When the Delegates came to Peking in February, by far the most
important matter which was still in dispute was the question of
the oath of office which Yuan Shih-kai was called upon to take to
insure that he would be faithful to the Republic. The Delegates
had been charged specifically to demand on behalf of the seceding
provinces that Yuan Shih-kai should proceed with them to Nanking
to take that oath, a course of action which would have been held
tantamount by the nation to surrender on his part to those who had
been unable to vanquish him in the field. It must also not be
forgotten that from the very beginning a sharp and dangerous
cleavage of opinion existed as to the manner in which the powers
of the new government had been derived. South and Central China
claimed, and claimed rightly, that the Nanking Provincial
Constitution was the Instrument on which the Republic was based:
Yuan Shih-kai declared that the Abdication Edicts, and not the
Nanking Instrument had established the Republic, and that
therefore it lay within his competence to organize the new
government in the way which he considered most fit.
The discussion which raged was suddenly terminated on the night of
the 29th February (1912) when without any warning there occurred
the extraordinary revolt of the 3rd Division, a picked Northern
corps who for forty-eight hours plundered and burnt portions of
the capital without any attempts at interference, there being
little doubt to-day that this manoeuvre was deliberately arranged
as a means of intimidation by Yuan Shih-kai himself.
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