Book: The Fight For The Republic in China

B >> Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale >> The Fight For The Republic in China




By the 21st May, the last remaining Cabinet Minister--the Minister of
Education--had resigned and the Premier was left completely isolated. On
the 23rd May the President, relying on the general support of the
nation, summarily dismissed General Tuan Chi-jui from the Premiership
and appointed the veteran diplomat Dr. Wu Ting-fang to act during the
interim period in his stead, at the same time placing the metropolitan
districts under four trustworthy Generals who were vested with
provost-marshals' powers under a system which gave them command of all
the so-called "precautionary troops" holding the approaches to the
capital. The Military Governors, who a few hours before these events had
left Peking precipitately in a body on the proclaimed mission of allying
themselves with the redoubtable General Chang Hsun at Hsuchowfu, and
threatening the safety of the Republic, were, however, coolly received
in the provinces in spite of all their most bitter attempts to stir up
trouble. This, however, as will be shown, had no influence on their
subsequent conduct. The quiet disappearance of the ex-Premier in the
midst of this upheaval caused the report to spread that all the members
of the corrupt camarilla which had surrounded him were to be arrested,
but the President soon publicly disclaimed any intention of doing
so,--which appears to have been a fatal mistake. It is disheartening to
have to state that nearly all the Allied Legations in Peking had been in
intimate relations with this gang--always excepting the American
Legation whose attitude is uniformly correct--the French Minister going
so far as to entertain the Military Governors and declare, according to
reports in the native press, that Parliament was of no importance at
all, the only important thing being for China promptly to declare war.
That some sort of public investigation into Peking diplomacy is
necessary before there can be any hope of decent relations between China
and the Powers seems indisputable.[26]

Before the end of May the militarists being now desperate, attempted the
old game of inciting the provincial capitals "to declare their
independence," although the mass of the nation was plainly against them.
Some measure of success attended this move, since the soldiery of the
northern provinces obediently followed their leaders and there was a
sudden wild demand for a march on Peking. A large amount of
rolling-stock on the main railways was seized with this object, the
confusion being made worse confounded by the fierce denunciations which
now came from the southernmost provinces, coupled with their threats to
attack the Northern troops all along the line as soon as they could
mobilize.

The month of June opened with the situation more threatening than it had
been for years. Emissaries of the recalcitrant Military Governors,
together with all sorts of "politicals" and disgruntled generals,
gathered in Tientsin--which is 80 miles from Peking--and openly
established a Military Headquarters which they declared would be
converted into a Provisional Government which would seek the recognition
of the Powers. Troops were moved and concentrated against Peking; fresh
demands were made that the President should dissolve Parliament; whilst
the Metropolitan press was suddenly filled with seditious articles. The
President, seeing that the situation was becoming cataclysmic, was
induced, through what influences is not known, to issue a mandate
summoning General Chang Hsun to Peking to act as a mediator, which was
another fatal move. He arrived in Tientsin with many troops on the 7th
June where he halted and was speedily brought under subversive
influences, sending at once up to Peking a sort of ultimatum which was
simply the old demand for the dissolution of Parliament.

Meanwhile on the 5th June, the United States, which had been alarmed by
these occurrences, had handed China the following Note hoping thereby to
steady the situation:

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 or 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 by China of one Central United and alone
responsible Government, the United States is deeply interested, 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.

The situation had, however, developed so far and so rapidly that this
expression of opinion had little weight. The Vice-President of the
Republic, General Feng Kuo-chang, unwilling or unable to do anything,
had already tendered his resignation from Nanking, declaring that he
would maintain the "neutrality" of the important area of the lower
Yangtsze during this extraordinary struggle; and his action, strange as
it may seem, typified the vast misgivings which filled every one's mind
regarding the mad course of action which the rebellious camarilla had
decided upon.

