费正清在《剑桥中华民国史》中对北京政府的政治实态有一个极好的概括,他认为:北洋政权是一个在“宪政框架下运作”的由派系构成的政治体制,而“各派系都不可能产生压倒性的组织力量以扼制对手并长期操纵政府”。1所以,表面上共和政体已经确立,但实际上始终无法避免基于内部派系各种形式的政治冲突,在政治格局上延续了晚清混杂多变、多头拉锯的特点。加上列强为扩展各自在华权益,从中推波助澜,利用中国内争以渔利,也更加剧了中国政坛派争的复杂性,从而 In the History of the Republic of China in Cambridge, Fei Zheng-ching has an excellent summary of the political reality of the Beijing government. He believes that the Beiyang regime is a factional political system operating under the “constitutional framework” “It is impossible for all factions to produce overwhelming organizational power to curb their rivals and to manipulate the government for a long time.” Therefore, on the surface, the republican government has been established. However, it is virtually impossible to avoid all forms of political conflicts based on internal factions and to continue the mixed and long-sawed nature of the late Qing regime in politics. Coupled with the powers’ efforts to expand their respective rights and interests in China, fueling the fierce profits through using China’s internal strife has also exacerbated the complexity of the war of political parties in China.