Late Qing diplomat Wu Tingfang. At the end of December 1911, the two sides reached an armistice agreement and began peace talks in Shanghai. Wu Tingfang served as a representative of the Southern Peace Talks.
The Monarch and the Republic: Yuan Shikai's Choice
During the Xinhai Revolution, Yuan Shikai was a key figure who could influence the north and the south, and his political ideas had a great impact on the current situation. Yuan's eventual acceptance of a democratic republic was a complicated process of trade-offs, some of which were not well known to later generations.
Yuan Shikai restarted the peace talks
After the Wuchang Uprising, the provinces were in rebellion, and in less than a month, more than ten provinces had left the Qing Dynasty. In order to mobilize the Beiyang Army to suppress the rebels, the Qing government had to reactivate Yuan Shikai, who was dormant in the opposition.
At that time, the rebellious provinces advocated the establishment of democratic republics, and the Qing court, in order to ease the situation, promulgated the "Nineteen Articles of Faith" and advocated the implementation of a constitutional monarchy. After Yuan Shikai was appointed as the prime minister of the cabinet by the Qing court, he also boasted of realizing the monarchy. He first sent Liu Ruozeng and Cai Tinggan to cross the river to meet with Li Yuanhong, the governor of the military government of the Republic of China, and proposed that the revolutionaries strike the army and make peace, on the condition that the Qing court implement a constitutional monarchy. The revolutionaries were in full swing and immediately refused, saying that if Yuan Shikai led the six towns of Beiyang anyway, he could be appointed as the provisional president.
Yuan Shikai immediately sent Feng Guozhang to lead the first and second towns of Beiyang elite to capture Hankou and Hanyang, and set up artillery at Hanyang Snake Mountain to bombard Wuchang. Yuan Ben was reluctant to use force, in his opinion, the existence of revolutionaries was the best weight for him to blackmail the Qing court to gain power, and if the revolutionaries were defeated by the Beiyang Army, he would have no drama to sing. The reason why he captured Hankou and Hanyang was, on the one hand, to show his ability to the Qing court, and more importantly, to demonstrate to the revolutionaries and undermine their confidence, so as to facilitate the implementation of their political ideas and then control the overall situation. Therefore, after capturing Hanyang, he immediately telegraphed Feng Guozhang on the front line to stop the advance of troops in order to restart peace negotiations with the revolutionaries.
Yuan sent Tang Shaoyi to Wuchang to negotiate peace, but at this time, only Wuchang remained in the three towns of Wuhan, and at the same time the revolutionaries had captured Nanjing, and Nanjing replaced Wuchang as the new center of gravity of the revolution.
At the opening of the Shanghai Peace Conference, Yuan Shikai strictly ordered Tang Shaoyi to adhere to the position of constitutional monarchy on the floor and use the "Nineteen Articles of Faith" as the basis for negotiations.
Since the revolutionaries firmly advocated a republic, it was uncertain whether the peace talks would succeed. Tang Shaoyi proposed a conciliation plan to adopt a constitutional monarchy for a certain period of time, until the present emperor reached the age of 25. At that time, depending on the emperor's talents, learning, and wisdom, the National Assembly will study and decide whether to adopt a monarchy or a democracy. Regarding Tang's plan, Yuan Shikai replied briefly: Our side should resolutely advocate a constitutional monarchy, and the "19 Articles" should be used as the basis for negotiations. It is expected that the revolutionary party will refuse, but it will always persevere to the end. It is not until the end of the argument that mediation can be considered in order to win the sympathy of the world, and we hope to do our best.
It can be seen that although Yuan Shikai ostensibly adheres to the constitutional monarchy, his views are not unchangeable, and for him, which political propositions to adopt is completely shifted with the situation to maximize his own benefit.
Since Wu Tingfang, a representative of the Southern Peace Council, resolutely advocated a republic and was uncompromising, Tang Shaoyi proposed to convene a national assembly to hold a national referendum with a monarchical constitution and a republic, and Yuan Shikai agreed. The change in Yuan's attitude stemmed to a large extent from the change in attitudes in Britain. Britain's interests in China are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River valley, and if the revolutionary party adheres to democracy and republic, and if its goal is not achieved, the war may be resumed, and British interests will be damaged. British Minister Zhu Erdian lobbied Yuan Shikai: "According to the personal opinion of this envoy, since Tang Shaoyi has already called to make suggestions, it is better to consider a solution on the basis of convening a parliament to decide on the national system." Yuan Shikai attached great importance to the attitude of the great powers, especially Britain, so he thought that what the British minister said was "a plan". In the end, he persuaded the Qing Empress Dowager Longyu to promulgate an edict to convene the National Assembly.
