tion which it had practically finished and asking that Parliament be dissolved if the Constitution were not corrected. The three points to which they objected were:

(1) When the House of Representatives passes a vote of lack of confidence in the Cabinet Ministers, the President shall either dismiss the Cabinet or dissolve the House of Representatives, but the said House must not be dissolved without the approval of the Senate. (The French system.)

(2) The President can appoint the Premier without the countersignature of the Cabinet Ministers.

(3) Any resolution passed by both houses shall have the same force as law. Obviously these three points give more power to the President and to Parliament than an autocratic Premier and his supporters would desire. The answer to this petition was an increased demand for the retirement of Tuan and the formation of a new Cabinet. The Premier refusing to resign on May 23, the President dismissed him from office. Wu Ting-fang was appointed acting Premier, and there was a feeling of relief. Li Ching-hsi, nephew of Li Hung Chang, was nominated on May 25 for Premier, and on May 28 his nomination was passed by the House of Representatives, 388 to 56, and next day by the

Senate, 166 to 25. On May 30, C. T. Wang, Chairman of the Committee for Writing the Permanent Constitution, published a statement saying that the second reading was practically finished and reviewing the chief points of interest in the new document ready for promulgation.

as

The Chinese ship of state seemed to have weathered another of its many storms. But suddenly rumor came from Anwhei that General Ni Shih-ching had declared independence, and that he was backed by most of the other Northern Generals and Governors, who, as Putnam Weale put it, looked upon Parliament and any Constitution it might work out "damnable Western nonsense, the real, essential, vital, decisive instrument of Government in their eyes being not even a responsible Cabinet, but a camarilla behind that Cabinet which would typify and resume all those older forces in the country belonging to the empire and essentially militaristic and dictatorial in their character." This declaration of result was received without approval by the people of the country. I talked with men from many sections of the country and they all agreed that the Military Governors had no definite ideal.

cuse the Cabinet of violating law, yet, with the assistance of a military force, you endeavor to disobey the orders of the Government. The only goal such acts can lead to is partition of the country like the five Chi and making the country a protectorate like Korea; in which case both restoration of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic will be an idle dream. You may not care for the black records that will be written against you in history, but you ought certainly to realize your own fate.

I am an old man. Like the beanstalk under the leaf I have always been watching for any possibility of not seeing and understanding aright. Yea, I walk day and night as if treading on thin ice. I welcome all for giving me advice and even admonition. If it will benefit the country I am ready to apologize.

But if it be your aim to shake the foundations of the country and provoke internal war, I declare that I am not afraid to die for the country. I have passed through the fire of trial and have exhausted my strength and energy from the beginning to the end for the republic. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I will under no circumstance watch my country sink into perdition, still less subject myself to become a slave to another race.

Of such acts I wash my hands in front of all the elders of the country. These are sincere words from my true heart and will be carried out into deeds.

May 31, 1917.

LI YUAN-HUNG.

Southern Provinces Loyal

Following the declaration of independence of the northern provinces, most of the southern ones declared their opposition to this stand. They were led by Yunnan, Kweichow, Kwantung, and Kwangsi, who originally opposed the monarchical movement of Yuan Shih-kai

last year. Some of the loyal Generals' telegrams were hotly worded. From Tang Chi-yao, Governor of Yunnan:

Chi-yao is unpolished in thoughts and ignorant of the ways of partisanship or factionism. All he cares and knows about is, to protect the republic and be loyal to it. If any one should be daring enough to endanger the Chief Executive or Parliament, I vow I shall not live with him under the same sky. I shall mount my steed the moment order is received from the President to do so.

From a General in Kwantung:

The reason why the rebels have risen against the Government is that they are fighting for their own posts and for money. That is why their views are so divergent and their acts so ill-balanced. It is hoped the President will be firm to the very last and give no ear either to threat or inducement. This is the time for us to sweep away the remnants of the monarchist curse and reform the administration. With my head leaning against the spear I wait for the order to strike and I will not hesitate even if I should return to my native place a corpse wrapped up in horse-skin!

