CHAPTER XXIV

WAR WITH GERMANY: READJUSTMENTS

"It has been decided by the Chinese Government to declare war; on this very day the decision has been formally adopted by the cabinet."

Thus General Tuan Chi-jui, then Premier, conveyed to me on the 2nd of August the news of China's further entrance into world politics. I had known about this from other sources. General Tuan had announced it as his policy when I visited him on the 14th of July. He had then stated that Vice-President Feng Kuo-cheng would assume the functions of President, which President Li would relinquish, and that it would be a war government.

The American Government had held to its view that China should not be pressed to declare war. It believed that the breaking off of diplomatic relations, for the time being, was sufficient contribution to our cause in the war. But the Japanese, aided especially by the French, had strongly urged the Chinese Government to join them. Not until much later did the Chinese learn of secret treaties made between France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, giving assurance to the Japanese that no effective resistance would be offered by those powers to anything which Japan might desire in China at the end of the war.

In their ignorance of these secret arrangements, the Chinese thought that association with the war powers would put them on the footing of an ally. Also, doubtless, the militarist party surrounding Tuan hoped to increase its power through war activities. For my part, I allowed the Chinese to feel that the American Government, desiring them to decide this question according to their own best judgment, hoped that a way might be found to bring the war situation into harmony with justice to China.

When he announced the cabinet's decision, Premier Tuan took up with me the matter of finance. He evidently expected that the American Government, or the Consortium, together with independent banks, would now furnish China the money needed for her war preparations. The powers were considering what assurances to offer. In previous discussions with Chinese officials I had repeatedly dwelt on the fact that should China take this step, she would be entitled to specific and strong assurances from the powers guaranteeing her political and administrative integrity, in terms that could not easily be evaded in future. I had made continued efforts to effect an agreement upon a declaration favourable to the full maintenance of the sovereign rights of China. My conversations with the Japanese minister during 1916 and 1917 had this in view. Now that China was considering entry into the war, I again suggested the desirability of such a declaration, and hinted to the Chinese officials that they might be successful upon this occasion in obtaining a statement which would fortify the sovereign rights of China and prevent the further growth of special privileges and spheres of influence.

My colleagues all appeared to be favourable to the idea. It would undoubtedly have been possible for the Chinese Government to secure such a specific and effective declaration. Instead, however, of taking advantage of the position which their readiness to declare war gave them, and boldly proposing such a declaration as a necessary condition, they became tangled up in long discussions. The substance originally proposed was worn down to a rather empty formula.

The first proposal was that the governments should declare their policy to "favour the independent development of China, and in no way to seek in China, either singly or jointly, advantages of the nature of territorial or preferential rights, whether local or general." The Chinese had suggested, in addition, a statement that the other governments would accord to China their full assistance, in order to "help it obtain the enjoyment of the advantages resulting from the equality of powers in their international relations." As finally adopted, the declaration simply gave assurance of friendly support in "allowing China to benefit in its international relations from the situation, and from the regard due a great country." Vague and unmeaning as it was, the latter term was undoubtedly flattering to Chinese _amour propre_. These assurances were given to China on August 14th, and the United States participated in them.

China's internal political situation had not improved greatly as a result of the overthrow of the monarchical movement. On his return to Peking as restorer of the republican government, General Tuan had the chance to rally all elements in Chinese politics to a policy of constructive action. With whom would he ally himself? As his distrust of the Kuo Min Tang was great, he constituted his new government without regard to that party, and sought instead to govern through a combination of the Chin Pu Tang and the so-called Communications Party. Of the latter the real leaders, Liang Shih-yi and his immediate associates, were still living in exile under the mandate issued by President Li. Mr. Tsao Ju-lin controlled the new wing of the Communications Party, and he had a disproportionate prominence through Japanese support. Both he and Liang Chi-chao, the leader of the Chin Pu Tang, were under the Japanese thumb. This influence could thus act strongly and extensively on Chinese affairs. It was a Japanese loan that had facilitated the overthrow of Chang Hsun and made the leadership of General Tuan possible.

These two factions, while they supported General Tuan, were mutually antagonistic. Mr. Liang Chi-chao is a literary man and a theorist. Long befriended by the Japanese, he doubtless believed himself to be a patriotic Chinese who was ready to use Japanese aid, but would not surrender any essential national rights. Not being a man of affairs, he may not always have seen the bearing upon the ultimate independence of China of the measures which he proposed. Some Chinese as well as foreigners thought him merely the venal instrument of Japan; others regarded him as essentially honest, but subject to being misled because of his theories. As Minister of Finance, his administration tended to bring about a great increase of Japanese influence in China.

