Let us not become so arrogant and oppressive that the people will have no chance to express their views, as this may inspire hatred on the part of the people.  The relation between the Central Government and the provincial centres is like that between the trunk and branches of a tree.  If the branches are all withered, how can the trunk continue to grow?  It is hoped that the Great President, while giving due consideration to the maintenance of the dignity of the Central Government, will at the same time allow the local life of the provinces to develop.  Ethics, Righteousness, Purity and Conscientiousness are four great principles.  When these four principles are neglected, a country dies.  If the whole country should come in spirit to be like “concubines and women,” weak and open to be coerced and forced along with whomsoever be on the stronger side, how can a State be established?  May the Great President encourage principle, and virtue, stimulate purity of character, reject men of covetous and mean character, and grant wise tolerance to those who know no fear in defending the right.  Only then will the vitality of the country be retained in some degree; and in time of emergency, there will be a reserve of strength to be drawn upon in support of the State.  All these considerations are of the order of obvious truths and it must be assumed that the Great President, who is greatly wise, is not unaware of the same.  The reason why Ch’i-chao ventures to repeat them is this.  He holds it true that a duty is laid on him to submit whatever humble thoughts are his, and at the same time he believes that the Great President will not condemn a proper physic even though it may be cheap and simple.  How fortunate will Ch’i-chao be if advice so tendered shall meet with approval.  He is proceeding farther and farther away from the Palace every day and he does not know how soon he will be able to seek an audience again.  He writes these words with tears dropping into the ink-slab and he trusts that his words may receive the attention of the Great President.

So ends this remarkable missive which has become an historic document in the archives of the Republic.  Once again it was whispered that so great an impression did this fateful warning produce on the Emperor-elect that he was within an ace of cancelling the disastrous scheme which now enmeshed him.  But in the end family influence won the day; and stubbornly and doggedly the doomed man pushed on with his attempt to crush revolt and consolidate his crumbling position.

Every possible effort was made to minimize the effect of international influence on the situation.  As the sycophantic vernacular press of the capital, long drilled to blind subservience, had begun to speak of his enthronement as a certainty on the 9th February, a Circular Note was sent to the Five Allied Powers that no such date had been fixed, and that the newspaper reports to that effect were inventions.  In order