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The Abdication, 1912

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The Abdication, 1912 Chapter 30 The Abdication, 1912 Eleven days after the outbreak of the Wuchang uprising on October 10, 1911, the National Assembly convened for its second session. The appointed members of the pro-Republican Assembly forced Zaifeng, Prince-Regent and father of the infant Xuantong Emperor, to permit the immediate promulgation of the so-called Nineteen Articles of Constitution, which removed the emperor’s ability to act by edict.1 In recognition of this momentous event, the assembly- men obliged Zaifeng to announce as much at the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Great Qing. By early November, military pressure on Beijing and ongoing political pro- tests at the lack of a “responsible Cabinet” compelled Zaifeng to recall Yuan Shikai from his forced retirement and appoint him prime minister. Over the next few months, Yuan skillfully maneuvered to increase his power. On November 22, he persuaded the Court to allow him complete authority to make decisions on all government matters, except those relating to the impe- rial household. All memorials would henceforth be addressed to the Cabinet rather than the emperor. On December 6, Yuan orchestrated Zaifeng’s resigna- tion and the conduct of court affairs fell to the more pliant Empress Dowager Longyu. Throughout December, Yuan held the imperial armies back while using the revolutionary threat to intimidate Empress Dowager Longyu. She eventu- ally agreed to an armistice and the opening of a North-South Conference in Shanghai where the Imperialists and Republicans could negotiate the nature of the future polity. Both sets of negotiators favored a republican form of gov- ernment, and fourteen provinces had already declared their independence, but they decided to ask the Court to convene a parliament to decide wheth- er the new government would be a constitutional republic or constitutional monarchy. In late December, Empress Dowager Longyu agreed, thus ensuring an end to the dynasty. The formal abdication ending the 268-year old Manchu Qing dynasty, and the entire imperial system, came six weeks later on the 25th day of the twelfth moon of the third year of the Xuantong Emperor. That day, the Empress Dowager issued three edicts. The first, reproduced below, was the formal edict 1 A translation of the “Nineteenth Articles of Constitution” appears in Percy Horace Kent, The Passing of the Manchus (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1912), 169–70. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004361003_032 The Abdication, 1912 361 of abdication, but it was altered before publication by Yuan Shikai giving him “full authority” to constitute the new government and to negotiate with the “people’s army.” The second edict called on all officials to maintain peace dur- ing the transition. The third, containing the Articles of Favorable Treatment, granted Aisin Gioro Puyi the title of “emperor of the Great Qing” until the end of his life, an annuity of four million taels, “temporary” residence in the Forbidden City, and protection for his property. February 12, 1912 To Tang Shaoyi, Wu Tingfang, President Sun [Zhongshan] and Vice-President Li [Yuanhong], Ministers of Different Ministries and the Senate, Nanjing. Today’s Decree reads: I am in receipt of an Edict from the Longyu Empress Dowager which states that owing to the uprising of the people’s army, supported by the provinces as a sound is by its echo, the whole empire seethed and smoked, whereby the people have been plunged into miserable sufferings. Yuan Shikai was specially commanded to appoint Commissioners to discuss the situation with the rep- resentatives of the people’s army, with a view to the convention of a National Assembly, in order to decide the form of Government.2 Two months have elapsed without yet reaching a suitable settlement. Great distance separates the South from the North, each upholds its own against the other and the re- sult is the stoppage of merchants on the road and the exposure of scholars in the field, all because, should the form of Government be undecided, so must the people’s lives be thrown out of gear. Now, the majority of the people of the whole nation are leaning towards Republicanism; the provinces in the South first took the pioneer step, then the officers in the North also desired to follow their example; and in the univer- sal desire of the heart of the people may be discernible the will of Heaven. How could we then persist in opposing the desire and hatred of millions for the nobility and glory of one name. Surely the general position abroad should be examined and popular opinion should be weighed. I, hand in hand with the 2 Empress Dowager Cixi authorized the establishment of the Zizhengyuan, or National Assembly, in September 1907, but it did not hold a formal session until October 1910. The 1911 Revolution, however, forced the Zizhengyuan to take up the question of a constitution much earlier than anticipated. The Nineteen Articles of Constitution were issued on November 3, 1911..
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