We cannot to-day discuss all the possibilities that are latent
in a Chinese Republic, whether based upon the principle of federation or of unity; but clearly we are going to witness one of the most interesting and far-reaching experiments in the government of mankind that has ever been seen, whether in Asia or in the West. It may be that anarchy will be the result, and that we shall see a quarter of the human race involved in tumult and confusion owing to an outbreak of lawlessness which the Government is unable to control, and which if it takes place is sure to be followed by aggression on the part of the Great Powers. Anxious to restore trade and commerce to their normal channels, and actuated perhaps even more by jealousy of each other, each Power will want to snatch something—not so much because it wants it for itself, or believes that its " grab " will be directly beneficial, as because it dreads being forestalled by some other Power. In a scramble for pieces of China, if it does come, those Powers which show most restraint and most prudence will, we are convinced, do best in the end ; but, when the nations are caught by the fever of annexation, prudence generally goes to the wall, and we shall be lucky if the scramble does not lead to a great war.
