File No. 893.032/8 and 9.
The America Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State .
Peking , April 10, 1913 .
A declaration to the world was read at the opening ceremony when the two Houses of the National Assembly met in joint session, as follows:
[Translation.]
On this 8th day of the 4th month in the 2d year of the Republic of China, the date fixed for the first opening of our permanent National Assembly, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, having met in these halls to celebrate the event, now make this declaration of their sentiments.
The will of Heaven is manifested through the will of the people. That the hundreds of millions of the people possess the authority of the State is not proclaimed now for the first time. The Monarchy, so long corrupt, proved unworthy of the grave responsibilities intrusted to it by the will of the people, but with the introduction of popular government the representatives of the people must share the likes and dislikes of the people. They are to give expression to the desires and voice the will of the people, they hold the reins in behalf of the nation to govern with severity or leniency, with parsimony or extravagance; they become the pivot upon which the prosperity of the State is made to turn. For the success or failure, safety or danger, adversity or good fortune, theirs is the merit or the blame.
Can we be otherwise than anxious? Yet through great tribulation the spring comes to prosperity, and our very bad management and anxieties are a means to happiness. Now, therefore, we unite to form this Assembly and presume to publish our aspirations: May ours be a just Government! May our five races lay aside their prejudices! May rain and sunshine bring bounteous harvest and cause the husbandman to rejoice! May the scholar be happy in his home and the merchant conduct his trade in peace! May no duty of Government be unfulfilled and no hidden wound go unredressed! Thus may the glory be spread [Page 112] abroad and these our words be echoed far and wide, that those in distant lands who hear may rejoice, our neighbors on every side give us praise, and may the new life of the old nation be lasting and unending! Who of us can dare to be neglectful of his duties!
Note.—The Minister of the Netherlands on April 11 conveyed to the Department his instructions to say that his Government would recognize the Chinese Government “as soon as the Chinese President is definitely elected.” (File No. 893.00/1615.)