THE REPUBLIC SEEKS RECOGNITION
Although Hanyang had fallen, the Revolution was by no means lost;
this the intelligent reader will easily be able to see. During the
past six weeks the Reformers had been so hard at work that a Republic
had practically been recognised by the Powers, America being
especially friendly. The following address by Dr. Wu Ting Fang had
been sent out to the world, and had caused a profound impression:--
"THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA ASKS RECOGNITION.
"The Chinese nation born anew in the travail of revolution
extends friendly greetings and felicitations to the world.
"As the Republic of China it now asks that recognition by the
civilised Powers which will enable it, with the assistance of
their kindly offices, to erect upon the foundations of honest
government and friendly trade and intercourse with all peoples, a
peaceful and happy future.
"The Chinese people are not untried in self-government. For
countless ages they ruled themselves; they developed observance
of the law to a degree not known among other races; they
developed arts and industries and agriculture and knew a peace
and contentment surpassingly sweet.
"Down upon them swept the savage hordes of an alien and warlike
race. The Chinese people were conquered and enslaved. For 270
years this bondage existed. Then the Chinese people arose and
struck a blow for freedom. Out of the chaos and dust of a
falling throne emerges a free and enlightened people--a great
natural democracy of 400,000,000 human beings.
"They have chosen to set up a Republic and their choice we
believe is a wise one. There is no class of nobility among the
Chinese and they have no recognised royal family to set up in
place of the departing {152} Manchu Royal House. This is a great
democracy. The officials spring from the people and to the
people they return. There are no princes, lords, dukes among the
Chinese. With the Manchu throne removed there is left a
made-to-order Republic. Already we have provincial assemblies
and our National Assembly. Already we have a Republic with a
full set of competent officials.
"Within a very few days our constitutional convention will meet:
arrangements for it were made long ago. At this convention there
will be fully authorised delegates from every province in China.
A constitution of the most enlightened character will be adopted
and new officers of the provisional government elected.
Following this will come, under the provisions of the
constitution, the provincial and national elections.
"It is imperative that our government be recognised at this time
in order that business may not be subjected to prolonged
stagnation. There is peace everywhere save at Hankow, but
business cannot proceed until the new Republic shall be welcomed
among the nations of the world.
"We ask recognition in order that we may enter upon our new life
and our new relationships with the great Powers.
"We ask recognition of the republic because the republic is a
fact.
"Fourteen of the eighteen provinces have declared their
independence of the Manchu Government and promulgated their
allegiance to the Republic. The remaining provinces will, it is
expected, soon take the same course.
"The Manchu dynasty finds its power fallen away and its glitter
of yesterday become but a puppet show. Before going it has
stripped itself of authority by consenting to the terms of the
proposed constitution which already have been made public.
"The most glorious page in Chinese history has been written with
a bloodless pen.
"(Signed) WU TING FANG
"(Director of Foreign Affairs.)"
And towards this end the Revolutionists were working. During the war
each day had brought news of some province or part of a province
having gone over. Li Yuan Hung and his associates were never morally
stronger than when Hanyang fell. The military defeat mattered but
little, for the Chinese are a democratic people, and each day brought
more moral support.
{153}
The dynasty was still left standing, but in all other respects the
desires of the Revolutionists had been sanctioned by the Sovereign.
The Throne itself had been stripped of its power and prestige, and
had been forced to act at the dictation of the National Assembly.
The surrender on paper appeared to be complete, though it must be
steadily kept in mind that in China, less perhaps than in any other
land, are promises and concessions always held to be irrevocable.
Yuan Shih K'ai had been invested with an authority which was
practically supreme. He was at once Prime Minister and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy employed against the Yangtsze
Revolutionists. In the best interests of the Chinese people it was
to be hoped that they had been inspired by an unfeigned desire on
both sides to reach an accommodation without further bloodshed; but
in no country are delusive negotiations more habitually employed than
in China as a means of gaining time, and it was at least conceivable
that in the present crisis each leader would believe that time was on
his side. In a few days it was expected that Yuan Shi K'ai's party
would show what degree of influence it could exert over the insurgent
provinces. The number of these provinces continued to grow, and, in
at least some instances, the movement in them seemed to be deeply
tinged with a particularism which tended strongly towards separatism.
The Empire was, indeed, as a writer in the _Times_ put it, "bubbling
like a cauldron," but a good many of the bubbles may subside, under
judicious handling, with surprising rapidity. What seemed certain,
however, so far as anything is certain in China, was that the old
Monarchy had fallen never to rise again, and that it would drag down
much in China in its fall. It had long survived its day. Its
servants, like the servants of Solomon in the Koran, had propped up a
corpse and summoned {154} kings and princes to do it homage. They
bowed down before it, says the story, so long as it stood upright.
But at last the worms gnawed away the staff on which it rested, it
lay prone in the dust, and the world fell into confusion.
With the fall of Hanyang, millions of people, Chinese and foreigners,
were speaking or thinking chiefly of one question those days, What
would be the fate of the rebellion? Bound up in this question were
many others, its corollaries. Would the rebellion be now speedily
crushed, or succumb only after a prolonged civil war which would sap
the already decimated resources of the country, partly suspend and
disorganise business, and cause enormous destruction to life and
property? Or would the Revolutionary forces quickly defeat the
Government armies, acquire following and resources by success, and
replace the existing Government at Peking with another and, if so,
what kind of Government?
One may understand, and to some extent sympathise with, the motives
and ideals of the Revolutionists without approving their course. It
was generally agreed that the Government of China wanted reforming,
but there was wide divergence of opinion as to method. Two general
hypotheses for reform seemed practicable: to impose constitutionalism
upon the present monarchical system and Dynasty, or to wipe them out
and begin anew.
It would profit nothing to change the Government of China unless the
change meant improvement. If the present Dynasty would be
overthrown, what would replace it? Another Dynasty, or a Republic?
A new Dynasty would, under existing circumstances, take for its head
some popular leader since none of the Chinese Royal House was fitted
for the place. This might improve conditions in China, and it might
not. A successful republic, with conditions as they were, was
practically impossible; and it is questionable if {155} a republican
form of government is suited to the Chinese nation and people. None
of the elements of genuine republicanism existed in the Empire. The
course of events, as caused by the Revolutionary party, was being
closely observed. They had set out to fight for their freedom, and
now, with the fall of Hanyang, the military cause seemed lost. All
nations were interested in the fate of China. Already one Power, the
United States, was devising ways and means to safeguard against
abrupt and inharmonious international action, in case any action
became necessary. The _Times_ expressed the view that the Revolution
would fail. Present indications were that the opinion was well
founded. But even if it failed, that revolt was to leave a deep
psychological impression on the reigning Dynasty, the Chinese, and
the world.
But what was happening elsewhere?
