September 6.
Is an age which has seen the virtual democratization of kingship, and reduces peerages to the level of 'a commercial speculation, there are yet a few titles which do not altogether lose the glamour with which the great ones of the earth once went invested among men. None of these, perhaps, more impresses the imagination than the title of Viceroy in China. The remembrance of the vastness of his dominions, of the innumerable millions over whom he reigns, no less than the inscrutability which hides the life of both governor and governed from foreign observation the thought of the boundless wealth and power that are his, yet subject to the capricious favour of an irresponsible despot; all these combine to inspire a feeling of awe, and the conviction that only a very rare type of man is fitted to hold such Ghee." Tt is no exaggeration to say that such a man was found in Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai whom an Imperial Decree now raises to be President of the Waiwapu. Since November 1901 when, on the death of Li Hung-chang he was appoint ed Acting Viceroy of the metropolitan province of Chibli, there have been few movements towards hostile reform and liberalism which might not be traced, at least in some part, to the influence of his thought. It was, perhaps, the irreducible reluctance of the Government at Peking to depart from its well-worn paths of—temporization, coupled with his observation of external events to which that Government remained blind, and the growing confidence which he could feel that he inspired in his Imperial mistress, which have been responsible for the louder, more insistent note of warning that Viceroy Yuan has sounded in the past few weeks. It is permissible to think that when His Excellency' gave to Tientsin the comprehensive form of munici government which was detailed in these columns on July 30, he was inspired by|limited sphere for a man of this another thought as well as that of his provincial capital' betterment. He may well have hoped that the constitution of Tientsin should serve as a tiny object lesson of the possibilities of that greater constitation for China on which he addressed to the Throne his passionate memorial lof August 3.
The new President of the Waiwupu comes of pure Chinese descent, a fact which explains the sympathy wherewith he can approach the vital question of racial antagonisms in China, but which makes all the more remarkable the height to which he has risen. He is a native of the Hsianghsien district in Honan province, and is only some forty-seven years of age. His family has official traditions for his grandfather was a Viceroy, his father was at one time Provincial Treasurer of Kiangsu, while of his two brothers, (he had four originally but two are dead), one is now a Taotai at Soochow. Viceroy Yuan obtained his first important post in the eighties when he was appointed Chinese Resident at the Court of Seoul, and Director General of Trade and International relations in Korea. He was also appointed Taotai of Wenchon, Chekiang province while still holding his post at Seoul, but this office he did not take up. In 1894 when ilities broke out with Japan Yuan Shih-kai had to leave Seoul, and in July 1897 he was appointed Provincial Judge of Chihli, which, however, he vacated soon afterwards in order to take over the organization and control of a modern drilled Army Corps at a place named Hsiaochau, some forty miles from Tientsin. Probably it was this fact, together with the efficient state to which His Excellency brought the Peiyang troops during his—Viceroyalty, which prompted the recent rumour that among prospective changes at Peking it was intended to place Yuan Shih-kai in charge of the Luchunpu ramour which was improbable on ithe face of it, since, i€ changes there were to be, the Ministry of War would be 2 too obviously Viceroy's special gifts. While he was thus engaged at Hsiaochau the Empress Dowager effected her great coup d'état by which she deposed the Emperor; and the ease with which she effected the stroke was largely due to the fact that Yuan Shih-kai, with the Peiyang troops behind him, inclined to her side jin the eri In 1899 he was promoted Governor of Shantung; and here it may be said that his name became generally familiar to foreigners through the firm hold that he kept upon his province during the Boxer disturbances of 1900. As has been already remarked, the death of Li Hung-chang brought Yuan Shih-kai at the close of 1901 into Chihli.
Events, or at least the shadow of events, have moved with startling rapidity in China within the last two or three months. The promise of the Empress Dowager made by the decree of February 18, to. grant Chinaa Constitutionanda Parliament has been followed; byon exhortation to men of thought to suggest schemes for the accomplishing of that Constitution; by decrees throwing open the ranks of the peerage to merchants, and dealing authoritative peed fa of the chus; finally by an jealousies of Chinese and
press Dowager's intention to resign the throne, the date of which tremendous change is said to be fixed for the coming New Year. One particular phrase will be remembered as occurring again and again in all decrees from, and memorials to, the Throne. It is difficult to decide whether " this present time of crisis" so often thus reiterated, has reference to the external changes in Manchuria and Korea—the latter of which, especially, appealed to His Excellency Yuan—or to the agitation produced by anti-monarchical faction and accentuated by the Anhui outrage. The sum total of emotion has clearly produced an undeniable conviction that something solid must be done, and quickly. Viceroy Yuan's policy is clearly indicated in the memorial which he sent to NE
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.