Oct. 10.
'Twenty-three years ago to-day. the revolution which quickly led to the abdication of the ruling Emperor, and the establishment of a republican form of Government started in a mutiny of troops in Wuchang. 'There had been revol tionary' plotting in Hankow, and most chroniclers agree that the acjeidental explosion: of a bomb! brought matters to a head, started the mutiny which quickly took upon itself the complexion of a revolution. It is open to some doubt whether affairs would have taken a different turn had Yuan. shih-K'ai recalled from disgrace, made Viceroy of Hunan and Hupeh with supreme command of the im~ perial forces, shown anything more than a half-hearted enthusiasm in his new office. But, be that as it may, the facts are that ithe revolutionary movement which had been growing in volume since the death of the Empress Dowager, Iswept the country. Fourteen pro-winees declared against the mon-Jarchy in quick succession, Nan= king was captured by the revolutionary forces, and in a comparatively' short space of time the: movement, which had started, in complete and the imperial regime had been abolished for good and Jail when the Emperor by an edict in February, 1912, transferred the. government of China to the people's representatives, declaring that henceforth the constitution would be republican. Tt would be interesting at this date to look thack upon the diplomatic march-jing and counter-marching in the struggle for power which ensued, jand the eventual thwarting of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's designs, for the result of it all was that though the imperial regime had vanished that which had taken its place was republican only in name.
The attempts of the new republic to form itself, the experiments which were made in popular representation, the eccentricities of the Parliament in Peking, were plainly natural developments of the revolution, probably due to the lack of experience in government which "was one of the main faults of the revolutionaries even when the complete inefficiency of jthe Manchus who had been dis-
Jpossessed is taken into account. There were repeated civil wars. The republic consisted of a set of Hoosely federated provincial chiefs, feudal in their outlook, and bent upon: personal, aggrandisement at the expense of the districts over
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.