not repeat itself for our benefit.  We must avail ourselves of this chance and under no circumstances hesitate.  Why should we wait for the spontaneous uprising of the revolutionists and malcontents?  Why should we not think out and lay down a plan beforehand?  When we examine into the form of Government in China, we must ask whether the existing Republic is well suited to the national temperament and well adapted to the thoughts and aspirations of the Chinese people.  From the time the Republic of China was established up to the present moment, if what it has passed through is to be compared to what it ought to be in the matter of administration and unification, we find disappointment everywhere.  Even the revolutionists themselves, the very ones who first advocated the Republican form of government, acknowledge that they have made a mistake.  The retention of the Republican form of Government in China will be a great future obstacle in the way of a Chino-Japanese Alliance.  And why must it be so?  Because, in a Republic the fundamental principles of government as well as the social and moral aims of the people are distinctly different from that of a Constitutional Monarchy.  Their laws and administration also conflict.  If Japan act as a guide to China and China models herself after Japan, it will only then be possible for the two nations to solve by mutual effort the Far East Question without differences and disagreements.  Therefore to start from the foundation for the purpose of reconstructing the Chinese Government, of establishing a Chino-Japanese Alliance, of maintaining the permanent peace of the Far East and of realizing the consummation of Japan’s Imperial policy, we must take advantage of the present opportunity to alter China’s Republican form of Government into a Constitutional Monarchy which shall necessarily be identical, in all its details, to the Constitutional Monarchy of Japan, and to no other.  This is really the key and first principle to be firmly held for the actual reconstruction of the form of Government in China.  If China changes her Republican form of Government to that of a Constitutional Monarchy, shall we, in the selection of a new ruler, restore the Emperor Hsuan T’ung to his throne or choose the most capable man from the Monarchists or select the most worthy member from among the revolutionists?  We think, however, that it is advisable at present to leave this question to the exigency of the future when the matter is brought up for decision.  But we must not lose sight of the fact that to actually put into execution this policy of a Chino-Japanese Alliance and the transformation of the Republic of China into a Constitutional Monarchy, is, in reality, the fundamental principle to be adopted for the reconstruction of China.

We shall now consider the bearing of this Defensive Alliance on the other Powers.  Needless to say, Japan and China will in no way impair the rights and interests already acquired by the