They will be neither gainers nor losers by the transference of Saghalien, and the Russian islands in the Pacific, nor by the change in the ownership of Vladivostok. Whilst some nationals will be losers by the dismantling of Port Arthur and the disappearance from the Pacific of the Russian naval stations, in all probability the world will be distinctly the gainer, if, as is proposed, Manchuria and “Japanese Siberia,” are opened to free commerce. The empire of China expects to benefit largely if Japan wins, but if this benefit is to be paid for by the Chinese people in extra taxes levied in order that Japan may be paid out her share in the reconquered Manchuria, then the Chinese people will have good reason to curse a war which has added to their burdens and in no other way ameliorated their condition. China is as corrupt as her empire is vast; even the Japanese with whom I have conversed on the subject declared that the task of regenerating China was too great for them to attempt; the Chinese were hopelessly incorrigible. The bulk of the Chinese, though bound by tradition and the slaves of their environment, are sensible, law-abiding people, whose greatest need is a good government. It is not that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor--there are laws for any and every class--but there is justice for no one, only the foreigner. I will take an instance. A rich corporation had a difference with a rich contractor as to the quality of certain material supplied. In England it would have been a case for a civil court, but in order to obtain the return of their money they put the man in the _yamen_, and being rich, paid the expected cumshaws, and in the course of time the sum they demanded was extorted from the contractor. By that time the _yamen_ officials had discovered that he was wealthy, and he was not released until he was not only beggared, but his daughters had been sold into slavery. The handful of snow thrown at the man became an avalanche which overwhelmed him. The magistrates are appointed for a term of three years, and count upon receiving in cumshaws the first year as much as they paid in order to secure the position; double that sum the second year, and the third year double the second year’s income. Is there any crime which justifies the State in flaying a woman to death? Perchance the visitor to a big Chinese city may happen on such an execution in one of its streets. He may shut his eyes to the horrible spectacle and pass by as the foreign resident does, or as a tourist he may stay and watch, and as a souvenir buy at a German photographer’s a set of snap-shots showing the various stages of the ghastly performance of tearing the skin from the sentient flesh of a writhing human being tied to the stake.