Mr. Tsao Ju-lin, cynical, practical-minded, and keen, is a different type of man. He was closely associated with Mr. Lu Tsung-yu, himself the most pliable instrument of Japanese policy in China. Mr. Tsao was educated in Japan; one or more of his wives were Japanese, and in business and pleasure he was constantly in Japanese company. He was out-spokenly skeptical about his own country and about republican institutions.

The Government felt dependent upon assistance from abroad, for it had financial difficulties due to inherited burdens and present military expenses. It was made to believe that assistance could come only from the Japanese. The Americans had left the Consortium four years ago; they had every opportunity to interest themselves in China, but they had done nothing substantial beyond the loan of the Chicago bank. In China, the margin between tolerable existence and financial stress is so narrow that a few million dollars may wield an enormous influence for good or bad.

These needs were accentuated because the southern republicans were holding aloof. They felt themselves excluded from the Government; they doubted General Tuan's honesty of purpose, and they planned to remain independent of the central authorities. From Shanghai Mr. C.T. Wang, the most prominent of the younger republicans, wrote that Tuan Chi-jui and his cabinet represented the reactionary element; that they were strongly backed by undesirable foreign influence, and that the latter would virtually control the Government. He ascribed to General Tuan the ambition of paving the way to make himself emperor. The opposition to Tuan, he said, would continue the fight until the Chinese Republic was indeed a republic. As to American action in China, he noted that America plays the game as a gentleman, therefore it is likely to be outmanoeuvred by another country less squeamish about its methods. Another letter from Mr. C.C. Wu, dated July 19, 1917, I will give textually, in part:

... When General Tuan arrived at the head of his troops in Peking, he had a good opportunity to gain the goodwill and coöperation of the whole country if he had proclaimed his adherence to the constitution at present in force, and to reassemble the dissolved parliament in order that the Permanent Constitution may be completed and the organization of the future parliament provided for; in other words, that the basis for a legal and constitutional government may be found. Unfortunately, other counsels seem to have prevailed. Another assembly, without any semblance of legality, is to be convened and the future regulation of the Republic is to be left in its hands. This will only mean fresh internal dissension and strife. It is to be admitted that there is much fault to be found with the old parliament, but as I once told General Tuan, it is the name, the signboard, of parliament that we must respect.

Meanwhile, the papers are full of the inquiry which the Entente Powers are alleged to have made in regard to the declaration of war against Germany, and the reply made by the Waichiao Pu that the step will be taken almost immediately. Now, it is unnecessary to tell you of my opinion in regard to this question ever since the interview we had on that fateful Sunday in February, of my firm conviction of the many advantages, both material and moral, that such a step would confer on China, nor of the efforts I have exerted in the cause. And my week's stay in Shanghai has not altered my opinion. At the same time I agree entirely with the view expressed in the note you recently presented to the Waichiao Pu on behalf of your government to the effect that the paramount need of the moment is the consolidation of the country and the establishment of an effective and responsible government, and that, compared with this, the demarche against Germany, desirable though it is, is of secondary importance. Indeed, it is nothing short of ridiculous to declare war against a foreign power when every man and every resource has to be kept in hand to meet possible civil strife and when the authority of the Central Government is effective in only a doubtful half of the country. It is difficult to see what benefit the Entente Powers expect to derive by urging such a government to take such a step, a step which is detrimental to the best interests of China and contrary to the good advice tendered by the U.S., with whom Great Britain, at least, associated herself. It is enough to make one almost suspect that it is for these very two reasons that the war measure is being urged on the Government.

Quite plainly, the southern leaders believed that the party of General Tuan was in its war policy animated with the purpose of building up its power at the expense of the rest of the country--particularly of subduing the southern republicans. Even less unselfish purposes were attributed to those who based their policy on foreign financial support. In a speech in Parliament, Senator Kuang Yen-pao makes the officials who contract ill-advised public loans say: "We are planning for the conservation of the property of our sons and grandsons; why should we have compunctions about driving the whole people to the land of death? What matters the woe of the whole nation by the side of the joy and happiness of our own families?" But the southern leaders did not disavow the act of the Central Government in declaring war. Their political opposition continued; but they accepted the international action of Peking as binding on the whole country.

In such matters China has not the hard-and-fast ideas of sovereign authority and legality which reign in the West. It was therefore possible for a local government to be independent in most matters, and yet to allow itself to be guided by the central authority in some. A declaration of independence by no means implies that there are no relationships whatever between the recalcitrant ones and the central authorities. For this reason, too, the visit of a foreign representative to any one of the governors who had declared his independence would not, as in other countries, be regarded as an affront to the Central Government. Circumstances might occur under which the Central Government itself might favour such a visit, as incidentally relieving the strain. I felt quite free to send attachés of the Legation to the governors of disaffected provinces, and should quite freely have gone myself.

