The other day I mentioned that the promotional movement is important, but I did not fully expound on this point. It is clear to all—there is no need to dwell on it—that Hunan’s self-governance will by no means arise spontaneously. Yet to claim that if a small group of officials or “gentlemen” take it upon themselves to initiate self-government, then self-government will automatically be achieved, would be profoundly mistaken. Let us consider: can any undertaking really be carried out by a mere handful of people? In the politics of any nation, unless there exists a balance between an opposition party and the ruling party, or between the laboring class and the political establishment, or unless such opposition and labor forces are strong enough to counterbalance the ruling party or the political elite, nine times out of ten that country’s politics will fail. How much more so when an enterprise is still in its infancy, and moreover, when it concerns a matter of paramount importance? Without a broad-based promotional movement to keep watch over it and to scrutinize it afterward, could such an undertaking possibly succeed, let alone succeed well?