In brief I now confess that all the faults of the country are the result of my own faults.  Now that the acceptance of the Imperial Throne has been cancelled every man will be responsible for his own action if he further disturbs the peace of the locality and thus give an opportunity to others.  I, the Great President, being charged with the duty of ruling over the whole country, cannot remain idle while the country is racing to perdition.  At the present moment the homesteads are in misery, discipline has been disregarded, administration is being neglected and real talents have not been given a chance.  When I think of such conditions I awake in the darkness of midnight.  How can we stand as a nation if such a state of affairs is allowed to continue?  Hereafter all officials should thoroughly get rid of their corrupt habits and endeavour to achieve merits.  They should work with might and main in their duties, whether in introducing reforms or in abolishing old corruptions.  Let all be not satisfied with empty words and entertain no bias regarding any affair.  They should hold up as their main principle of administration the policy that only reality will count and deal out reward or punishment with strict promptness.  Let all our generals, officials, soldiers and people all, all, act in accordance with this ideal.

This attempt at an Amende honourable, so far from being well-received, was universally looked upon as an admission that Yuan Shih-kai had almost been beaten and that a little more would complete his ruin.  Though, as we have said, the Northern troops were fighting well in his cause on the upper reaches of the great Yangtsze, the movement against him was now spreading as though it had been a dread contagious disease, the entire South uniting against Peking.  His promise to open a proper Legislative Chamber on 1st May was met with derision.  By the middle of April five provinces—­Yunnan, Kueichow, Kwangsi, Kwangtung and Chekiang—­had declared their independence, and eight others were preparing to follow suit.  A Southern Confederacy, with a Supreme Military Council sitting at Canton, was organized, the brutal Governor Lung Chi Kwang having been won over against his master, and the scholar Liang Ch’i-chao flitting from place to place, inspiring move after move.  The old parliament of 1913 was reported to be assembling in Shanghai, whilst terrorist methods against Peking officials were bruited abroad precipitating a panic in the capital and leading to an exodus of well-to-do families who feared a general massacre.

An open agitation to secure Yuan Shih-kai’s complete retirement and exile now commenced.  From every quarter notables began telegraphing him that he must go,—­including General Feng Kuo-chang who still held the balance of power on the Yangtsze.  Every enemy Yuan Shih-kai had ever had was also racing back to China from exile.  By the beginning of May the situation was so threatening that the Foreign Legations became alarmed and talked