"No one knows--at least, no one will tell--just how this great event was brought about. It seems, however, that Yuan Shih K'ai had been working for it for several weeks. He was strongly supported by Prince Ching, and these two told both the Regent himself and the Empress-Dowager that the Regent's retirement was necessary to a settlement of the present disturbed state of the Empire. The Prince Regent was reluctant but finally yielded to the demand, and henceforth he will be entirely out of public life. Yuan Shih K'ai and his followers and helpers hoped that the step would be of vast benefit to the Government, and would make a settlement with the rebels possible. They say they think this will be the case. Others, however, especially some foreigners, feel that this step, like so many others, has perhaps come too late, and that rebellious elements to the southward will consider it as an indication of weakness on the part of the Government, and that they will thus become encouraged to continue the fight. The Chinese say that this will not be the case. Chinese psychology, it appears, enters into the matter to a considerable extent, and the apparently reasonable view of the foreigner as to the logical result of the step and its effect upon rebel minds is not, according to the Chinese argument, justified. "The edict retiring the Prince Regent makes Yuan Shih K'ai more powerful than ever, and if the situation is to be saved, he must be the man to do it. It is not as clear as it might be, and there is much speculation here amongst foreigners as to where it leaves the Empress-Dowager. A consensus of opinion appears to be that the Empress-Dowager remains only a figurehead. The edict at one point says that {232} hereafter 'the whole responsibility' of appointing officials and carrying on the Government will rest upon the Prime Minister and the Ministers of State. Thus Yuan Shih K'ai is made supreme, for he is Prime Minister and Cabinet in one, as the Cabinet is composed of men of his own selection. The Empress-Dowager will have nothing to do with the executive or legislative branches of the new form of Government. She is apparently limited by these words, which follow those quoted above: 'When edicts are to be issued the Prime Minister will ask for the Imperial Seal to be used, and ceremonial audiences will be held by Us and the Emperor together.' This, it would seem, leaves the Empress-Dowager and the Emperor as the symbol of the sovereignty of China, but with none of the functions of law-making or administration. It will be the Empress-Dowager who sits on the throne to receive credentials from the foreign ministers when they come to the capital, and she will typify the head of the State to the world at large; but more than this she will not be."