Book: The Fight For The Republic in China

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Now although in their consideration of Asia it is notorious that Western
statesmen have not cared to keep in mind political concepts which have
become enthroned in Europe, owing to the fact that an active element of
opposition to such concepts was to be found in their own policies, a
vast change has undoubtedly been recently worked, making it certain
that the claims of nationalism are soon to be given the same force and
value in the East as in the West. But before there can be any question
of Asia for the Asiatics being adopted as a root principle by the whole
world, it will have to be established in some unmistakable form that the
surrender of the policy of conquest which Europe has pursued for four
centuries East of the Suez Canal will not lead to its adoption by an
Asiatic Power under specious forms which hide the glittering sword. If
that can be secured, then the present conflict will have truly been a
War of Liberation for the East as well as for the West. For although
Japan has been engaged for some years in declaring to all Asiatics under
her breath that she holds out the hand of a brother to them, and dreams
of the days when the age of European conquests will be nothing but a
distant memory, her actions have consistently belied her words and shown
that she has not progressed in political thought much beyond the crude
conceptions of the Eighteenth Century. Thus Korea, which fell under her
sway because the nominal independence of the country had long made it
the centre of disastrous international intrigues, is governed to-day as
a conquered province by a military viceroy without a trace of autonomy
remaining and without any promise that such a regime is only temporary.
Although nothing in the undertakings made with the Powers has ever
admitted that a nation which boasts of an ancient line of kings, and
which gave Japan much of her own civilization, should be stamped under
foot in such manner, the course which politics have taken in Korea has
been disastrous in the extreme ever since Lord Lansdowne in 1905, as
British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, pointed out in a careful dispatch
to the Russian Government that Korea was a region which fell naturally
under the sway of Japan. Not only has a tragic fate overcome the sixteen
million inhabitants of that country, but there has been a covert
extension of the principles applied to them to the people of China.

Now if as we say European concepts are to have universal meaning, and if
Japan desires European treatment, it is time that it is realized that
the policy followed in Korea, combined with the attempt to extend that
treatment to soil where China rightly claims undisputed sovereignty,
forms an insuperable barrier to Japan being admitted to the inner
council of the nations.[31] No one wishes to deny to Japan her proper
place in the world, in view of her marvellous industrial progress, but
that place must be one which fits in with modern conceptions and is not
one thing to the West and another to the East. Even the saying which was
made so much of during the Russian war of 1904, that Korea in foreign
hands was a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan--has been shown to be
inherently false by the lessons of the present struggle, the Korean
dagger-point being 120 sea miles from the Japanese coast. Such arguments
clearly show that if the truce which was hastily patched up in 1905 is
to give way to a permanent peace, that can be evolved only by locking on
to the Far East the principles which are in process of being vindicated
in Europe. In other words, precisely as Poland is to be given autonomy,
so must Korea enjoy the same privileges, the whole Japanese theory of
suzerainty on the Eastern Asiatic Continent being abandoned. To
re-establish a proper balance of power in the Far East, the Korean
nation, which has had a known historical existence of 1,500 years, must
be reinstated in something resembling its old position; for Korea has
always been the keystone of the Far Eastern arch, and it is the
destruction of that arch more than anything else which has brought the
collapse of China so perilously near.

Once the legitimate aspirations of the Korean people have been
satisfied, the whole Manchurian-Mongolian question will assume a
different aspect, and a true peace between China and Japan will be made
possible. It is to no one's interest to have a Polish question in the
Far East with all the bitterness and the crimes which such a question
must inevitably lead to; and the time to obviate the creation of such a
question is at the very beginning before it has become an obsession and
a great international issue. Although the Japanese annexation may be
held to have settled the question once and for all, we have but to point
to Poland to show that a race can pass through every possible
humiliation and endure every possible species of truncation without
dying or abating by one whit its determination to enjoy what happier
races have won.

