A Constituent Assembly, after enacting a provisional constitution, gave place to a duly elected Parliament, which met in April 1913 to determine the permanent constitution.  Yuan soon began to quarrel with the Parliament as to the powers of the President, which the Parliament wished to restrict.  The majority in Parliament was opposed to Yuan, but he had the preponderance in military strength.  Under these circumstances, as was to be expected, constitutionalism was soon overthrown.  Yuan made himself financially independent of Parliament (which had been duly endowed with the power of the purse) by unconstitutionally concluding a loan with the foreign banks.  This led to a revolt of the South, which, however, Yuan quickly suppressed.  After this, by various stages, he made himself virtually absolute ruler of China.  He appointed his army lieutenants military governors of provinces, and sent Northern troops into the South.  His regime might have lasted but for the fact that, in 1915, he tried to become Emperor, and was met by a successful revolt.  He died in 1916—­of a broken heart, it was said.

Since then there has been nothing but confusion in China.  The military governors appointed by Yuan refused to submit to the Central Government when his strong hand was removed, and their troops terrorized the populations upon whom they were quartered.  Ever since there has been civil war, not, as a rule, for any definite principle, but simply to determine which of various rival generals should govern various groups of provinces.  There still remains the issue of North versus South, but this has lost most of its constitutional significance.

The military governors of provinces or groups of provinces, who are called Tuchuns, govern despotically in defiance of Peking, and commit depredations on the inhabitants of the districts over which they rule.  They intercept the revenue, except the portions collected and administered by foreigners, such as the salt tax.  They are nominally appointed by Peking, but in practice depend only upon the favour of the soldiers in their provinces.  The Central Government is nearly bankrupt, and is usually unable to pay the soldiers, who live by loot and by such portions of the Tuchun’s illgotten wealth as he finds it prudent to surrender to them.  When any faction seemed near to complete victory, the Japanese supported its opponents, in order that civil discord might be prolonged.  While I was in Peking, the three most important Tuchuns met there for a conference on the division of the spoils.  They were barely civil to the President and the Prime Minister, who still officially represent China in the eyes of foreign Powers.  The unfortunate nominal Government was obliged to pay to these three worthies, out of a bankrupt treasury, a sum which the newspapers stated to be nine million dollars, to secure their departure from the capital.  The largest share went to Chang-tso-lin, the Viceroy of Manchuria and commonly said to be a tool of Japan.  His share was paid to cover the expenses of an expedition to Mongolia, which had revolted; but no one for a moment supposed that he would undertake such an expedition, and in fact he has remained at Mukden ever since.[32]