On December 2nd the following message was flashed over the wires:
"Nanking city has fallen. Foreigners safe. Revolutionists entering
city." For many days a most determined battle had been going on at
Nanking. The Revolutionists, fired with a zeal intensified because
of the fall of Hanyang, were endeavouring to get into the city--a
feat which seemed for long impossible. The capture of the city of
Nanking was the counterpoise to Hanyang's loss. Every one knows much
more about Nanking. This city was the old capital of China, and of
more political importance probably than Hanyang--it would be made the
capital--and so the Revolutionists thought they still had the better
part of the bargain. There is no space to dwell upon all the
terrible blood-shed, of the Manchu decapitations, and much of the
savagery which rendered the days leading up to the capture of Nanking
hideous to one's memory. But it has so vital a bearing on the
situation that some reference to the city's capture is necessary.
"The long-expected happened this morning at 7 a.m.," said an American
writer on December 2nd, {156} "and the city is gone over. The first
intimation that the end was near was Friday morning early. The
previous night there had been very heavy fighting at Hsiakuan,
Taiping Gate, and the South Gate, especially about the fort just
outside the gate (Yu Hua Tai). General Chang, commanding the
Imperialists, asked the co-operation of the foreigners in the city,
the terms upon which he agreed to the surrender of the city being as
follows:--
"1. No killing of the people in the city, or of the Manchus.
"2. No killing of his soldiers or officers.
"3. Safe conduct for himself out of the city on his way north via
Pukow, together with his own men.
"These were rather staggering for our faith to propose to a
victorious army which had its enemy demoralised, and most of the
officers were only too willing to admit it. Furthermore, neither
Chang Hsuin nor any one else knew who was in command of the rebels,
nor where he might be found. However, arrangements were immediately
made for our going out of the South Gate, and within half an hour we
were off, Mr. Tseo, U.S. Vice-Consul Gilbert, and myself, together
with four of the bodyguard of General Chang. We went through the
South Gate just at twelve noon. The comparatively few loyal troops
stationed on the South Gate, Tung Tsi Gate, Hung Wu Gate, and the
Chao Yang Gate in turn sent word on ahead down the wall not to fire
on us as we skirted the wall trying to find the rebel forces. We
carried the American flag and also a white flag. A few of the
thatched-roof houses along the way were burned, but few other signs
of war could be seen. As we neared the Chao Yang Gate the shells
being fired from the lower peak of Purple Mt., apparently into the
Imperial or Manchu city, whistled through the air, but far enough
away to be only interesting. It was not till we got within {157}
sight of the Ming tombs that we could see the rebels, most of whom
were on the top of the mountain, but we made for a small group on the
lower foothills, and about two o'clock came up to them.
"A quiet, self-contained person seemed to be in charge of the group,
and upon asking him where the general in command was, he replied that
he was that person, so we were extremely fortunate, and stated our
errand at once. The first two propositions were agreed to very
readily, but of course the third was impossible. We then got his
terms of surrender, which were:--
1. Chang Hsuin must surrender, but could live in any place in the
city he chose, where his life would be fully protected until the
final settlement of China's present difficulties.
2. All of his troops must lay down their arms in a certain
drill-ground in the city, and come out of Taiping Gate empty-handed,
and be permitted to depart one by one.
3. Government funds in the hands of the military authorities,
amounting to about $800,000, must be turned over to the new Power.
4. The above terms must be complied with by eight o'clock on December
2nd--that is, the next morning.
"After a pleasant farewell we returned to General Chang's yamen,
arriving about five p.m. The General positively refused to consider
the terms, declaring that he would have to fight till death, and
could not be persuaded to alter his mind. We told him that, such
being the case, we felt no longer safe under his protection, and
would ask for safe conduct out of the city, which was readily
granted, and plans were made for those not absolutely needed for the
Red Cross work to leave the city early the next morning. However,
about ten o'clock, General Chang's secretary again came over, saying
that the General with a number of {158} his men had fled the city by
the I Feng Gate and were to cross the river at Pukow and try to make
their way northward. In about an hour we were able to confirm this
rumour as fact, and so Dr. Macklin, who was personally well
acquainted with the highest officer, who had not gone out with his
General, and whose sentiments he knew, found out that he and his
soldiers--about a thousand--were willing to run up the white flag at
daylight, so we decided not to leave the city. About five o'clock
Dr. Macklin with his officer went to the Taiping Gate, where they
were soon joined also by the American Vice-Consul. The firing was
quite heavy by this time, it having begun before daylight, but as
soon as the white flag together with the American flag was seen the
General sent a messenger down to see what it meant, and when he knew
it was the peace representative of the day before and that the
soldiers were willing to surrender, he was willing that the loyal
officer with the Vice-Consul, Dr. Macklin, and Mr. Garrett come
outside and arrange the details. This they did at once, and General
Ling, the rebel leader, and General Chao, the one highest in command
of the loyal troops in the city, stepped aside and made arrangements
that were mutually satisfactory, the character of which was not fully
divulged. General Chao then made his men stack arms, and they
marched out empty-handed, and the laying down of arms of the
remaining loyal troops had proceeded satisfactorily all day, judging
by all appearances. It was not long before white flags were flying
on Lion Hill forts, the Drum Tower, and many other places. The
troops began to pour into the city and were detailed off to their
respective stations according to previously arranged plans
apparently, and the city began to rejoice after its long days of
waiting and uncertainty. Occasional shots have been heard throughout
the day, but probably nearly all of them are for the moral effect
upon those inclined to take advantage of a possible confusion
to-night to loot."
{159}
Any one entering Nanking the day after would never have known from
the look of things that anything had happened. Most of the
Revolutionary soldiers had entered the city. An extra large force of
police were patrolling the streets; the people were going about their
business as usual and perfect order prevailed. The Revolutionists,
unmoved from Wuchang, had gained Nanking and lost Hanyang: the
Imperialists had lost Nanking and had gained Hanyang. This was the
position when peace was thought of. On the last day of November I
was personally asked, as one representing the _China Press_ of
Shanghai, to publish the following statement to the world as
embodying General Li Yuan Hung's wishes:--
"I desire an armistice in order to communicate with the other
republican centres, that I may ascertain their views whether the
conflict will be carried on or whether the Republicans will meet
in conference with the constitutional monarchists to arrange a
compromise.
"I myself have all along desired to put an end to the internecine
warfare, the bloodshed and suffering, the destruction of
property, and the dangers of foreign intervention.
"To this end I now declare my willingness to make any concession
which will insure an end to the slaughter. My plan is to have
the Republicans and the Government proclaim an armistice so that
the issues can be discussed by proper representatives of both
parties.
"If, however, the united Republicans of the nation desire the war
to continue, I am willing to remain in the field and continue to
the bitter end."