The issue is a vital one. China by her recent acts has given a
categorical and unmistakable reply to all the insidious attempts to
place her outside and beyond the operation of international law and all
those sanctions which make life worth living; and because of the formal
birth of a Foreign Policy it can be definitely expected that this
nation, despite its internal troubles and struggles, will never rest
content until she has created a new nexus of world-relationships which
shall affirm and apply every one of the principles experience elsewhere
has proved are the absolute essentials to peace and happiness. China is
already many decades ahead of Japan in her theory of government, no
matter what the practice may be, the marvellous revolution of 1911
having given back to this ancient race its old position of leader in
ideas on the shores of the Yellow Sea. The whole dream Japan has
cherished, and has sought to give form to during the war, is in the last
analysis antiquated and forlorn and must ultimately dissolve into thin
air; for it is monstrous to suppose, in an age when European men have
sacrificed everything to free themselves from the last vestiges of
feudalism, that in the Far East the cult of Sparta should remain a
hallowed and respected doctrine. Japan's policy in the Far East during
the period of the war has been uniformly mischievous and is largely
responsible for the fierce hatreds which burst out in 1917 over the war
issue; and China will be forced to raise at the earliest possible moment
the whole question of the validity of the undertakings extorted from her
in 1915 under the threat of an ultimatum. Although the precise nature
of Anglo-Japanese diplomacy during the vital eleven days from the 4th to
the 15th August, 1914 [_i.e._ from the British declaration of war on
Germany to the Japanese ultimatum regarding Kiaochow] remains a sealed
book, China suspects that Japan from the very beginning of the present
war world-struggle has taken advantage of England's vast commitments and
acted _ultra vires_. China hopes and believes that Britain will never
again renew the Japanese alliance, which expires in 1921, in its present
form, particularly now that an Anglo-American agreement has been made
possible. China knows that in spite of all coquetting with both the
extreme radical and military parties which is going on daily in Peking
and the provinces the secret object of Japanese diplomacy is either the
restoration of the Manchu dynasty, or the enthronement of some pliant
usurper, a puppet-Emperor being what is needed to repeat in China the
history of Korea. Japan would be willing to go to any lengths to secure
the attainment of this reactionary object. Faithful to her "divine
mission," she is ceaselessly stirring up trouble and hoping that time
may still be left her to consolidate her position on the Asiatic
mainland, one of her latest methods being to busy herself at distant
points in the Pacific so that Western men for the sake of peace may be
ultimately willing to abandon the shores of the Yellow Seas to her
unchallenged mastery.

The problem thus outlined becomes a great dramatic thing. The lines
which trace the problem are immense, stretching from China to every
shore bathed by the Pacific and then from there to the distant west.
Whenever there is a dull calm, that calm must be treated solely as an
intermission, an interval between the acts, a preparation for something
more sensational than the last episode, but not as a permanent
settlement which can only come by the methods we have indicated. For the
Chinese question is no longer a local problem, but a great world-issue
which statesmen must regulate by conferences in which universal
principles will be vindicated if they wish permanently to eliminate what
is almost the last remaining international powder-magazine. A China that
is henceforth not only admitted to the family of nations on terms of
equality but welcomed as a representative of Liberalism and a subscriber
to all those sanctions on which the civilization of peace rests, will
directly tend to adjust every other Asiatic problem and to prevent a
recrudescence of those evil phenomena which are the enemies of progress
and happiness. Is it too much to dream of such a consummation? We think
not. It is to America and to England that China looks to rehabilitate
herself and to make her Republic a reality. If they lend her their help,
if they are consistent, there is still no reason why this democracy on
the shores of the Yellow Sea should not be reinstated in the proud
position it occupied twenty centuries ago, when it furnished the very
silks which clothed the daughters of the Caesars.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] The growth of the Chinese press is remarkable. Although no complete
statistics are available there is reason to believe that the number of
periodicals in China now approximates 10,000, the daily vernacular
newspapers in Peking alone exceeding 60. Although no newspaper in China
prints more than 20,000 copies a day, the reading public is growing at a
phenomenal rate, it being estimated that at least 50 million people read
the daily publications, or hear what they say,--a fact which is deemed
so politically important that all political parties and groups have
their chains of organs throughout the country.

