it will build a Chinese republic and not a new Chinese empire.

“It is claimed by some that the United States is favoring this new Chinese party of liberty, that the gold recently lost in the Pacific was our contribution to the cause—­by the roundabout way we have heard so much about—­and that the Washington government will be the first to recognize the new republic.

“I don’t know whether all this is true or not, but father says it is, and he ought to know.  Anyhow, there will be plenty of fighting before the present rulers release their grip on the royal treasury.  It may be that our mission here is to find out something more about this new movement.

“You see,” he added, “if our government is for the new movement, the nation which rammed the gold ship, which set the conspirators at work, which sent a great statesman, as we believe, to negotiate with the conspirators, is against it, and Uncle Sam possibly wants to know what power it is that is likely to assist the present Emperor of China in holding his job.  If Ned can get the proof he needs to establish what he already knows and suspects, he will do a good piece of work.”