Such a mandate from a weak to a strong state was not likely to be complied with. The troops were not removed, and the Boers promptly crossed the borders into Natal on the east and Cape Colony on the west. The Orange River Free State had joined the South African Republic in its attitude of hostility, and the British on the borders found themselves outnumbered and outgeneraled. The towns of Mafeking and Kimberley on the west were closely besieged, and on the east the outlying troops were driven back on Ladysmith, where General White, the British commander, met with a severe repulse, losing two entire regiments as prisoners. Meanwhile General Buller, the British commander-in-chief, had reached Cape Town and a powerful army was on the ocean, and it was widely felt that the successes of the Boers were but preliminaries to a desperate struggle whose issue only time could decide. [Illustration: W. D. HOWELLS. J. F. COOPER. GEN. LEW. WALLACE. EDWARD EGGLESTON. NATHANIEL HAWTHORN. EDWARD EVERETT HALE. TYPICAL AMERICAN NOVELISTS] [Illustration: LI HUNG CHANG, THE GRAND OLD MAN OF CHINA EMILIO AGUINALDO, LEADER OF THE FILIPINOS TWO POWERFUL MEN IN THE ORIENT] CHAPTER XX The Rise of Japan and the Decline of China. [=Asia the Original Seat of Civilization=] Asia, the greatest of the continents and the seat of the earliest civilizations, yields us the most remarkable phenomenon in the history of mankind. In remote ages, while Europe lay plunged in the deepest barbarism, certain sections of Asia were marked by surprising activity in thought and progress. In three far-separated regions--China, India, and Babylonia--and in a fourth on the borders of Asia--Egypt--civilization rose and flourished for ages, while the savage and the barbarian roamed over all other regions of the earth. A still more extraordinary fact is, that during the more recent era, that of European civilization, Asia has rested in the most sluggish conservatism, sleeping while Europe and America were actively moving, content with its ancient knowledge while the people of the West were pursuing new knowledge into its most secret lurking places. [=The Sluggishness of Modern Asia=]