[28] The mediaeval condition of Chinese trade taxation is well
illustrated by a Memorandum which the reader will find in the appendix.
One example may be quoted. Timber shipped from the Yalu river, _i.e._
from Chinese territory, to Peking, pays duties at _five_ different
places, the total amount of which aggregates 20 per cent. of its market
value; whilst timber from America, with transit dues and Peking Octroi
added, only pays 10 per cent.! China is probably the only country that
has ever existed that discriminates against its own goods and gives
preference to the foreigner,--through the operation of the Treaties.

[29] We need only give a single example of what we mean. If, in the
matter of the reform of the currency, instead of authorizing
trade-agencies, _i.e._ the foreign Exchange Banks, to make a loan to
China, which is necessarily hedged round with conditions favourable to
such trade-agencies, the Powers took the matter directly in their own
hands; and selecting the Bank of China--the national fiscal agent--as
the instrument of reform agreed to advance all the sums necessary,
_provided_ a Banking Law was passed by the Parliament of China of a
satisfying nature, and the necessary guarantees were forthcoming, it
would soon be possible to have a uniform National Currency which would
be everywhere accepted and lead to a phenomenal trade expansion. It
should be noted that China is still on a Copper Standard basis,--the
people's buying and selling being conducted in multiples of copper
cent-pieces of which there has been an immense over-issue, the latest
figures showing that there are no less than 22,000,000,000 1-cent, ten
cash pieces in circulation or 62 coins per head of population--roughly
twenty-five millions sterling in value,--or 160,000 tons of copper! The
number of silver dollars and subsidiary silver coins is not accurately
known,--nor is the value of the silver bullion; but it certainly cannot
greatly exceed this sum. In addition there is about L15,000,000 of paper
money. A comprehensive scheme of reform, placed in the hands of the Bank
of China, would require at least L15,000,000; but this sum would be
sufficient to modernize the currency and establish a universal silver
dollar standard.

The Bank of China requires at least 600 branches throughout the country
to become a true fiscal agent. It has to-day one-tenth of this number.

[30] It should be carefully noted that not only has Japan no unfriendly
feelings for Germany but that German Professors have been appointed to
office during the war. In the matter of enemy trading Japan's policy has
been even more extraordinary. Until there was a popular outcry among the
Entente Allies, German merchants were allowed to trade more or less as
usual. They were not denied the use of Japanese steamers, shipping
companies being simply "advised" not to deal with them, the two German
banks in Yokohama and Kobe being closed only in the Autumn of 1916. It
was not until April, 1917, that Enemy Trading Regulations were formally
promulgated and enforced,--that is when the war was very far
advanced--the action of China against Germany being no doubt largely
responsible for this step.

That the Japanese nation greatly admires the German system of government
and is in the main indifferent to the results of the war has long been
evident to observers on the spot.

[31] A very remarkable confirmation of these statements is afforded in
the latest Japanese decision regarding Manchuria which will be
immediately enforced. The experience of the past three years having
proved conclusively that the Chinese, in spite of their internal strife,
are united to a man in their determination to prevent Japan from
tightening her hold on Manchuria and instituting an open Protectorate,
the Tokio Government has now drawn up a subtle scheme which it is
believed will be effective. A Bill for the unification of administration
in South Manchuria has passed the Japanese Cabinet Conference and will
soon be formally promulgated. Under the provisions of this Bill, the
Manchuria Railway Company will become the actual organ of Japanese
administration in South Manchuria; the Japanese Consular Service will be
subordinate to the administration of the Railway; and all the powers
hitherto vested in the Consular Service, political, commercial, judicial
and administrative, will be made part of the organization of the South
Manchuria Railway. This is not all. From another Japanese source we
learn that a law is about to take effect by which the administration of
the South Manchuria Railway will be transferred directly to the control
of the Government-General of Korea, thus making the Railway at once an
apparently commercial but really political organization. In future the
revenues of the South Manchuria Railway are to be paid direct to the
Government-General of Korea; and the yearly appropriation for the upkeep
and administration of the Railway is to be fixed at Yen 12,000,000.
These arrangements, especially the amalgamation of the South Manchuria
Railway, are to take effect from the 1st July, 1917, and are an attempt
to do in the dark what Japan dares not yet attempt in the open.




APPENDIX

DOCUMENTS IN GROUP I


(1) The so-called Nineteen Articles, being the grant made by the Throne
after the outbreak of the Wuchang Rebellion in 1911 in a vain attempt to
satisfy the nation.