* * * * *
The issues were now, so it seemed, a Monarchical Government or a
Republican Government--the Manchus, every one believed, had been
eradicated for ever. And at this juncture it will give the reader a
better idea of the political situation in Peking if I reproduce an
official statement published a few days previous by Yuan Shih K'ai.
It reads as follows:--
"China has, through centuries, been in a sense loosely governed.
We have had what might be termed a crude or patriarchal form of
{160} monarchy, the slackness of the governing body resulting in
the people developing little respect for government and very
little understanding of the responsibilities of a people toward a
government. The present agitation for a Republic has carried to
the people as a mass only the idea that popular government means
no taxes and no government. I can see in it, under existing
conditions, no promise of stability, at least not for several
tens of years. Among the progressives of the Empire there are
now two schools of thought, one favouring a Republic and the
other a constitutional monarchy. I doubt whether the people of
China are at the present time ripe for a Republic or whether
under present conditions a Republic is adapted to the Chinese
people. The situation in China is complicated by a number of
different factors perhaps not understood abroad.
"In the first place there still exists among the masses a strong
sectional and provincial feeling. While this has undoubtedly
died out among those educated on modern lines, still this is only
a comparatively small element of the country's vast population.
In considering the form of government to give stability it is
necessary to consider the vast majority of the people rather than
the small minority.
"It is already manifest that the interests of the different
sections of the country are very diverse. We find the advocates
of Republicanism splitting among themselves. The educational,
army, local gentry, and commercial parties have all divergent
views. Small groups are being formed and struggling for
ascendancy. If that is permitted to develop on a large scale,
there will be a split-up and this evidently will bring foreign
interference and partition. Although the Manchu government has
done nothing that has drawn to it the hearts of the people, yet
with the power of the people restricted as provided by the
nineteen articles forming the constitutional bill of rights, the
real governing power would be in the hands of the people.
"The adoption of the limited monarchy would bring conditions back
to the normal, would bring stability, much more rapidly than that
end could be attained through any experimental form of government
unsuited to the genius of the people or to conditions as they are
found in China.
"My love for China and the Chinese people is certainly as great
as that of any of those who are advocating the radical step of
establishing a Republic. My sincerity in the cause of reform has
been demonstrated. I have undertaken what is really a stupendous
task, not through any desire for power, nor love of fame but
solely in the hope of being able to restore order out of chaos
and to do some good for China.
"I am still hopeful of reaching some compromise that will satisfy
all elements of the people sincerely desirous of preserving the
integrity of the country and restoring peace and stable
government throughout the {161} land. I believe the Chinese to
be a reasonable people and that there is no desire on the part of
any considerable element to see the country disrupted and
destroyed. What I am working for is a compromise with the
advanced or Republican party with a view to ending the suffering
and removing the troubles and complications with which this
country is beset and threatened.
"With regard to the character and magnitude of the 'independence'
movements. I do not regard the situation to have been carried
beyond the possibility of compromise. Governmental authority
has, it is true, been overthrown in the capitals of most of the
provinces and a few men in each have framed something similar to
a declaration of independence, but this does not seem to me to
imply absolute secession of these provinces. In most of these
capitals, the control is in the hands of conservative citizens
who are holding the situation on something like a neutral basis.
Their object is primarily to keep down anarchy. They desire to
preserve order, to protect life and the property of the people.
While the more radical elements are insisting upon a republic the
better elements seem to me to be neutral. I have favoured a
project to gather together from the different provinces the men
who enjoy the confidence of the people in order that there may be
a thorough discussion of the great question of what the form of
China's government shall be.
"I believe that question should be discussed sanely and soberly.
It is too big a question to be discussed in heat and passion.
"My only reason in favouring the retention of the present Emperor
is that I believe in a constitutional monarchy. If we are to
have that form of government, there is nobody else whom the
people would agree upon for his place.
"Of course the reforms wiping out the distinctions between
Chinese and Manchus must be made effective in any event.
"The great question, the overshadowing question, is the
preservation of China. To accomplish this end all patriots
should be willing to sacrifice secondary considerations of policy
and of course all considerations of self. My sole aim in this
crisis is to save China from Dissolution and the many evils that
would follow. If we are to save China there must be a stable
Government and at once. Every day's delay is dangerous. I hope
the same progressive thought of the country will see this, and
will co-operate with me to secure the all-important end.
"The task I have undertaken is as thankless as it is stupendous.
I am being subjected to misrepresentation, criticism, attack from
all sides. This is to be expected. I must stand it.
"But I do not intend to let it swerve me from my endeavour to do
what I conceive to be my highest duty, which is to labour solely
for the end of preserving China from disruption and from
dissolution."
{162}
But about this time it was fortunate that the start of peace came, as
a surprise to us all. Before Hanyang fell Yuan Shih K'ai had been
endeavouring--so it was reported from Peking--to get peace talk
started. He was afraid of what was coming.
December 4th should be the day upon which the historian of the
Revolution will fix as the most important moment in the whole of this
war. For at 8 a.m. a truce for three days commenced, and high
authority on both sides stated that both Imperialists and
Revolutionists hoped strongly that the lull of fighting would be
productive of definite terms of peace. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, till eight o'clock in the morning--after then, what? And
seeing that in China no thinking person is foolish enough to think
himself a prophet, even of the most truly expected, it seems that to
give a general idea of the situation at the front at this time would
be perhaps the best that one can do. During these days I had several
conversations with high officers in both camps, and was perhaps
better informed on the possibilities than most folk, but from the
first I made up my mind that a great surprise awaited me if the peace
talk were successful. I was frequently in the camps of both parties.
As for the Revolutionary party, there was hardly any camp left, if
buildings made it. For a large fire at the Provincial Assembly Hall
had pretty well ruined that magnificent edifice, and General Li Yuan
Hung and his bewildered associates shifted their offices to a smaller
and more sheltered spot in Wuchang. But it was very little use going
to them for information, for they themselves were wondering what the
victors intended to do. They themselves had made full arrangements
for clearing out, had very little hope that Wuchang would be saved,
believed that Yuan's army would now sweep them up, and so had but
scant belief in the sincerity of Yuan Shih K'ai in calling for peace.
[Illustration: THE UBIQUITOUS BOY. The last to leave the Sing Seng
Road when the Imperialists took possession was a boy, who coolly
blazed off all his ammunition. The first to return was the small
boy--in search of fun or treasure.]
