The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-11
YUAN SHI KAI TO BE RULER
 OF NGDOM
President of China Accepts Offer of Throne, Rendered Him By Council of State After Canvass. Vote Shows That Big Ma jority of Representatives in Parliament Are in F'av- or of Change.

S$SSSAAS3
 Pekin, Dec. 11-Yuan shi Kai,
 president of the Chinese republic, has accepted the throne of China, tend ] cred to him by the council of state | Acting as a parliament, the council l of state today canvassed the vote on the question of a change in the form of the government to China to a mon
 archy and found that the votes of 1898 representatives out of <2,O4S
 qualified to vote on the proposition were favorable to the change.
 The council of state immediately sent to Yuan Shi Kai petition urging c1ined at first but when the petition
 was forwarded to him af second time
 he accepted, with the proviso that he would continue to act as president
 until a convenient time for the
 coronation.
 In recent years Yuan Shi-kai has become the most conspicuous person ality of the Orient through his efforts to bring his 400, O,0O0,OO0 fellow yellow
 men into line as citizens of the rSsw Republic of China. The task of turn ing this most ancient and backward
 of kingdoms into republic within whose confines there was a fifth of thew orld's inhabitants republic, four times as large sas the United States-was obviously no easy one and the man who attempted it did not ses- cape storms of criticism from those who held that he was a dictator, vir- tually founding a. new dynasty. But among foreigners generally Yuan Sht- lxai is given credit, for as able an ad- ministration as could be expected un-
 der the circumstances.
 s Long before Yuan Shi-kai was wide fly known abroad he had been accept
 ed by the Manchus, the Chinese, and E 4 Frw fv1 iT1er man..
 S Born in 1859s the son of a District Governor in the province of Honan, Yuan Shi-1kai aspired to an official position, but the rule was that official life was open only to those who passed ed in one Of those government tests at which thousands of asptrants are rcloseted for three days undergoing examination.
 He went into Korea as a secretary
 with the army, and there rose rapidly through his display of military and diplomatic ability. The famous Grand Chancellor Ii Hung-ofang recognized in hIn man of action and appointed him Chinese resident at Seoul. This was the highesE post in the empire, and Yuan held it when he was only .26 years old. When the Japanese drove the Chinese out of Korea, he
 
 still in the favor of the court.
 He rose to great prominence through his effective reorganizat ton of the army after the war with Japan had shown it's weakness. It is generally held that he assisted the Empress Dowager in effecting a coup d'etat in 1898 by which she wrested the throne from the Emperor Kuang Shu, and he was popular1y accused of betraying the Emperor. The Dowager appointed zhim governor of Shantung where, dur ing the Boxer rebellion, he displayed his astuteness- Invited to join the Boxer sect; he dared not frankly re- fuse, Although he had no sympathy for their fanaticism- He agreed to join the Boxer movement if it's leaders would prove to him their. contention that those of their sect were immune to foreign bullets He told them he 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 ic'' on them. If the bullets did not hurt, Yuan would become Boxer So sublime was the faith of one leader that he submitted to the test, and, ac- cordtng 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 fam ! atic movement of the Boxers. As matter of fact, he was given credit for material assistance to the foreign CTS during the warfare which the all lies waged in China.
 With the death of the Empress Dow ager and the Emperor Kuang Hsu, almost coincidently, and possible each by poison at the hands of the other, the child emperor, Hsun Tung, came to the throne under the regency of, Prince Ghun. Yuan, presumably be- cause he has gained such control of the army, was dismissed in disgrace. although nomina1ly pretext of "cur- ing a sore leg"
 When the anti -Manchu rebellion broke out in October, 1911, the Manchu regency. in despair, urged Yuan to re- turn. The latter replied that his leg was not yet well, but when given au- thority supreme commander of all forces of the North, he accepted. He also became the first premier of the responsible cabinet which the re- gency offered thA rebels as a conces- sion of peace. But neither the rebels nor Yuan were satisfied. The abdica- tion of the Manchu rulers was forced, l and the boy emperor. at the dictation of Yuan Shi-kai. authorized. the pre- nier or organize with the rebel leaders at Ranking Republican form of gov ernment.
 Sun Yat-sen, the -~ovisiona1 presi dent of the southern rebels, was forced l to retire and Yuan Shi-kai was elected 1 Provisional president of the Chinese Republic at Nanking on February 15. | 1915. He took the oath of office at Pe- king the following month. aes l PRESIDENT BACK IN CAPITAL
 -1,S- -s 7 7r0-1kf