“Against that, we have this from another pen: ‘Father of the Revolution, Sun is a statesman, a hero and a martyr. Alone in all the contesting leaders in China he has no axe to grind. He asks nothing for himself: he is of the people and for the people.’ The true estimation of him probably lies between those extremes, and nearer the latter. […]

“Much derogatory of Sun has been written in Hongkong during the last few years – at best he was an impractical dreamer; at worst, a fraud. His chief fault, however, would seem to have been that he failed so pathetic­ally: [...] it has been said no reformer in any country had such opportunities as Sun, nor made less use of them. Ourselves, however, have ven­tured to question whether, in like circum­stances, Napoleon, Cromwell, Garibaldi, Washington would not have failed. […] We can, therefore, judge Sun kindly and concede that the dice were against him, driving him to the despera­tion of a man who plays a losing game.”