The Holbrook news., 1912-03-08

I lAC AOACA6A 4C6dlAOu6 AdQ " ceived anonymous letters warning them of approaching revolution. The delegates held a meeting and decided that fifteen of their number should remain in Pekin. The remainder. about a hundred. returned to their homes.
 h the meantime steps had been ta- ken to call an assembly destined to succeed where the delegates had fail ed The nine year program provided for the inauguration during the third year of a national assembly to meet at Pekin and to serve as a training ground for the future parliament Ac- cordingly. on March Il. 1910. the cleo ton of members began, and on May 5, 1910, an edict was issued giving list of those nominated by the throne.
 Further. the assembly was brought together as an advisory body pure and simple. This was clearly laid down in it's regulations and was emphasized by the prince regent when he opened the assembly Oct 8, the underlying theory of his speech being that what ever measure of popular government lAC IAAOAG Aa0 QGC4QOQ LO Al1OH NdB granted as gift and not as a right The entire session. however, was a fiat contradiction of this theory. On Oct 22 the assembly appointed a com mitte of six to draft a memorial de- manding an earlier convocation of parliament.
 The confidence of the assembly knew no bounds. and 1t proceeded first to impeach the grand councillors, and next to demand the formation of a re- sponsible cabinet The impeachment failed, but the demand for a cabinet succeeded On Dec. 25, a few days before the assembly was dissolved. an edict ordered a cabinet to be formed. In May. 1911. the cabinet came into existence and article Il of its consti- tuition stated that laws. imperial rescripts, and imperial edicts having reference to state affairs shall be countersigned by all the ministers of state"
 The Revolution.
 The meeting of the national assem- bly this year has coincided so aptly with the outbreak of revolution that
  the two events were planned to take place simultaneously Be that as it may, the immediate occasion of rebel lion was the edict of May last na- tionalizing all the trunk railways. The railway question had been an acute one ever since June, 1909, when three financial groups. the Deutsch-Asia- tische bank. the Hongkong and Shan ghai bank and the BanQue de ITndo- Chine. made a preliminary agreement with the late grand councillor, Chang Chih-tung, to lend the Chinese gov ernment $27, ,50O. .000 to enable 1t to build a railway from Canton to Han- kow and from Hankow to Ichang. Ow- ing to various difficulties the loan hung fire till May last year, when it was finally arranged and signed.
 The government appeared to be get ting the rebellion in hand, when on Oct. Il news reached Pekin that Wu- chang. which Is just opposite Hankow. had been captured by rebels and that the viceroy had fled. On the follow ing day Hanyang was taken. together with the arsenal in Hankow, and it became clear that the long expected anti-Manchu revolution had at last broken out under the military leader ship of Brig Gen L Yuan Heng, a na- tive of Hupeh, educated in Tientsin, and the civilian leadership of Huang Tanghauling. president of the Hupeh provincial assembly. and Sunyu, broth CT of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. the famous Cantonese revolutionary.
 With extraordinary rapidity the torch of revolution has been handed from province to province. and HOW flares from nearly every city of i'm portance. In the midst of these events the national assembly met and. through them. the revoludonaries have been able to snatch every yes tige of power from the throne.