"Ah, no," came the quick rejoinder. For some considerable time Li Yuan Hung had been endeavouring to persuade Yuan Shih K'ai to come over to the Revolutionary party and assume control of the formation of {40} the Republic; but his efforts had met only with a stubborn refusal by Yuan. "We must push out the Manchus. Yuan Shih K'ai will not, I believe, become our President." His Excellency stopped talking at this point, and I waited in vain to hear more about Yuan. After a moment I suggested: "But Yuan Shih K'ai is one of your great friends, is he not?" "No, I do not call Yuan Shih K'ai a friend. He is known to me personally, but I do not know much about him or of the ambition he now has with China. You see, he will not listen to me." "True, but the foreign newspapers are saying that Yuan Shih K'ai, because he is your personal friend, will become the first President." "Are they? I did not know. Well, perhaps Yuan Shih K'ai would rise very high in the Republican party, but he has shown his determination merely to sit on the fence waiting for the result." And General Li held up his hands and rocked to and fro in his chair to make his meaning clear. "Who are your political associates at this time?" His Excellency, at first not seeming to understand my meaning, said that he had none, but afterwards told me that his _great_ friend was Admiral Sah. The subsequent references which he made to the Admiral were touching. "He is my _teacher_!" he affectionately exclaimed. "He is now gone to Shanghai, but after the fighting is over he will come to advise the Republic on naval matters. Admiral Sah is a good man, his heart is very warm." In further conversation General Li declared that they had now the strongest men in the country, and the men who had not turned were hardly worth the having. He paid eulogistic references to the statesmanship of Wu Ting Fang, several of the Ministers of the old Government, whom he hoped to retain in office, and to Sun Yat Sen especially. Continuing, the General said his idea was that China's {41} foreign representatives should be retained, and that in no way was he desirous of altering the representation anywhere, in China or out of it, if officials were willing to serve--granted, of course, that their retention in office gave satisfaction and they were returned by public vote. "We wish to retain all who will work conscientiously for China's welfare, so that there shall be no disruption of trade and commerce or of China's diplomatic connections all over the world. Roughly, the scheme that I should favour would be:-- "1. Expulsion of the Manchus outside the Great Wall to Mongolia (excepting those who are willing to join the Republican party). "2. Establishment of a Republic on lines after the style of America, with exclusive government for each State and one great National Assembly.