The Fight For The Republic In China | Page 4

at work, and to bring some realisation
of the great gulf which separates the thinking classes of to-day from the
men of a few years ago; whilst, at the same time, it is sufficiently
condensed not to overwhelm the reader with too great a multitude of
facts.
Particular attention may be devoted to an unique feature--namely, the
Chinese and Japanese documentation which affords a sharp contrast
between varying types of Eastern brains. Thus, in the Memorandum of
the Black Dragon Society (Chapter VII) we have a very clear and
illuminating revelation of the Japanese political mind which has been
trained to consider problems in the modern Western way, but which
remains saturated with theocratic ideals in the sharpest conflict with the
Twentieth Century. In the pamphlet of Yang Tu (Chapter VIII) which
launched the ill-fated Monarchy Scheme and contributed so largely to
the dramatic death of Yuan Shih-kai, we have an essentially Chinese
mentality of the reactionary or corrupt type which expresses itself both
on home and foreign issues in a naively dishonest way, helpful to
future diplomacy. In the Letter of Protest (Chapter X) against the
revival of Imperialism written by Liang Ch'i-chao--the most brilliant
scholar living--we have a Chinese of the New or Liberal China, who in
spite of a complete ignorance of foreign languages shows a marvellous
grasp of political absolutes, and is a harbinger of the great days which
must come again to Cathay. In other chapters dealing with the

monarchist plot we see the official mind at work, the telegraphic
despatches exchanged between Peking and the provinces being of the
highest diplomatic interest. These documents prove conclusively that
although the Japanese is more practical than the Chinese--and more
concise-- there can be no question as to which brain is the more fruitful.
Coupled with this discussion there is much matter giving an insight into
the extraordinary and calamitous foreign ignorance about present-day
China, an ignorance which is just as marked among those resident in
the country as among those who have never visited it. The whole of the
material grouped in this novel fashion should not fail to bring
conviction that the Far East, with its 500 millions of people, is destined
to play an important role in post-bellum history because of the new
type of modern spirit which is being there evolved. The influence of the
Chinese Republic, in the opinion of the writer, cannot fail to be
ultimately world-wide in view of the practically unlimited resources in
man-power which it disposes of.
In the Appendices will be found every document of importance for the
period of under examination,--1911 to 1917. The writer desires to
record his indebtedness to the columns of The Peking Gazette, a
newspaper which under the brilliant editorship of Eugene Ch'en--a pure
Chinese born and educated under the British flag--has fought
consistently and victoriously for Liberalism and Justice and has made
the Republic a reality to countless thousands who otherwise would
have refused to believe in it.
PUTNAM WEALE. PEKING, June, 1917.

CONTENTS
I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION
II. THE ENIGMA OF YUAN SHIH-KA
III. THE DREAM REPUBLIC (From the Manchu Abdication to the
dissolution of Parliament)

IV. THE DICTATOR AT WORK (From the Coup d'etat of the 4th.
Nov. 1913 to the outbreak of the World-war, 1. August, 1914)
V. THE FACTOR OF JAPAN
VI. THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS
VII. THE ORIGIN OF THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS
VIII. THE MONARCHIST PLOT 1 DEGREE The Pamphlet of Yang
Tu
IX. THE MONARCHY PLOT 2 DEGREES Dr. Goodnow's
Memorandum
X. THE MONARCHY MOVEMENT Is OPPOSED The Appeal of the
Scholar Liang Chi-chao
XI. THE DREAM EMPIRE ("The People's Voice" and the action of
the Powers)
XII. "THE THIRD REVOLUTION" The Revolt of Yunnan
XIII. "THE THIRD REVOLUTION'" (CONTINUED) Downfall and
Death of Yuan Shih-kai
XIV. THE NEW REGIME--FROM 1916 TO 1917
XV. THE REPUBLIC IN COLLISION WITH REALITY: Two
TYPICAL INSTANCES OF "FOREIGN AGGRESSION"
XVI. CHINA AND THE WAR
XVII. THE FINAL PROBLEM:--REMODELLING THE
POLITICO-ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND
THE WORLD
APPENDICES--DOCUMENTS AND MEMORANDA

THE FIGHT FOR THE REPUBLIC IN CHINA
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The revolution which broke out in China on the 10th October, 1911,
and which was completed with the abdication of the Manchu Dynasty
on the 12th February, 1912, though acclaimed as highly successful, was
in its practical aspects something very different. With the proclamation
of the Republic, the fiction of autocratic rule had truly enough vanished;
yet the tradition survived and with it sufficient of the essential
machinery of Imperialism to defeat the nominal victors until the death
of Yuan Shih-kai.
The movement to expel the Manchus, who had seized the Dragon
Throne in 1644 from the expiring Ming Dynasty, was an old one.
Historians are silent on the subject of the various secret plots which
were always being hatched to achieve