Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-11
THE NEW REPUBLIC OF CHINA

The dispatches from China are as
multi-colored as the rainbow. Some
bear the earmarks of be-
Dispatches ing homemade" others
u.,.a made in Germany" or
elsewhere. as the fancy or
interest Of the correspondent may die
tate. The latest dispatch reports an
important victory at Chinchow over
the Chinese imperial troops. in which
fifteen hundred Of the latter were
killed or wounded, and five hundred
captured and soochow taken. Bravo
for China libre!
Yuan Shi kai. although busily en-
gagged in negotiating the Manchu alb
dication and massing Chinese troops in
Peking. ostensibly to prevent mas
sacre by the Manchus. has proposed alb
dication with a string to it" in the
shape Of the retention Of the emperor
as the religious head of China" The
dispatch does not enter into the de-
tails OF the suggestion, but the infer
ence is that Yuan as premier would be
made the head bonze or chief heads
man to Pu vi. the infant emperor
Preceding dispatches have announced
that five columns Of the revOlutionaries
are en- route, with the object Of en-
veloping Picking. and 1t Is assumed that
the battle Of Chinchow is the first seri-
GUS contact with the imperial forces
Other dispatches announce that Yuan
Shi kai has received an order from the
empress dowager to establish a republic
In the north: that several loans have
been effected by the government at Nam
10 NJ cS~ rail doll 80
each, guaranteed, respectively. by the
China Merchants Marine Company and
the German firm of Diedrebsen & Co,
and one loan of three million dollars
through Japanese capitalists. based upon
a contract or a concession of the Han
yang iron works: Manchuria Is reported
as aspiring to independence, while Mon
golia has declared herself an independent
kingdom. and. finally, that President Sun
Vat Sen has appointed Mr.. Wong Chin
Ting special representative of the re-
public at Washington.
Ii it Is true that the army of the re-
public is marching northward from Nan
king we may learn in
Yuan Shi Kai's few days of the ca
n.:A: pitulation Of Picking.
A~SA'AVA' Just what Yuan Shi
Kai will do in tie emergency cannot be
foretold with precision. A month ago
Yuan who appears. to have captured the
confidence of the legations and the news
paper correspondents notified the former
that he would flight for the maintenance
of a constitutional monarchy" This no
tification precluded all idea that Yuan was
in touch with the republic. The dispatches
that announced his unsheathfng OF the
sword for the monarchy reported that the
empress dowager gave Linn SO,00O ounces
of the palace geld. with authority 10
squeeze the imperial princes ,hOarded
If Yuan is secretly serving the republic,
as is now and again suggested, there
may be found some excuse Tor ms IN
action. A contemporary, however, ouos
Yuan a Chinese Talleyrand." and even
refers to his doings-presumably. his I'M
possible suggestions as to a bonZe en-
peror and the like-as brilliant, cross
play" But our credulous Contemporary
avoids informing it's readers in what con-
sists this brilliant cross play, unless
he is in the confidence of his hero. Ana
yet the contemporary mentions an incident
which shows that he knows something
of Yuan's diplomatic life, although 1t does
not accord entirely with the Talleyrand
ideal. He writes: The late emperor.
who had made him his chief adv ser.
cursed him with his last breath as a
traitor and the cause of all his misfor-
tune. Yuan has pursued toriuous
course through the tortuous waters OF
reer would make the plot for a melo-
drama were 1t not too sensational and
improbable for the stage"
Yuan not only betrayed the Emperor
Kwang-Su and his reforms, but he be-
trayed at the same
Betrayal of time that excellent
M. reformer, philosopher
AanS 4u Wei. and patriot. Kang
Yu Wei, whose escape by flight from the
vengeance of the sinister empress dow
ager was not due to Yuan. who would
have been Hangs executioner. Nor was
Kang Yu Wei republican. but con-
stitutional monarchist, as Yuan claims
to be-
As the diplomatic colleague of Yuan Shi
Kai, / was intimately associated with
him in Seoul, Korea, where In 1SS7-1SS
he was Chinese resident. Yuan's inca
pacity was then conspicuous He was no
match for the intrigues and audacity OF
the Russian charge d'affaires, M. de
Waeber, and no match for the astute. but
Kondo Masuk. The Chino-Japanese war
of 1894, which entailed the loss by China
Of FOrmOsa, with a heavy war indemnity,
and finally the loss of Korea, may be
directly charged to Yuan Shi Kai's in
capacity.
Yuan in 1ss7-1ss9 was a great robust
man, fond of good cheer. joyous, bois-
ferrous companion, whose cordial hospi-
tality and fondness for sake were bound
less. My association with him was most
friendly and agreeable. He could have
prevented in a thousand ways the Rus
sian fntrigues to take Korea from China,
and last but not least, he could have pre-
vented the departure of the Korean en-
summated the Russian game. Yuan pro-
tested, it is true. but the protest was
made when korea's independence was
an accomplished fact. China. it should
be said, was the first victim of the COM
edy, and Russia was the second.
have watched Yuan Shi kai's
meteoric career with the interest 1t
merited, but with the conviction that.
possessing no serious qualities either
as diplomat or soldier, his career could
not survive a test of his capacity. To
compare Yuan to such men as Sun Vat
Sen, WI Ting-fang and Kang Yu Wei is
q manifest absurdity.
There is much speculation as to the
role the powers are to play. in this rev.
olution in China. Ger
Attitude of many is said to be dis
cussing the feasibility of
<oweIs. securing from the powers
an agreement pledging themselves to
+.Lo M action in China except in COM