One morning I called at the office, just below the {163} Tachimen
Railway Station, to interview the secretary of Yuan--a Mr. Wong Kai
Wen--who had full administrative control here. To be in the presence
of Mr. Wong is to be with a man who makes you feel his deep
thoroughness. His essential alertness holds you. His deep,
penetrating eyes look at the thing and take in the vital parts at a
glance. He is acute, not to be deceived; frankness, touched with a
little Chinese sleekness, looks you straight in the eyes when he
speaks to you, and altogether the man Yuan chose to wait behind and
direct affairs at this end magnificently fills the bill. About him
there were no signs of the military. He knows practically nothing
about the way to lead an army into battle, but not a single thing of
official note passed him. He looked just like a respectable member
of the teacher community. His long dark-blue wadded gown and his
ordinary round hat, Chinese shoes and socks, his small queue, his
slender moustache, which he thoughtfully pulled at when he talked to
me--all these and many other characteristics told me that he was
typically Chinese. There was nothing foreign about him in
appearance. The things he used were Chinese exclusively. In short,
he was a polished Chinese gentleman. But when he addressed me he
spoke magnificent English--knows English etiquette as we know it
ourselves. These were the rough impressions I got of the man when I
found him in a little back room of a private house near to the
Imperial base just after Hanyang had been captured.
About him there were many hangers-on. With the military camp not a
hundred feet away there was intense excitement, which every one in
front of the foreigner was vainly attempting to subdue. Men came in
with messages, and were quietly turned aside. Wong rose several
times from his chair as he spoke with me, and hurriedly went to
listen to some spies who had a story to tell him. 'Twas all hurry,
all was organised capitally and worked smoothly, for there were many
{164} men on hand. Along the lines carriages of ammunition were
going out towards Hanyang. From Hanyang captured carriages were
coming, all tied low down with tarpaulins so that nobody could see.
Meantime, there was a rumour in the camp that Yuan had been
assassinated, and that the parties were talking peace. And here was
Mr. Wong, Yuan's secretary, reading his dispatches and carrying out
his wishes.
Most ardent preparations for further fighting counterbalanced the
peace suggestions. Was there to be any more fighting? Ah, who knew?
It was not wise to talk of such things. All this was exceptionally
difficult business that Chinese should fight Chinese. But who could
bring forward any way out of it. No; from Mr. Wong Kai Wen there was
no news to be got, but he let drop little things that led one
immediately to believe that Yuan's party were not in for talking
peace. They had taken Hanyang, they would soon, so it appeared, have
Wuchang, and that would make the Revolutionary cause lost altogether.
This was the impression which the Imperial camp gave to me. Then I
went over to the Revolutionary camp, finding that both factions had
many palpable differences. To go into General Li Yuan Hung's offices
was to enter a semi-Occidentalised yamen. The staff were dressed in
European clothes, they had no queues, their hats were mostly American
felts, they talked English more or less, many of them had been
trained in American universities. They treated you in an Occidental
manner, told you their plans frankly, and one could feel that they
were to be believed. They knew and they confessed that the military
cause here was gone, but when I questioned them as to the ultimate
issue of the Revolution they proudly pointed to certain epochs of
history in my own country and asked me whether I thought it possible
that the country could ever be again what it had been. The
anti-foreignism of the north and the massacring of the foreigners at
{165} Sianfu in Shensi they deplored sincerely, and felt that it was
in the banditti and the hooliganism in the Empire that they had a
problem difficult of satisfactory solution.
I felt the sincerity of those men. Their enthusiasm got into me, I
felt that they were a band of young reformers whose only fault lay,
not in their ability, not in their determination, not in their belief
in how things should be done, but in their little lack of stability
and lack of unity. They believed that China must now change, and
that the change would not be the kind of change that the Manchu
Government would have brought in, but a real reform that would raise
the masses of the people and bring China out into the foreground of
the world. And as I spoke to those men I felt it, too. But there
was one failing, that slight lack of stability. They needed leaders.
Not for one moment wishing to minimise the extraordinary powers of
calm foresight and sound administrative ability of General Li Yuan
Hung, which had kept the whole party together during its most trying
times of defeat, the Revolutionary party needed leaders who had been
in the business before. They were all apprentices in the art of
administrative and national rebuilding, and they needed a few
master-men to guide them in their political journeyings. If they
failed, however, it was not because they did not wish to do the right
thing, not because they did not know how to do it; but because of the
lack of downright practical experience; they were not able to give to
current events their current bearing upon their one mutual aim.
Here they were, a strong man at the head of them, and all looking
confidently towards him, like a lot of schoolboys with a teacher to
whom they looked for everything. Immediately after Hanyang fell, the
Wuchang party were scared for fear the city would be bombarded and
they lose their heads. Within forty-eight hours, however, they had
regained their courage. {166} On November 30th, when I went over the
river, as my boat pulled into mid-stream, the boatman told me blandly
that he should expect at least treble rates, as he ran a great risk
in coming at all--the Imperialists were sniping at every boat, he
told me, and he felt it was only wise and fair to let me know. Just
as he spoke I heard a bullet whizz past me. In a couple of minutes
the big gun from Wuchang sent a shell away over my head, which drew
fire from a field-piece in the unskilled hands of a very poor gunner
on the Hankow side, the shell of which dropped noiselessly into the
water a few yards in front of my little boat. Once on the other
side, however, there was no further fear from firing. Rumours had
been flying round to the effect that Wuchang was being evacuated,
and, although on the river-banks people were building their boats and
mending their nets as usual, it did not take the mind of a Spencer to
take in the remarkable change that had so soon come over the city
since the fall of Hanyang. A week previous I had been to Wuchang and
was impressed everywhere with the doing and driving of every one in
the streets and in the shops, with briskness of trade, and the
cocksureness of the people. With their queues discarded they were
then doing a roaring trade in small cloth and silk caps, made after a
foreign pattern, which they wore proudly in defiance to the little
round Manchu hat. These caps were met with at every turn, hung on
nails in the wall above the street-vendors' stall; they were fetching
as much as seventy cents apiece. To-day they could be had for
twenty. Men who had made their purchases now laid aside the foreign
article and fell back to the round hat with the little red knob on
the summit. In the streets half the shops were closed, the other
half doing a little trade and meanwhile preparing to take away most
of the valuable stocks. Huge loads were standing outside the doors
ready to be taken away as soon as the busy coolie gangs had time to
attend to them; old men and {167} women, carrying all their
belongings in small baskets, were tiao-ing as hard as they could go;
through the gates, now no longer guarded by a cocksure squad of
military, but thrown wide open, came the constant hurrying stream of
urban residents, who now were removing to the country. In China at
such times as this one is held almost awestruck with the manner in
which people clear out. Homes which perhaps had been held together
for many generations were being evacuated in a couple of hours--the
old father and the old mother took the children, the sons shouldered
the heavy family furniture, the wives hobbled along behind with the
babies, and altogether they silently went out of the city in a
mournful procession. They hardly knew where they were going, but in
the city trouble was brewing, and they were taking no risks of being
shelled or burned out of their little hovels as had been done to
thousands of their race over the river at Hankow.