(2) The Abdication Edicts issued on the 12th February, 1912, endorsing
the establishment of the Republic.

(3) The terms of abdication, generally referred to as "The articles of
Favourable Treatment," in which special provision is made for the
"rights" of Manchus, Mongols, Mohammedans and Tibetans, who are
considered as being outside the Chinese nation.


THE NINETEEN ARTICLES

1. The Ta-Ching Dynasty shall reign for ever.

2. The person of the Emperor shall be inviolable.

3. The power of the Emperor shall be limited by a Constitution.

4. The order of the succession shall be prescribed in the Constitution.

5. The Constitution shall be drawn up and adopted by the National
Assembly, and promulgated by the Emperor.

6. The power of amending the Constitution belongs to Parliament.

7. The members of the Upper House shall be elected by the people from
among those particularly eligible for the position.

8. Parliament shall select, and the Emperor shall appoint, the Premier,
who will recommend the other members of the Cabinet, these also being
appointed by the Emperor. The Imperial Princes shall be ineligible as
Premier, Cabinet Ministers, or administrative heads of provinces.

9. If the Premier, on being impeached by Parliament, does not dissolve
Parliament he must resign but one Cabinet shall not be allowed to
dissolve Parliament more than once.

10. The Emperor shall assume direct control of the army and navy, but
when that power is used with regard to internal affairs, he must observe
special conditions, to be decided upon by Parliament, otherwise he is
prohibited from exercising such power.

11. Imperial decrees cannot be made to replace the law except in the
event of immediate necessity in which case decrees in the nature of a
law may be issued in accordance with special conditions, but only when
they are in connection with the execution of a law or what has by law
been delegated.

12. International treaties shall not be concluded without the consent
of Parliament, but the conclusion of peace or a declaration of war may
be made by the Emperor if Parliament is not sitting, the approval of
Parliament to be obtained afterwards.

13. Ordinances in connection with the administration shall be settled by
Acts of Parliament.

14. In case the Budget fails to receive the approval of Parliament the
Government cannot act upon the previous year's Budget, nor may items of
expenditure not provided for in the Budget be appended to it. Further,
the Government shall not be allowed to adopt extraordinary financial
measures outside the Budget.

15. Parliament shall fix the expenses of the Imperial household, and any
increase or decrease therein.

16. Regulations in connection with the Imperial family must not conflict
with the Constitution.

17. The two Houses shall establish the machinery of an administrative
court.

18. The Emperor shall promulgate the decisions of Parliament.

19. The National Assembly shall act upon Articles 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14,
15 and 18 until the opening of Parliament.


EDICTS OF ABDICATION

I

We (the Emperor) have respectfully received the following Imperial Edict
from Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager Lung Yu:--

As a consequence of the uprising of the Republican Army, to which the
different provinces immediately responded, the Empire seethed like a
boiling cauldron and the people were plunged into utter misery. Yuan
Shih-kai was, therefore, especially commanded some time ago to dispatch
commissioners to confer with the representatives of the Republican Army
on the general situation and to discuss matters pertaining to the
convening of a National Assembly for the decision of the suitable mode
of settlement. Separated as the South and the North are by great
distances, the unwillingness of either side to yield to the other can
result only in the continued interruption of trade and the prolongation
of hostilities, for, so long as the form of government is undecided, the
Nation can have no peace. It is now evident that the hearts of the
majority of the people are in favour of a republican form of government:
the provinces of the South were the first to espouse the cause, and the
generals of the North have since pledged their support. From the
preference of the people's hearts, the Will of Heaven can be discerned.
How could We then bear to oppose the will of the millions for the glory
of one Family! Therefore, observing the tendencies of the age on the one
hand and studying the opinions of the people on the other, We and His
Majesty the Emperor hereby vest the sovereignty in the People and decide
in favour of a republican form of constitutional government. Thus we
would gratify on the one hand the desires of the whole nation who, tired
of anarchy, are desirous of peace, and on the other hand would follow in
the footsteps of the Ancient Sages, who regarded the Throne as the
sacred trust of the Nation.

