Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/351

 14, the National Assembly elected him successor to Sun Yat-sen as President of the Provisional Government of the Republic, the election being held on the basis of a Provisional Constitution. On March 10, 1912, Yüan, then aged fifty-four (sui), took the oath of office in Peking.

Yüan Shih-k'ai was not interested in democratic government, nor were his henchmen, the army officers who came later to be known as the Peiyang militarists, or the officials whom he accepted from the old regime. Opposed to Yüan's faction, were the revolutionists, who were nearly all adherents of the new political party known as the Kuo-min-tang 國民黨. Between the two camps were the more enlightened conservatives. After assuming the Presidency, Yüan took further steps to consolidate his power. With the help of foreign loans, he was able to finance an expanded army and win over corrupt politicians; those whom he could not control he eliminated by coercion and violence. In 1913 the revolutionists in South China made sporadic efforts to dislodge him by force, but they were no match for his trained army, and were easily crushed in July of that year—the net result being that some territory previously controlled by the revolutionists was brought under Yüan's control. Not satisfied with being the head of a Provisional Government, he applied increasing pressure on Parliament which, under guard of troops, elected him President on October 6, 1913. Before long he ordered the dissolution of the Kuo-min-tang and the arrest of its members—an act which made a quorum in Parliament impossible, so that Parliament too was dissolved on January 10, 1914. He then directed the drafting of a constitution which gave him dictatorial powers (May 1914), and which before long was revised to give him the presidency for life, and even the right to name his successor.

Having gone so far, it is not surprising that early in 1915 Yüan Shih-k'ai began preparations to assume the title of Emperor. In the spring these preparations were temporarily postponed in view of Japan's "Twenty-one Demands", but were resumed in August. A central organization was set up in Peking to direct the provincial governments and civil organizations to submit petitions "requesting" him to become Emperor. In response to these petitions, which appeared to reflect the "unanimous" opinion of the people, he announced that the imperial reign title, Hung-hsien 洪憲, would be used beginning January 1, 1916. However, opponents of this monarchic scheme rallied in Yunnan where a revolution began on December 25, 1915, with secret Japanese support. In two months a large section of the country joined the revolt, and Yüan was forced to revoke plans for the enthronement, announcing at the same time his resumption of the Presidency (March 22). But the revolution continued, and a movement arose demanding his resignation. On June 6 he died. The Pei-yang militarists, now without a leader, began to maneuver for territory and influence. In the ensuing ten years the country was harrassed by war-lordism and by inter-provincial strife until, late in the 1920's, the rejuvenated Kuo-min-tang, with a new national army, swept most of the older officials from office.

Despite his obvious shortcomings, Yüan Shih-k'ai was a man of great energy who attended assiduously to the details of national affairs. His public documents are generally clear and forceful, but they have not yet been fully assembled. Some of the records of his administration as Pei-yang ta-Ch'ên were published in 1907 under the title, 北洋公牘類纂 Pei-yang kung-tu lei-tsüan, 25 chüan. The writings of Yüan Chia-san, Yüan Pao-hêng, Yüan Pao-ch'ing and Yüan Pao-ling were printed in 1911 in the collection, 項城袁氏家集 Hsiang-ch'êng Yüan-shih chia-chi, 65 chüan, in which there appears some biographical information concerning the members of the family.

[1/424/1a; 2/50/5a; 5/26/14a; 2/53/12a; 5/13/20b; 容庵弟子記 Jung-an-ti-tzŭ chi (4 chüan, printed in 1913); Hsiang-ch'êng hsien-chih (1911); 大中華雜誌 Ta Chung-hua tsa-chih, vol. 2 (1916); Ch'ing Kuang-hsü ch'ao Chung-Jih chiao-shê shih-liao (see bibl. under ); Wang Yün-shêng, Liu-shih-nien lai Chung-kuo yü Jih-pên (Chinese and Japanese Relations in the Past Sixty Years), vols. 1, 6, 7; Chou Fu (see under ), Chou K'o-shên kung tzŭ-ting nien-p'u (autobiography); 參議院公報 Ts'an-i-yüan kung-pao, vols. 1–13; 政治官報 Chêng-chih kuan-pao, Sept. 1907–June 1911; Nei-ko (內閣) kuan-pao, July 1911–Dec. 1911; Chêng fu (政府) kung-pao, Feb. 1912–July 1916; Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, Yin-ping-shih ho-chi (collected works, 1936), chuan-chi 33, wên-chi 33, 34; Allen, H. N., Korea, Fact and Fancy (1904); Johnston, R. F., Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934); Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under ), p. 326; Chao Ping-lin, 光緒大事彙鑑 Kuang-hsü ta-shih hui-chien, in his collected works, 趙袹巖