and supposing that Diaz, thirty years ago, had a man like Dr. Goodnow to make the suggestion, and men like the Chou An Hui to spread it, and suppose that Diaz boldly took the advice and set up an Imperial system for himself, would Mexico then have a peace that would last as long as the ages?

If Diaz had assumed the throne I am positive he would long ago have been an exile in a foreign country before his imperial system could have come into effect or he himself become the proud founder of a new dynasty.  What he would have held as an imperial charter would have become a mere scrap of paper.  If he could not prevent rebellion even during his lifetime how can we expect an empty Imperial system to prevent it after his death.  Even a child can see this.  The disturbances in Mexico were unavoidable no matter under a republic or a monarchy.  The reason?  It is because Diaz, under the mask of a republic, actually played the role of a despot.  During all the thirty years he held office he never devoted himself to the strengthening of the fundamental things of State, but diligently strengthened his own position.  He massed an enormous number of troops for his own protection so that he might overawe the people.  For fear that the troops might become arrogant and insubordinate, he provoked disagreement among them in order that he might play them round his fingers.  He banished all those who opposed him, relying on force alone.  In dealing with those who were really patriotic, he either corrupted their character by buying them with silver or removed them by assassination.  He was a vainglorious man and spent money like water.  From the foreign capitalists he borrowed in a most indiscriminate manner, while on the Mexican people he levied all sorts of cruel taxes.  Thus the strength of the people was drained and the resources of the country were exhausted, creating a position over which he eventually had no control whatever.  Ten years ago I wrote an article in the Hsin Min Tsung Pao remarking that Diaz was a matchless fraud.  I said then that a nation-wide calamity would befall Mexico after his death and that the Mexican nation would be reduced to a mere shadow. (My friend Mr. Tang Chio-tun also wrote an article, before the internal strife in Mexico broke out, on the same subject and in an even more comprehensive way.) Luckily for Diaz he ruled under the mask of republicanism, for only by so doing did he manage to usurp and keep the presidential chair for thirty years.  He would long ago have disappeared had he attempted to assume the role of an emperor.  This is also true of the other republics of Central and South America.  Their presidents almost without a single exception used military force as a stepping-stone to the presidential chair.  We have yet to see the last military aspirant.  The unsuitability of the country to the republican system is of course one of the reasons but I cannot agree with those who say that this is the only