the long drawn-out
Revolution had come. Calling before him all the generals in the capital,
he told them with sincerity and simplicity that their country's fortunes
rested in their hands; and he asked them to take such steps as would be
in the nature of a permanent insurance against foreign interference in
the affairs of the Republic. He was at once given fervent support. A
mass meeting of the military was followed by the whole body of
commissioned men volunteering to hold themselves personally responsible
for the maintenance of peace and order in the capital. The dreadful
disorders which had ushered in the Yuan Shih-kai regime were thus made
impossible; and almost at once men went about their business as usual.

The financial wreckage left by the mad monarchy adventure was, however,
appalling. Not only was there no money in the capital but hardly any
food as well; for since the suspension of specie payments country
supplies had ceased entering the city as farmers refused to accept
inconvertible paper in payment for their produce. It became necessary
for the government to sell at a nominal price the enormous quantities of
grain which had been accumulated for the army and the punitive
expedition against the South; and for many days a familiar sight was the
endless blue-coated queues waiting patiently to receive as in war-time
their stipulated pittance.

Meanwhile, although the troops remained loyal to the new regime, not so
the monarchist politicians. Seeing that their hour of obliteration had
come, they spared no effort to sow secret dissensions and prevent the
provinces from uniting again with Peking. It would be wearisome to give
in full detail the innumerable schemes which were now hourly formulated,
to secure that the control of the country should not be exercised in a
lawful way. Finding that it was impossible to conquer the general
detestation felt for them, the monarchists, led by Liang Shih-yi,
changed their tactics and exhausted themselves in attempting to secure
the issue of a general amnesty decree. But in spite of every argument
President Li Yuan-hung remained unmoved and refused absolutely to
consider their pardon. A just and merciful man, it was his intention to
allow the nation to speak its mind before issuing orders on the subject;
but to show that he was no advocate of the terrorist methods practised
by his predecessor, he now issued a Mandate summarily abolishing the
infamous _Chih Fa Chu_, or Milita