Mr. Sun did not speak for some time. He waited for me to ask the question a second time, and even then did not seem inclined to commit himself. At length he replied:—
"I do not know. Our attitude to Yuan Shih K'ai may be summed up in a single sentence. If he obstinately upholds the Manchu Dynasty against the wishes of the people, then he is doomed for ever. He may succeed in overriding the wishes of the people for a while, but no single man, however able, will be allowed to stand in the way of the people. On the other hand, the opportunity now presents itself for Yuan Shih K'ai to earn the everlasting gratitude of the nation in yielding to their wishes in putting an end to the Manchu Dynasty once and for all. If he does this, Yuan Shih K'ai will show himself a wise man. We know that it would take some time for us to stand man for man with the Imperial Army, but we have half a world at our back."
DR. WU TING-FANG.
Minister of Law in the new Republic.
The above sentiments may be taken as a fair example of the views held by the Revolutionary leaders on the point of meeting at the Peace Conference. These men, hitherto unknown to the world—always excepting men of the stamp of Wu Ting Fang and Tang Shao-yi—were now making history on a gigantic scale, reformers who had just sprung into being as it seemed, but whose whole past bore testimony to the manner in which they had been working for China's great era of reform and progress.
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In the following chapter will be found a résumé of the Peace Conference, unsatisfactory as it was in most respects.