VI.
VII.
being responsible only for the details of his own department, while the whole executive power
of the State is vested in the hands of the President. On the advice of the defunct Administrative Council the President called into being a new Assembly termed the Tsanchengyuan, generally spoken of as the "State Council." It consists of 70 Members, all nominated by the President himself, and mainly chosen from the older officials of the late dynasty, including a fair number of Manchus. To this body has been assigned temporary legislative functions, pending the inauguration of the new Parliament. It is apparently contemplated to continue the State Council as a permanent branch of the Constitution, though what particular role it is to fulfil vis a vis the Parliament seems as yet undetermined. Possibly it is intended as a counter-weight on the side of the President in case the elected Parliament should prove recalcitrant.
Side by side with this Assembly another body has been sitting termed the Constitutional Conference, to which has been entrusted the important work of drawing up, in consultation with the Foreign Advisers, a revised Constitution. This new Code which was promulgated on May 1st, has been termed in Chinese a "Constitutional Compact," indicating it would seem a sort of bargain between the President and the people. It defines the rights
;
and duties of the citizens on the one hand and of the President on the other provides for an elected legislature; prescribes the general course of Administration, and forecasts the organization of regular Law Courts and the independence of the judiciary. A copy of this important document will be found in the Supplement, PP. 75/84.
As regards the Provinces, several important changes have taken place. In the first place the Provincial Assemblies have been entirely abolished as being useless and obstructive. In the second place the important step has been taken of separating the civil and military functions. Under the Manchu regime the Governor was ex Officio Commander-in-Chief of the Provincial Forces, and under the revolutionary system the Governors, termed Tutuhs, were primarily Military Commanders with civil functions attached. Both systems have been abolished. The whole forces of the Empire are now declared to be National, not Provincial, and under the supreme control of the President. Three or four Provinces are grouped together to form one military district, under the command of a Chiangchun or Commander-in-Chief.
the
The result of these changes will no doubt be to enhance very materially powers of the Central Government. Under the old system the provincial governments with their command of local troops were able to disregard orders from Peking, and to interpose obstacles to reform or changes of which they disapproved. On the other hand the responsibility for the maintenance of order and good government is transferred to Peking, the duties of the local Governors being limited to the repression and punishment of ordinary crime for which purpose they are allowed to organize a police force. It remarked however, that these changes, though projected on paper, seem to be but imperfectly carried out, as Chiangchun have been appointed to almost every provincial Capital, thereby causing, it is said, much friction between the Civil and Military Authorities.
may
be
The Government has announced that a new Parliament, the Lifayuan, under a restricted franchise, will be summoned in 1915. The qualifications of both electors and candidates will shut out many of the elements which brought discredit on the Parliament of 1912-13. China's experience of parliamentary government has, so far, not been very happy, but although the new experiment will be on conservative lines, it will none the less be a step in the direction of constitutional government.
The Republic has justified its existence in a remarkably short space of tune. It has re-established the authority of Peking over the Provinces, has to a great extent suppressed disorder, and has inaugurated judicious fiscal reforms on conservative lines, as, for example, in the case of the Salt Gabelle.
There is an element of weakness in the present system of government in that it is mainly dependent on one mag-the President-but the country may count itself extremely fortunate, while it has been passing through a period of violent upheaval, in having a strong man to direct the course of affairs; a weak leader, even with the best intentions, might easily have landed the whole country in anarchy. China has the good fortune, at this crisis in her affairs, to have a leader who not only knows his own mind, but also knows his fellow countrymen, who has decision of character and the courage of his opinions.
It is clear, however, that there is a great element of danger in any system of government which is dependent on any one individual, however
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