China by Editor | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 30, 1912

China

By Editor

China.—We give large place, in our Outlook department, to conditions in China, as reported by mail from our own correspondents. These reports, of course, are not up to date. As this number is about to go to press, the cable reports from China are that the Manchus are ready to abdicate, and have practically decided it, and have accepted the terms of the republicans, which are protection and respect such as would be accorded to a retired foreigner residing in China, allowing the royal family to retain the palace at Jehol, or another palace near Peking, for the use of the emperor. Other members of the imperial family to retain their personal wealth and property, and all Manchu pensions to continue for a fixed term; and the payment of a large annual pension to the court, said to be $6,500,000. The Manchu dynasty has been in need of funds, but the princes who hold so much wealth have not been free to contribute to what is clear to them as a dying cause. The empress dowager, it is said, feels that the government is powerless without foreign assistance, and has asked Yuan Shi Kai to conclude the best possible arrangement in connection with the retirement of the imperial family. What will be done with the government is not known. A limited monarchy has been suggested for the north of China, and a republic for the south, provisionally so, the two to unite afterward. But this is by some thought impracticable. Yuan Shi Kai feels that abdication is the only hope, but it is understood that he has referred this abdication to certain foreign powers, in which case the two weeks' extension of the armistice will be asked for. Sun Yat Sen is pleased with the results so far, and thinks that it is probable that Yuan Shi Kai might be the president of the new republic. He declares that he will resign when the Manchu government has been ousted, and peace completely restored. A barbarous thing is reported at Shanghai, January 14, of two imperialists going into a French hospital and murdering a prominent rebel, as he was lying in bed sick. Both of them escaped. This shows the desperate straits, as well as the disposition of the entire Manchu dynasty. It is to be hoped that peace will speedily be restored, and with peace order throughout the entire empire, under the new régime.