Finding that it was impossible to conquer the general
detestation felt for them, the monarchists, led by Liang Shih-yi,
changed their tactics and exhausted themselves in attempting to
secure the issue of a general annesty decree. But in spite of
every argument President Li Yuan-hung remained unmoved and refused
absolutely to consider their pardon. A just and merciful man, it
was his intention to allow the nation to speak its mind before
issuing orders on the subject; but to show that he was no advocate
of the terrorist methods practised by his predecessor, he now
issued a Mandate summarily abolishing the infamous Chih Fa Chu, or
Military Court, which Yuan Shih-kai had turned into an engine of
judicial assassination, and within whose gloomy precincts many
thousands of unfortunate men had perished practically untried in
the period 1911-1916.
Meanwhile the general situation throughout the country only slowly
ameliorated. The Northern Military party, determined to prevent
political power from passing solely into the hands of the Southern
Radicals, bitterly opposed the revival of the Nanking Provisional
Constitution, and denounced the re-convocation of the old
Parliament of 1913, which had already assembled in Shanghai,
preparatory to coming up to the capital. It needed a sharp
manoeuvre to bring them to their senses. The Chinese Navy,
assembled in the waters near Shanghai, took action; and in an
ultimatum communicated to Peking by their Admiral, declared that
so long as the government in the hands of General Tuan Chi-jui
refused to conform to popular wishes by reviving the Nanking
Provisional Constitution and resummoning the old Parliament, so
long would the Navy refuse to recognize the authority of the
Central Government.
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