As I went into the city I must have passed five thousand
people--mostly in little processions of sixes and sevens, wending
their way through the gates out of range of the fire of guns. I
could not help but look upon them in pity, for disappointment was
writ large upon their faces. They were some of the great percentage
of the Chinese proletariat who delight to go with the crowd, like to
shout with the majority. A fortnight earlier the Wuchang Republican
party was on the top, was commanding all that came before it, and
therefore did the thousands of the non-thinking portion of the
community of the capital city delight in being loyal supporters. But
now the tide for the time seemed to have turned, they were being
bandied about from pillar to post daily, calamity after calamity
seemed woefully to overtake them, and they almost wished, as they
followed each slowly behind the other in common evacuation, that they
had hesitated before plumping for the Revolutionaries. Tea-shops
were almost deserted, rice-shops did no business, one felt that {168}
the military activity was greatly bluff. Wuchang had suddenly become
a forlorn city, and the inhabitants disappointed people. Outside the
Assembly Hall the revolutionary flags flapped in the wind, and there
was little evidence that the conditions of affairs inside had altered
very much, but as I walked up the steps, showed my card, and asked to
see the General the staff officers looked askance at me, asked each
other whether I was of German nationality, and told me that for some
considerable time it would be quite impossible to see General Li. As
I moved about the offices, however, I confess to some admiration at
the way in which, under all their adverse circumstances and the
consequent disappointment which the re-taking of Hanyang must have
been to them all, the officers were going about their work with a
quiet dignity and assurance that they were working on a thing that
was not soon to pass away. One of the young fellows, a man of some
four-and-twenty, who one could easily see had been educated in the
States, told me that they, were all as confident as could be that
their present position was as strong as ever it was.
"The taking of Hanyang," he told me, "is decidedly unfortunate, but
we are making a new nation, a new country--we are not fighting
military battles any more. There is now no further need for the
killing of men. We are more concerned with the laying down of a new
Government, and are desirous of having peace. Yuan Shih K'ai"--and
here he paid a fitting tribute to Yuan's power, although he was not
bewilderingly eulogistic of his political squareness--"does not want
to fight, so he says. If he is true, why does he not withdraw his
army at once and let there be peace? What we shall do now is to
retire down towards Shanghai, where we shall probably hold our first
delegates' meeting for the establishment of the Provisional
Government, and by so doing we shall show to the world that we are by
no means anxious to win our cause by killing our {169} own
countrymen. If he wishes to fight, all the world will know now that
it is not merely because we are the Revolutionary party, but because
he will still be the aggressor. Our policy of evacuating this city
is because we feel it wise to do so, so that fighting may cease, and
it is indirectly an appeal to the world on behalf of humanity--for it
takes two to make a fight."
But this was very far-fetched, for the Revolutionists were equally
keen to show that they had no intention of throwing up the sponge.
Nanking's success subsequently had the effect of firing them with the
fighting spirit again, and the fact that the Nanking troops were
expected to arrive at Wuchang--although this turned out subsequently
to be false--gave a new fillip of enthusiasm to the people. "They
are not the new men, the recruits, they are the real trained
soldiers," cried the man-in-the-street, "as good as the best that go
to make up the Northern Army." The news spread rapidly from mouth to
mouth, and the already excited soldiers showed increased anxiety
because it was feared in their ranks that the rival leaders would so
far be successful in their talk about peace that no further fighting
would take place.
But no one could get any definite news of how much nearer we were to
peace. Meantime at Hanyang and on the Yangtsze above and below that
town strongest fortifications were being made. That Hanyang was the
stronghold only a visit was needed to convince one; this, however,
was difficult, for only the very privileged were afforded passes to
go across the river. Things were buzzing at Hanyang; the Imperialist
troops were itching for another battle, the whole place was fitted up
in a most complete manner for further warfare, the Tortoise Hill was
rendered absolutely impregnable, the camps were connected with both
telephone and telegraph, and the Imperial army was going about its
business as a body who understood thoroughly the business it was
following.
{170}
Whatever they may have thought they could do, however, military
experts declared that the Revolutionists had no position at all as
long as the Imperial guns at Hanyang were able to pour shrapnel into
them. With the railway cut off, the supplies of the Imperial forces
would of course be cut off too, and in that way the Revolutionists
would perhaps have been able to besiege them at Hanyang; but it would
have been infinitely tedious. The cruisers, even if they had had
ammunition, would under existing circumstances have been of little
use. The four-point-seven guns at Hanyang would, with such decided
advantage in being able to bang at them from a point where their own
guns could not even been seen, have been able to silence them in a
very short time. The damage that the Revolutionary guns would have
caused to Hanyang would have been infinitesimal, and altogether the
Imperial army would have held the trump card all the way along. On
the face of things, it appeared little short of sheer madness for the
Revolutionists to think of fighting so long as Hanyang were made the
main Imperial base. But the Revolutionists themselves did not think
so lightly of their chances. They were determined, and among the
rank and file the war fever blinded the sight to all possibilities of
defeat.
Sufficient has been said, perhaps, to show that further fighting
would only take place to gratify the lust for blood of some of the
grossly misguided leaders of the rival armies. Among the Republican
leaders--General Li Yuan Hung and his party, as distinct from the
military officers--the desire that war should forthwith cease was, I
believe, absolutely sincere. General Li Yuan Hung had shown the
world that what he said he meant: one could not point to a single
public utterance from him and find that he had not done all that lay
in his power consistently towards working out his promises. Li Yuan
Hung was a man of political solidarity--not brilliant, but solid,
sound, having an opinion {171} and fearing no one in stating clearly
and openly that opinion. Not in one thing, but in dozens throughout
this dreadful season of disturbance he had shown that if he failed in
carrying out what he said he meant to carry out, it had not been
because of any inconsistency of his own so much as of treachery among
his army and instability among members of his party. He had
announced frankly all along what he wanted, and what he would be
prepared to pay for realising sooner or later.
He now stated that he wanted peace--peace at all costs; to
re-establish peace and to ensure that the fearful bloodshed should
stop, he was prepared to make concessions. The general conduct of Li
Yuan Hung, unmarred as it had been by any unharmonious note with
other members of his party and marked throughout by a stability of
purpose which had surprised the whole world, had been such that his
promises could be relied upon. He had shown sufficient of himself to
warrant respect from all, friends and enemies alike, for he had acted
cleanly. And now he wanted peace.
Meantime many of the most influential foreigners in Hankow were doing
all they could to assist in the bringing in of peace. Merchants,
missionaries, officials, and others were all anxious to assist with
their influence for peace, and if war, with all its carnage and
bloodshed and savagery, were again to come to menace this central
part of China, it would come only as a direct desire from the
Imperial army and with far greater horrors than had yet been seen.
If further war were to come? So much had been seen during the past
eight slow-moving weeks to show what devastation and utter social
wretchedness could be wrought when men elect to settle their
differences by force of arms. The killing of men, the burning of
property--these are brutal features, but not the worst by any means.
