fraught with grave danger to Chinese civilization and political influence. Although the Mongols are too weak to stand quite alone, there is nothing to prove that they are not capable of peaceful development if left to themselves, and meanwhile Chinese influence through the medium of commerce may gradually prepare the way for their ultimate absorption.
But now a new regime has arisen in China. The "Son of Heaven" and his "Dragon Throne" are no more, and a young republic guides the destinies of the four hundred millions of the Middle Kingdom. What effect will this change have on Chinese policy towards the smaller nationalities of its Outer Empire? The abdication edict declared the equality of Chinese, Manchus, Mongols, Turkis and Tibetans, and clearly indicated that the ideal before the eyes of Young China is that of freedom for all races and privileges for none. But the world must not be too sanguine. The subject races of Outer China are still very far removed in custom, race and religion from those of Inner China, and these differences have been accentuated by the oppression of the Manchu days. For while Young China, with its semi-European education, is thinking of phrases of Liberty and equality, the Mongol nomad in his tent beyond the Gobi dreams of the days of Dengiz Khan again, and the Turki cultivator on the plains of Eastern Turkestan sees visions of another Mahommedan empire of Timur or Yakab Beg.
What will Young China's answer be to those ideals? History has shown us more than once, of late, that the reforming elements in the State after their first flush of victory direct their energies along the paths