Until Saturday the 9th June, the President had seemed adamant. On that
day he personally saw foreign press correspondents and assured them
that, in spite of every threat, he would in no conceivable
circumstances attempt the unconstitutional step of dissolving
Parliament,--unconstitutional because the Nanking Provisional
Constitution under which the country was still governed pending the
formal passage of the Permanent Constitution through Parliament, only
provided for the creation of Parliament as a grand constitutional
Drafting Committee but gave no power to the Chief Executive to dissolve
it during its "life" which was three years. As we have already shown,
the period between the _coup d'etat_ of 4th November, 1913, and the
re-convocation of Parliament on 1st August, 1916, had been treated as a
mere interregnum: therefore until 1918, if the law were properly
construed, no power in the land could interrupt the Parliamentary
sessions except Parliament itself. Parliament, in view of these
threatening developments, had already expressed its willingness (a) to
reconsider certain provisions of the draft constitution in such a
conciliatory manner as to insure the passage of the whole instrument
through both houses within two weeks; (b) to alter the Election Law in
such fashion as to conciliate the more conservative elements in the
country; (c) to prorogue the second session (1916-1917) immediately
these things were done and after a very short recess to open the third
session (1917-1918) and close it within three months, allowing new
elections to be held in the early months of 1918,--the new Parliament to
be summoned in April, 1918, to form itself into a National Convention
and elect the President for the quinquennial period 1918-1923.

All these reasonable plans were knocked on the head on Sunday, the 10th
June, by the sudden report that the President having been peremptorily
told that the dissolution of Parliament was the sole means of saving the
Republic and preventing the sack of Peking, as well as an open armed
attempt to restore the boy-emperor Hsuan Tung, had at last made up his
mind to surrender to the inevitable. He had sealed a Mandate decreeing
the dissolution of Parliament which would be promulgated as soon as it
had received the counter-signature of the acting Premier, Dr. Wu
Ting-fang, such counter-signature being obligatory under Article 45 of
the Provisional Constitution.

At once it became clear again, as happens a thousand times during every
year in the East, that what is not nipped in the bud grows with such
malignant swiftness as finally to blight all honest intentions. Had
steps been taken on or about the 23rd May to detain forcibly in Peking
the ringleader of the recalcitrant Military Governors, one General Ni
Shih-chung of Anhui, history would have been very different and China
spared much national and international humiliation. Six years of stormy
happenings had certainly bred in the nation a desire for
constitutionalism and a detestation of military domination. But this
desire and detestation required firm leadership. Without that leadership
it was inchoate and powerless, and indeed made furtive by the constant
fear of savage reprisals. A great opportunity had come and a great
opportunity had been lost. President Li Yuan-hung's personal argument,
communicated to the writer, was that in sealing the Mandate dissolving
Parliament he had chosen the lesser of two evils, for although South
China and the Chinese Navy declared they would defend Parliament to the
last, they were far away whilst large armies were echeloned along the
railways leading into Peking and daily threatening action. The events of
the next year or so must prove conclusively, in spite of what has
happened in this month of June, 1917, that the corrupt power of the
sword can no longer even nominally rule China.

[Illustration: The Late President Yuan Shih-kai]

[Illustration: President Yuan Shi-kai photographed immediately after his
Inauguration as Provisional President, March 10th, 1912.]