By the side of the horrors that come along in the wake of these
ghastly battles, these are barely worth consideration. The slain
are, after all, {172} out of the misery they have helped to make. It
is those who remain behind--those widows with the hungry, half-clad
or naked children, homeless, foodless, friendless, with no roof above
them at night but the cold, steely sky--these are the ones who
suffer. The whole countryside, with its homeless and foodless
people, its ruined, burnt-out hamlets and family homesteads, its
ruined rice-crops, its cruel waste so wantonly forced upon it by the
Imperialists, cried aloud in its weary desolation for peace. If the
war were stopped, one thought that the bloody struggles of the past
few weeks would become powerful agents of civilisation, reshaping and
remoulding the Old China into a new land and a new people. But
further war in that sad, sad country would tend only to make the
passions of the armies wax fiercer and the hatreds more bitter.
Peace negotiations meantime hung in the balance. A fifteen-day
armistice was agreed to, and by that time it was hoped that the Peace
Conference would bring matters finally to a peaceful end.
* * * * *
His Excellency Tang Shao-yi is a magnificent fellow. He is calm, an
infinitely human man, kindly disposed, easily approached, had borne a
character that was clean. When he was appointed as plenipotentiary
to the Peace Conference for Yuan Shih K'ai, the Revolutionists were
pleased because Tang Shao-yi was known to be a man of extremely
liberal views, sound, and not unsympathetic towards real reform. He
had spent some considerable time abroad, and, coming with full power
from Yuan Shih K'ai, was hailed with a good deal of pomp when he came
to Hankow. In the British Municipal Building Tang Shao-yi had a
suite of rooms, and rested in Hankow for a couple of days before
going down to Shanghai, where, with mutual consent, the Peace
Conference was to be held.
It must be made known that, as soon as Hanyang {173} fell, Dr. Wu
Ting Fang, than whom is no better-known Chinese diplomat in the
world, assumed a very prominent position in the ambitious Republican
party. Dr. Wu Ting Fang was generally recognised to be the best man
suited to carry on peace negotiations from the Revolutionary party,
and he, with several secretaries and advisers, met Tang Shao-yi and
his advisers in Shanghai on December 18, 1911. This conference was
looked upon throughout the civilised world as an epoch-making event:
it was to be a red-letter day in future histories. "Peace, peace,"
ran the legend. Not only was one-quarter of the human race, and all
that country and honour and liberty mean to them, immediately
involved, but if one had the true prophetic eye he was able to look
out upon a change whose effects would spread to the uttermost parts
of the civilised globe. The effects of this Peace Conference then
about to shape the future of this wonderful land were looked upon as
immeasurable, illimitable. Dr. Wu Ting Fang, General Li Yuan Hung,
able leaders of a movement shaking Chinese life to its vitals, on the
one hand; Tang Shao-yi, Yuan Shih K'ai, representatives of the oldest
faction of the whole human race, on the other hand--upon these men
rested a world-wide responsibility it has seldom fallen to the lot of
men to have had placed upon them.
"Peace, peace; at all costs let us have peace." So, sincerely as it
seemed, cried both parties. That both sides were in earnest there is
every reason to believe. Those who knew General Li Yuan Hung, the
youngest hero of the world, were able more and more to testify with
increasing knowledge of the man that he wished nothing more than that
China should be freed from the Manchu yoke. All else he would forego
to establish peace that should bring prosperity, a peace that should
be permanent and knit the whole Empire together as nothing else
could. Those who knew Dr. Wu Ting Fang realised that, as an able
leader of {174} modern thought and that party whose aim is progress,
he was sincere in all that he did to bring about a China enlightened
and able to stand in line with nations of the East and West. Tang
Shao-yi was a man whose innate sincerity and true humility in high
places had won the confidence of all who knew him. He was, as always
he had been, veritably a political prince of peace. He loved his
country.
And finally Yuan Shih K'ai. All knew him or of him. Some praised
him, but it was a penalty of his greatness that some anathematised
him. China to him also was as dear as his fame or his life. There
were two pictures: a dawn of peace and tranquillity, a China freed
from all racial bitterness, a China plunging manfully out and in her
plunge being assisted by all the Powers of the world; the other
picture shows a China going down to the deeps of internal despair,
renewed hostilities, further bloodshed. And all those who knew what
the war had been, those who had seen those twelve thousand mothers'
sons hacked and hewn and blown into eternity by infuriated members of
their own great race entertained merely one common hope.
I went down to Shanghai and remained in that city whilst the Peace
Conference was in progress. To go from the scene of action in
Central China to Shanghai was to pass at one stroke from the din of
war to the tranquillity of peace and undisturbed civilisation. Hard
indeed was it for any one who had been through the crisis in Hankow
actually to realise the peace of China's great metropolis--the
contrast was so enormous as to force it upon one's imagination that
the war was over, that peace assuredly had come. One missed the
cannonading, the utter devastation and universal suffering, the
burnt-out hamlets and the homeless thousands all over the countryside.
Tang Shao-yi, when he called upon Li Yuan Hung, was reported to have
been very surprised at the meagre following that still stood by the
Revolutionary leader--of {175} course, several delegates had already
left for Shanghai, and he predicted that it would be only a matter of
time when we should see the Republicans forced in the very nature of
things to take the monarchical course. That General Li Yuan Hung and
his supporters had been willing to sink their personal ambitions on
behalf of the general welfare of the country had again and again been
declared by their leader in the press and by other means. But Tang
Shao-yi seemed, when I interviewed him in Hankow just before he
sailed for Shanghai, to believe that this was mere Chinese bluff; he
declared that they had no other course, and that they did this
because they foresaw that their popularity soon would be greatly
diminished when the gilt from the official gingerbread had rubbed off.
In the Hankow neighbourhood there were thousands who had no food to
eat, no clothes, who had no idea of how they were going to keep body
and soul intact during the coming winter, and some of the older
conservative school were beginning to question whether it was, after
all, worth the candle, and whether it would have been better to have
gone in the same old way, bad as that had been. The result of the
war in which they took so lively an interest was coming upon them as
a horrible nightmare, and I am of the opinion that, although they
were as much passively in favour of reform as they had been,
four-fifths of the people were horribly tired of waiting for the good
times which then seemed farther off than ever. All this was
depressing to Tang, coming among it for the first time. But Tang
Shao-yi was most generous in his references to General Li Yuan Hung.
He thought that the zeal, the disinterestedness, and the abilities
with which Li Yuan Hung had carried out so successfully the general
principles of the Revolution, the persecution he had suffered and the
ignominy that his army had brought to him, and the firmness and
independence that he had shown under all circumstances should have
had a strong claim {176} upon the sympathies of all people. But the
great preponderance of the common people, those who had been hit
hardest in the burning of their homes and the loss of all they
possessed, were inevitably downcast and wished that it would all pass
away and bring anything else so long as peace came with it.
