The Gavelyte, February 1911

CEDAH. VILLB G'OLLEGE. ruled her people, kept the world outside her borders, had no revolu– tio.ns and. very. few dynasties, and developed such a literary and p h1lm;oph1cal hfe? o other country has the fertility of soil the mineral wealth, climate, and commercial situation that China' has. The whole country is interlined with rivers and canals-more navi– gable streams than any other country. She can grow every fruit, vegetable, and cereal. Providence, seemingly, has pointed her or1t to be, not only the flower garden, but the granary and market house of the world When we picture to ourselvl:'s t.hat there is in China one third of the world's population crowded into eighteen provinces many of which in their weal t h surpass, by far, countries like Ger~ many and France. there is no room for doubt that, when the indus– trial forces of this region have been set in motion, China will become all that has been predicted of h .r. Today her army has developed into one of the best equipped, and her soldiers into the bravest and most accurate marksmen. China, smarting under humiliations and wrongs, as the Opium War, is burning with hate towards certain West..rn nations, and is biding her time for a future settlement with her hated foes. When that time comPs, every non-chri&tian nation, it is highly probable, will fall into line, because the present policy which excludes the Asiatics from North and South America and Aus– tralasia, that bolts the door against the East, after forcing her to open her doors to us, will force those vast populations back upon themselves and compel them to acquire a united self-consciousness and to combine in a common defence. Bishop Bashford has pointed out that civilization has been . wrought out along the water courses. Egyptian civilization was wrought out along the Nile; mcmiaeval civilization around the Medi– terranean Sea, modern civilization around the Atlantic. ''But west– ward the Star of Empire has taken its way until the East and West have met on the Pacific" . The immediate future is to be wrought out around the Pacific Basin. With the growing importance of the Asiatic nations in the industrial world, and the opening of the Pana– ma Canal, the Pacific Ocean is to become the future highway of com– merce. The countries thHt immediately border on this ocean con– tain well-nigh one half the population of the globe, and are almost wholly dependent upon the Pacific for transportation facilities What formerly seemed the back-yard of the world, has now become the very centre of interest. Vast tran~portation comp, nies have recently been formed to connect the various shores of this great basin. The day may come when the ports of Seattle and of San Francisco will show a larger shipping than that of New York. There are strategic times and places in the kingdoms. of men and the history of the world. Man cannot usually predict them . 37