New Britain herald., 1915-12-11
CHINA TO RETURN TO M0NARCHIAL RULE President Yuan Shi-Kai Of Repub-
 lie Accepts Throne
 FROM COUNCIL OF STATE

FROM COUNCIL OF STATE .993 Representatives Out of 2,O43
 Qualified to Vote on Change of Gov
 crnment Declare in Favor of
 Monarchy.
 Picking, Dec. 11.-Yuar Shi-Kai, president of the Chinese republic, has accepted the throne of China, ten dered to him by the council of state.
 Acting as parliament, the council of state today canvassed the vote on the >question of a change in the form of the government of China to a monarchy and found that the votes of 1898 representatives out of 2,O4S qualified to vote on the proposition VI ere favorable to the change.
 Declines at First.
 The council of state immediately sent to Yuan Shi-Kai petition urging him to accept the throne. He de- clined at first but when the petition was forwarded to him a second time he accepted, with the proviso that he would continue to act as president until a convenient time for the coro- nation.
 Became Republic in 1912.
 China for centuries under the Man chu rule, became a republic on Feb- ruary 12,1912, following the revolution of 1911, and after the adoption of a provisional constitution and the cleo tion of Yuan Shi-Kai as president under it's provisions on October 6, 1913, he was inaugurated four days later on October 10.
 In recent years Yuan Shi-Kai had become the most conspicuous person. ality of the Orient through his efforts to bring his 4OO,OOO,O00 fellow yellow men into line as citizens of the new Republic of China. The task of turn ing this most ancient and backward of kingdoms into a republic within whose confines there was a fifth Of the worlds inhabitants-a republic four times as large as the OnlIeo States-was obviously no easy one and the man who attempted it did not escape storms of criticism from those who held that he was dictator, vlr- trally founding a new dynasty. But among foreigners generally Yuan shi-Kai was given credit for as able an administration as could oe eA- re cted under the circumstances.
 Tong before Yuan Shikai was W1de- lv known abroad he had been accept ed by the Manchus, the Chinese anu the foreigners in China as coming man.
 Born in 1859.
 Born in 1859, the son of a district governor in the province of Honan' Yuan Shi-kai aspired to an ohclal position, but the rule was that othclal life was open only to those who passed in ancient classics. Yuan utterly failed in one of those government tests at which thousands of aspirants are closeted for three days undergo ing examination.
 He went into Korea as secretary with the army, and there rose rapidly through his display of military and diplomatic ability. The famous Grand Chancellor Iii Hung-chang recognized in him a man of action and appointed him Chinese resident at Seoul. This was the highest port in the empire, and Yuan held it when he was twenty-six years old. When the Japanese drove the Chinese out of Korea, he was one of the few to re- turn to Picking still in the favor of the court.
 ReOrganized Army.
 He rose to great prominence through his effective reorgani- zation of the army after the war with Japan had shown it's weak nesses. It is generally held that he assisted the Empress Dowager in ef- fecting coup d'etat in 1898 by which she wrested the throne from the Elm peror Kuang Shu, and he was popu- larly accused of betraying the emper- or The dowager appointed him gov ernor of Shantung where, during the Boxer rebellion, he displayed his as- tuteness. Invited to join the Boxer sect, he dared not frankly refuse, al- though he had no sympathy for their fanaticism. He agreed to join the Boxer movement if it's leaders would prove to him their contention than those of their sect were immune to foreign bullets. He told them he had had one of the foreign guns in his own house and that if the leaders would meet him in his garden the next day he would stand them up against the wall and try the foreign devils magic'' on them If the bullets did not hurt, Yuan would become d Boxer. So sublime was the faith of one leader that he submitted to the test, and, according to the story, fell dead at the first rifle bullet, which pierced his heart. Yuan Shi-kai was thus freed from any obligation to join the fanatic movement of the Boxers. As matter of fact, he was given credit for material assistance to the foreigners during the warfare which the allies waged in China.
 With the death of Empress Dowager