The petition process of the congressional petition movement

A big petition from Congress and the Royal Cabinet.

1in August, 908, under the clamor of the constitutionalists, the Qing court finally promulgated the Outline of the King James Constitution, the Essentials of the Election Law of the House of Representatives and the List of Matters Prepared Year by Year before the House of Representatives opened, and declared that "from the imperial court down to the civil servants, all should abide by the King James Constitution, so as to abide by it forever."

Judging from the planning and timetable, these things to be done are basically major events. For an old China that is transforming into a modern country, its difficulty can be imagined. Objectively speaking, the New Deal and the measures to prepare for constitutionalism achieved certain results before the Revolution of 1911, which also shows that the Qing court broke through the "ancestral system" that followed the Millennium to a certain extent (not only the Qing Dynasty, but the traditional autocratic system since Qin and Han Dynasties) and was consciously or unconsciously moving towards a modern country. Especially in the preparation of constitutionalism, it deeply touched the most conservative and core component of the traditional political system-autocratic imperial power. When this structural change comes, any recklessness and rashness will bring disaster to China's future. However, as Japanese Prime Minister Kyotaro looked on coldly in 1909, "Constitutionalism and parliament are good, but they need a long time to prepare. If China moves too fast now, something will definitely go wrong. ".

According to the road map of 1908, the Qing court had to prepare for nine years before it could convene a national assembly and promulgate a constitution. However, once the people's power is mobilized, the process and results are beyond the control and expectation of the designers of the reform. It is true that the Qing court set up consultative councils and consultative councils in 1909 and 19 10. However, the constitutionalists think that consultative councils are subject to the governor, and they are neither a donkey nor a horse's parliament, so most of them hope to convene a parliament in two or three years. 19 10 When the Senior Advisory Committee discussed the case of "building the country quickly", all the members agreed and stood up and cheered, which fully demonstrated its urgency.

Since the autumn of 1907, constitutionalists from all over the country have written to the Qing court, demanding that the National Assembly be convened as soon as possible. 1909 at the first meeting of the provincial consultative bureaus in June, Zhang Jian, the speaker of Jiangsu consultative bureau, telephoned the provincial consultative bureaus and suggested organizing a petition meeting for comrades in Congress. After more than a month of multi-party contact, representatives from all provinces arrived in Shanghai one after another in June 5438+February 65438+August to hold a meeting to discuss the matter of petitioning for the convening of the National Assembly. 191kloc-0/after the representatives of the provincial petition groups arrived in Beijing, they presented a petition of "establishing a national assembly soon" headed by Sun, a member of the Zhili Consultative Bureau, saying, "If the National Assembly is held within one year, the world will be lucky!"

Adults in Duchayuan have always been disgusted with such posts that interfere in state affairs, so they haven't called them. Disappointed, the delegates began to visit courtiers and seek support. The first thing they went to see was the Chief Military Minister Yi Kuang and other military ministers. Yi Kuang has always been very tactful. He said to the petitioners: "I am also a national, and I will help myself." Na Tong also agreed. After their efforts, Dai Hongci also expressed understanding. However, when visiting some relatives of the royal family, Prince Su Shannian, Beizi Pulun and Zhenguo Gongzai avoided it, while Baylor Zai Tao and Yu Lang said that they would "try their best to help each other", which finally made the delegates feel some comfort.

At the same time, provincial governors also called the Qing court in succession, demanding "bowing to public opinion and speeding up the establishment of the National Assembly". Subsequently, Jiang Chunlin (also a member of the High Advisory Council) deliberately filed a petition to shorten the life of the National Assembly. Not only that, but even the flag bearer joined the petition team. They "elected representatives and went to Duchayuan to petition for the founding of the country." In this case, Duchayuan had to play these petitions together.