Therefore, all looked eagerly to the peace delegates. It was a
season most trying to the Revolutionary party, for they were all
waiting to see what the outcome of the negotiations would be; and
this lull allowed of a little respite for talk. One department at
Wuchang was suspected of taking away the power from another, one man
from another; some thought that it would be better for General Li to
go away and talk peace, whilst others declared that he could not get
away because the party would not let him.
Tang Shao Yi, however, would not talk much about the general
situation. He told me that he knew very little, that I should know
much more than he of what had happened, and would be able to make a
fairly good bid as to what would happen in the immediate future, and
in spite of the fact that he was Yuan Shih K'ai's chief peace
delegate he could not tell what was in Yuan's mind. "And you see,"
he continued softly, "both sides are now so earnestly seeking for
peace that it seems to me that there should not be much trouble about
a complete settlement. We realise that they [referring to the
Wuchang party] are so strong that we shall have to concede a good
deal. There surely cannot be any more war, and if every one means
what he says and is prepared to do his best for the best common
interests, I think we shall soon complete the Peace Conference."
Tang Shao Yi then looked into the fire. For some time neither of us
spoke. He held his rheumatic-stricken arm under his fur gown, then
looked up and switched off from political theorising to small talk.
The Revolutionary delegates, when this Peace Conference {177} was
arranged, were in a frame of mind determined not to give way. A
criterion of their attitude and aims for the Conference may be drawn
from the following interview I was privileged to secure as I
travelled down-river to Shanghai on board the same steamer with three
of General Li Yuan Hung's delegates. The chief man was one Hu Ying,
whose main statement was as follows:--
"Our attitude towards Yuan Shih K'ai is summed up in a single
sentence. If he obstinately upholds the Manchu Dynasty against
the wishes of the people, then he is doomed for ever. He may
succeed in overriding the wishes of the people for awhile, but no
single man, however able, will be able to stand in the way of the
people.
"We do not wish this to be a fight with arms. We know that it
would take a good deal of time for us to be able to stand man for
man with the Imperial Army, but we know that we have half the
world at our back."
Now, Mr. Hu Ying, this same man, some years ago narrowly escaped
losing his head for being mixed up in an alleged Revolutionary
escapade that cost his more enthusiastic confederate his head. He
was the President of the Foreign Office of the Hupeh Government when
I interviewed him. He was a man who to a very large extent had been
the prime mover in the Republican dream of the future. For many
years a strong Revolutionist, he had, however, been called upon to
study the arts of Revolutionism in prison. For when the Revolution
broke out he was still behind the prison bars in Wuchang, and under
normal conditions would have passed the remainder of a miserable life
dreaming of the great reforms he now hoped to help forward. He was a
man who incontestably had the confidence of Li Yuan Hung. Mr. Hu was
only one of a number of delegates sent down to join with Dr. Wu Ting
Fang in upholding the Republican side of the argument against Tang
Shao Yi and his assistants. They all represented General Li Yuan
Hung and thoroughly understood his ideas. Mr. Hu and another of the
{178} delegates--a Mr. C. T. Wang, who was a graduate of an American
University and in China held the responsible position of the National
Secretaryship of the Y.M.C.A. in China--were chosen to assist Dr. Wu
by representatives of the various Revolutionary provinces represented
at Wuchang. Hu Ying was a short, rather stout Chinese, who told me
frankly that he felt fearfully out of it because he could not speak
my foreign words, and a man who would never be taken seriously at
first sight as one capable of shaping the foreign policy of the
Chinese Empire. As a matter of fact, he was nervous with
foreigners--it may be, of course, that his long term in prison had
made him so--and looked up rather timidly over the steel rims of his
glasses as he spoke. He laughed with buoyant candour over his own
jokes, and was somewhat of a caricature in his foreign felt hat that
was the only sign about him that he had ambitions for Occidentalising
his country.
This hat was worn far back over his head in much the same way as he
had been used to wearing the little round one; his glasses were
tilted forward considerably on his little squat nose, his uneven
teeth did not tend to enhance his personal beauty, and as one looked
down upon him the only item in his general appearance that came in
for admiration were his exquisitely furred silk gowns. 'Twas cold,
so he wore three of them, the top one a brilliant flowered blue. He
was also a little short-sighted, had a slight stoop, endeavoured
vainly to grow a moustache, had a queueless head of outrageously
unkempt hair, and did not look a statesman. But he was one. In
those jet-black eyes one could often see the fire of unquenchable
enthusiasm as he spoke of the possibilities of his own country. He
was, perhaps, what one would be justified in calling a typical
Revolutionist. There was a cut about them all that was non-Chinese,
and yet at heart, in word, and thought, they themselves were
essentially Chinese. Perhaps this {179} was not so striking at
Shanghai and other places on the coast, but one could tell in the
Wuchang centre at a glance those who were rampant Revolutionists; the
foreign cap worn on the rough, queueless head, the foreign boot, the
alleged foreign coat sometimes and other desiderata of clothing,
neither foreign nor Chinese, which had become sadly out of
joint--these were the undeniable characteristics.
"Of course, you have been a Revolutionary for some years, have you
not?" I asked Hu Ying.
Well, yes, he had. Some years ago--and he looked half-ashamedly at
me, as if he were not quite sure whether it were now a fit subject
for review--a very dear friend of his had been beheaded, and he had
expected to be, for being rather outspoken and acting daringly along
the direct line of their thought in regard to the way in which their
country should progress. His references to prison life were not
enthusiastic, although for sheer helplessness he laughed heartily now
and again during the conversation as he recalled certain epochs of
his years in gaol. He thought it most unjust, of course, and now
that he was out and had been entrusted with the responsible duties of
partly moulding the foreign policy of a New China, he saw plainly
that his duty lay in working as hard as he could--and this, he
informed me, he fully intended doing. The man who had lost his head
would have been a good man, too, just at this juncture, but the poor
fellow, a master in the Boone University in his time, had now paid
the price with his head.
"And I think that every man in China who believes in his country and
his own race can be nothing else than a Revolutionist--we are
reformers rather, and no matter whether we belong to the Republican
party, the Monarchical party, or any other party, if we love our
country as we should, we must all be Revolutionists."
His ensuing references to the Manchurian Dynasty, not bubbling over
with praise, could have no purpose {180} were they printed here, save
to show how great was the hatred of the Wuchang party towards the old
rulers of China. During the conversation he referred to his
companion, Mr. Sun Fa Shu, a portly, aristocratic gentleman dressed
immaculately in latest foreign fashion--a long green tweed overcoat,
a slouch cloth hat, gloves, walking-stick, and all the rest of it.
