resentatives, by virtue of the will of the citizens, do hereby respectfully nominate the present President Yuan Shih-kai as Emperor of the Chinese Empire, and invest him to the fullest extent with all the supreme sovereign rights of the State. He is appointed by Heaven to ascend the Throne and to transmit it to his heirs for ten thousand generations.' These characters, forty-five in all, must not be altered on any account. "Before the form of the State has been settled, the letters of nomination must not be made public. A reply is requested." A few days later - Oct. 28- the attention of the Central Government was drawn by Japan, England, and Russia (later supported by France and Italy as allies) toward the inadvisability of taking steps that would threaten the peace of China; but Lu Chenghsiang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, replied that it was too late to retract, as the matter had already been decided. When their surprise over this unexpected reply had subsided, those in charge of the plot sent the following state telegram to the provinces: "A certain foreign power, under the pretext that the Chinese people are not of one mind and that troubles are to be apprehended, has lately forced England and Russia to take part in tendering advice to China. In truth, all foreign nations know perfectly well that there will be no trouble, and they are obliged to follow the example of that power. If we accept the advice of other powers concerning our domestic affairs and postpone the enthronement, we should be recognizing their right to interfere. Hence, action should under no circumstances be deferred. When all the votes of the provinces unanimously recommending the enthronement shall have reached Peking, the Government will, of course, ostensibly assume a wavering and compromising attitude, so as to give due regard to international relations. The people, on the other hand, should show their firm determination to proceed with the matter at all costs, so as to let the foreign powers know that our people are of one mind. If we can only make them believe that the change of the republic into a monarchy will not in the least give rise to trouble of any kind, the effects of the advice tendered by Japan will ipso facto come to naught." On Dec. 21 was played the last act in the drama. Forty-eight hours before General Tsai Ao threw down the gauntlet in Yunnan, because of the strange quiet that pervaded the country the Monarchists boldly determined to pay no further heed to any suggestion that 1 There is evidence for the view that Japan at first encouraged Yuan in his monarchical aspirations, and then suddenly reversed its position. they withdraw from their purpose, even though force be threatened. For it had been discovered, after the ballot boxes were opened on Dec. II that every voter had cast his ballot for Yuan Shih-kai to be Emperor! And he, isolated in his palace from the populace and deceived by his followers, had accepted the nomination. All that remained now was to blot out every trace of the conspiracy, that the deceit "should not stain the opening pages of the history of the new dynasty," as a later telegram read, which is in part quoted below: "No matter how carefully their secrets may have been guarded (it asserts), still they remain as permanent records which might compromise us; and in the event of their becoming known to foreigners we shall not escape severe criticism and bitter attacks, and, what is worse, should they be handed down as part of the national records, they will stain the opening pages of the history of the new dynasty. The Central Government, after carefully considering the matter, has concluded that it would be better to sort out and burn the documents so as to remove all unnecessary records and prevent regrettable consequences. For these reasons you are hereby requested to sift out all telegrams, letters, and dispatches concerning the changes in the form of the State, whether official or private, whether re |