Differences between the North and the South
Although the South and the North have reached an understanding on the convening of the National Convention, there are serious differences on the procedure and place for convening the conference. Because Tang Shaoyi himself was inclined to republicanism, and under the efforts of Wu Tingfang, Tang and Wu reached a method for convening the meeting at the meeting hall: The National Assembly should be organized by representatives from all places, with one place in each province, one place in Inner and Outer Mongolia, and one place in front and back, and each place should send three representatives, each with one vote, and three-quarters of the number of people present at the meeting from each place could be held. In a situation where most of the provinces were independent from the Qing Dynasty, this was clearly in favor of the revolutionary camp.
Of course, this method of convening would not have been approved by the Qing court, and Yuan Shikai also thought that "the north is unwilling to admit it, so it is an informal method". The Qing court's relatives and nobles agreed to convene the National Assembly, and their real intention was to keep the Mongol, Tibetan, and Hui vassals under their jurisdiction. If the majority of the people are republican, they can use the excuse that Mongolian, Tibetan, and Hui are all monarchs, so that they can agree with the revolutionary army to still cede Mongolia, Tibet, and Hui to the Qing emperor, and then he will organize a monarchy on his own.
The venue of the meeting, the Qing court and Yuan Shikai believed that it must be in Beijing, because Beijing has long been the national capital, and it is the seat of the ministers of various countries, and it is recognized by China and foreign countries. The revolutionaries insisted on Shanghai, which was a neutral zone at the junction of the north and south.
There were also disagreements between Yuan Shikai and the Qing court. Yuan Yi intended to use the same method as the provinces for the election of Feng, Ji, Hei, Zhi, and Bian, while the Manchu nobles wanted to expand the number of elections in Manchuria (i.e., the three provinces of Feng, Ji, and Hei), and even more wanted to elect all the three provinces as their representatives.
With the tripartite convergence at one pole, the proposed National Convention had little hope of success from the outset. It was fitting that the situation had changed significantly. When Sun Yat-sen returned from overseas, the revolutionary party was shaken by the momentum, and at Sun's insistence, the representatives of the independent provinces elected Sun as the provisional president. This move was much unexpected by the Yuan family, and at this time, individual generals of the Beiyang Army, such as Zhang Huaizhi, were clamoring to stop the peace negotiations and start a war in the south because of the movement of the Manchu nobles. Yuan was under pressure from the north and south, and had to use Tang Shaoyi's overstepping of his authority as an excuse to revoke Tang's proposal and his qualifications as a representative, showing a tough posture to the south. This would have eliminated the proposed National Convention.
Yuan Shikai changed his attitude
Although the Shanghai peace talks came to a standstill, Yuan Shikai's private contact with the revolutionaries was not severed. The revolutionaries explained to Yuan that the purpose of raising Sun as president was to sort out the internal affairs of the revolutionary camp, and that if Yuan could overthrow the Qing court and approve of the republic, the revolutionaries would still be willing to raise Yuan as the future president.
After receiving assurances from the south, Yuan changed his previous ambiguous attitude and actively engaged in coercing the Qing court to relinquish his ruling power, and the abdication of the Qing emperor took a sharp turn for the worse, and the realization of a republic seemed to be in sight. However, the "republic" that Yuan wanted to establish was not the same thing as the republic of revolutionaries. In January 1912, Zhang Qin, Li Li, and other representatives of the National Joint Movement Committee submitted a letter to Yuan Jinyi, suggesting the implementation of a "republican constitution." In the submission, Zhang Qin and others suggested that "compromise between Britain and France and advocate imperial republicanism." It is proposed to honor the emperor as the Great Sage Emperor, proclaim a republican form of government, convene the National Assembly, publicly elect the president, draft a constitution, and implement a republican constitution".
Under this state system, the so-called Great Sage Emperor has very little authority, and the President has the actual right to rule the country. The so-called "republican constitution" is actually a disguise of constitutional monarchy, but under this system design, the emperor's power is reduced to a very small amount, leaving only a title and some independent honors. For a period of time, Yuan's assertion of the state system was basically beyond the scope of the submission.
