China into reforms which they may desire but which she may not desire—who undertake to say that this people have no rights which you are bound to respect. In their coarse language they say: "Take her by the throat.' Using the tyrant's plea, they say they know better what China wants than China does herself. * * *
"Now it is against the malign spirit of this tyrannical element that this Mission was sent forth to the Christian world. * * *
"Missions and men may pass away, but the principles of eternal justice will stand. I desire that the autonomy of China may be preserved. I desire that her independence may be secured. I desire that she may have equality, that she may dispense equal privileges to all nations. If the opposite school is to prevail, if you are to use coercion against that great people, then who are to exercise the coercion, whose forces are you to use, whose views are you to establish? You see the very attempt to carry out any such tyrannical policy would in-
