The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-28

"e"Ah' ~ text Oh tne petltlOnS from
the provinces was drawn by Tuan Chi
kWei. Military Governor Of Mukden,
and nine others. Whose petitions.
then. were they? Even the names of
the military and civil governors and
those OF the gentry and merchants in
the twenty odd provinces were all
inserted by the Pekin Government.
L. this the will Of the people. the will
Of the officials " the will OF the would
be Emperor I leave my readers to
answer.
On September 20 Gnu Chi-chun,
Minister Of the Interior. and others
telesraphed a forlows:
The super1ntendents in chisf Of
the election should. therefore, as
sumo a controlling influence over the
election proceedings and utilize them
TO the best advantage. The representa-
tives Of the citizens should be elected
a for each district and wherever
possible from among the officials who
are connected with tine various Gov
eminent organs in the provincial CAPT.
tai. q that there may be no misunder-
standing a. to the real object o.
voting"
This telegram shows beyond a doub,
that the representative organ OF the
citizens was entirely under the Con
trolling influence OF high officials and
| was utilized" by them ito the best
advantage"
On October ! Chu Chi-chun and
nine others wired:
In the kilograms to be sent by the
general convention OF the citizens rep
resentatlves for nominating the En-
peror the following words should b
specifically used: We respectfully
nominate the present President Yuan
Shih-k'ai as Emperor OF the Chinese
Empire The kilograms investing the
Administrative Council with general
powers to act on behalf OF the gen.
eral convention OF the citizens repre-
sentatlves should be despatched in the
name Of the general convention Of the
citizens of the provinces. AS for the
kilograms TO be sent by the
cial. military and political bodies they
should bear As many signatures as pos
sible. When the enthronement is
promulgated BY edict letters of con-
graduation from the general conven-
ton Of the citizens representatives. as
we'll as from the commercial. military
and political bodies, will also have to
he sent in. You are therefore requested
to draw up these letters in advance"
From this one can get a clear idea
AZ 70 how the nomination of Yuan as
Emperor originated. how the Admin
htrative Council came to be invested
with general powers to act on behalf OF
the citizens representatives. and how
Pekin came to he flooded with tele-
grams Of nomination and letters Of
congratulation from all the provinces
and from all classes of people.
A telegram from the national con-
vention bureau, dated October 10. reads:
I'VE trust the superintendent OF the
primaries will thoroughly understand
our implied meaning and utilize the
proceedings to suit our purpose. They
| should, before the voting, carefully
consider what sort of men are those
who are qualified to be elected, and
select those who are good natured and
obseQuious and Of the same mind as
ourselves. These are to he considered
as the persons who should be elected.
The superintendents will then Judi
ciously assign their names to the sew
eral voters, and request them to vote
az directed. II they find any difficulty
in carrying out these instruction they
| should not hesitate to use measures
which in effect are coercive, though not
10 In appearance"
! From this telegram We may know