中華民國初期における大總統就任式典

Abstract

Sun Yat-sen assumed the post of provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing on the first day of 1912 in an epoch-making ceremony for the new Republic. It is worth noting that the oath he made bound him to faithfully resign from the post in the near future, when the revolutionary regime stood on firm ground. From the beginning, Sun was simply to be a temporary president, until Yuan Shikai took sides in support of the Republican regime. As prime minster, Yuan was a key figure in the political arena of Beijing. After he reached a compromise with the revolutionary regime and was elected as a new provisional president in Nanjing, he could not deny the legitimacy of the Nanjing regime. Nevertheless, Yuan had his own position. The imperial Qing government had entrusted Yuan with brokering a ceasefire with the revolutionary armies and to construct a new, integrated government. If he had taken the presidential post in Nanjing, he would have been charged with betrayal of the Qing dynasty. Therefore, he could do nothing but hold an inauguration ceremony in Beijing under his own leadership on March 10, 1912, and managed to add an element of legitimacy other than that of the Nanjing regime. Eventually, Yuan was elected as president by the members of parliament on October 6, 1913, and inaugurated on October 10, the second anniversary of the Republic. The ceremony was performed in the main palace of the former Qing dynasty, demonstrating not only elements of the continuity of imperial power, but also some changes from the imperial period. However, his presidential commission was still authorized by the Provisional Constitution enforced by the Nanjing regime in 1912. Thereafter, Yuan outlawed the Nationalist Party, and as a result, the two houses of parliament could not convene. Although he tried to concentrate his power, and he apparently succeeded, the legitimacy of his government became more and more uncertain. Yuan had been forced to confront a very difficult puzzle. Yuan had obtained two kinds of legitimacy : one that originated from the delegation of the former Qing dynasty, and another formulated by the Nanjing regime. Even if he could at times utilize them to justify his government, the two systems of legitimacy were essentially contradictory, and this contradiction lead Yuan's government into a crisis of legitimacy.