independence, and the very men who had voted for the monarchy raised the standard of revolt. Other provinces followed. Liang Chi-chao, the famous scholar, made a press campaign against the monarchy. Very soon all the hitherto acquiescent voices were barking disapproval. Yuan realized his mistake and issued edicts, first postponing the change, and a month later cancelling the monarchical decree. But it was too late. The provinces, seeing their old master in retreat, pressed the advantage and demanded not merely an edict of cancellation but the abdication of the President. Yuan was still at bay when, on June 6, he was obliged to yield to an enemy beyond human power to resist: death came in all probability from disease fomented by worry, though there were naturally suspicions of foul play. In any case, the death of Yuan at this time probably served the cause of China well. The President died, alas, almost unwept. But the time will come when it will be possible to make a fairer estimate of the worth of his character and of the services he rendered to China than Chinese are at present willing to admit.

Yuan was succeeded by his Vice-President, Li Yuan-hung, who had taken no inconsiderable part in the Revolution after his choice by the rebels as commander-in-chief. He had, however, of late been kept in Peking with little opportunity to explain himself, and it is hard to know what he actually felt with regard to Yuan's restoration plot. Now it became Li's policy to put the 1912 Constitution again into force, and to re-summon the Parliament for the purpose of completing and amending the Constitution. Tuan Chi-jui1 became Premier, and during the next months the object of the Government was to carry through a loan with American bankers to relieve the situation financially.

Hitherto China, though resentful of Japan's part in the war and in many respects not unsympathetic with the position of Germans in the Orient, had remained officially neutral. But

1 Yuan's chief military adviser in earlier days; organizer of the Northern army prior to the Revolution.

on Sunday, February 4, 1917, came the news through the American ambassador that the United States Government had broken off diplomatic relations with Germany. The intimation was coupled with an invitation addressed to the neutral nations to take the same course, by way of protest against the submarine campaign as then threatened and conducted. For some days there was much division of heart among Chinese statesmen as to the path to be followed. Obvious advantages were promised by association with the Allies, provided, of course, that victory came ultimately to that side. In any case it was possible to cease payment of the Boxer Indemnity installments. So the great decision was made on February 9, endorsing President Wilson's recommendation, and a protest was sent to the German Government. A month later, no satisfaction having been received, relations were severed and the general expectation was that China would presently proceed to a declaration of war. The Premier, Tuan, was in favor of this step. But President Li, anxious for Parliamentary concurrence and to some extent swayed by pro-German influences, hesitated. The Southern leaders, not overanxious for the strengthening of the Northern government, were also opposed. Tuan resigned, and matters became so confused that the American Government felt it necessary to remind Peking that the question of entering the war was, after all, of less importance than that of maintaining domestic harmony. Meanwhile, something else happened which quite took the attention of Chinese away from the war-pit of Europe.

On the resignation of Tuan, President Li had taken the strange step of inviting to Peking that arch-ruffian and prince of condottieri, Chang Hsun,1 to act as mediator. Chang's terror-inspiring troops arrived early in June, and their leader was soon engaged in the attempt - - through Wu Ting-fang,2

1 An old-type military officer from Kiangsi; in command of the Imperial forces at Nanking during the Revolution.

2 Chinese Minister at Washington in 1907; author of America through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat.

Prime Minister at the time to force the dissolution of Parliament. Wu declined, but his successor, General Chiang, was more compliant, and the edict of dissolution was issued on June 13. By July 1 the startling news was circulating in Peking that the ex-Emperor Hsuan Tung had returned. Chang, acting in collusion with" the modern Confucius," Kang Yuwei, had proceeded to the Imperial City, obtained possession of the ex-sovereign, and then and there enthroned him as the restored head of the state. It was given out that many of the prominent statesmen of Peking, including the President, were cognizant of and favorable to the coup, which for a time seemed likely to be successful. But Chang had forgotten that unrepentant republican, Liang Chi-chao,' and the ex-Premier, Tuan. These were soon on the warpath, and many who had been prepared to accept a fait accompli were too apathetic to risk their lives in a gamble. The President took refuge in the Japanese legation, resigned his office to the Vice-President, Fêng Kuochang, and confirmed Tuan as commander-in-chief. The monarchist forces melted away before the rumor that they might be bought off at $80 a head; the restored Emperor passed again into seclusion on July 7, and by July 12 the Dragon flag had again disappeared. Chang hid his chagrin in the Dutch legation, and politics flowed back into the old channels.

The new President, Fêng, had begun life as a fiddler in a small Chinese orchestra, but he was by no means leader in the very inharmonious orchestra to which he was now called to furnish direction. After appointing a council to arrange for the presidential election of 1918, he turned his attention to foreign affairs and followed the lead of Tuan, once again Premier, by making formal declaration of war against Germany on August 14. China was, of course, ignorant of the secret treaties by which in their hour of need Great Britain and France had agreed to support the claims of Japan, so she was naturally

1 A brilliant scholar; started the first Chinese daily newspaper in Peking.

2 As commander of the Imperial army at Wuchang during the Revolution, Fêng captured Hanyang from the revolutionists.

hopeful that her place as one of the Allies would ensure her a strategical position at the Peace Table, together with other advantages.

General Fêng had been chosen only to fill the unexpired term of five years for which Yuan had been elected in 1913. At the election, held September 4, 1918, the choice of the nation was between Fêng and a statesman of the old régime with monarchist leanings, Hsu Shih-chang.1 Hsu, a former governor of Manchuria and an old-time associate of Yuan, had been in the last monarchist movement of Chang Hsun appointed Guardian of the Emperor. The election resulted in a landslide for Hsu. He received 425 out of the 436 votes, not so much on account of his own superlative fitness as from fear that Fêng, his rival, might not work well with Premier Tuan.2 The result drew from President Wilson a letter full of good wishes and advice. But it was clear from the start that the South was hostile and not in a mood to be conciliated. The President attempted to call for an armistice, to be for China somewhat correspondent to the Armistice just hailed with delight upon the battlefields of Europe. But the conference which met in response at Shanghai led merely to the confirmation of each party in its own course.

1 "Sworn Brother" and one of the "Four Friends" of Yuan Shih-kai; vacated the presidency June 1, 1922.

The Parliament which elected Hsu is known as the Tuchün's Parliament.

CHAPTER XVIII

POLITICAL STIRRINGS IN WESTERN ASIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

In our amazement at the rapidity of those political and social changes which mark the early years of the twentieth century in Eastern Asia, we are apt to overlook the fact that scarcely less dramatic are the developments along similar lines in the western parts of the continent.

It has been mentioned in a previous chapter that, following upon the Russo-Japanese War, a convention was signed in 1907, by Great Britain and Russia, in which the latter Power agreed to recognize the preponderant interests of Great Britain in and around the Persian Gulf, while England allowed Russia similar advantage in the North. Meanwhile Persia, which had been in the throes of a popular movement demanding representative institutions, was clamoring for more liberty. It had already received from the Shah a new Constitution, together with an elective National Council, known as the Majlis.1 The Shah's death and the accession of his son, Muhammad Ali Mirza, did nothing to allay the popular agitation. On the contrary, civil war broke out, and in January 1909 a revolution forced the new Shah to seek refuge in the Russian legation. This act was accepted as an abdication. Ahmed Mirza, a boy of thirteen, the ex-Shah's son, was elevated to the vacant throne, under a regent.

From the popular point of view everything seemed quite promising. Both Great Britain and Russia seemed friendly 1 The word Majlis simply means "assembly."