Since China’s war with Japan almost everybody who has had anything to say upon the subject has reckoned China among those nations as of no account, too disorganized, feeble, and unpatriotic to offer effectual resistance to any invader. Hon. George F. Seward, a former United States Minister to China, tells us that the Chinese do not lack in patriotism; that when “Li Hung Chang was told by Gordon that he ought to seize the throne, and that if he would enter upon the enterprise Gordon would stand at his back,” the prime minister was faithful to his trust. After referring to events following Germany’s recent action, Mr. Seward (N. Y. Independent, October 6) says:— “All that has happened has not as yet touched the strength of China. Her four hundred millions of people, occupying as fertile a territory as lies under the sun, are intact. If she desires to open mines and build railways, establish schools and arsenals and shipyards, and set on foot an army, she can carry the work forward in all these directions without extreme difficulty. It is not too much to say that a strong man at the head of Chinese affairs within ten years could place the empire in such a position that she could defy the world in arms. It is a people of great capacity in all directions. Her statesmen for natural ability will bear comparison with those of any nation. Her people are frugal, and capable of sustaining hardships. There have been fields on which Chinese soldiers, trained by Ward and Gordon, have done remarkable things. No one can afford to underrate the high qualities of the Chinese.”