Now Yuan Shih-kai was elected by the Tucheng-yuan to be the Premier.
During this period of transference of government from the old to the
new, there should be some means of uniting the South and the North. Let
Yuan Shih-kai organize with full powers a provisional republican
government and confer with the Republican Army as to the methods of
union, thus assuring peace to the people and tranquillity to the Empire,
and forming the one Great Republic of China by the union as heretofore,
of the five peoples, namely, Manchus, Chinese, Mongols, Mohammedans, and
Tibetans together with their territory in its integrity. We and His
Majesty the Emperor, thus enabled to live in retirement, free from
responsibilities, and cares and passing the time in ease and comfort,
shall enjoy without interruption the courteous treatment of the Nation
and see with Our own eyes the consummation of an illustrious government.
Is not this highly advisable?

Bearing the Imperial Seal and Signed by
Yuan Shih-kai, the Premier;
Hoo Wei-teh, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Chao Ping-chun, Minister of the Interior;
Tan Hsuen-heng, Acting Minister of Navy;
Hsi Yen, Acting Minister of Agriculture, Works and Commerce;
Liang Shih-yi, Acting Minister of Communications;
Ta Shou, Acting Minister of the Dependencies.

25th day of the 12th moon of the 3rd year of Hsuan Tung.

II

We have respectfully received the following Imperial Edict from Her
Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager Lung Yu:--

On account of the perilous situation of the State and the intense
sufferings of the people, We some time ago commanded the Cabinet to
negotiate with the Republican Army the terms for the courteous treatment
of the Imperial House, with a view to a peaceful settlement. According
to the memorial now submitted to Us by the Cabinet embodying the
articles of courteous treatment proposed by the Republican Army, they
undertake to hold themselves responsible for the perpetual offering of
sacrifices before the Imperial Ancestral Temples and the Imperial
Mausolea and the completion as planned of the Mausoleum of His Late
Majesty the Emperor Kuang Hsu. His Majesty the Emperor is understood to
resign only his political power, while the Imperial Title is not
abolished. There have also been concluded eight articles for the
courteous treatment of the Imperial House, four articles for the
favourable treatment of Manchus, Mongols, Mohammedans, and Tibetans. We
find the terms of perusal to be fairly comprehensive. We hereby proclaim
to the Imperial Kinsmen and the Manchus, Mongols, Mohammedans, and
Tibetans that they should endeavour in the future to fuse and remove
all racial differences and prejudices and maintain law and order with
united efforts. It is our sincere hope that peace will once more be seen
in the country and all the people will enjoy happiness under a
republican government.

Bearing the Imperial Seal and Signed by
Yuan Shih-kai, the Premier;
Hoo Wei-teh, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Chao Ping-chun, Minister of the Interior;
Tan Hsuen-heng, Acting Minister of the Navy;
Hsi Yen, Acting Minister of Agriculture, Works and Commerce;
Liang Shih-yi, Acting Minister of Communications;
Ta Shou, Acting Minister of the Dependencies.

25th day of the 12th moon of the 3rd year of Hsuan Tung.

III

We have respectfully received the following Edict from Her Imperial
Majesty the Empress Dowager Lung Yu:--

In ancient times the ruler of a country emphasized the important duty of
protecting the lives of his people, and as their shepherd could not have
the heart to cause them injury. Now the newly established form of
government has for its sole object the appeasement of the present
disorder with a view to the restoration of peace. If, however, renewed
warfare were to be indefinitely maintained, by disregarding the opinion
of the majority of the people, the general condition of the country
might be irretrievably ruined, and there might follow mutual slaughter
among the people, resulting in the horrible effects of a racial war. As
a consequence, the spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors might be greatly
disturbed and millions of people might be terrorized. The evil
consequences cannot be described. Between the two evils, We have adopted
the lesser one. Such is the motive of the Throne in modelling its policy
in accordance with the progress of time, the change of circumstances,
and the earnest desires of Our People. Our Ministers and subjects both
in and out of the Metropolis should, in conformity with Our idea,
consider most carefully the public weal and should not cause the country
and the people to suffer from the evil consequences of a stubborn pride
and of prejudiced opinions.

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