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"We"IMPORTANT EDICTS AND GOVERNMENT CHANGES. 33The year 1909 opened with sweeping changes. Onthe 2nd January Yuan Shih-k ai was summarily dismissedand succeeded in his post at the Waiwu Pu by L,iaugTung-yen, still the incumbent. The vacancy on theGrand Council was filled by the appointment of NaTung, a Manchu, as Probationary Grand Councillor.All this, according to the Decree, because UnexpectedlyYuan Shih-k ai suffers from pains in his legs,"andwish to show him our sympathy." That dismissalwas a mistake of the first magnitude. Since the departure of Yuan there has been no head-aud-shoulders manin Peking, and during the year that followed hisdismissal mail}? strong men were removed by death ordismissal. Chang Chih-tung died in the beginning ofOctober, and Sun Chia-nai, a sterling and safe, but notan outstanding, man followed in November. Towardsthe end of June the Chihli Viceroy, Yang Shih-hsiang,died, and this weakened the forces at Peking, for TuanFang, his successor, was scarcely his ;equal and TuanFang was dismissed on the 2Oth November as the resultof petty squabbling. The peculiar circumstances of thePeking Court might well account for the dismissal ofTuan Fang, though the fact that he had been attachedto the party of Yuan may have helped in the decision,but no Court intrigue can be held to account for the coldreception with which Tang Shao-yi met on his returnfrom abroad, or for the studied pigeonholing of thevaluable information that he had collected during hismission ;and apparently nothing but the fact that hewas one of Yuan s men accounted for his final dismissal.He was one of the ablest men in Peking. Other dismissals reflected more credit on the Regent. Theravenous and corrupt President of the Board of Communications, Chen Pi, was dismissed and his place takenby Hsu Shih-chang, who vacated the Mauchuriauviceroyalty to take up his Peking office, Hsi Liang, ahide-bound but honest Mongol Tory, thoroughly capable,the doyen of the provincial inandarinate, being trans-