EDITORS OF THE SERIES: REV. W. H. WITHROW, M.A., D.D., F.R.S.C. REV. T. S. LINSCOTT, F.R. C.I. AND CHINA IN THE CENTURY BY THE RIGHT HON. SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, BART., P.C., Ex-Governor of Bombay, Etc. "" Cos- Author of " India in 1880," "Men and Events of My Time in India,' 0.45 UNITY THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and One, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and One, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. All Rights Reserved. PREFACE. THIS work relates to two great Continents and one large group of Islands. Consequently it is divided into three Parts-namely, I., India; II., Japan; III., China. I have narrated in a succinct manner the progress during the nineteenth century of three peoples, the Indian with a population of about three hundred millions, the Japanese with a population of nearly forty-five millions, the Chinese with a population of over three hundred and fifty millions; or about seven hundred millions in all. Now if the usually accepted estimate of the population of all countries in the world put together-namely, fourteen hundred millions-approaches the truth, it follows that this work has to summarise the progress of half the human race for a century. The space of time, 1800 to 1899, has been borne in mind. The information in all cases has been brought up to date as nearly as possible, and in many cases up to the time of writing. Moreover these countries have during the century been the scenes of grave, and often complex, events. Each country, too, has undergone momentous changes. Thus the ground |