Justice, Wong Chun Hui, American educated, very able.
Finance, Hsiung Hsi Ling, Hunan man, once in Exterior Department of Hupeh province.
Most of these are southern men, some of whom replied that they did not see how they could come without a southern army to protect their lives from the loosely-held northern troops, who had no idea what constitutional honor or promises meant. The whole of the American Pacific Navy, including the fine cruisers California, South Dakota and Colorado, left Honolulu for the Far East, and the United States steamer Monterey, on the same day, landed one hundred men at Swatow to preserve order and the tanks of the Standard Oil Company. On March 19th the republican troops at Canton and Swatow gained back after severe engagements the forts that the mutinous troops and pirates had taken. The government at Canton bought up all the food in the shops so as to starve out Luk’s pirates. Amid all the conflict of accusation and denial, it is fitting that Yuan Shih Kai should speak for himself, and therefore I quote parts from his long address to the old conservatives and to the provincial governors shortly after the abdication of the dynasty, which abdication he adroitly and successfully urged when, to use his own words, “it was well nigh impossible to make stand against the republicans.”
“From the time when I again led the troops and later when I came to court, I was animated with the purpose of establishing a constitutional monarchy, but the state of the country changed. The National Assembly and the provincial assemblies all fathered the policy of not using military force to put down the disturbances. When Hankau was regained, the naval forces were lost. The moment Hanyang was reconquered, Nanking fell. The power of the government over the waterways and the sea was gone, and the sources of revenue were cut off. Although in various ways I encouraged the military to greater effort, secured the revocation of Shangtung’s declaration of independence, subdued the capitals of Shansi and Manchuria, and did all in my power to prop up the North, yet the tide was too strong and swept every locality. Revolutionary societies among the people were scattered everywhere. At this time there was international intervention and it was requested that in the interests of humanity a truce be declared and negotiations undertaken. Foreigners continually uttered reproof on the scores of commercial interests and the indemnity. Because the country was in such a chaotic state politically, it was difficult to restore order. Within there was ruin; without there was furnished the possibility of foreign intervention. The revolutionary forces were coming by various routes to attack the North. The spirit of the army was shaken. Had the strife been continued, in a very short time the revolutionary army would have come north, and in that case it would have been impossible either to fight or to negotiate for peace. What of the imperial family and the livelihood of the bannermen? Recently the ministers of foreign nations, the commercial associations at the ports, the different conferences, the various troops and the provincial viceroys and governors have sent telegrams, all stating that the will of the people is bent on a republic, and that it would be well-nigh impossible to make stand against it. Should the enemy arrive at the walls of the capital, the disasters resulting would be unimaginable. How much better for the throne, of its own grace, to proclaim the republic at an early date. There was condemnation of the policy of staking the fate of their imperial majesties and the lives and property of the North on a single throw, trusting to luck in a single battle. An edict was issued by her Imperial Majesty directing me first to settle with the revolutionary army regarding the especial consideration to be accorded the imperial family and the treatment of the Manchus, Mongolians, Mohammedans, and Tibetans. If an agreement could be reached by the two sides, then the imperial family might enjoy glory, and the hereditary nobility among the Manchus, Mongols, Mohammedans, and Tibetans, as well as the allowances of the bannermen, might continue without interruption. An agreement was made, resulting in the present state of affairs.”
Neither Yuan nor the north has yet explained to the world the reason why the nobility of the Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans, etc., expect titles and pensions, unless it be the argument that is now wearing out over the world, in nation after nation, that it is constitutional to maintain rule by a Privileged Minority over a taxed majority! Yuan says: “An agreement was made resulting in the present state of affairs,” but the “present state of affairs” is not entirely satisfactory. At times, it seems in China that Confucius has abdicated to Confusion. The solution lies in three things: railways, education, and a real republican congress, none of the three to be interfered with by either a riotous or office-greedy army, but rather dutifully served by a patriotic army. There can be no doubt that the action of the ninety generals of the northern army in forcing the National Assembly at Peking, in July, 1912, at the sword’s point, to accept against their will the second cabinet which Yuan Shih Kai had selected, and some of his foreign-advised measures, was inimical to the vitality of constitutionalism in China. The result was the forming of a constitutional party in the Yangtze and southern provinces by Doctor Sun Yat Sen and his friends, called the Tung Men Hwei (Sworn Brother Society), some of whose measures were the supervision of Chinese finances, and railway and industrial development, largely by Chinese, and the discharge of more regiments of northern troops. The National Assembly and cabinet have recently put in Sunyacius’ charge the formation of a central railway board to arrange for the extension of railways.
II
WIT AND HUMOR IN CHINA
In his book Alone in China, Julian Ralph, the New Yorker, wrote in 1898 the following sentence:
“The men and women of China will live in my mind forever, here and in heaven, as the jolliest, kindest, most sympathetic and generous souls I ever found in such profusion anywhere in my roving.”
I have lived and traveled three years in China, and have found that the Chinese influence the foreigners and that the foreigners influence the Chinese, sharpening each other’s wit, and smoothing each other’s kindly humor. The jewel has many facets of view, depending on the angle of vision, and in the following I shall attempt to recall many of the angles.