882 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Novemhei 1, 1913. 



own advantage with remarkable skill. 

 Ke did not accept the title and thereby 

 commit himself irrevocably to the mon- 

 archy. Instead, he used this as an op- 

 portunity to clinch all the arguments 

 which had hitherto been suggested for 

 the abdication of the throne. On the 

 •day following the receipt of the man- 

 -date his reply was published in the offi- 

 vcial Peking Gazette. 



" As I knelt to receive your mandate," 

 ran the courteous memorial, " I was 

 sorely afraid. I recall that I have re- 

 ceived hereditary favour from the 

 Throne, and have been repeatedly ac- 

 corded marks of its signal approbation." 

 Then he goes on to recount the various 

 offices he has filled during the revolu- 

 tionary period, and says : " Grieving at 

 my failure to redeem the situation, I have 

 been unable to accomplish the smallest 

 result after the lapse of months. The 

 dynasty is crumbling into dust, and the 

 people's love is in fragments like a pots- 

 herd. The body politic is smitten with 

 a murrain, and no cure for its distemper 

 can be found. Like Shih-Ko-fa, the last 

 Mmg Commander-in-Chief, I am desti- 

 tute of a fraction of recorded merit, and 

 my guilt knows no desert save death. 

 I beg to recount to your Majesty the per- 

 plexities under which I have laboured 

 since taking office." 



Then followed a most heart-rending 

 -account of his failure to accomplish 

 anything. 



In replying to the mandate. Yuan was 

 careful to observe all the little niceties 

 of Chinese court etiquette and take on 

 himself all the blame for failure to stop 

 the rapid spread of Republicanism, urg- 

 ing this as a reason why he could not 

 accept the title of nobility. It was as 

 fine a piece of Chinese humour as his 

 reply that he could not take up the post 

 of Viceroy at Wuchang because of the 

 rheumatism in his leg. 



HEAD OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERN- 

 MENT. 



The memorial drew no conclusions, 

 but the one conclusion was very appa- 

 rent, that all hope of saving the dynasty 

 was gone. Immediately following this 

 the Throne received a memorial signed 

 by all but two of the Imperial generals. 



demanding that the Throne abdicate in 

 favour of a Republic. This memorial 

 was so similar to that written by Yuan 

 as to lead to the conclusion that both 

 were written by the same hand. In a 

 few days Yuan attended a conference at 

 the Palace, and when he left he had in 

 his possession the famous edict of abdi- 

 cation which gave him full powers to 

 organise a provisional Republican gov- 

 ernment. With that edict in his pocket 

 he was the Government. 



At this time the Republican troops 

 were massed in force along the Yangtsze 

 river, ready to begin a march on Peking. 

 At Nanking was a well-established Re- 

 publican government, with Dr. Sun Yat- 

 sen as President, and a provisional As- 

 sembly in which sat representatives of 

 most of the Southern provinces. Yuan 

 kept the pocket of his coat well buttoned 

 over the abdication edict while he nego- 

 tiated with the Nanking Republicans 

 Dr. Sun agreed to resign, and the Nan- 

 king Assembly agreed to elect Yuan 

 President, but they insisted on one con- 

 dition, that Yuan show his friendly spirit 

 and his acceptance of the Republican 

 principles of the South by coming to 

 Nanking to be inaugurated. To this he 

 finally agreed, though with reluctance, 

 for he knew that Nanking was filled 

 with Cantonese, who were waiting for an 

 opportunity to kill him. Only a few 

 weeks before he had narrowly escaped 

 from a bomb which killed one of his 

 guards and a carriage horse. 



But he began ostentatiously to prepare 

 for his trip, and the Nanking Republi- 

 cans appointed a distinguished com- 

 mittee to go to Peking and escort him 

 south. \\4ien the committee reached 

 Peking it was loaded with honours. But 

 on the night following its arrival a riot 

 broke out among Yuan's favourite 

 troops. There was a good deal of loot- 

 ing and firing of shops, and a lot of 

 shooting in the air, without any very 

 serious results. The rioters paid particu- 

 lar attention to the quarters occupied by 

 the Nanking delegates, and the latter 

 climbed over the rear wall of their com- 

 pound, and sought refuge in the 

 Y.M.C.A. The next day everything was 

 comparatively quiet. Yuan professed 

 great regret at what had happened, and 



