Yuan Shih-kai, who has acted as Provisional President of the
Chinese Republic for nearly two years, was formally elected President for five years on Monday at Peking. Though twenty candidates, including Sun Yat-sen, were voted for, the result was always a foregone conclusion, Yuan Shih-kai receiving five hundred and seven votes at the third and last ballot, against a hundred and seventy-nine cast for General Li-Yuan- Heng. According to the Times correspondent, the election has aroused no enthusiasm in China, but the recognition of the Republic by the foreign Powers, which is now ensured, will secure for the Central Government some of the prestige lost since the revolution, and ought to strengthen its position, which is still unsatisfactory, owing to the con- tinuance of brigandage in many of the provinces.
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