YUAN SHIH=KAI.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1299, 30 November 1911, Page 4

YUAN SHIH=KAI.

CHINA'S PRIME MINISTER. AN APPRECIATION. Yuan Sh'ih-Kai, the i-x-Vicrroy t.t Chi-li, and probably the most capable .stnlesnum whom Chini has bcou appointed Prime. MinUcr uf China by Imperial Kdicl. 11, i- not. yd Him.' .vp:ii> .-inre hu was iibru|it'y ami ignoiiiiniou>ly dismissed frmn all the high ottiet-s he then held. The event naturally c-miled :i great sensation iiiiioiigst foreigners as woll as Chinese. The present Emperor had nut been two months iipon the Throne. .Ho owed the tranquillity of his iii.-co.-?i<Hi largely lo Hie support of the nnd ■pnnrgotio Vicrrov of Chi-li. Since the return of the Court, from its flight after the Boxer movement, Yiinn Shili-Kni had risen sleudily in the favour of the old Empress-Dowager, who, whatever her faults-, knew a man, and in tho. estimation of tho foreigners, with whom he. was brought into contact. A few days before his fall new honours w-.-re heaped upon him. Later still he conducted an important discu&ion with -Air. l.iuin, the Japanese Minister. On January 2, 1009, he attended :i meeting of the Grand Council, and the Engent received him with affability. When he, got home he wns hanilod tho Edict which iuformed him that he "was unexpectedly suffering from an affection of the foot" which made it hard for him io perform hi? duties properly. It ordered him instantly to resign, and to return to' his native placo "to trent his complaint." "Thus," the Edict, concludes, "is our resolution to show mercy displayed." Now, in an hour of .stress and. trial, tho Palace has apparently learnt that' the treatment has been successful, and tho man who was- judged unlit for his work in 1909 is summoned from his retirement to suppress a. rebellion in 1011 and to form a Cabinet. Yuan Shih-Kai has obeyed, daspito. the discourteous form of the Edict which 'calls him back. -His return to power should prove a groat addition to the strength aud Ihe prestige of the cause which he espouses, unless indeed the period of retirement lo .which he has been relegated has impaired his authority with the "modern drilled" Army he himself created. An Eventful Career. Yuan Shih-Kai is n. Chinaman born 52 years ago in the province of Honan. Ono of his, great-uncles, if. is interesting to remember, was one of the four generals who, with Gordon's aid, took the chief part in suppressing the Taipins rebellion. His'career has boon exceptionally eventful even for that of an Oriental statesman. Ho was adopted as a lx>y by a soldier uncle, and in 1882 he wont with a Chinese detachment to the assistance of the King of Korea, who was then threatened by an insurrection. He remained in that kingdom for 12 years, becoming Imperial Resident at (ho early age of 2li. and continuing to hold that post until the war with Japan in 18W-5 expelled the Chinese from the peninsula. The war had convinced him that an army not trained and armed on European lines was worss than useless. Very soon he had 5000 well disciplined aud wellarmed men under his command near ■Tientsin. His discipline was .severe, and marked amongst other features by the. prohibition of opium, but he paid and treated his men well and regularly, and he was able to recruit them from respectable homes. It is from the military schools which he established that most of the nativo military instructors have l-ouu out. b His action at the lime of tho EmpressDowagers coup d'etat in 1808 is, differently described by .his friends and by his enemies. What.seems certain is, that he was sounded by the reformers, who beleved .poured his support, but that at the critical moment he sided auainst them The hatred which thoy ".'"f tf' him may'not be without its effect m the"present crises, though most politicians, and especiallv most Oriental pollhcians, readily subordinate their recollections to their immediate-in-terests in times of revolution. The Boxers. In the following year T, mu Shih-kai was made Governor of Shantung H, immediate predecessor, tho notorious Yu rtsicn, was a firm believer-in the Bo™movement and had encouraged it the utmost of his power. .Yuan Shih-kai ho.had brought his foreign-drilled io 1 dieis with him, set himself with relentless vigour to suppress the Boxers. To his conduct the Europeans iu Peking owed their lives,'and the Empire, in its traditional shape, its existence. He had the sagacitv nnd tho moral courage to disregard the-Imperial Edicts, orderin" the plunder and massacre of foreigners" and he worked steadily with thovYan"tsze_ Viceroys to maintain order Not "a foreigner in his province perished "while Chi-h was in ilame?. ■ In 1901 ho was appointed Viceroy of Chi-h on the death of Li Hung-chang. In his new post his great abilities as an organiser were again apparent. Like all capable organisers, he was quick to se« and to use the good qualities bf subordinates, and he showed :i special appreciation for those ot the Cantonese.' His intelligence had taught him that Western niotnods were as indispensable to China m education as in military affairs, and it was upon his advice, supported by tha of Chan S -Chih-tung, the most celebrated of the old school of Chinese literati, that the Edict of 1304 was This Edict, it will be remembered', abolished the traditional examination* in Chinese classics, and declared that for the future the only recognised door to public life would be a degree in ono of the modern colleges. He was a main pillar, it need hardly be said, of the ann-opiuni movement. A Member of the Grand Council. , In the last year of the Ion? reign of the Empress-Dowager, Yuan Shih-kai became a member of the Grand Council and administrative head of the Wai-wu-pu In. the latter post his intelligence, his spirit, aud his readiness to accept responsibilty won for him the respect of the representatives of tho Powers. He insisted strongly upon the sovereign ri»hts of China in theory, but he showed a statesmanlike appreciation of facts and a statesmaniiko readiness to compromise with them. , He is not perhaps a statesman in the largest sense ot the word. Ho has not jhe education or the knowledge which belongs to true statesmanship. He has not been wholly free from the faults and the weaknesses of Orientals in high place But he has power of will as well as jud--!'i e 'l \H S has realise(l - and- ho has shown that he has realised, the absolute necc--sity of radical reform to save his country from ruin. That has been enouch to earn for him the hatred of the eunuchs, the women, and the other cormtit elements that dominate the Palace It overthrew him, to all seeming, for ever in 1009. Tt has restored him to-dav «rud"lngly, and under pressure of the necessity which makes the presence of a man indispensable to tho safety of the'dynasty.