Friendly Warning from America

The military party nevertheless met at Tientsin and elected Hsu Shih-chang, Generalissimo. But soon signs of dissension appeared among them. On June 7 was made public a friendly warning from America. The American Minister, Dr. Reinsch, transmitted the following message to Dr. Wu Ting-fang, the Minister of Foreign Affairs:

The Government of the United States learns with the most profound regret of the dissension in China and desires to express the most sincere desire that tranquillity and political co-ordination may be forthwith re-established.

The entry of China into war with Germany-or the continuance of the status quo of her relations with that Government-are matters of secondary consideration.

The principal necessity for China is to resume and continue her political entity, to proceed along the road of national development on which she has made such marked progress.

With the form of government in China, of the personnel which administers that government, the United States has an interest only in so far as its friendship impels it to be of service to China. But in the maintenance of China by one central united and alone responsible government, the United States is deeply inter

ested, and now expresses the very sincere hope that China, in her own interest and in that of the world, will immediately set aside her factional political disputes, and that all parties and persons will work for the re-establishment of a co-ordinate government and the assumption of that place among the powers of the world to which China is so justly entitled, but the full attainment of which is impossible in the midst of internal discord.

This was welcomed by Chinese as a pledge to support the Central Government. By the Japanese it was received with varying degrees of disapprobation and suspicion, the chief grievance being that Japan had not been consulted beforehand.

The President Weakens

On June 9 an ultimatum was sent from Tientsin either by Chang Hsun or by Li Ching-hsi, threatening to attack Peking if Parliament was not dissolved. The President was isolated and members of Parliament and other democrats could not reach him. Rumor reported that he was about to give in and dissolve Parliament. The British adviser to the Chinese Government advised him not to do so. The Japanese adviser gave the opposite counsel. Wu Ting-fang, Acting Premier, refused to sign the mandate. Finally, on June 12, the mandate was issued, countersigned by General Chiang Chao-tsung, commander of the Peking gendarmerie. The next day an explanation was made by President Li in which he admitted he was forced to issue the mandate against his will, but that he did it to save Peking and the country from war and destruction. He declared he would resign as soon as opportunity came.

On June 15 Chang Hsun arrived in Peking with Li Ching-hsi. Eight of the provinces that week canceled their independence, stating that their desire for the dissolution of Parliament had been satisfied. The members of Parliament made their way, many of them in disguise, to Shanghai and there held meetings and sent out manifestoes. Affairs were apparently at a standstill with the country thus divided when the great coup d'état was carried out by Chang Hsun. Affairs thereupon moved swiftly.

On June 30 Kang Yu-wei, a known advocate of the monarchy, arrived in

Peking. He had traveled incognito from Shanghai. His first visit was to Chang Hsun. On July 1 at 4 A. M. Chang Hsun and his suite called on the Manchu boy Emperor and informed him of his restoration, and seated him on the throne. President Li Yuan-hung was requested to resign, but refused. He was then practically held prisoner. Numerous imperial edicts were issued, countersigned by “Chang Hsun, member of the Privy Council."

On July 3 Feng Kuo-chang repudiated any connection with the restoration, his name having appeared in the edicts as one of the petitioners. The Military Governor of Canton issued proclamations that the Cantonese would fight to maintain the republic. Many similar messages were sent by other provinces. Japanese troops proceeded to the Forbidden City, took President Li Yuanhung out of the custody of Chang Hsun's men and escorted him to the Japanese Legation. On July 4 the President issued a pledge to fight for the republic. On July 5 hostilities broke out at Lang Fang on the Peking-Tientsin railway. General Tsao Kun arrived at Liuliho with 10,000 troops en route to Peking. The diplomatic body notified the Peking authorities that the Procotol of 1901 providing for open railway communication between Shanhaikwan and Peking must be observed. On July 5 trains out of Peking were packed to overflowing with Chinese fleeing to Tientsin. A special train with a foreign detachment was stopped at Lang Fang by a republican General, who requested the passengers to turn back, as Chang Hsun's troops had torn up the tracks a mile further on.

