Just a year ago when: Feng Yui Ausiang came very near being involve. ed io. war with Fengtien, he decided to clip the Chief Exeutive's wings og, A: precautionary, measure,. 50 pere] Wa Kuang-hsin had to Urave for Tientsing. while the guards Tongchow were, by a few strokes the pen, officially, disarmed, dlis-
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tao, a Fengtien general who was a subordinate. of Wa-Kuang-hsin -but the Kugminebun game. During the
unit was increased by the recruiting of perhaps 1500 men and, in Decem. ber, the division moved eastward to the Peking-Mukden railway beyond Tientsin to support Kuo Sung. Ying on the one hand and worry Li Ching-lin on the-other.. After Li's evacuation of Tientsin and the collapse of Kuo Sung-lin the unit was farther strengthened by the addi tion of a few hundreds of Kuo's Tetainers and the unit took up its position in the vicinity of Tangku where it distinguished itself by interfering with foreign shipping on the one side and in making a very ineffectual resistance to Fengtien on the other. Then came the retreat and the worthy 9th, reduced to several fragments returned to Peking and found quarters in the Yellow Temple and at Tungchow. General Tang made an imparti division of his assurances of loyalty to the Kuominchun, to Marshal Tuan Chi-jui and to the Fengtien commanders at San Ho Hsien east of Tangchow; and undoubtedly accepted substantial tokens of esteem from all. Being everybody's friend he became embarrassing, however, on the morning of the 15th when Fengtien insisted upon moving forward -and the Kuominchun chief insisted upon resistance, so General Tang ave up in disgust, declared himself for peace and the' protection of the metropolis _and ordered a retreat, Why Lu Chung-lin did not shoot him is another of the unanswered puzzles of this recent camp al 'The only reason that the Fengtien folk have not corrected Lu's ov' sight is that Tang got his 9th Di vision in the city and it would have made a mess of the capital to have suppressed him, The Committee of Safety All who have been interested enough in the situation to follow it from day to day, know that the retreat of the Sth Division let the Fengtien soldiery into Tungchow (for convenience they are all designated Fengtien troops whether actually from Mukden or from the Shantung-Chihli Allied Armies) and that Lu ordered a general evacuation the same afternoon, turning cover administrative authority to a Committee of Safety hended by General Wang Chan-yean and made up rely of ex-premiers and highly placed Yoeal civ With the exception of the Chief Executive's guards under Sung Yi-chen, whom Tu Chung-lin had been unable to disarm, there were no troops in the city after the complete withdrawal of the Kuominchun in the early morning of April 16. The Committee of Safety could have closed the gates, manned them with the police and held the city until the senior Fengtien commanders arrived to take over and arrange for the ma tenance of order. But they were content with this. The burden of responsibility threw them into something of @ panic and they hastened to invite Tang Chih-tao to assume the post of Commander in Chief of the Army for the Protection of the Capital (Ching Wei Tsung Ssu-Jing). Tang saw a decided advantage for himself in this and leaped at the chance to be lord of the me-tropalls, bringing his entire division {nto the city and closing the gates.
Once in this position, with the safety of the town as a pawn, he arrogated to himself all the authori Committee of Safety combine ignored Wu Ping-hsiang who ly} been asked to take actual control of the town as acting chief of police, and proceeded to bargain with the Fengtien leaders outside about the terms upon which they would _be admitted. Fortunately for Peking. this first day of Tang's occupation and usurpation was a very wet Friday. The conquerors—outside were content to hunt cover and to loot and occupy all the villages to the north, east and south of the en pital. By Friday night General] Chu Vu-pa and a bodyguard had got into town and had had a conference with the lordly Tang.
On Saturday more officers came in and more men also and on Saturday night Tang was severely sat upon in conference and told that he would have ta withdraw. The city! was returned to the temporary ad-ration of the Committee of ty and, of Chief of Police C? Wa and the Division. withdrawn, from the city] gates and the public buildings.
'A Bitte Brief Authority:
Suitday'"hicraing "the "potice were in complete charge, with a few Fengtien.men. at every gate to see that no soldiers came in with arms or without permission.—This ended the brief supremacy of the Sth' Division except that they continued to lodge in the city and look important until to-day, on the plea that! there were no adequate barracks outside for them, when they were actually escorted to Nanyuan and shown the empty buildings that they' were to. occupy.
The rumour at this that General Tang Chih the Legation Quarter. This worthy might have won the esteem and gratitude of both the community and. the Fengtien generals had hel net tried to hold Peking as a pawn in.his own game of self-aggrandize. ment. As things stand he has won himself nothing but ridicule and contempt and the ill-will of the community for giving it another severe fright; for while the gates were closed and Tang bargaining, the"Féngtien generals were getting short-tempered and a little more delay might have meant assault upon the town with much inevitable destruction after its taking.
1.—The Expulsion of Marshal Tuan: Unfi Treatment of an Old Man: The Rats and Foxes Who Should Be Rooted Out Peking, Apr. 20.
At all events everything was very serene on the morning of Sunday April 18, Marshal Tuan was back house but ignored by all hands, General Tang was unseated, the Committee of Safety had full'swai the police were in actual charge the. place and the Fengtien and so-called Wu Pei-fu troops appeared to have agreed amicably upon a po-hey of non-interference while they pursued the enemy into his northera lair and pending conferences and] decisions by their high commanders.
On Sunday afternoon, however, something happened which slightly ruffled the placidity of the picture, How it came about the ws not yet clearly understand. about 5 o'clock small parties shabby-looking soldiers, who claimed He did not realize that the Fengtien leaders in their anxiety to prove} their good will towards Wa Pei-fu would extend him no recognition of any sort and that his services or attempted services were regarded superfluous and were ignored. The hopelessness of his position did not] dawn upon him until General Wang Shih-chen's committee of safety received a telegram from Wu Pei-fu suggesting that Marshal Tuan should! issue a mandate hot only declaring is own position illegal but proyuneing his whole administration since October, 1924, illegal and irregular, In the face of Fengtien's show of indifference to him this wire amounted to a dismissal from Wu Pei-fu and Marshal Tuan set out at once for Tientsin—a private citizen again, inned up at various public Settee and tock omits Decbe Their occupation of the telegraph offices was particularly conspicuous, They were barely established, ho ever, when much larger bodies of well equipped Fengtien troops, appeared, chased them away and seized the offices in their turn. At the same time Fengtien partis vecupied the gates and patrols begun to parade the streets. fact the town was seized and the il regime came to an abrupt end.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.