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the northern being represented by the Viceroy of Chili, who acts in Tientsin as Imperial High Trade Commissioner for the North Sea-Board, and the southern by the Viceroy at Nanking, who has the same title for the South Sea-Board. These officials, especially the High Commissioner at Tientsin which position was held for many years by the celebrated Earl (posthumous Duke) Li Hungchang, and is now occupied by a statesman of rapidly rising fame, His Excellency Mr. Yuan Shihkai — are invested with considerable authority in everything relating to foreign affairs, though their competence is neither initiative nor conclusive. The Empire's navy is also divided into the north-sea squadron (Peiyang fleet) and the south-sea squadron (Nanyang fleet), each section being under the immediate control of the corresponding viceroy and the ultimate control of the Board of Naval Affairs in Peking. But it would be misleading to assert, as has been frequently claimed, that the navy of China is an unit for national purposes. In the war of 1894-95 between China and Japan the south-sea squadron never fired a shot in defence of the country. It remained sed- ulously beyond the zone of peril throughout all the incidents of the campaign, and so far as con- cerned its influence on the fate of the war, it might as well have had no existence.

A certain element of interdependence is furnished by the fact that some of the wealthy provinces have to contribute a part of their