By this time the entire country, with the exception of three provinces, had declared its opposition to the Manchu movement. Tuan Chi-jui came out of his retirement, offering to take command of the republican army. Liang Chi-chao, who was such a force against Yuan Shihkai, denounced the whole movement.

The Battle at Peking

The republican troops advanced upon Peking, and on July 7 American, Japanese, and British soldiers arrived at the capital, after having been detained at

Fengtai, where firing between the opposing Chinese forces was in progress; several bullets struck the train, and a Japanese postman was injured. An airplane later dropped a bomb over Fengtai station and wrecked the shed. Chang Hsun's troops at Paoma Chang retired inside the capital without fighting and concentrated at the Temple of Heaven. Another airplane flew over the Forbidden City and dropped bombs. Chang Hsun, on July 8, resigned, but the abdication of the Emperor was not published, his protector holding out for favorable terms.

Vice President Feng Kuo-chang assumed the office of Acting President at Nanking, which was declared the capital of the Provincial Government. Dr. Wu Ting-fang arrived in Shanghai with the seal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although on July 9 the Premier announced that he was dismissed from office. Several Ministers of the Manchu Cabinet on this day were captured while attempting to escape. Chang Hsun refusing to surrender and 50,000 republican troops having surrounded Peking, on July 12, at 4 A. M., the attack was begun in earnest. The battle continued nine hours. Several foreigners were wounded; fire broke out in the Forbidden City; Chang Hsun took refuge in the Dutch Legation, and the republican flag was raised over the Forbidden City. Several thousand of Chang Hsun's troops surrendered and were disarmed and sent back to Hsuchowfu.

On July 13 Chang Hsun's troops offered to surrender their arms upon payment of $80,000. General Tuan Chi-jui accepted the offer by telegraph and arranged for a temporary loan from the Yokohama Special Bank to make the payment. Chang Hsun's internment came about by his visit to the Legation Quarter, which is neutral territory. He was trying to arrange for mediation. On July 14 Tuan Chi arrived in Peking. President Li left the Japanese Legation for his private residence. On July 15 Tuan Chi-jui assumed the office of Premier, though the southern provinces showed opposition

him. On July 16 Li Yuan-hung

entered the Peking French Hospital. Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his party arrived in Canton from Swatow. In an interview he stated it was desirable that the southwestern provinces should be joined together for the restoration of the Provisional Constitution. On July 17 President Li, in a telegram to the provinces, refused to resume office. Mandates were issued appointing Wang Ta-hsieh Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Premier Tuan Chi-jui concurrently Minister of War. The ChinPu-Tang Party at Tientsin voted to support the Tuan Government. Acting President Feng Kuo-chang expressed his willingness to succeed Li Yuanhung.

The present situation still has possibilities of dissension, with the Parliamentarians backed by the southern provinces, and the Kuo-Ming-Tang, or Progressive, Party, opposed to Tuan Chi-jui, and the Chin-Pu-Tang, or Conservative, Party backed by the military Governors. But it has been proved, as one eminent journalist has affirmed, that the monarchy is stone-dead." The Yuan Shih-kai dynasty lasted eightytwo days, Chang Hsun's lasted eight, and there is no question of the advance of public opinion and popular feeling in this regard.

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Duty of the United States

To those who live in the Orient it seems that America is facing both a duty and a danger in this situation of China and Japan-a situation in which a great people is trying to work out a stable republic, with another people by its side avowedly imperialistic in policy and ready to take advantage of any weakness of its neighbor. The duty is to see that the slogan, "The world must be made safe for democracy," is not restricted merely to the Western Hemisphere. The danger is that, if Japan is allowed to control and use China's resources for its own purposes, the battle against militarism must again be waged in the East as it has been fought in the West.