However, to the disappointment of the delegates,1910 65438+10 30, the Qing court issued an imperial edict to answer the petition for the early establishment of the National Assembly. Although the imperial edict expressed "deep admiration" for the patriotic enthusiasm of the deputies, and promised that "constitutional government must be established, and the House of Representatives must be opened, and those who put forward it carefully will be given priority", it refused the petition requirements of the deputies on the pretext that "the country is vast, the people have different knowledge and it is disturbing to open the House of Representatives".

For this result, the provincial petition representatives are unmoved and not surprised-if the petition can be successful once, it will not be called China imperial court. Therefore, after deliberation, they decided to launch a petition again, expand the scope of petition representatives, and extensively collect petition signatures to build momentum. At the same time, the petitioners also formulated the articles of association and established the "Congress Petition Comrades' Association". Beijing has set up headquarters and branches in various provinces and ports, thus hiding the embryonic form of a political party.

At the beginning of June, 19 10, through the efforts of the "Congress Letters and Visits Association", representatives from all provinces went to Beijing again to make a second petition. The number of petition representatives has been expanded to 150, including representatives of provincial chambers of commerce, associations and overseas Chinese. Moreover, it is encouraging that this petition has also collected 300 thousand signatures, far greater than the first time.

Representatives of letters and visits who came to Beijing came to Duchayuan again and submitted ten petitions. Although each of the ten petitions has its own emphasis, there is only one conclusion, that is, "establishing a national assembly as soon as possible is the policy to save the nation and survive." The petitioner also warned that if the National Assembly is not established as soon as possible, "the disasters caused by the Han, Tang, Yuan and Ming Dynasties will definitely reappear today", instead of "the disasters have already been caused and suffered the same tragedy". Why not adhere to the overall situation, bow to the will of the people and establish a national assembly as soon as possible to prevent chaos from being invisible? "

This time, the Duchayuan was not embarrassed, but immediately played in the court. After the petition went up, the ministers of the DPRK and China began to divide, and some manpower owners "severely threatened" to avoid the delegates "clamoring endlessly"; Some people think that "people's hearts can't be lost, people's grievances can't be accumulated, and they should be handled euphemistically to avoid complications." It is said that when Zai Feng saw more than 300,000 people signing for constitutionalism, he couldn't help shouting: "So many people petitioned, and if it is not allowed, it will be a big loss for the people!"

However, after discussion, these bosses still feel that they can't be soft; If this precedent is set, these people will follow suit in the future. Where is the majesty of the imperial court? Isn't this very troublesome? As a result, the imperial edict issued by the court was more severe, "Don't blaspheme again!"

After the second big petition failed, the delegates were still not discouraged. They encouraged the provinces: "We must make a third petition, persevere, persevere, and we can continue to do it three, four or even ten times, otherwise we may succeed." As a result, they launched a bigger third congressional petition. After discussion, the "Congress Petition Comrades' Meeting" reached three decisions: First, the scope of petition representatives continued to expand: during the formal petition, one or two representatives from each government, Ministry, state and county went to Beijing, with at least 100 people in the near province and at least 50 people in the far province; The second is to issue a list of signatures, requiring all provinces to collect at least one million signatures; Third, cross-petition: the delegation petitioned the Senior Advisory Committee, the provincial advisory committees and organizations petitioned the Senior Advisory Committee at the same time, and the provincial advisory committees and organizations petitioned the provincial governors.

In July 19 10, 1 0, more than 1,000 students studying in Japan held a rally in Jinhuige, Tokyo, expressing their solidarity with the petition group and saying that they would actively participate in the petition of the Third National People's Congress (it seems that many students studying in Japan support constitutionalism). Subsequently, overseas Chinese from Nanyang, the United States and Japan also called to support the petition activities and sent representatives to Beijing to express their support. At that time, major newspapers and periodicals also created public opinion and vigorously advocated the benefits of founding the country. For a time, "petitioning the National Assembly" became the hottest topic at that time, and a craze for petitioning the National Assembly also formed all over the country.