Meanwhile the veteran Dr. Wu Ting-fang, true to his faith, declared that
no power on earth would cause him to sign a Mandate possessing no
legality behind it; and he indeed obstinately resisted every attempt to
seduce him. Although his resignation was refused he stood his ground
manfully, and it became clear that some other expedient would have to be
resorted to. In the small hours of the 13th June what this was was made
clear: by a rapid reshuffling of the cards Dr. Wu Ting-fang's
resignation was accepted and the general officer commanding the Peking
Gendarmerie, a genial soul named General Chiang Chao-tsung, who had
survived unscathed the vicissitudes of six years of revolution, was
appointed to act in his stead and duly counter-signed the fateful
Mandate which was at once printed and promulgated at four o'clock in the
morning. It has been stated to the writer that had it not been so issued
four battalions of Chang Hsun's savage pigtailed soldiery, who had been
bivouacked for some days in the grounds of the Temple of Heaven, would
have been let loose on the capital. The actual text of the Mandate
proves conclusively that the President had no hand in its drafting--one
argument being sufficient to prove that, namely the deliberate ignoring
of the fact that Parliament had been called into being by virtue of
article 53 of the Nanking Provisional Constitution and that under
article 54 its specific duty was to act as a grand constitutional
conference to draft and adopt the Permanent Constitution, article 55
furthermore giving Parliament the right summarily to amend the
Provisional Constitution before the Promulgation of the permanent
instrument, should that be necessary. Provisions of this sort would
naturally carry no weight with generals of the type of Chang Hsun, of
whom it is said that until recent years he possessed only the most
elementary education; but it is a dismal thing to have to record that
the Conservative Party in China should have adopted a platform of brute
force in the year of grace, 1917.

MANDATE DISSOLVING PARLIAMENT

In the 6th month of last year I promulgated a Mandate stating that
in order to make a Constitution it was imperative that Parliament
should be convened. The Republic was inaugurated five years ago and
yet there was no Constitution, which should be the fundamental law
of a nation, therefore it was ordered that Parliament be re-convened
to make the Constitution, etc., at once.

Therefore the main object for the re-convocation of Parliament was
to make a formal constitution for the country. Recently a petition
was received from Meng En-yuen, Tu-chun of Kirin, and others, to the
effect that "in the articles passed by the Constitution Conference
there were several points as follows: 'when the House of
Representatives passes a vote of want of confidence against the
Cabinet Ministers, the President may dismiss the Cabinet Ministers,
or dissolve the said House, but the dissolution of the House shall
have the approval of the Senate.' Again, 'When the President
dismisses his Prime Minister, it is unnecessary for him to secure
the counter-signature of the Cabinet Ministers.' Again 'when a bill
is passed by the Two Houses it shall have the force of the law.' We
were surprised to read the above provisions.

"According to the precedents of other nations the Constitution has
never been made by Parliament. If we should desire a good and
workable Constitution, we should seek a fundamental solution. Indeed
Parliament is more important than any other organ in the country;
but when the national welfare is imperilled, we must take action. As
the present Parliament does not care about the national welfare, it
is requested that in view of the critical condition of the country,
drastic measures be taken and both the House of Representatives and
the Senate be dissolved so that they may be reorganized and the
Constitution may be made without any further delay. Thus the form of
the Republican Government be preserved, etc."

Of late petitions and telegrams have been received from the military
and civil officials, merchants, scholars, etc., containing similar
demands. The Senate and the House of Representatives have held the
Constitution Conference for about one year, and the Constitution has
not yet been completed. Moreover at this critical time most of the
M.P.'s of both Houses have tendered their resignation. Hence it is
impossible to secure quorums to discuss business. There is therefore
no chance to revise the articles already passed. Unless means be
devised to hasten the making of the Constitution, the heart of the
people will never be satisfied.

I, the President, who desire to comply with the will of the populace
and to consolidate the foundation of the nation, grant the request
of the Tuchuns and the people. It is hereby ordered that the Senate
and the House of Representatives be dissolved, and that another
election be held immediately. Thus a Constitutional Government can
be maintained. It must be pointed out that the object for the
reorganization of Parliament is to hasten the making of the
Constitution, and not to abolish the Legislative Organ of the
Republic. I hope all the citizens of the Republic will understand my
motives.

