Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 350 (Color Image)

0350	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

266 PEKING TO LHASA

commanding figure to restore order out of chaos,

there is of course a certain amount of safety for

the foreigner whilst the factions are fighting

amongst themselves, and the leaders may feel that

one day their only chance of escaping may be

through the assistance of the foreigner. On the

other hand, owing to the lack of any stable form

of government or dependence on any central

authority, a sudden anti-foreign rising by a mob,

or engineered by secret societies, would be more

dangerous than in any other Province, owing to

its inaccessibility.

Through the collapse of Russia, and in a lesser

degree of Germany, the power of the foreigner to

command respect in China is much less than it

used to be, the more so as the remaining Powers

are more engrossed in restoring order in their own

countries. Luckily they still can demonstrate

against Peking, Canton, Wu-ch'ang and Nanking,

the four most important centres of influence in

China, whilst with its long coast-line other im-

portant points can be threatened. Yunnan, too,

with the railway to Hanoi and its neighbourhood

to Burma, can feel the power of the foreigner, but

the Western Provinces are generally isolated and

beyond the reach of a foreign expedition. In the

case of Kansu this does not much matter, as long as

the Mahommedans and Chinese are more or less

equably divided and engrossed with their own

rivalries. Shensi and Kueichow and Kuangsi are

unimportant Provinces, dependent on and influ-

enced by their more powerful surroundings. The

only inaccessible Province that matters is Szech-

wan, which is secure in its own isolation and

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