1918 15, the petition group of the national assembly held a meeting and decided that representatives of all provinces and organizations must arrive in Beijing before August of the lunar calendar, and wrote to the State Council in September to invite the founding of the country. In addition, the congressional petition group called the provincial advisory boards and proposed not to recognize the new rent tax before the National Assembly. At the annual meeting, the provincial advisory boards only discussed one motion, that is, to convene the National Assembly as soon as possible. If the purpose is not achieved, the advisory Committee will be dissolved immediately. Soon, the delegates arrived in Beijing, and even Gansu, which has always been isolated and backward, sent representatives to Beijing to participate in the petition. What's more, when the Shanxi delegates arrived in Beijing, all Shanxi officials in Beijing sat in sedan chairs and greeted the provincial delegates at Zhengyangmen Station, which was very lively and caused a sensation in the capital.

When the petition group set out for the whole team of the Senior Advisory Committee, Niu Guangsheng, Zhao Zhenqing and other 17 Fengtian students suddenly came. They handed a letter to the petition representative, saying that "the country will be carved up soon, and the third petition will not be as peaceful as before." Immediately, Niu Guangsheng and Zhao Zhenqing wanted to "cut open their swords, cut open their bellies, and let them know." After the earnest persuasion of the petition representatives, they took advantage of people unprepared. "Long live the gentlemen!" And then reluctantly stumbled away. The delegates were also moved to tears. At the strong demand of elected members, the Senior Advisory Council passed the proposal of the National Assembly, which was then folded and played.

Different from the previous two petitions, the Constitutionalists widely mobilized people from all walks of life and held a massive petition signing parade. Under the leadership of Wen Shilin, president of the National Academic Petition, 1000 people from all walks of life in Zhili lined up to petition the Zhili Governor's Office and forced the Zhili Governor Long to perform for it. 10 days later, more than 3,000 people from all walks of life in Henan held a petition signing activity at Youliang Temple in Kaifeng, and then lined up to petition at the Governor's Office in Henan. Governor Bao Bang personally came out to meet him and promised to work for the imperial court. More than 1000 people gathered in Taiyuan, Shanxi, signed in support of the petition and went to the governor's office to petition; On the same day, Shanxi Consultation Bureau and the Congress Petition Comrades Association organized a petition meeting of tens of thousands of people, and more than 5,000 people signed it on the spot, and then marched to the Governor's yamen to petition.

More than 5,000 people from all walks of life in Fujian marched to the Governor's Office to petition, and Song Shou, Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, accepted the petition. On the same day, the Sichuan Congress Petition Comrades' Association held a petition meeting, attended by more than 6,000 people. Under the leadership of Pu Dianjun, speaker of the Advisory Council, everyone lined up to petition the Governor's Office, and Governor Zhao Erxun promised to change the play. Other provinces such as Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou and other places are in full swing under the organization of provincial petition comrades' associations. Especially in the three northeastern provinces, the petition activities are particularly enthusiastic. At that time, there were more than 1 10,000 people and nearly 300,000 signatories in Fengtian.

The petition activities on the side of the Consultative Council are also very smooth, and the provincial consultative councils have basically passed the motion to submit the founding meeting as soon as possible, and organized petition representatives to go to Beijing. Under the upsurge of people's petition, provincial governors were also infected by it. Liang, governor of the three northeastern provinces, Rui Cheng, governor of Huguang, Yuan Shuxun, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and other 18 governors and generals all signed a joint performance, demanding that the responsible cabinet be organized immediately and the national assembly be convened to avoid the boiling of people's hearts.

The statements of the provincial dignitaries are extremely strong support for the congressional petition activities initiated by the constitutionalists. In this case, the Qing court had to make concessions. 1910165438+14 October, the Regent Zai Feng announced that the original time limit of nine years had been advanced by three years and changed to Xuantong five years (19 13). In this regard, the constitutionalists in Jiangsu and Zhejiang feel that the court has given in and should not pursue it again. However, some petitioners are not satisfied. They don't think it is necessary to wait for another three years, especially the petitioners from the three northeastern provinces. They insist on convening a national convention as soon as possible. On February 2, 65438, dozens of students from Fengtian provincial capital went to the province to negotiate and meet with the speaker and deputy speaker. On the spot, they cut their fingers and stabbed their hands to write bloody books, demanding a fourth petition.

