CHINA'S TRAVAIL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2742, 10 April 1916, Page 6

CHINA'S TRAVAIL

ANOTHER PROVINCE SECEDES /APAN WATCHING EVENTS By TelejrapK—Prosa Association— Oopytis'hi Shanghai, April 7. ■ Tho province of Kwangtung has declared its independence. - - SHARP pro FROM JAPAN ORDER MUST BE RESTORED. . ; k (RecT: April 9,. 5.5 p.m.) . , Loncton, April, B.' ■. Tlio Chinesot Press ■;. states that- the Japanese' Government 'has presented a * strong Note on- the subject of the robcl-'-■lio'n,'' and : asks'" that' the -. OhirieselGoverniment shair.toVe.steps.to xuppreas'tlie ro- ' is_. i*e■sponsiblo" for the ■ presei vat on of.. peace ."jn. the • Far' East.-- • :<- ■-■

CHINA'S DICTATOR—A REVIEW,

: gunFo,' whoso:.,father, ■_ Sun,,, lat Sen, has.: fought /for twenty years for the liberty of the Chinefco people, and became the first President upon tile organisation of the ■" Chinese Jlopublia jn 1912, iccently delivered an address on the Monarchist usurpation m China. '••Mr..'Sun- Fo is a senior .student .at-ton ."University of California,. and has lived in that country nearly four years. lie reports of the Chinese siting : lion may cause persons unfamiliar with events in that,country to conclude that . the ■ Chinese .people is. unfitted for a, republic: that,: after fours years : trial monarchy is botter- for tli^m; and .that the. decision , for a change; as given oi.t by the Peking Government,, is .uaanimous on the part of the- people. iV>* . thing is further from the truth. _ 7 iho republic, nnder 'tho. control. :of Yuan Shi Kav; never had a, fair tna . ins • monarchist usurpation? reflects the ara- '■ bition and autocratic I .will of one man. Tlio Chinese -people .lias nothing t<v Uo | with it. During tho revolution or lalA . Yuan Shi Kai agreed'with the Republicans to persuade the Manchu housi) './>to -abdicate, and to -..-unify ' the .republic. He was made the second" Provisional -■President/and soon began to . betray bis i trust by unconstitutional, f acts. lha struggle' between democracy and. 'auto- ■ cracv began a,'year.,later, when Sung Cbiifo Jen, ex-Minister/of Agriculture and Forestry, and leader of the major* itv party in Parliament,, assassinSated in Shanghai. Tlie : crime was traced to Pekine, and,laid at the door of Chao "Ping Chun r the Premier of i Yuan Shi ICat' Shortly after Yuande. - fied Parliament', by signing the Five. Power loan of 125,000,000 dollars with' . put its sanction. ; From 'that time ;it tvas lanoblo to restrain him. : .Thus, plied with'amole funds, Yuan gamed control of Parliament by bribing some jf the members. A party was formed by ■Yuan, known as the Chinputang, of ' Progressive -Party, which opposed the /'Kuoniintang, or . Nationalists-majority, .•Party. As a resultj only one Bill pass-' tod Parliament in the four months. This - was -just what: Yuan had planned, , so, "as to discredit Parliament; ahd. hare an excuse to assume, autocratic- powers.;;;; "After the revolution in 1913," Yuan .accused Parliament' of attempting to ; overthrow him,. and issued "anillegal I order expelling 310 Kuo'mintang members. On January 11, 1914, Yuan foijnally abolished "the Parliament elected by the' people; but not until ho had forced its members to , elect him as the • regular President. On the same day -that he* abolished Parliament;- all of the Provincial or States Legislatures, district and municipal councils wera - ordered to be abolished. "With a stroke ol" the: usurper's pen all of the 'elec-. tivo bodies of the Republio were de strayed. Sinco_ January, . 1914, the -Chinese Republic has been forced to submit to a dictatorship; Yuan being the Dictator. Yuan was elected President October- 5, ,1913, for 'a tern offive years, being eligible for a second. -term. After he abolished Parliament, . he promulgated an illegal ■ constitution on May 1, 1914. A Council of State was then appointed' hy him, and empowered to act as the Legislature. He. , had, the presidential, election, laws, ./changed by that-Council, extending his term, of, office. to ten years, with •no limitation as to Te-electicm. Yuan's per"manency of office was/further secured . by providing that >in. the : ryear of tho presidential" elwtioriy/ if' "th'e'Councfl of State deemapit^.'JiiijHttoiij;" necessity, ' that body;-appointed by him. can pro-:-long the, President's term of office f to ■ / auother ten years, with the Electoral . College ' acting, thus enabling Yuan ■to be President for. life, and that the . retiring President shall nominate three < / ■candidates, out of-which the> FJectoral ■ .'' College, shall choose , ono as his successor. Thus Yuan may nominate three of Ills sixteen sons, and one of / fthem nnst succeed him.' "Even if there .were no movement to ■■create ; a monarchy .in China,, tjie Eei public would not bo a real Republio ■'under Yuan; Ever since his coup d'etat 0f.,1914,.-,the.'. Republio -has/been-.-non-: - . Sexistent. Tlie agitation for a monarchy began last August. The apnar. -ent cause was a paper submitted to Yuan by Dr. Goodnow, then his ad- • visor, and now President of Johns Hop. i kins University, advocating a return v to . tho. monarchy. Yuan's proteges , a societv to discuss the form of ■government. Bis officials gave it en- " eouragement;. ; Soon.; after.: a. . second monarchist . society . was, formed ,by ■Liang "ShpYi, Yuan's" most.,' trusted lieutenant, to organise all monarchist svmnathisers. and to send a combined - 'petition to tho Council of. State asking for a monarchy/ and also to Yuan, re--oupslinrr bim To ascend tho throne. The - ..Council of State sent- these petitions td ' —yuan,, and asked bim for instruction!;. •In a message to • the Council, he declared 'that the opinion of the country . should be obtained. On - October 6, ; Yuan issued a mandate calling for tho ' election of a National Convention to he made up of -183-1 members," and to ifcs- charged with tho duty of deciding. ' 'the question at issue. ' "A Peking Press correspondent re- > nort.ed that out of a population of '/;l .250,000 in that city, only a few more 'j than. 1600_votes were east, at this election. This shows that only a fow. of : Yuan's 100,000 officials in Peking voted for- him. Assuming 'the proportion of /votes cast throughout China (no official ; 'report has been made) to be the same, /then out of a ponulntiqn of .400,000.000 Chinese, only 518.000 persons voted. ;In the first national election that chose -;tho Parliament in 1913 over .40.000.000 votes were counted. Yuan arbitrarily -reduced the number of voters to 518,ZOOO. or about one-tenth of one per cent, if the population. Thiß minority elec/tion was held only in the provincial i,nd district cnoital cities. Only perjhn's designated by the local, military, iind .civil authorities as qualified were permitted to vote. Each province chose i electors, who assembled in the nrovincial or State capitol, and elected delegates, : who constituted the National Convention. Tson Hwa. Sin Pao. a Chinese paper at Shanghai, reports that ■ th'o election in Nanking was called on ? one dav's notice, and that only twenty, -six: delegates out of a about one hiin- , /dred were present. The meeting was bold at the militarv governor's residence, and surrounded by armed soldiers and police. The delegates came forward one at a time, and the election officers ordered them to write on their ballots, 'I favour a monarchy,' and 7 I Tiubliciv elect Yuan Ski Kai as tho .Great Emperor of the Chung Hwa Em. pire.' In every province. the_ election .'of tho delegates' and the voting were held in the same manner."