In order to force the Qing court to hand over all power, Yuan Shikai instigated his subordinates to constantly open telegrams to exert pressure on the Qing court, and even personally went out to lead all the members of the cabinet to play a battle. With regard to the south, he demanded that the provisional government of Nanking be abolished within 48 hours after the Qing emperor gave way, and that he himself establish a unified government of the whole country.
Sun Yat-sen saw through Yuan's intentions and proposed five ways to deal with it. Later, the five measures were further amended to add an additional article: "After Yuan is elected provisional president, he swears to abide by the constitution established by the Senate and can accept the power of affairs." The intention was that the new government could not be authorized by the Qing Emperor, and Yuan had to first sever ties with the Manchu government and become a pure citizen of the Republic of China before he could be elected president of the Republic of China by the Provisional Senate.
had to abandon the "republican constitution"
An important point of contention between the north and the south was the form of survival of the Qing emperor. Since the revolution was based on cheap peace negotiations, it had to recognize a number of preferential conditions on the part of the Qing court, the first of which became a key point in the creation of the future system. The original document proposed by Yuan Shikai is: the honorific title of the Qing Emperor, which is inherited from each other, and the people pay homage to the Qing Emperor and the monarchs of various countries. According to this design, the Qing Emperor is undoubtedly the "Great Sage Emperor" who arches high above. The revolutionaries amended this article to read: "After the abdication of the Qing Emperor, the honorific title will still exist and be treated with the courtesy of foreign monarchs", believing that only in this way can the Qing Emperor be regarded as truly inferior, and then the foundation of the Republic of China will be established, so as not to be similar to the suspicion of a false throne.
Although Yuan eventually made concessions and agreed to the revolutionaries' amendments, he did not completely abandon the idea of a "republican constitution", which was fully reflected in the drafting of the Qing Emperor's abdication edict. The edict was drafted by Zhang Jian, reflecting Nanjing's ideas, and after the draft arrived in Beijing, it was published after major revisions by Yuan's strategists.
At the same time as the promulgation of the Qing Emperor's telegram, Yuan Shikai announced his political views, abbreviatingly: "The Qing Emperor has resigned from the throne, and the day of the announcement is the end of the imperial government, that is, the foundation of the Republic of China." From then on, efforts will be made to ensure that the order reaches a perfect status, and that the monarchy will never be allowed to be practiced in China again!" It says "imperial government" instead of "imperial system", and "monarchy" instead of "monarchy", and the wording is sleek and flashing, and the meaning is long.
Although Yuan's self-talk was not really in line with the ideas of the revolutionaries, Sun Yat-sen submitted his resignation to the Senate the day after the release of the Qing Emperor's telegram, and the Senate immediately elected Yuan as the successor president. Yuan Shikai immediately accepted the Senate nomination, claiming that he was willing to "accept the lack of succession," but this did not mean that he was continuing the legal system of the Nanjing government, and according to his own understanding, his position as a great president was not entirely authorized by the Senate, in other words, he did not recognize the Nanjing Senate as the legislature representing the whole country.
Sun Yat-sen was well aware of Yuan's thoughts, so when he resigned, he also had three methods: 1. The place of the provisional government should be in Nanjing; 2. When the new president personally arrived in Nanjing to take office, the entire provisional government would really leave office; and 3. The new president must swear to abide by the provisional constitution and all other laws and regulations laid down by the Senate. The purpose of this move was to place the new president completely under the legal control of the Provisional Government in Nanking.
Of course, Yuan would not settle down after leaving Beijing, but in order to seek reunification between the north and the south, he finally had to accept the mediation measures agreed by the Senate, the key of which was that Yuan swore in office to the Senate by telegram. On March 8, he telegraphed the oath to the Senate. On the 10th, he was officially appointed in Beijing. Yuan's oath showed that he eventually became the head of the executive branch corresponding to the provisional Senate, and at the same time showed that he finally had to abandon his own so-called "republican constitution" and accept the "republic" of the revolutionaries, and the Republic of China became a true democratic republic.
Well, today's article ends here, thank you for having such a good temperament and come to see Xiao Jia's article, friends who like history and real estate knowledge, you can pay attention to Xiao Jia, and good articles ^_^ will be updated every day