May 19, Tuose who are accustomed to think of a Government as the representative of a country possessing genuine power, a suming responsibilities" and)
ing definite continuity, ays worried by the governmental vacuum—which Peking whenever] one group of milita are en from their posi of apparent—dictatorship by} another group of milit For no matter how one a in all ps y including Canton, the fact remains that military feudalism is still the current political system and that in the selection of civil officials, the people or any part of the people have no voice. The whole matter is determined by the soldiers.
Let us go back a moment: Feng Vu-hsiang was in control Peking. His party, the: Kuominchun, dominated the military and civil organs of the "national—_ Government.
Actually, he controlled only' that part of China from Honan to Peking and to the northwest. The Peking Government, of his day could not exercise any control beyond the actual possessions of the Kuominchun.
It was in a rather loose alliance, ith the Kuomintang Government in Canton.
Because of its connexions the Kuominchun with Russia, support at. a time when. Russia became unpopular in China. Utilizing anti political war-ery, military groups known as the Chibli Party and the Fengtien Party, erstwhile enemies, with no political programme common, were able to the Kuominchun use of. military The Kuominchun force retreated to the northwest; the Kuominchun civil leaders' and Feng Yuhsiang seattere! to the four Peking was left without a Government. This had no direct effect on China, as China is being governed locally by! de facto Governments in various places controlled by military feudal lords. It did. have the effect of disturbing conditions in Peking and of leaving the Tariff Conference land Extraterritoriality Commissions without a sufficient quota Chinese members. In Peking a Committee of Safety organized itself, consisting of men without political complexion or responsibilities, of meaningless great names, who stepped into the breach' and began to negotiate with the victorious militarists for the establishment a responsible Government. Each of the militarists had anticipated a victory of his Jarms and had arranged for his civilian to assume cabinet offices. There were gt least four separate militarists to consider and four groups of civilians. They finally hit upon the compromise of returning to the regime of Tsao Kun, wher Dr. W, W. Yen was Premier. They did not plan to take in all the former cabinet officers, ax such a plan would Leave no room for the loyal men who—supported them in their war against the Kuominchun, This plan, then, meant that one man of the old regime was to assume the responsibility of the new—regime constitutional, while he include in hie cabine whom he would not ordinary consider for such positions, That such a cabinet should not have had easy sailing—is only natural, as there is not a single basis for ce-operation and mutual understanding such divergence of political coniplesion, The question might be asked: Why does a man of the character of Dr, W. W. Yen Tend himself to is apparently a stupid fraud maintaining—constitutionality where there is none? The reply is simple and one must understand and mpathize with many of the Eh nese who feel that Dr, Yen is doing the right thing, There are two views with regard to the method of saving China. Some believe that the Peking Government should be ignored and disbanded, that all efforts should "lie devoted towerd the develop-S}ment of smaller centres, municipalities, districts, hsiens.
shal Sun Chuan-fang, for instance, regards the Shanghai municipality ay of greater significance than the Peking Government. In Canton, they enage their province as though it' were unrelated to China, On the other hand, there are those who feel that because lof China's peculiar international relations, because of such things as the Tariff Conference and the Extraterritoriality Commi: sion, there should be continuity of government, no matter what happens in the country. They feel that it is a patriotic duty to maintain the face of the Chinese Government even when there are errifie internal struggles, when not a province recognized the authority of the Peking Government. In a word, their attitude is that the constitutionality of Peking must not be broken, so. that there may be no excuse for the Powers withdrawing re-cox that there must no breaking of the treaties the Powers because there no Government to maintain those treaties. ut of view is under-particularly in the pervades China to-day. On the other hand, the actual situation in China is so well-known that Is nothing to paint a pie~ of constitutional wholesomeness when every foreign Power daily experiencing the lack of Governmental authority in China, Every Power is now faced with the necessity. of dealing with whatever de facto organization
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.