However, unwilling to make any changes, the Qing court ordered the removal of the petition representatives, forcibly escorted the representatives of the three northeastern provinces back to their hometown, and sent Wen Shilin, the representative of Zhili, to Xinjiang as an example under an excuse. At the same time, the Qing court ordered the provinces to hold celebrations to show their support for the court's "five-year constitutional" decision. So under the official organization, all over the country, decorated with lanterns, military bands to clear the way, the masses and students holding red lights, singing patriotic songs, three hooray, everywhere you can see the four characters "Celebrate the Congress", a thriving scene.

In any case, in this movement, the avalanche of petitions, the petition representatives flocking to Beijing, the signatures of millions of people, the feat of cutting off arms shares and writing bloody books all show that the people of this ancient empire are devoting all their enthusiasm and efforts to promoting a great change. From this point of view, the three major petition movements can be compared not only with Britain's Magna Carta movement, but also with the May 4th Movement.

But things soon got worse again. According to the revised preparatory constitutional plan, the most important thing for Xuan Tong (19 1 1) in three years is to form a responsible cabinet. 1911on may 8, the Qing court abolished the old cabinet and military department and set up a responsible cabinet. In the newly promulgated Regulations on the Official System of the Cabinet, the organizational structure and powers of the new cabinet are clearly defined: the cabinet is composed of ministers of state, including a prime minister, one or two associate ministers and ten ministers (foreign affairs, civil affairs, education, army, navy, justice, agriculture, industry and commerce, post and foreign affairs, etc. 10). It should be said that this framework is basically similar to the responsible cabinet that Yuan Shikai fought for in the past, and it is of great progressive significance for promoting the transformation of China's authoritarian political structure.

However, the curse of Zai Feng's appointment of Manchu relatives is also exposed in this cabinet list. The list of cabinets at that time was as follows: Prime Minister (imperial clan), Associate Ministers Na Tong (Manchu) and Xu Shichang (Han nationality), Foreign Minister Liang Dunyan (Han nationality), Minister of Civil Affairs Prince Su (imperial clan), Minister of Education Zaize (imperial clan), Minister of Education Tang Jingchong (Han nationality), Minister of the Army (Manchu nationality) and Minister of the Navy.

There are *** 13 cabinet members, 9 Manchu, including 7 royal members and only 4 Han members, which makes the whole country feel an uproar. Constitutionalists originally had two demands, one was to build a country quickly and the other was a responsible cabinet. However, the demand for rapid founding of the country has been discounted, and the royal cabinet has even disappointed those constitutionalists. Because on this extremely sensitive issue, the Qing court inadvertently made a huge mistake, which is equivalent to proving the correctness of the revolutionaries' opposition to the Qing dynasty and the implementation of the racial revolution, which is equivalent to giving the revolutionaries extra points and assistance.

Before the third petition, Liang Qichao said, "If the current political organization is not changed, within three years, the country will be in chaos or even perish, and the convening of the National Assembly in the eighth year of Xuantong (19 16) is an inevitable thing in the future history." Liang Qichao even complained about the introduction of the "Royal Cabinet", saying that the word "Xuantong Five Years (19 13)" would never appear in the world dictionary in the future. "If Qi Xin can work together to overthrow this evil government and transform a good government, everything will be solved."

