98o CHINA 



The Wuchang mutineers bombarded the city on October n, when the capture of 

 the Government mint, containing 300,000, supplied the movement with the sinews of 

 war. Viceroy Jui Cheng escaped across the river. A Reformed Government was 

 appointed with General Li Yuan-hung as President and General Huang Hsing in com- 

 mand of the military forces. Moving across the Yangtze the revolutionaries captured 

 Hanyang with its Government arsenal, and were now provided with munitions as well 

 as with money. By this time the Peking Government had to some extent realised the 

 seriousness of the situation. The Regent in his alarm turned to the man whom he had 

 banished from the councils of the Empire three years previously, and it was announced 

 that by edict of October 14 Yuan Shih-kai had been recalled to take up the posts of 

 Viceroy of Hupeh and Hunan and Generalissimo of the Imperial forces. 



Yuan Shih-kai, on whom now all eyes were turned, was born in Honan province in 

 1859. At the age of twenty-three he went with a Chinese detachment to Korea, and 

 three years later (1885) became Imperial Resident at the Korean Court, a 

 Shfh-kaL P st which he retained until the outbreak of the Chino- Japanese War in 

 1894. In 1897 Yuan became Judicial Commissioner of Chihli, and the 

 following year found him in command of an Army Corps. His assistance was sought 

 by the Emperor Kuang Hsu for his reform project, but Yuan Shih-kai sided with the 

 Empress Dowager and helped to carry through the coup d'etat of that year. Enjoying 

 the favour of the Empress Dowager, he became Junior Vice-President of the Board of 

 Works in June 1899, and in December of that year Acting Governor of Shantung. 

 When the Boxer Rebellion broke out he was Governor of that province and afforded 

 protection to foreigners. On the death of Li Hung-chang he became Viceroy of Chihli 

 (December 1901) with the honorary title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent; and 

 it was during his tenure of office at Tientsin that he laid the foundation of China's mod- 

 ern army. He was summoned to Peking in 1907, and was a Grand Councillor and a 

 prominent member of the Government at the time of the death of the Empress Dowager 

 and the Emperor Kuang Hsu. Immediately after Prince Chun assumed the Regency, 

 however, Yuan Shih-kai was dismissed from office and ordered to return to his native 

 place (January 2, 1909); and he remained in disgrace until now. 



A fortnight later Yuan Shih-kai took the field, but virtually in the capacity of a 

 military dictator. In the meantime Imperial troops under General Yin Chang had been 

 in conflict with the revolutionaries in the neighbourhood of Hankow. They had entered 

 the native city, but had fallen back when their communications were threatened. 

 Advancing again, they entered Hankow on October '29, and after three days' fighting 

 they fired the greater part of the city and the revolutionary forces fell back on Hanyang. 

 Indeterminate fighting was continued for the next four weeks, until on November 27 

 Hanyang fell and the position of the revolutionaries in Wuchang became untenable. 



Throughout this period the standard of rebellion had been raised successfully in 

 other parts of China, until fourteen provinces had thrown in their lot with the revolu- 

 tionaries. Thus, while the chief military operations were going in favour of the Im- 

 perialists, the country as a whole was recording its decision with no uncertain voice 

 against the Manchu Government. Nanking held out for the Imperialists until 

 December 2, but on that day Yuan Shih-kai, recognising the necessity of parleying, 

 acceded to the request of the Wuchang administration for a three days' armistice. 



Nothing illustrates better the spontaneous nature of the revolution than the fact that 

 in Shanghai, where the cause was not embraced until November 3, a" military govern- 

 ment " had been created which arrogated to itself the conduct of the whole movement. 

 It was here that the republican idea took definite shape, and when the time arrived for 

 negotiations with the Imperialists, the Shanghai administration refused to recognise Li 

 Yuan-hung's right to conduct the proceedings at Wuchang or Hankow. It insisted that 

 the peace conference should meet at Shanghai. 



After the appointment of Yuan Shih-kai the Court in Peking progressed quickly 

 along the path of humiliation. The National Assembly, which had met on October 

 22, proceeded to assert itself and demanded the right to draw up the Constitution, 



