...  “In a Republic the Sovereign Power is vested in the people, and the main principle is that all things should be determined in accordance with the desires of the majority.  These desires may be embraced by two words, namely, existence and happiness.  I, the President, came from my farm because I was unable to bear the eternal sufferings of the innocent people.  I assumed office and tried vainly to soothe the violent feelings.  The greatest evil nowadays is the misunderstanding of true principles.  The Republicans on the pretext of public interest try to attain selfish ends, some going so far as to consider the forsaking of parents as a sign of liberty and regarding the violation of the laws as a demonstration of equality.  I will certainly do my best to change all this.”

In the second Mandate Yuan Shih-kai justifies the re-establishment of the Confucian worship in a singular way, incidentally showing how utterly incomprehensible to him is the idea of representative government, since he would appear to have imagined that by dispatching circular telegrams to the provincial capitals and receiving affirmative replies from his creatures all that is necessary in the way of a national endorsement of high constitutional measures had been obtained.

...  “China’s devotion to Confucius began with the reign of the Emperor Hsiaowu, of the Han dynasty, who rejected the works of the hundred authors, making the six Confucian classics the leading books.  Confucius, born in the time of the tyranny of the nobility, in his works declared that after war disturbances comes peace, and with peace real tranquillity and happiness.  This, therefore, is the fountain of Republicanism.  After studying the history of China and consulting the opinions of scholars, I find that Confucius must remain the teacher for thousands of generations.  But in a Republic the people possess sovereign power.  Therefore circular telegrams were dispatched to all the provinces to collect opinions, and many affirmative answers have already been received.  Therefore, all colleges, schools, and public bodies are ordered to revive the sacrificial ceremony of Confucius, which shall be carefully and minutely ordained” ...

With the formal promulgation of the Constitutional Compact the situation had become bizarre in the extreme.  Although even the child-mind might have known that powers for Constitution-making were vested solely in the National Assembly, and that the re-division of authority which was now made was wholly illegal, because Yuan Shih-kai as the bailiff of the Powers was able to do much as he pleased; and at a moment when Liberal Europe was on the eve of plunging into the most terrible war in history in defence of right against might, reaction and Prussianism of the most repulsive type were passed by unnoticed in China.  In a few loosely drafted chapters not only was the governance of the country rearranged to suit a purely dictational rule, but the actual Parliament was permanently