A great agitation and much public uneasiness followed the publication of
this document; and the parliamentarians, who had already been leaving
Peking in small numbers, now evacuated the capital _en masse_ for the
South. The reasonable and wholly logical attitude of the
Constitutionalists is well-exhibited in the last Memorandum they
submitted to the President some days prior to his decision to issue the
Mandate above-quoted; and a perusal of this document will show what may
be expected in the future. It will be noted that the revolting Military
Governors are boldly termed rebels and that the constitutional view of
everything they may contrive as from the 13th June, 1917, is that it
will be bereft of all legality and simply mark a fresh interregnum.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the situation is brought back
by the Mandate of the 13th June to where it was on the 6th June, 1916,
with the death of Yuan Shih-kai, and that a period of civil commotion
seems inevitable.

MEMORANDUM

To the President: Our previous memorandum to Your Excellency must
have received your attention. We now beg further to inform you that
the rebels are now practically in an embarrassing predicament on
account of internal differences, the warning of the friendly Powers,
and the protest of the South-western provinces. Their position is
becoming daily more and more untenable. If Your Excellency strongly
holds out for another ten days or so, their movement will collapse.

Some one, however, has the impudence to suggest that with the entry
of Chang Hsun's troops into the Capital, and delay in the settlement
of the question will mean woe and disaster. But to us, there need be
no such fear. As the troops in the Capital have no mind to oppose
the rebels, Tsao Kun and his troops alone will be adequate for their
purposes in the Capital. But now the rebel troops have been halting
in the neighbourhood of the Capital for the last ten days. This
shows that they dare not open hostilities against the Government,
which step will certainly bring about foreign intervention and incur
the strong opposition of the South-western provinces. Having refused
to participate in the rebellion at the invitation of Ni Shih-chung
and Chang Tso-lin, Chang Hsun will certainly not do what Tsao Kun
has not dared to do. But the rebels have secret agents in the
Capital to circulate rumours to frighten the public and we hope that
the President will remain calm and unperturbed, lest it will give an
opportunity for the rebel agents to practise their evil tricks.

Respecting Parliament, its re-assembly was one of the two most
important conditions by means of which the political differences
between the North and the South last year were healed. The
dissolution of Parliament would mean the violation of the terms of
settlement entered into between the North and the South last year
and an open challenge to the South. Would the South remain silent
respecting this outrageous measure? If the South rises in arms
against this measure, what explanation can the Central Government
give? It will only serve to hasten the split between the North and
the South. From a legal point of view, the Power of Government is
vested in the Provisional Constitution. When the Government
exercises power which is not provided for by the Constitution, it
simply means high treason.

Some one has suggested that it would not be an illegal act for the
Government to dissolve Parliament, since it is not provided in the
Provisional Constitution as to how Parliament should be dissolved,
nor does that instrument specifically prohibit the Government from
dissolving Parliament. But this is a misinterpretation. For
instance, the Provisional Constitution has not provided that the
President shall not proclaim himself Emperor, nor does it prohibit
him from so doing. According to such interpretation, it would not be
illegal, if the President were to proclaim himself Emperor of the
country.

In short, the action taken by Ni Shih-chung and others is nothing
short of open rebellion. From the legal point of view, any
suggestion of compromise would be absurd. It has already been a
fatal mistake for the President to have allowed them to do what they
like, and if he again yields to their pressure by dissolving
Parliament, he will be held responsible, when the righteous troops
rise and punish the rebels. If the President, deceived by ignoble
persons, take upon himself to dissolve the assembly, his name will
go down in history as one committing high treason against the
Government, and the author of the break between the North and the
South. The President has been known as the man by whose hands the
Republic was built. We have special regard for his benevolent
character and kind disposition. We are reluctant to see him
intimidated and misled by evil counsels to take a step which will
undo all his meritorious services to the county and shatter the
unique reputation he has enjoyed.

