specially to conciliate Japan, a high official was appointed to proceed on an Embassy to Tokio to grant special industrial concessions—­a manoeuvre which was met with the official refusal of the Tokio Government to be so placated.  Peking was coldly informed that owing to “court engagements” it would be impossible for the Emperor of Japan to receive any Chinese Mission.  After this open rebuff attention was concentrated on “the punitive expedition” to chastise the disaffected South, 80,000 men being put in the field and a reserve of 80,000 mobilized behind them.  An attempt was also made to win over waverers by an indiscriminate distribution of patents of nobility.  Princes, Dukes, Marquises, Viscounts and Barons were created in great batches overnight only to be declined in very many cases, one of the most precious possessions of the Chinese race being its sense of humour.  Every one, or almost every one, knew that the new patents were not worth the paper they were written on, and that in future years the members of this spurious nobility would be exposed to something worse than contempt.  France was invited to close the Tonkin frontier, but this request also met with a rebuff, and revolutionists and arms were conveyed in an ever-more menacing manner into the revolted province of Yunnan by the French railways.  A Princedom was at length conferred on Lung Chi Kwang, the Military Governor of Canton, Canton being a pivotal point and Lung Chi Kwang, one of the most cold-blooded murderers in China, in the hope that this would spur him to such an orgy of crime that the South would be crushed.  Precisely the opposite occurred, since even murderers are able to read the signs of the times.  Attempts were likewise made to enforce the use of the new Imperial Calendar, but little success crowned such efforts, no one outside the metropolis believing for a moment that this innovation possessed any of the elements of permanence.

Meanwhile the monetary position steadily worsened, the lack of money becoming so marked as to spread panic.  Still, in spite of this, the leaders refused to take warning, and although the political impasse was constantly discussed, the utmost concession the monarchists were willing to make was to turn China into a Federal Empire with the provinces constituted into self-governing units.  The over-issue of paper currency to make good the gaps in the National Finance, now slowly destroyed the credit of the Central Government and made the suspension of specie payment a mere matter of time.  By the end of February the province of Kueichow was not only officially admitted by the Peking Government to be in open revolt as well as Yunnan, but rebel troops were reported to be invading the neighbouring province of Hunan.  Kwangsi was also reported to be preparing for secession whilst in Szechuan local troops were revolting in increasing numbers.  Rumours of an attempted assassination of Yuan Shih-kai by means of bombs now circulated,—­and there