partial acquiescence in their demands.  It can not be thought surprising that the proposed elimination of the hated Manchus from the Government was popular, yet it must seem remarkable that the revolutionary movement was so definitely republican in its aims, and as such achieved so much success.  There had been little open agitation in favor of a republic, but the ground had been prepared for it to a certain extent by a secret propaganda.  The foreign-drilled troops of the army were disaffected in many cases and were approached with some result; the eager spirits of the party in the south, where practically the whole strength of the movement lay, formed an alliance with certain of the officers of these troops.  No sooner was the revolution begun than a military leader appeared in the person of Li Yuan-hung, a brigadier-general, who had commanded a considerable body of these foreign-drilled soldiers, and was supported by large numbers of such men in the fighting in and around Wuchang-Hankau.  That the revolutionaries, who were chiefly of the student class, and not of the “solid” people of the country, were able to enlist the active cooperation of these officers and their troops accounts for the quick and astonishing success of the movement.  And at the outset, whatever is the case now, many of the solid people—­magistrates, gentry, and substantial merchants—­also indorsed it.

Toward the end of November the revolutionaries captured Nanking, a decisive blow to the imperialists, and this former capital of China became the headquarters of a Provisional Republican Government.  Soon afterward, through the good offices of Great Britain, a truce was arranged between the north and the south.  Yuan Shih-kai was striving with all his might to retain the dynasty as a limited monarchy, but “coming events cast their shadows before” in the resignation of the Regent early in December.  Negotiations went on between Yuan, who was represented at a conference held in Shanghai by Tang Shao-yi, an able and patriotic man and a protege of his own, and the revolutionaries, but the leaders of the latter made it clear that there could be no peaceful solution of the situation short of the abdication of the dynasty and the institution of some form of republic.  At the end of December Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose striking and romantic story is well known, was appointed Provisional President by Nanking; in January he published a manifesto to the people of China, bitterly attacking the dynasty, promising that the republic would recognize treaty obligations, the foreign loans and concessions, and declaring that it aimed at the general improvement of the country, the remodeling of the laws, and the cultivation of better relations with the Powers.