ational Anniversary in commemoration of the Republic should, of
course, be observed with least possible display, under the pretext
either of the necessity for economy owing to the impoverished
condition of the people, or of the advisability of celebrating the
occasion quietly so as to prevent disturbances arising in
consequence of the many rumours now afloat. In this way public peace
and order may be maintained on the one hand, money and trouble saved
on the other. How to put this suggestion into practice will be left
to your discretion.

(Signed) COUNCIL OF STATE.

By October such progress had been made in Peking in the general work of
organizing this _coup d'etat_ that, as we have seen, the Senate had
passed on the 6th of that month the so-called "King-making Bill." The
very next day, so that nothing should be left in doubt, the following
circular telegram was dispatched to all the provinces:

CODE TELEGRAM DATED OCTOBER 7, 1915, FROM CHU CHI-CHUN, MINISTER OF
THE INTERIOR, ET ALIA, DEVISING PLANS FOR NOMINATING YUAN SHIH-KAI
AS EMPEROR

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

(To be deciphered with the Hua Code)

Our telegram of the 12th ult. must have reached you by this time.

The Administrative Council, at a meeting held on the 4th inst.,
passed the Bill for a General Convention of the Citizens'
Representatives. Article 12 of the Bill was amended so as to contain
the following clause:--"The Superintendent of Election may, in case
of necessity, delegate his functions to the several district
magistrates." This will soon be communicated officially to the
provinces. You are therefore requested to make the necessary
preparations beforehand in accordance with the instructions
contained in our telegram of the 29th September.

We propose that the following steps be taken after the votes have
been duly polled:--

(1) After the form of the state has been put to the vote, the
result should be reported to the sovereign (meaning Yuan Shih-kai)
and to the Administrative Council in the name of the General
Convention of the Citizens' Representatives.

(2) In the telegrams to be sent by the General Convention of the
Citizens' Representatives for nominating the emperor, the following
words should be specifically used: "We respectfully nominate the
present President Yuan