years of revolution, was appointed to act in his stead and duly counter-signed the fateful Mandate which was at once printed and promulgated at four o’clock in the morning.  It has been stated to the writer that had it not been so issued four battalions of Chang Hsun’s savage pigtailed soldiery, who had been bivouacked for some days in the grounds of the Temple of Heaven, would have been let loose on the capital.  The actual text of the Mandate proves conclusively that the President had no hand in its drafting—­one argument being sufficient to prove that, namely the deliberate ignoring of the fact that Parliament had been called into being by virtue of article 53 of the Nanking Provisional Constitution and that under article 54 its specific duty was to act as a grand constitutional conference to draft and adopt the Permanent Constitution, article 55 furthermore giving Parliament the right summarily to amend the Provisional Constitution before the Promulgation of the permanent instrument, should that be necessary.  Provisions of this sort would naturally carry no weight with generals of the type of Chang Hsun, of whom it is said that until recent years he possessed only the most elementary education; but it is a dismal thing to have to record that the Conservative Party in China should have adopted a platform of brute force in the year of grace, 1917.

    MANDATE DISSOLVING PARLIAMENT

In the 6th month of last year I promulgated a Mandate stating that in order to make a Constitution it was imperative that Parliament should be convened.  The Republic was inaugurated five years ago and yet there was no Constitution, which should be the fundamental law of a nation, therefore it was ordered that Parliament be re-convened to make the Constitution, etc., at once.

Therefore the main object for the re-convocation of Parliament was to make a formal constitution for the country.  Recently a petition was received from Meng En-yuen, Tu-chun of Kirin, and others, to the effect that “in the articles passed by the Constitution Conference there were several points as follows:  ’when the House of Representatives passes a vote of want of confidence against the Cabinet Ministers, the President may dismiss the Cabinet Ministers, or dissolve the said House, but the dissolution of the House shall have the approval of the Senate.’  Again, ’When the President dismisses his Prime Minister, it is unnecessary for him to secure the counter-signature of the Cabinet Ministers.’  Again ’when a bill is passed by the Two Houses it shall have the force of the law.’  We were surprised to read the above provisions.

“According to the precedents of other nations the Constitution has never been made by Parliament.  If we should desire a good and workable Constitution, we should seek a fundamental solution.  Indeed Parliament is more important than any other organ in the country; but when the national welfare is imperilled, we must take action.