Liang Qichao, who has always advocated improvement, said that the rest of the Qing Dynasty is just around the corner. But then again, the "five-year constitutionalism" of the Qing court was too fast. Looking back on the history of nearly a hundred years after the fall of the Qing court, it is not an exaggeration for China to realize real constitutional democracy, even if the road map is set at 50 years. But the most ridiculous thing is that people at that time could not wait for five years. Therefore, the failure of constitutionalism in the late Qing Dynasty and the future constitutional democracy can be imagined. With excessive enthusiasm, China chose a more difficult road. Is this a historical choice or the fate of China people?

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the implementation of the "New Deal" by the Qing government and the rise of bourgeois patriotic movements and revolutionary movements, political representatives of the upper class of the national bourgeoisie also took active actions to discuss the establishment of the National Assembly and the formulation of the Constitution again. They believe that to develop capitalism, it is necessary to improve the political organization of feudal absolutism, establish a national assembly, formulate a constitution, and implement a constitutional monarchy. Only in this way can we ease class contradictions, eliminate revolution, resist foreign aggression and strive for favorable conditions for the development of capitalism, so that this class can gain the rights and interests of participating in politics and protect its own economic interests. In this way, the demand for constitutional monarchy became the central content of the political program and activities of the reformists in this period, so the reformists were also called constitutionalists. To this end, they launched a constitutional movement that lasted for 89 years. Constitutionalism is divided into two parts: overseas and domestic. Overseas, represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. 1898 The reform movement failed. They were wanted by the Qing government and became "national criminals". They had no place in China and fled abroad. They established the royalist association among overseas Chinese, propagated royalism and constitutionalism, and opposed the revolution, which had considerable influence at home and abroad. These people are also called royalists. In China, leaders of large commercial enterprises, trade routes and mining companies, as well as celebrities who have political and economic ties with them, such as Zhang Jian, the founder of Cotton Mill and Tonghai Reclamation Animal Husbandry Company, Tang Shouqian, the prime minister of Zhejiang Railway Company, Tang Hualong, the head of Hubei Railway Association, and Tan, who initiated the "Railway Shareholders' Meeting" in Hunan, are all prominent figures of constitutionalism. Compared with the overseas constitutionalists, they have strong political and economic strength and are the initiators and organizers of the domestic constitutional movement. The brewing of the constitutional movement began in the 29th year of Guangxu (1903). This year, communist party, Guangxi, raised the anti-Qing banner, and at the same time, incidents of "Russian exclusion", "French exclusion" and "Soviet newspaper" occurred one after another, and the bourgeois-led democratic revolutionary movement also developed rapidly. In this situation, "constitutionalism begins". Then, the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution in 3 1 provide the latest examples for the demands of the Constitutionalists. Since then, the voice of constitutionalism has spread all over the country. Encouraged by the constitutionalists, some Han bureaucrats also applied to the Qing court for constitutionalism in order to compete with Manchu nobles for power. They are not constitutionalists, but their activities have strengthened the momentum of the constitutional movement. Since then, the constitutional movement has gradually entered the implementation stage from brewing. In July (September) of the thirty-second year of Guangxu, the Qing government officially announced "preparing for constitutionalism". In this regard, the constitutionalists are ecstatic and think that the constitutionalism advocated for many years has finally come true. In order to prepare for participating in the political power, the constitutionalists set up their own groups in various places. In foreign countries, Kang Youwei changed the royalist society into a national constitutional society in February (March) of 33. In September, Liang Qichao established a political news agency in Tokyo, Japan. At home, there are preparatory constitutional assemblies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, preparatory constitutional assemblies in Hubei, constitutional assemblies in Hunan and autonomous assemblies in Guangdong. The common goal of these groups is to ask the Qing government to convene a parliament with the power to make laws and supervise the government, and to establish a responsible cabinet with real power. However, through the official system reform of the Qing government, they soon found that the Qing court had no sincerity in constitutionalism, but only "installed the constitution for autocracy." "In order to force the Qing government to be truly constitutional, the