The members of the Imperial Senate,
most of whom were members of the constitutional party, could not
help showing their sympathy with the revolutionists. At last the
imperial household issued a proclamation containing Nineteen
Articles--a veritable magna carta--but it was too late. The
constitutional government which was about to be formed was thus
laid aside. What the imperial family did was the mere organization
of an advisory council. A famous foreign scholar aptly remarked:
"A false constitutional government will eventually result in a
true revolution." In trying to deceive the people by means of a
false constitutional government the imperial house encompassed its
own destruction. Once His Excellency Yuan Shih-kai stated in a
memorial to the throne that there were only two alternatives: to
give the people a constitutional government or to have them
revolt. What happened afterwards is a matter of common knowledge.
Therefore I say that the government which the imperial family
attempted to form was not a constitutional government.
Mr. Ko: Thank you for your discussion of the attempt of the
imperial household to establish a constitutional government; but
how about the Provisional Constitution, the parliament and the
cabinet in the first and second years of the Republic? The
parliament was then so powerful that the government was absolutely
at its mercy, thereby disturbing the peaceful condition of the
country.
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