ABSTRACT
The problem of Peking is so peculiar that no parallel case exists in any other part of the world. Turkey is sometimes quoted as a similar instance; but the differences between China and Turkey are greater than the points of resemblance. Native arms and foreign diplomacy thus formed an unholy alliance in China in 1913. This first great assault on the Republic was followed by a six-month period of intimidation and bribery, after which Yuan Shih-kai finally secured the passage of the Presidential Election Law. The first full Parliament should therefore have assembled in Peking by October 1912. With Yuan Shih-kai's death in June 1916, the 1913 Parliament returned to the capital, weakened but still determined to consummate its main work, which was the formal passage of a permanent Constitution, the draft of which had been so long complete. The method of organization of the Auditing Department and the qualifications of auditors shall be fixed by law.
