On November 3, certain regulations were issued by the National Assembly as the necessary basis upon which a constitution could be raised. The absolute veto of the Emperor was now withdrawn, and it was expressly stated that Imperial decrees were not to over-ride the law, though even here we find the addition of "except in the event of immediate necessity." The first clause of this document was confined to the following prophetic statement: "The Ta Chʽing dynasty shall reign for ever."
On November 8, Yüan Shih-kʽai was appointed Prime Minister, and on December 3, the new Empress Dowager issued an edict, in which she said:
"The Regent has verbally memorialized the Empress Dowager, saying that he has held the Regency for three years, and his administration has been unpopular, and that constitutional government has not been consummated. Thus complications arose, and people's hearts were broken, and the country thrown into a state of turmoil. Hence one man's mismanagement has caused the nation to suffer miserably. He regrets his repentance is already too late, and feels that if he continues in power his commands will soon be disregarded. He wept and prayed to resign the regency, expressing the earnest intention of abstaining in the future from politics. I, the Empress Dowager, living within the palace, am ignorant of the state of affairs
