CHAPTER IX
THE MONARCHY PLOT
THE MEMORANDUM OF DR. GOODNOW
Although this extraordinary pamphlet was soon accepted by Chinese
society as a semi-official warning of what was coming, it alone
was not sufficient to launch a movement which to be successful
required the benign endorsement of foreign opinion. The Chinese
pamphleteer had dealt with the emotional side of the case: it was
necessary to reinforce his arguments with an appeal which would be
understood by Western statesmen as well as by Eastern politicians.
Yuan Shih-kai, still pretending to stand aside, had kept his
attention concentrated on this very essential matter; for, as we
have repeatedly pointed out, he never failed to understand the
superlative value of foreign support in all his enterprises,--that
support being given an exaggerated value by the public thanks to
China's reliance on foreign money. Accordingly, as if still
unconvinced, he now very naively requested the opinion of his
chief legal adviser, Dr. Goodnow, an American who had been
appointed to his office through the instrumentality of the Board
of the Carnegie Institute as a most competent authority on
Administrative Law.
Even in this most serious matter the element of comedy was not
lacking. Dr. Goodnow had by special arrangement returned to Peking
at the psychological moment; for having kicked his heels during
many weary months in the capital, he had been permitted in 1914 to
take up the appointment of President of an American University on
condition that he would be available for legal "advice" whenever
wanted.
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