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To reveal the Chinese attitude in this regard I will quote, in conclusion, from the recent utterances of Chinese

statesmen and competent foreign critics. Dr. Wu Ting-fang, formerly Minister to the United States, and recently Chinese Secretary of Foreign Affairs, speaking at a tiffin given in his honor by the American University Club on July 13, said:

The war in Europe is being fought to put an end to Prussian militarism; and I want the Americans here to understand that China's present troubles are due to exactly the same causes. We are engaged in a struggle between democracy and militarism. Between 55 and 60 per cent. of the taxes of China are now going to support militarism in China. This must be changed, but the change must be gradual. I ask Americans to be patient and give China a chance. Democracy will triumph. Please be patient with us. Study China and try us from our own point of view instead of your own.

I hope to see the day when the Stars and Stripes and the fire-color flag of China will be intertwined in an everlasting friendship. These nations believe in universal brotherhood; in the rights of the people of small nations to manage their own affairs, as outlined by the great American President in his war declaration. I make this statement with hostility to no nation.

Hon. C. T. Wang, Vice President of the Chinese Senate, spoke in the same vein:

With the strongly ingrained love for democracy and the firm belief in the necessity of subordinating military authority under the civil, in the character of our people, we do not hesitate for a minute to affirm that in China, just as it is in free and democratic nations of the world, constitutionalism shall prevail over militarism. We, like the Entente Allies, have time on our side. We shall have to make the same sacrifices for the final victory of constitutionalism and democracy as they are making in their titanic struggle on the battlefield of Europe. Let us resolve that we will.

In an address delivered before the semi-centennial anniversary of The New York Nation, Dr. Wellington Koo, Minister to the United States from China, said in part:

In the first place, the people of the Far East feel that in any reconstruction which may take place after the war the Far East should be included; that the problems of the Far East should receive due consideration.

In the second place,

the reflective minds of the Far East feel that not only the problems of the Far East should be given full consideration,

but also the voice of the Far East should be freely heard at the council board of nations. There is, in the third place, yet another thought which is quickening the hearts of a very large portion of the people in the Far East, particularly of the people in China, and that is, that in any reconstruction to take place hereafter, the base of the foundation should be built upon justice, international justice. The people of the Far East in general feel that every act of aggression, wherever arising, should be a matter of concern, not only of the victim and oppressed, but should also be of serious interest to the world at large; for every act of aggression and oppression, unchecked and uncondemned, is sure to react to the detriment of the international society.

Here between China and the United States, for instance, we have a concrete example of how two nations, always basing their mutual intercourse on justice, could get along in cordial relationship and in perfect understanding; more than a century of trade intercourse, eighty-seven years of missionary work, seven decades of diplomatic relations, and nearly half a century of educational co-operation, have all been characterized by a sustained feeling of friendliness and cordiality, so that Chinese and Americans, wherever they meet, can always talk to each other without hidden thoughts and with perfect confidence in the good-will of each toward the other. There is no suspicion or friction between them. The two countries are living in a happy state of friendship that grows from day to day. What two countries have done can be accomplished by the world at large.

The definite assistance which America could give China was described by C. T. Wang, in an article published July 28, in Shanghai. I knew Mr. Wang at Yale. He has had wide acquaintance with American affairs, and in China has stood for all that is best in its Christian and national life. His article deserves careful reading by American friends of China:

In this vital struggle, where shall America, the champion of democracy, stand? We entirely agree with Mr. Milliard in his views expressed through the editorial columns of his paper [Milliard's Review] on July 28, which we will reproduce here for emphasis:

"A primary requisite is that, as be"tween reversion to an archaic monarchy, "or the retention of a military oligarchy, "or a graduated advance toward genuine "republicanism, the influence of the "United States ought to be thrown "definitely to bring about the latter alter"native. If this leads to quasi-interfer