We await a reply within
twenty-four hours.
(Signed) THE GOVERNORS OF YUNNAN PROVINCE.
It was evident from the beginning that pride prevented Yuan Shih-
kai from retreating from the false position he had taken up. Under
his instructions the State Department sent a stream of powerful
telegraphic messages to Yunnan attempting to dissuade the
Republican leaders from revolt. But the die had been cast and very
gravely the standard of rebellion was raised in the capital city
of Yunnan and the people exhorted to shed their blood. Everything
pointed to the fact that this rising was to be very different from
the abortive July outbreak of 1913. There was a soberness and a
deliberation about it all which impressed close observers with a
sense of the ominous end which was now in sight.
Still Peking remained purblind. During the month of January the
splendour of the dream empire, which was already dissolving into
thin air, filled the newspapers. It was reported that an Imperial
Edict printed on Yellow Paper announcing the enthronement was
ready for universal distribution: that twelve new Imperial Seals
in jade or gold were being manufactured: that a golden chair and a
magnificent State Coach in the style of Louis XV were almost
ready. Homage to the portrait of Yuan Shih-kai by all officials
throughout the country was soon to be ordered; sycophantic
scholars were busily preparing a volume poetically entitled "The
Golden Mirror of the Empire," in which the virtues of the new
sovereign were extolled in high-sounding language.
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