This war had not closed when the Boxer rebellion broke out in China, and a lesson even more clearly marked was given to the world. For the Chinese Government was perhaps the oldest in the world and the Chinese nation the most numerous. The revolt grew out of a series of aggressions by certain European powers, especially Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia, that consisted in virtually appropriating under various pretexts, certain important positions and valuable pieces of territory in China. Because of the fact that China had lost her vision, and had not even been stimulated to realizing facts by the example of Japan, China was at this time an incoherent aggregation of separate states and organizations; though she was supposed to be a coherent nation, under the emperor in Pekin. Because of a lack of such a nervous system as was given to each civilized nation by its railways, mails, newspapers, telegraphs and telephones, China was a soft and almost amorphous mass; with no definite purpose and no strength, either external or internal. China was not a machine in any proper sense of the word, and was therefore incapable of any action of an effective kind. The result was that, although the cause of the Boxers was not only just but laudable, the whole movement resulted in a series of pitiful atrocities committed by the Boxers in Pekin, followed by a forced entry into that ancient capital by a few thousand troops from the principal civilized nations, and a quick and complete suppression of the entire revolt.
There, in Pekin, in the closing days of the year 1900, could be seen, in two contrasting groups, peoples representing the highly organized and effective Machine of Civilization on one side and its crude and ineffective predecessor on the other side. What was the cause of the enormous difference between the groups? In physical strength and size and courage, little difference if any was observable;--yet one went down before the other, like tenpins before a bowling ball. Some may say that the difference was due to the difference in race. Yet the Japanese were of the same race as the Chinese, and the Japanese troops were as markedly superior to the Chinese as were the troops of any other nation: in fact, it was the consensus of opinion that the Japanese troops were superior to all the others, except the German. Some may say it was because of the difference in religions. Yet the Japanese were of virtually the same religion as the Chinese. Of course, the paramount difference was in the degree of civilization. What was this difference in civilization due to? Clearly, it was due to numberless causes; but there seem to be two causes more important than the others: a difference in attitude toward the possibilities of invention, and a difference in what has been called "the fighting spirit."