do no more publicly. Consequently events marched forward so
rapidly that by December the deed was done, and Yuan Shih-kai had
apparently been elected unanimously Emperor of China by the provincial
ballot.

The explanation of this extraordinary business was only made public
months later with the outbreak of the Yunnan rebellion and the secession
of the Southern provinces. In a remarkable publication, entitled
satirically "The People's Will," the Southern Republican Party, which
now possessed access to all the confidential archives of the provinces,
published in full the secret instructions from Peking which had brought
about this elaborate comedy. Though considerations of space prevent all
documents being included in our analysis, the salient ones are here
textually quoted so as to exhibit in its proper historical light the
character of the chief actor, and the _regime_ the Powers had
supported--until they were forced by Japan to be more honest. These
documents, consisting mainly of telegraphic dispatches sent from Peking
to the provinces, do more to explain the working of the Government of
China than a dozen treatises; for they drag into the garish light of day
the most secret Yamen machinery and show precisely how it is worked.

The play was set in motion by a circular code telegram sent out on the
30th August by Tuan Chih-kuei, Governor of Moukden and one of Yuan
Shih-kai's most trusted lieutenants, the device of utilizing a centre
other than the capital to propagate revolutionary ideas being a
familiar one and looked upon as a very discreet procedure. This initial
telegram is a document that speaks for itself:

CODE TELEGRAM DATED AUGUST 30, 1915, FROM TUAN CHI-KUEI, MILITARY
GOVERNOR OF MOUKDEN, ET ALIA, CONTAINING INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESENTING
PETITIONS TO PEKING IN THE NAME OF THE CITIZENS OF THE PROVINCES

To the Military and Civil Governors of the Provinces:--

(To be deciphered personally with the Council of State Code)

The proposal of changing the form of the State into a monarchy
having been unanimously agreed to by the provinces, the first step
to be taken has now to be decided. We propose that petitions be sent
in the name of the citizens of the respective provinces to the
Senate acting in the capacity of Legislative Chamber, so as to
demonstrate the wish of the people to have a monarchy. The acting
Legislative Chamber will then decide upon the course to