constitutionalists joined forces and held repeated congressional petitions in the form of' crawling the door, accumulating sincerity and mourning', which pushed the constitutional movement to a climax. Yang Du, the actual host of the Constituent Assembly, first raised the issue of parliamentary petition. In the autumn of Guangxu's thirty-third year, the main members of the Constituent Assembly took the lead in writing to the Qing court for the first time, demanding the early establishment of the National Assembly. In thirty-four years, representatives of constitutionalists from all provinces in China went to Beijing to petition one after another; Some overseas students, overseas Chinese and even diplomatic envoys and bureaucrats of the Qing court also called or invited the founding Congress. For a time, all over the country, there was a climax demanding the rapid founding of the country. In this regard, the Qing government took severe measures to ban political news agencies and suppress constitutional petitions. At the same time, it continued to play tricks, promised to convene a national assembly regularly for nine years, and announced the outline of the King James Constitution and the nine-year preparatory list. Since then, the provincial constitutionalists have devoted themselves to organizing consultation meetings, and the petition movement has been temporarily silent. In September of Xuantongyuan Year (1909, 10), the provincial consultation meetings were opened at the same time, and the constitutionalists were given a forum for legal activities, and decided to take the consultation meeting as a position to launch a parliamentary petition again. At the end of the same year, Zhang Jian, Speaker of Jiangsu Consultation Bureau, convened a meeting of representatives of 16 Provincial Consultation Bureau in Shanghai and decided to form a petition delegation to Beijing. On the sixth day of December of the first year (191016), 33 members of the "Petition Delegation to Congress" submitted a petition to Douchayuan, demanding that the National Assembly be established within one year. The Qing government refused on the grounds of "incomplete preparation and inconsistent national knowledge level". After the first petition failed, the petition delegation immediately deployed a second petition in line with the policy of "sincerely asking". They organized a congressional petition meeting in Beijing; Hold conferences in various provinces, collect donations, collect signatures and elect representatives to Beijing. It is said that as many as 300,000 people from all provinces participated in the signature petition. On this basis, on May 10 of the second year of Xuantong, the petition representatives submitted 10 petitions to Duchayuan in the name of various social organizations in the country, and the results were rejected again. The Qing court also warned the constitutionalists "not to blaspheme again". The second petition failed, and the constitutionalists "decided to prepare for the third time and fight to the death." "In July, the Federation of Provincial Consultative Bureaus was held in Beijing and decided to put forward a proposal to the Consultative Bureau to convene the National People's Congress. After the meeting of the Senior Advisory Committee in September, the Constitutionalists formally launched the third petition; The High Advisory Committee adopted a proposal calling for the early convening of the National Assembly; The provincial governors also called the military headquarters to demand the establishment of a national assembly and a responsible cabinet. Under the pressure of all parties, the Qing government was forced to allow the period of "preparing for constitutionalism" to be shortened from nine years to five years, set up a new cabinet two years before the National Assembly, and ordered the removal of petition representatives from all over the country. At this time, the elites in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, represented by Zhang Jian, decided to order the petition to stop. Other provinces still demanded to shorten the preparation period, but the pace was different and they could not organize unified actions. 1 1 month, the representative of the fourth petition from Fengtian (Liaoning) left for Beijing, and Tianjin academic circles responded to this. Feeling that the situation was urgent, the Qing government ordered that the petition representatives from the three northeastern provinces who were active in Beijing be escorted back to China, and then issued an order to suppress the student petition activities, and sent Wen Shilin, the organizer of the Tianjin Student Movement petition, to Xinjiang. At this point, the representatives of the provincial constitutionalists left disappointed, and the petition activities in various places were forced to stop. In the new period of vigorous development of the democratic revolutionary movement, it is against the historical trend for reformists to oppose the revolution and insist on constitutional monarchy. However, the constitutional movement they set off objectively also had the function of exposing the Qing government and inspiring the people's democratic consciousness; After despairing of the Qing government, the Constitutionalists also sought new ways and became the allies of the revolutionaries to overthrow the feudal monarchy in the Qing Dynasty.