Mr. Sun all along had been the right-hand man of General Li Yuan
Hung. Nothing happened in the Revolutionary court without Mr. Sun's
knowledge. He it was who framed all the Revolutionary edicts that
had awakened the world, and was looked upon as the scholar of the
camp. To his finger-tips he was an aristocrat. He spoke low and
slowly, thoughtfully always, gave little gestures now and again to
add to his meaning and to make it clear in Chinese, and showed great
approbation when we caught the drift of his argument. Both these men
in their conversation were charitable to every member of the
Government, eulogistic of some, and would not have me for a moment
believe that they wished to say anything wrong about any one. They
were, they said, merely telling me truthfully what they thought. I
referred to the length of time negotiations would take, and suggested
that people would tire of waiting for the good times supposed to be
coming. Did they think that the great bulk of the common people of
China actually understood what the issues were?
Mr. Sun, with his gold-rimmed spectacles shining in the sunlight,
looked from my feet straight into my eyes. He spoke with low
emphasis. "There is, perhaps, no other nation in the world," he
began, "that loves peace and is so good-natured and patient as the
Chinese. Yet when they are provoked they strike back with vigour.
The Manchu arrogance and corruption are things which very few nations
could bear. That we have borne them for over two hundred years shows
our patience, but"--and he raised his delicate finger with {181} a
slight shake to show his feeling on the point--"to everything there
is a limit. The blow has now been struck, and the hundreds and
thousands of patriots in China will never lay down their arms until
the Manchu Dynasty is wiped out of existence and the Chinese once
more manage their own affairs and in their own way." Here he
stopped, turned slightly in the indignation which his own thoughts
gave him, and remained looking at his companion, who said nothing.
"But if the Manchu Dynasty has done some harm, surely you must admit
that it has taught the people, no matter in what way, how to preserve
peace and to love it?" I asked perseveringly.
"Much of the backwardness of the Chinese nation, as a nation,"
retorted Sun Fa Shu, "has been due largely to the misrule of the
Manchu Dynasty. Everybody knows it. Everybody admits it. Its first
principle has been how to keep the people of China as ignorant and as
poor as possible. For knowledge and wealth, when acquired by the
Chinese, cannot but impair the supremacy of the Manchus, which has
been maintained, like highway robbery, by sheer force. A China
emancipated, therefore, means a China prosperous and enlightened.
Except one or two nations whose principles are not above those of the
Manchus, and who delight in land-grabbing and carnage of warfare, we
feel sure that the world desires China to be a progressive and
enlightened country."
"But do you think the Revolutionary party, as it is, strong enough to
establish conditions which shall permanently make for peace and real
progress?"
At this point Mr. Hu Ying spoke. He said that he was convinced that
they could, and if at first they could not institute ideal
conditions, they would if they were given time. "The Anglo-Saxons,"
he continued, "have taught the world the great lesson of government
by representation--the Revolutionary movement aims at what they have
shown us. We aim at the overthrow {182} of a decadent Court, and the
establishment of a Government which shall respond to the will of the
people. In the endeavour to bring about such a representative
government, Young China, we know full well, has much to learn. But
it has been conceded by all people that there is no school so
efficient as the----"
Hu Ying was waiting for a word when the third delegate, a graduate
from one of the American universities and an ardent enthusiast in the
New Government, gave the translation as "the school of experience,
the school of 'hard knocks,'" and thereby caused a smile.
"And," went on Hu, "let us have a chance to learn, and in a decade or
two the world shall see the possibilities and genius of our people
for representative government."
"What do you consider the main point upon which the two parties will
have difficulty in seeing eye to eye about at the Peace Conference?"
I asked of the three.
Simultaneously they spoke, and then the two gave way to Sun Fa Hsu.
With fitting dignity he replied that the one solitary point which the
Revolutionists would never waive was their demand for the abolition
of the Manchu Dynasty. And so these three representatives of the
Revolutionary party of Wuchang were of one determined mind upon this
vital question; their party would waive anything else, perhaps, but
not that. They were immovable. I suggested that perhaps if peace
terms could not be arranged they might be forced to give way even on
this point also. But they said they would not; "No, if there must be
Manchu rule again, then we must again go to war, much as we do not
wish to. And there are thousands who will die before they again
submit.
"When that point is settled," said Sun Fa Hsu with some vigour, "then
all other points can easily be adjusted. Upon that alone everything
hinges. We are fighting for the freedom of our people from the
Manchu yoke."
{183}
"Do you in Wuchang still hold out so strongly for the Republican form
of government as you did? I know that General Li Yuan Hung is
anxious for a Republic, but do you think there are many who would
rather see a Republic than anything else?"
"Whether we should have a Constitutional Monarchy or a Republic we
are prepared to leave with the people. What they want we want, and
we are prepared to leave the matter for a decision by the vote of the
people. For our part, we advocate a Republican form of government,
as the Chinese are democratic in their nature and their habits. Even
under an absolute monarch careful observers of the Chinese political
tendency have remarked that the Chinese Government is a democracy
superseded by a monarchy. In other words, the Imperial rule has not
been a natural outgrowth of the political habits of the Chinese
people, but has been allowed to exist simply because no better
substitute has been found. We think we have now found the
substitute. It is in a president who is responsible to the people,
and yet who, at times when emergency demands, could wield powers
greater even than those exercised by a king or an emperor."
"Do you think that Yuan Shih K'ai will be the first President?"
Mr. Sun did not speak for some time. He waited for me to ask the
question a second time, and even then did not seem inclined to commit
himself. At length he replied:--
"I do not know. Our attitude to Yuan Shih K'ai may be summed up in a
single sentence. If he obstinately upholds the Manchu Dynasty
against the wishes of the people, then he is doomed for ever. He may
succeed in overriding the wishes of the people for a while, but no
single man, however able, will be allowed to stand in the way of the
people. On the other hand, the opportunity now presents itself for
Yuan Shih K'ai to earn the everlasting gratitude of the nation {184}
in yielding to their wishes in putting an end to the Manchu Dynasty
once and for all. If he does this, Yuan Shih K'ai will show himself
a wise man. We know that it would take some time for us to stand man
for man with the Imperial Army, but we have half a world at our back."
[Illustration: DR. WU TING-FANG. Minister of Law in the new
Republic.]
The above sentiments may be taken as a fair example of the views held
by the Revolutionary leaders on the point of meeting at the Peace
Conference. These men, hitherto unknown to the world--always
excepting men of the stamp of Wu Ting Fang and Tang Shao-yi--were now
making history on a gigantic scale, reformers who had just sprung
into being as it seemed, but whose whole past bore testimony to the
manner in which they had been working for China's great era of reform
and progress.
* * * * *
In the following chapter will be found a _résumé_ of the Peace
Conference, unsatisfactory as it was in most respects.
{185}