The unrolling of these dramatic events was the signal for the greatest
subterranean activity on the part of the Japanese, who were now
everywhere seen rubbing their hands and congratulating themselves on the
course history was taking. General Tanaka, Vice-Chief of the Japanese
General Staff, who had been on an extensive tour of inspection in China,
so _planned as to include every arsenal north of the Yangtsze_ had
arrived at the psychological moment in Peking and was now deeply engaged
through Japanese field-officers in the employ of the Chinese Government,
in pulling every string and in trying to commit the leaders of this
unedifying plot in such a way as to make them puppets of Japan. The
Japanese press, seizing on the American Note of the 5th June as an
excuse, had been belabouring the United States for some days for its
"interference" in Chinese affairs, and also for having ignored Japan's
"special position" in China, which according to these publicists
demanded that no Power take any action in the Far East, or give any
advice, without first consulting Japan. That a stern correction will
have to be offered to this presumption as soon as the development of the
war permits it is certain. But not only Japanese military officers and
journalists were endlessly busy: so-called Japanese advisers to the
Chinese Government had done their utmost to assist the confusion. Thus
Dr. Ariga, the Constitutional expert, when called in at the last moment
for advice by President Li Yuan-hung had flatly contradicted Dr.
Morrison, who with an Englishman's love of justice and constitutionalism
had insisted that there was only one thing for the President to do--to
be bound by legality to the last no matter what it might cost him. Dr.
Ariga had falsely stated that the issue was a question of expediency,
thus deliberately assisting the forces of disruption. This is perhaps
only what was to be expected of a man who had advised Yuan Shih-kai to
make himself Emperor--knowing full well that he could never succeed and
that indeed the whole enterprise from the point of view of Japan was an
elaborate trap.

The provincial response to the action taken on the 13th June became what
every one had expected: the South-western group of provinces, with their
military headquarters at Canton, began openly concerting measures to
resist not the authority of the President, who was recognized as a just
man surrounded by evil-minded persons who never hesitated to betray him,
but to destroy the usurping generals and the corrupt camarilla behind
them; whilst the Yangtsze provinces, with their headquarters at Nanking,
which had hitherto been pledged to "neutrality," began secretly
exchanging views with the genuinely Republican South. The group of
Tientsin generals and "politicals," confused by these developments,
remained inactive; and this was no doubt responsible for the mad coup
attempted by the semi-illiterate General Chang Hsun. In the small hours
of July 1st General Chang Hsun, relying on the disorganization in the
capital which we have dealt with in our preceding account entered the
Imperial City with his troops by prearrangement with the Imperial Family
and at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 1st July the Manchu boy-emperor
Hsuan Tung, who lost the Throne on the 12th February, 1912, was
enthroned before a small assembly of Manchu nobles, courtiers and
sycophantic Chinese. The capital woke up to find military patrols
everywhere and to hear incredulously that the old order had returned.
The police, obeying instructions, promptly visited all shops and
dwelling-houses and ordered every one to fly the Dragon Flag. In the
afternoon of the same day the following Restoration Edict was issued,
its statements being a tissue of falsehoods, the alleged memorial from
President Li Yuan-hung, which follows the principal document, being a
bare-faced forgery, whilst no single name inserted in the text save that
of Chang Hsun had any right to be there. There is also every reason to
believe that the Manchu court party was itself coerced, terror being
felt from the beginning regarding the consequences of this mad act which
was largely possible because Peking is a Manchu city.

IMPERIAL EDICT

Issued the 13th day of the 5th Moon of the 9th year of Hsuan Tung.

While yet in our boyhood the inheritance of the great domain was
unfortunately placed in our possession; and since we were then all
alone, we were unable to weather the numerous difficulties. Upon the
outbreak of the uprising in the year of Hsin Hai, (1911) Our
Empress, Hsiao Ting Chin, owing to her Most High Virtue and Most
Deep Benevolence was unwilling to allow the people to suffer, and
courageously placed in the hands of the late Imperial Councillor,
Yuan Shih-kai, the great dominion which our forefathers had built
up, and with it the lives of the millions of Our People, with orders
to establish a provisional government.

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