Mr. Hu:  In short, the country cannot be saved except through the establishment of a constitutional form of government.  No constitutional government can be formed except through the establishment of a monarchy.  The constitutional form of government has a set of fixed laws, and the monarchy has a definite head who cannot be changed, in which matters lies the source of national strength and wealth.

Mr. Ko:  What you have said in regard to the adoption of the constitutional monarchy as a means of saving the country from dismemberment is quite true, but I would like to have your opinion on the relative advantages and disadvantages of a republic and a monarchy, assuming that China adopts the scheme of a monarchy.

    Mr. Hu:  I am only too glad to give you my humble opinion on this
    momentous question.

    Mr. Ko:  You have said that China would be devastated by contending
    armies of rival leaders trying to capture the presidency.  At what
    precise moment will that occur?

Mr. Hu:  The four hundred million people of China now rely upon the President alone for the protection of their lives and property.  Upon him likewise falls the burden of preserving both peace and the balance of power in the Far East.  There is no time in the history of China that the Head of the State has had to assume such a heavy responsibility for the protection of life and property and for the preservation of peace in Asia; and at no time in our history has the country been in greater danger than at the present moment.  China can enjoy peace so long as His Excellency Yuan Shih-kai remains the President, and no longer.  Should anything befall the President, every business activity will at once be suspended, shops will be closed, disquietude will prevail, people will become panic-stricken, the troops uncontrollable, and foreign warships will enter our harbours.  European and American newspapers will be full of special dispatches about the complicated events in China, and martial law will be declared in every part of the country.  All this will be due to the uncertainty regarding the succession to the presidency.

It will be seen from the first section of this long and extraordinary pamphlet how the author develops his argument.  One of his major premises is the inherent unruliness of Republican soldiery,—­the armies of republics not to be compared with the armed forces of monarchies,—­and consequently constituting a perpetual menace to good government.  Passing on from this, he lays down the proposition that China cannot hope to become rich so long as the fear of civil war is ever-present; and that without a proper universal education a republic is an impossibility.  The exercise of monarchical power in such circumstances can only be called an inevitable development,—­the one goal to be aimed at being the substitution of Constitutional Government for the dictatorial rule.