In all my interviews with high officials the prime subject was finance. Not that China, as an associate in the war, was to get such aid--which was taken as a matter of course--but how it was forthcoming supplied the only question. Mr. Liang Chi-chao, Minister of Finance, who called on me on the 4th of August, talked in favour of a big loan by the Consortium. With this he hoped that the United States would again associate itself. When he spoke of independent American loans, I called his attention to the difficulty of concluding them or of calling up the option under the Chicago loan, unless there were a parliament whose authority was recognized by the country. Shortly after this I saw the Acting President, General Feng. "China," he said--undoubtedly to tell me something pleasant, but also because all Chinese do prefer association with America--"China has followed the United States in the policy of declaring war upon Germany. Now will not the United States independently finance China? Or, if that is out of the question, then, surely America will join the Consortium since that is the only way the Chinese Government can be safely and effectively supported."

"The republican form of government," he vowed, "is now eternally secure in China." I could not but remember his previous monarchist leanings. The Acting President spoke of General Tuan. "I have a very cordial understanding with the Premier," he assured me.

I went to the Premier on the 21st of August. In this discussion the Chinese iron industry came up. The Premier asked: "Why not go ahead with the development of mining and iron manufacture? Create a national Chinese iron industry, and it will form the basis of a general loan for industrial purposes." He thought, at first, that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce should summon experts and start the enterprise. I told him about the enormous technical difficulties of such a project. Then he seemed to recognize that a contract with an experienced and powerful organization, which could be held responsible, would be more effective in establishing a national iron industry for China. "I am not sure about the ore deposits near Nanking," he added; "they may not be included in such coöperative enterprises."

I suspected that he was trying to get financial support from another source, and was leaving his hands free to make them a grant there. I put in a _caveat_ against any grant of iron ores to foreign nationals. Americans had in the past been invariably informed that iron deposits could not be leased or granted to individuals because they had been reserved for national uses.

I visited General Tuan on August 22nd and found him more talkative, more anxious to discuss the general aspects of policies than ever before. "We must first of all establish the authority of the Central Government," he said; "this can be done only through a defeat of the opposition. My purpose is that military organization in China be made national and unified, in order that the peace of the country shall not at all times be upset by local military commanders. The military power thus unified I intend to take entirely out of politics and confine it to its specific military purposes. At present the military is used in factional and political disputes. When this is no longer possible, then we shall leave the public mind in civil life entirely free to settle all questions of the Constitution and of the public policy."

I believe the Premier was sincere in these views, and in his efforts to vindicate the authority of the National Government, but he thought only in terms of military authority. He did not realize what the organization of public opinion and of a civilian administration require. His opponents feared that a consolidated military power would be used by him, after all, to accomplish the reëstablishment of a military dictatorship, such as that of Yuan Shih-kai.

The personal wisdom and integrity of General Tuan commanded respect, but he was not fortunate in selecting his assistants. Both in Peking and in the provinces his immediate advisers gave him trouble. When he appointed General Fu Liang-tso governor of Hunan Province, he expected the ready settlement of all difficulties there; General Fu would know how to handle the situation. But the people of Hunan did not welcome General Fu. Soon his authority and that of the Central Government were questioned throughout that province. But the Premier never disavowed or deserted his representatives. He was loyal to them, which accounts for the strong personal influence which Tuan enjoyed.

The country could not be unified, of course, until railways were built, and representatives of the Chinese Government often approached me to ascertain Whether some action could not be taken in regard to the Hankow-Canton Railway, long delayed in construction. This trunk line would have joined the north and south. A trip from Peking to Canton by existing routes took from ten days to two weeks: by direct railway it should be possible to make it in two days. Not only the movement of passengers, but of mail and freight, would stimulate an intercourse that would be sure to overcome separatist tendencies. But China had entrusted the building of this railway to foreigners, who had played with the concession, had lost it, and, after reacquiring part of it, were now delaying its execution. Europe was preoccupied with the war. And now that China was herself entering the war, it seemed a prime need of national preparedness to have this comparatively short remaining gap in the communications of China filled out. Good friends of America among the officials--among them Mr. Pan Fu, Mr. T.C. Sun, the managing director of the Siems-Carey railway offices, and Mr. J.C. Ho--argued with me, as did their superiors, to have America lead in completing this essential highway of commerce.