The Chinese Government have taken the remarkable step of appointing
a Commission to make a tour of the world to investigate the various types of Parliamentary government. The Commissioners, who will travel in great state, intend to go first to Japan, and then by way of the United States to Europe. The Empress, it is reported, means to promulgate a decree at the New Year establishing a Parliament twelve years hence. The Commissioners will collect information to enable a Constitution to be drafted, and meantime a body of students will be maintained abroad at the Government's expense in order to ensure the efficient working of the Parliament when it assembles. It is a curious policy, if correctly reported, and may probably be set down to the power which the example of Japan has over the Chinese mind. To it a Parliament is not, as with us, a growth of time, but a new invention which can be used satisfactorily by any one who takes the pains to understand it. It will be interesting to note what forms government by debate may assume among a people of such an alert and intricate intelligence.
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