They were taught to believe that political instinct was the ability to misrepresent in a convincing way the actions and arguments of your opponents and to profit by their mistakes—­not that it is a mighty impulse which can re-make nations.  The Republic was declared by the actions of Western bureaucrats to be a Republic pour rire, not a serious thing; and by this false and cruel assumption they killed Yuan Shih-kai.

If that epitaph is written on his political tombstone, it will be as full of blinding truth as is only possible with Last Things.

FOOTNOTES: 

[20] The incident of Chen-chiao is very celebrated in Chinese annals.  A yellow robe, the symbol of Imperial authority, was thrown around General Chao Kuang-ying, at a place called Chen-chiao, by his soldiers and officers when he commanded a force ordered to the front.  Chao returned to the Capital immediately to assume the Imperial Throne, and was thus “compelled” to become the founder of the famous Sung dynasty.

The “incident of Yuyang” refers to the execution of Yang Kuei-fei, the favourite concubine of Emperor Yuan Tsung of the Tang dynasty.  The Emperor for a long time was under the alluring influence of Yang Kuei-fei, who had a paramour named An Lo-hsan.  The latter finally rebelled against the Emperor.  The Emperor left the capital and proceeded to another place together with his favourite concubine, guarded by a large force of troops.  Midway, however, the soldiers threatened to rebel unless the concubine was killed on the spot.  The clamour was such that the Emperor was forced to sacrifice the favourite of his harem, putting her to death in the presence of his soldiers.

CHAPTER XIV

THE NEW REGIME,—­FROM 1916 TO 1917

Within an hour of the death of Yuan Shih-kai, the veteran General Tuan Chi-jui, in his capacity of Secretary of State, had called on Vice-President Li Yuan-hung—­the man whom years before he had been sent to the Yangtsze to bring captive to Peking—­and welcomed him as President of the Republic.  At one o’clock on the same day the Ministers of the Allied Powers who had hastily assembled at the Waichiaopu (Foreign Office), were informed that General Li Yuan-hung had duly assumed office and that the peace and security of the capital were fully guaranteed.  No unrest of any sort need be apprehended; for whilst rumours would no doubt circulate wildly as soon as the populace realized the tragic nature of the climax which had come the Gendarmerie Corps and the Metropolitan Police—­two forces that numbered 18,000 armed men—­were taking every possible precaution.