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112 But Mr. W. Stead says, "It is John Smith and his neighbours who now rule the British Empire." Consequently I have lately taken the trouble to read the books which furnish John Smith with his ideas on China and the Chinese.

The Autocrat at the Breakfast TableThe Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table [sic] classified minds under the heads of arithmetical and algebraical intellects. "All economical and practical wisdom," he observes, "is an extension or variation of the arithmetical formula 2 plus 2 equal 4. Every philosophical proposition has the more general character of the expression a plus b equal c." Now the whole family of John Smith belong decidedly to the category of minds which the Autocrat calls arithmetical intellects. John Smith's father, John Smith senr, alias John Bull, made his fortune with the simple formula 2 plus 2 equal 4. John Bull came to China to sell his Manchester goods and to make money and he got on very well with John Chinaman because both he and John Chinaman understood and agreed perfectly upon the formula 2 plus 2 equal 4. But John Smith Junr, who now rules the British Empire, comes out to China with his head filled with a plus b equal c which he does not understand—and not content to sell his Manchester goods, wants to civilise the Chinese or, as he expresses it, to "spread Anglo-Saxon ideals." The result is that John Smith gets on very badly with John Chinaman, and, what is still worse, under the civilising influence of John Smith's a plus b equal c