The Times of Tuesday contains a translation of a very
remarkable Chinese document. This is the testament of Yung Lin, a Manchu official of subordinate position, who being unable to present in person a petition to the Regent dealing with the urgent need for reform, sent it to the Press before committing suicide. The gist of his protest is that China is being rained by incompetent, venal, and extortionate officials. Yung Lin urges that "literary ability should be made the essential standard for encouraging talent," and that " meretricious pomp should be discouraged, and military efficiency made the essential for developing a. national army The standard of officials' morals should be raised by decapitating greedy sycophants." After quoting the Chinese proverb, "Kindness without severity results in aggression from abroad; severity without kindness results in rebellion at home," Yung Lin observes that his remarks " represent a fool's single successful inspiration, and are not the dolorous coraplainings of fancied disease." While grateful for the Imperial bounty granted to himself and his forbears, the perils of the hour and grief for what he cannot alter have driven him to suicide, as his remonstrance would have been punished by imprisonment, -which his constitution was not strong enough to bear. Yet by -what seems to us a strange irony, an Imperial Edict has conferred posthumous honours on Yung Lin for "sacrificing his life in order to display his patriotism."
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