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32 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEARThe nextf development can hardly be calledfng* * c* constitutional. In Peking preparations wereoi tne otorm*, . -..,,being mace tor the tormal enthronement, buta storm was gathering in the south-western provinces. Itbroke on December 23, when, at a meeting of militaryofficers and revolutionaries at Yunnanfu,it was decided tosend an ultimatum to Peking demanding that the monarchyshould be cancelled. Three days were allowed for this stepto be taken and, no reply having been received to theultimatum, on December 26 Yunnan was declared to boindependent of the Peking Government. The Central Government immediately began to despatch military forcesto the south to subdue the revolutionaries. These militaryoperations lie without the scope of this article. The exampleof Yunnan was soon followed by Kweichow, and laterKwangsi, Kwrangtung and Chekiang also declared independence. An informal announcement that the enthronementwrceremony as postponed was made on January 22nd. OnFebruary 24th the important announcement was made that,as a step tow r ards constitutionalism, Cabinet meetings shouldhereafter be presided over by the Premier instead of thePresident, and that the Ministers of State would be givengreater liberty of action and responsibility. Another striking innovation that was announced was the attendance offoreign advisers at Cabinet meetings.Cithers^ w^ ^ e remcmDere^ that the CitizensConvention Convention was to assemble early in 1916 toconsider the draft Constitution. As themembers of this body were elected on the same franchiseas that of the Li Fa Yuan that was to assemble on September 1st, it was decided to convert the Citizens Conventioninto the Li Fa Yuan. A mandate was issued ordering theconvocation of the Convention in the capacity of Li FaYuan on May 1st. The object in view was to submit thequestion of cancelling the monarchy to this body. Earlyin March, however, it became evident that it was extremely unlikely that the differences between the Government and the revolutionaries could be solved by constitutional means. The monarchy was formally cancelled on March