The Fight for the Republic in ChinaPutnam Weale, B. L. (Bertram Lenox)
History
The Fight for the Republic in China
Putnam Weale, B. L. (Bertram Lenox)
China -- History -- Republic, 1912-1949; China -- Politics and government
Mr. Hu: The provision you have mentioned is useless. Can you find
any person who is able to be at the head of the state besides His
Excellency Yuan Shih-kai? The man who can succeed President Yuan
must enjoy the implicit confidence of the people and must have
extended his influence all over the country and be known both at
home and abroad. He must be able to maintain order, and then no
matter what the constitution provides, he will be unanimously
elected President. He must also be able to assure himself that the
two other candidates for the presidency have no hope for success
in the presidential campaign. The provision in the constitution,
as well as the golden casket in which the names of the three
candidates are kept which you have mentioned, are nothing but
nominal measures. Moreover there is no man in China who answers
the description of a suitable successor which I have just given.
Here arises a difficult problem; and what has been specified in
the Constitutional Compact is a vain attempt to solve it. It is
pertinent to ask why the law-makers should not have made the law
in such a way that the people could exercise their free choice in
the matter of the presidential successor? The answer is that there
is reason to fear that a bad man may be elected president by
manipulations carried out with a masterly hand, thereby
jeopardizing the national welfare. This fear has influenced the
constitution-makers to settle upon three candidates from among
whom the president must be elected. Then it may be asked why not
fix upon one man instead of upon three since you have already
deprived the people of part of their freedom? The answer is that:
there is not a single man whose qualifications are high enough to
be the successor. As it is, three candidates of equal
qualifications are put forward for the people to their selection.
No matter how one may argue this important question from the legal
point of view, there is the fact that the law makers fixed upon
three candidates for the presidency, believing that we do not
possess a suitable presidential successor. The vital question of
the day setting aside all paper talk, is whether or not China has
a suitable man to succeed President Yuan Shih-kai. Whether or not
the constitutional compact can be actually carried out in future I
do not know; but I do know that that instrument will eventually
become ineffective.
Mr. Ko: I desire a true picture of the chaos which you have hinted
will ensue in this country. Can you tell me anything along that
line?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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