CONSTITUTIONALISM AND ITS FAILURE tions,and in setting up a standard whereby the people can learn to conduct I themselves in their social,civil,and political relations."Even as late as January 1926,with the republic a virtual corpse,one prominent educator-diplomat felt sufficient optimism to propose a constitutional panacea: Let a small body of men of unimpeachable character and integrity be elected or appointed to form a Council of Elder Statesmen according to the fashion of Japan....It is their CONSTITUTIONALISM AND ITS FAILURE duty to encourage or impeach all Government policies fearlessly and in the interest of the people.As their combined opinion will be respected by the whole nation,even cabinet ministers or military leaders will eventually have to take their counsels to heart.... China provided with such a national conscience,the President,the Cabinet Ministers,the Provincial Tuchuns or Civil Govemors will be able to concentrate the authority of the Central Government and nationalize the finances of the country without much difficulty.4 In 1898,K'ang Yu-wei memorialized the Kuang-hsu Emperor,"I have heard Not that the republic's difficulties were ever unrecognized.Chang Hsun's that the strength of nations both east and west is due to the cstablishment of constitutions and the opening of national assemblies....Can these nations 1917 restoration of the Hsuan-t'ung Emperor,the subsequent emergence of a rival Canton government,the Anfu-Chihli war of 1920,the first and second be anything but strong when their rulers and the millions of their people are Chihli-Fengtien wars of 1922 and 1924-these episodes but punctuated a cease- united in a single body?In 1906,the imperial edict ordering preparations for less series of military and civilian conflicts.As chaos deepened,however, the adoption of a constitutional system of government argued in the same vein, politicians and intellectuals diagnosed causes and prescribed cures in constitu- "That other countries are wealthy and strong is primarily due to the adoption tional terms. of a constitution,by which all the people are united in one body and in con- According to one persistent idea,all problems could be solved if the original stant communication,sanc and sound opinions are extensively sought after and adopted,powers are well divided and well defined,and financial matters and 1913 parliament,dissolved by Yuan in 1914 and again in 1917 in the course of the Chang Hsun restoration,could be recalled to finish writing a permanent legislation are discussed and decided upon by the people." This belief in a constitution's efficacy to make China strong remained vital constitution.(China during most of this period was governed under the Pro- visional Constitution of 1912).Once promulgated,the permanent constitution even as disappointments mounted after the formation of the republic.After Yuan Shih-k'ai's death in 1916,President Li Yuan-hung proclaimed,"The would set republican government on the right course.Finally put into effect in parliament must be summoned quickly to decide on the constitution,in order 1922,this proposal proved incapable of saving the republic. Another diagnosis,that of the federalists,argued that national disunity and that the will of the people may be followed and the foundations of the nation consolidated";and The Chinese Social and Political Science Review stated,"We military dominance of government were due to excessive centralization and that believe that an early promulgation of the constitution is absolutely necessary to 3.Li Chien-nung,The Political History of China,1840-1928,trans.Ssu-yu Teng and the consolidation of the national foundations....The formal enactment of Jeremy Ingalls (Princeton,N.J..1956),p.356;"Editorial Notes,"The Chinese Social and the organic law will go a long way in dispelling from the mind of the people Political Science Review 1,no.4 (December 1916):1-2.The Chinese Social and Political the vague apprehension over a recurrence of political disturbance,in forestalling Science Association was a group of Western-oriented Chinese and Westerners in China. political adventurers from indulging in extravagant and unwarranted ambi- 4.Y.S.Tsao,"The Cause of Democracy in China,"The Chinese Social and Political Science Review 10,no.1(January 1926):84,italics removed.Mr.Tsao (Ts'ao Yun-hsiang),holder ofa Yale B.A.and a Harvard M.B.A.degree,was president of Tsinghua University and had 1.Quoted in Richard C.Howard,The Concept of Parliamentary Goverment in 19th formerly served in the Chinese diplomatic service;see Who's Who in China:Biographies of Century China:A Preliminary Survey,"upublished paper delivered to University Seminar Chinese Leaders,5th ed.(Shanghai,1936:reprinted [Hongkong,19687],p.234 (hereafter on Modemn East Asia-China and Japan,Columbia University,New York,January 9,1963, abbreviated Who's Whto). p.21. 5.See Chapters VI-VII.Despite its failure,this idea persisted even after 1924;for example, 2.Quoted in Joshua Mingchien Bau,Modern Demtocracy in China(Shanghai,1923),p.7. the agitation of the old parliament M.P.'s for that body's recall in 1924-25,as reported in Hatano Ken'ichi,comp.,Gendai Shina no kirokn,November 1924 and subsequent months 4 (hereafter abbreviated GSK)