was generally understood. It was such an amazing departure from
old precedents for the Peking Government to lend itself to public
propaganda as a revolutionary weapon that the mind of the people refused
to credit the fatal turn things were taking. But presently when it
became known that the "Society for the Preservation of Peace" was
actually housed in the Imperial City and in daily relations with the
President's Palace; and that furthermore the Procurator-General of
Peking, in response to innumerable memorials of denunciation, having
attempted to proceed against the author and publishers of the pamphlet,
as well as against the Society, had been forced to leave the capital
under threats against his life, the document was accepted at its
face-value. Almost with a gasp of incredulity China at last realized
that Yuan Shih-kai had been seduced to the point of openly attempting to
make himself Emperor. From those August days of 1915 until the 6th June
of the succeeding year, when Fate had her own grim revenge, Peking was
given up to one of the most amazing episodes that has ever been
chronicled in the dramatic history of the capital. It was as if the old
city walls, which had looked down on so much real drama, had determined
to lend themselves to the staging of an unreal comedy. For from first to
last the monarchy movement had something unreal about it, and might have
been the scenario of some vast picture-play. It was acting pure and
simple--acting done in the hope that the people might find it so
admirable that they would acclaim it as real, and call the Dictator
their King. But it is time to turn to the arguments of Yang Tu and allow
a Chinese to picture the state of his country:

A DEFENCE OF THE MONARCHICAL MOVEMENT

PART I

Mr. Ko (or "the stranger"): Since the establishment of the Republic
four years have passed, and upon the President depends the
preservation of order at home and the maintenance of prestige
abroad. I suppose that after improving her internal administration
for ten or twenty years, China will become a rich and prosperous
country, and will be able to stand in the front rank with western
nations.

Mr. Hu: No! No! If China does not make any change in the form of
government there is no hope for her becoming strong and rich; there
is even no hope for her having a constitutional government. I say
that China is doomed to perish.

Mr. Ko: Why so?