that must be done by other hands under surer knowledge of the great new forces in our midst."

During the following week Yuan Shih-kai became seriously ill, and on June 6 he died, the cause of his death being urinaemia. A few hours before his death he issued his last mandate, in which he handed over the Government to the Vice-President. His closing words were not without pathos: "Owing to my lack of virtue and ability, I have not been able fully to transform into deed what I have desired to accomplish; and I blush to say I have not realized one-ten-thousandth part of my original intention to save the country and the people. . . I was just thinking how I could retire into private life when illness has suddenly overtaken The ancients once said, 'It is only when the living do try to become strong that the dead are not dead.' This is also the wish of me, the great President."

me.

President Li Yuan-hung at once entered upon his office, beginning on June 7, according to the Peking Gazette," the work that ought to have been begun four years ago." His first mandate was as follows:

I

"Yuan-hung has assumed the office of President on this the 7th day of the sixth month. Realizing his lack

of virtue, he is extremely solicitous lest something may miscarry. His single aim will be to adhere strictly to law for the consolidation of the republic and the moulding of the country into a really constitutionally administered country. May all officials and people act in sympathy with this idea and with united soul and energy fulfil the part that is lacking in him. This is his great hope."

The issuing of the mandate was followed by telegrams from most of the provinces, stating their loyalty to the new President and to the Republican Government. A few days later Liang Shih-yi, the chief counsellor and adviser of Yuan Shih-kai among the Monarchists, resigned from his position in the Government; thus the chief obstacle to harmony was removed. The efforts of the new Republican Government were then directed toward the establishment of a Parliament, according to the Provisional Constitution adopted at Nanking in 1912. The Constitutional Compact adopted in May, 1914, was discarded. Parliament was reconvened on August 1, and the following month a Cabinet was formed with Tuan Chi-jui as Premier. Feng Kwo-chang was elected Vice-President. Thus the Republic of China again took up its course as a national entity.

The first year of the war had brought grave dangers

to the Chinese Republic from without. In the second year it encountered equally grave dangers from within. The overthrow of militarism, for a time at least, within its own borders, prepared the way for a more sympathetic understanding of the great world situation in which a similar principle was at stake. In its best ideals and traditions China had always been an opponent of military power unfettered by the will of the people. The right of rebellion against tyrants had brought to a close many of its ancient dynasties. The scholar had stood the highest in the social scale: the soldier the lowest. The Confucian Classics, which have had a greater influence than any other writing in moulding the mind of the people, contain many passages emphasizing the importance of the government being founded on the popular will, and designating the ruler as a servant of the people. "In a state, the people are most important: the ruler is of least importance." "Heaven (or God) sees as my people see: Heaven (or God) hears as my people hear." "The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even the humblest of its subjects cannot be taken from him." In the Analects, the essentials of government had been named: imperfect as was the comprehension of the average Chinese in 1915-16 of all that democracy and popular govern

ment meant, there seemed to have been some glimmering understanding concerning the principles at stake: principles which were named by the Great Sage of China over twenty-four hundred years ago.

Tsze-kung asked about Government. The Master (Confucius) said, "The essentials of Government are that there be sufficient food, sufficient military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their rulers."

Tsze-kung said: "If it cannot be helped, and one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three should be foregone first?"

"The military equipment," said the Master.

Tsze-kung again asked: "If it cannot be helped, and one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be foregone?"

The Master answered: "Part with the food. For, from of old, death has been the lot of all men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, the State cannot stand."

1 Analects of Confucius, Book 12, Chapter 7.

CHAPTER III

THE PROGRESS OF CHINESE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT LEADING TO A NEW FOREIGN POLICY

On the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, Parliament was re-convened in China, and a new start was made upon Republican paths. Following the death of Yuan Shih-kai in June, Li Yuanhung had been made President; Feng Kwo-chang, Governor of Kiangsu Province, and recognized leader of the Yangtze Valley region, had been elected VicePresident; and General Tuan Chi-jui, appointed Premier of the Cabinet, which was organized in September. On Sept. 15th, Parliament set to work on the drafting of the permanent constitution. The Chinese ship of state seemed to be sailing on comparatively smooth waters. This calm was not broken until the bursting of the storm over the declaration of war with Germany and Austria eight months later.

The general satisfaction over the progress in constitutional government is shown by a description of state affairs sent to America by the writer on Feb. 11, 1917.