Note 3 — PREFACE[1]
Richard Davey translation
For example, the writer signing himself ‘Diplomaticus’ in the Fortnightly Review for September, 1900, airily dismisses as ‘illusions’ the belief that ‘China was gradually crumbling to ruin, that she was incapable of organized resistance to the foreigner, that her millions were unconscious of a national spirit and incapable of progress.’ Each one of these ‘illusions’ is an elementary fact about China, except so far as foreign help and guidance may alter it.