(Contributed).
A June 5.
THE news we published on Saturday that Mr. Hsu Shih-chang had progaimed his resignation from the Presidency and had already transferred bim-self and his belongings to Tientsin, that Nirvana of Peking politicians, though not unexpectfed, yet marks another era in the history of the Chinese Republic. Though, apparently, without a friend in the day of his adversity, we cannot see that Mr. Hsu has done anything to deserve the opproprium that Southern leaders are fond of heaping on his head. The somewhat contemptuous litle, Old Hsu,'' expresses, with a fair degree of accuracy, what we conceive to have been his only fault. He took office in an evil time when a strong man was needed to cope with the difficulties of the chief executive and had not the force of character to mould circumstances to his will.
The record of his career, which we also published on Saturday, shows that he has, in his time, trimmed his sail to many adverse winds and has chosen to swim with the current rather than to take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them. We are not concerned to be the ex-President's advocate, but it may be said in extenuation that China herself has changed as much and as often as he has; -his sins have been those of omission rather than of commission and his name may go down to history as a weak man but certainly not as a bad man. He makes way, if report is to be credited, for General Li Yuan-hung and General Li's record of office is almost as unfortunate as his own. We do not doubt that, at the moment, than to his intellectual force. He takes the highest office in the state for the second time at a crisis in the affairs of the nation that might daunt the heart of a stronger man. Ve can hardly doubt that if he considered his personal feelings Mr. Li would continue to live quietly in Tientsin rather than plunge once more into the maelstrom of chicanery and intrigue that is called Peking. There is, however, one bright rift in the dark clouds that hover over China's future. Everyone admits that, politically, we are at the beginning of something new. The past has been a failure but the historiographer has turned over a clean page in his copybook and waits hopefully to write again at the dictates of destiny.
The old parliamentarians, too, issued their manifesto to the country: they are called, to save. We cannot pretend to entertain much hope that the activities of these gentlemen will do much for the people they profess to represent. The first question that arises is one that they have harped upon for years. Are they or are they not the only constitutionally elected assembly that may represent the people of China? With dll due respect to an army of quibblers, we would say that the problem is not worth the ink that has been spilled in its discussion. Any body of representatives which is recognized by the people has legal sanction enough for all practical purposes. We fervently hope that when they are once more convened in Peking they will forget their own petty recriminations and concern themselves with the problem of making the Republic worthy of its name. Clu pain; pas tant de long dis-cours. Bread; and not so much talk? cried the Menads of Paris to the first parliament France and in like manner China Gries out for some one to clean out the Augean stable which an
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.