RUSSIA, JAPAN, AND CHINA.

Evening Star, Issue 12166, 9 April 1904, Page 8

RUSSIA, JAPAN, AND CHINA.

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J:ft ,• .v. \ - CHINA'S ATTITUDE TO THE EUSSO- ;, JAPANESE QUESTION. By Sib R. K. Douglas, Aidthor of 'Life of Li Hung Chang,' etc When the questions in dispute betweei Russia and Japan axe duly weighed am * considered, it will be seen that China hj as much interested in the issue as Japai, itself. Now that war has unfortunately broken out it is clearly seen that the fat< of Manchuria hangs in the balance, am incidentally in succession, the independene of the northern portion of the Chines Empire. The interests of China are, there fore, largely and vitally involved in th. crisis which i* now agitating the world, and it is of importance to observe the in dications which point to the action whicL die is likely to take now that hostilities have begun. A recent report from Pekin asserts that the Dowager Empress of China has becom* fully alive to the emergency, and has declared her intention to fight for the recovery of Manchuria- This may quite possibly be true. The Dowager Empress has shown that she is easdly swayed by circumstances, and just as she was ready enough to grant to Russia privileges in ' Manchuria when that Power was plainly in the ascendant, so now that the course of events threatens to place her former Muscovite allies at a disadvantage, it is quite possible that she might be inclined and even eager to take up arms against the sea of troubles which she now recognises as iikely to follow from her earliei line of policy. That even under the inosi favorable circumstances she would recovei the whole of the lost ground is past hoping for, but if she should \dopt the policy of ,:,' Japan, she may doubtless expect to recover ;?"■ the real sovereignty over the "Three Pro- "&■: rinces," of which she now possesses only 1- the shadow. '•-• —Russian Absorption.—

Nothing but a war could ever recover as much as thi9, for the yielding process Las been going on for a long time. So long ago M the 17th century Russian travellers and generals invaded, by no means always successfully, the Amur region, and in 1686 the trety of Nerchinsk was signed, by which the Upper Shilka was ceded to Russia, and the possession of the Amur basin was affirmed entirely to China. So matters remained for nearly two centuries, except that Russian adventurers located themselves on the coast-line, and thatMuravieff, the Governor of Eastern Siberia, found a way for himself down the Amur to the sea contrary to every stipulation. During the Allied invasion of North China 'in 1860, however, advantage was taken of the prostrate condition of China to make hj substantial advance. By a treaty concluded between the two Powers it was agreed that "the left banks of the Riyer Amur, from the River Argoun to its source, shall belong to the Emperor of Russia, and its right bank down to the Usuri, to China. The territory situated between the River Usuri and the sea, as up to the present, shall be possessed in common by the Empires of China and Russia, until the frontier between the two States shall he flfifinei** This joint occupation of territory is a ;ommon Russian, prelude to absorption. It ras adopted in the Japanese island of Sagkalien, which has since become entirely Russian, and in the recent negotiations it wag proposed by the St. Petersburg Cabinet that Corea should be partitioned off in the same way. But the Japanese had learnt their leseon, and declined the offer. As it was with Saghalien, so it was with the territory between tht Usuri and the sea, extending southwards from the Amur River to the northern boundary of Corea. Under the guiding influence of General Ignatief this large proviape, presenting a sea face of 700 into the possession of Russia, h>-exchange for a few guns, and IhejgjSftended good offices of the representatives of the Czar, at Pekin in the matters in question between the Allies, England and France, and China. —A Constructive Period.—

This was a large mouthful for Kussia to assimilate. The distance from Europe was great, and much careful administration was necessary in order to convert the existing •villages and ports into towns and places of arms. Under the fostering care of the Government of the Province, Vladivostok developed into the strong citadel which we nowi see, and with much care Russia so protected herself in her new possessions as to be practically safe from all attack on the side of China. • For a generation matters of construction occupied the attention of the Russians to the exclusion of all others, and it was not until peace was declared at the end of the Chinese and Japanese war that she again made her political existence felt. It will be remembered that Li Hung Chang in his negotiations with tie Japanese plenipotentiaries agreed to the cession to Japan of the Liaotung peninsula including Port Arthur At once, as though by a prearranged plan, Russia, having France and Germany at her back, came forward withr an objection, and insisted that the possession of that position by Japan "would not only, constitute a constant menace to the capital*>f China," but also that "it would lender the independence of Corea illusory." So urgent were the Allied Powers in- this protest that Japan deemed it wise to yield, snd for some counterbalancing advantages the restored to China her legitimate spoils of war. This action on the part of Russia was the first intimation to the oular world that while silently consolidating her new possessions in the north she had been incubating plans of future conquest. —Rapid Developments.—

• But if Russia had been slow in maturing her plans she now showed a restless activity in developing them. Fortunately for her, Li Hung Chang was in power at Pekin at the time, and through the good offices of that venal statesman she was confidently assured that any proposals she might make would receive a favorable hearing at the Tsung-li Yamen. By these occult means she obtained the right to construct a railway from a point on her Siberiin frontier to Vladivostock, through Chines> Manchuria, and coupled with this right all the privileges pertaining to it. But the grand coup w~as vet to come. With cynical disregard for past professions and assurances, sin took possession, nominally on a lease, of Port Arthur, the position from which she had ousted the Japanese, in direct defiance of the political considerations which she had before solemnly protested had been the sole motive of her earlier action. - Even this political outrage, however, did not arouse the sleepy politicians at Pekin ■who added to their complaisances by yielding to the Russians the right of connecting Port Arthur by railway with the Siberian system. In Japan, however, the act created widespread indignation, and was naturally regarded as a gross injustice and insult to her as a nation. Of course the occupation was accompanied by the } inevitable assurances by which it was affirmed that Russia had no intention of infringing on the rights of Chinese Sovereignty And saying this aTSbegan to infringe those right" by vrrtuaDy appropriating all districts and cities through which the railway passed. —Russian Administrative Methods.— This masterful action was too open and palpable to make them popular amone the people of the country, and on the outbreak of the Boxer movement this feeline found vent m repeated attacks on the Russians by more or less organised bands of local - militia. To crush this rebellious action Russia determined to make a signal ex ample of her power In truly Oriental fash-'

:on. Blagovestchensk happened to be th< p ace where events culminated in this dis Play of vengeance. It is admitted tha the Chinese had fired on isolated Russians ma as the garrison was small in number: compared with its possible assailants, th issued orders that the Chine-< Imur j». the Chinese shore. If m ear.» ot transporting these people had be..i ortneommg nothing could have been saie gainst this mandate. Bur. with callou 'irutaaty the Chinese were driven into tin waters of the river, and were cither drown <" m their attempts to cress, or were tho f H'Wn on tli2!r trying to tecover the bank In this murderous outrage several thousand >f Chinese perished, and th> deed has let 1 bitter memory among the survivors, whit • !}ay at any moment rind expression in ,'iolent outbreik ngains'; its perpetrators With the death of Li Hung Chang th Russian influence at Pekin waned, and th, of Japan increased greatly. It is a. notahl 'nature .of Chinese "idiosyncrasies that th.. ilways take as their "models the late; memies by whom thev have been va: ■piish.yl, and just as they placed thems.elvc at the feci of English and French it structop after the war of 1860, so at th •onclusiou o; peace with Japan they song; -o imitate tho institutions and 'method of their ..mquero-s. A visit of Com Itt> to I'ek.'n. at- this time, accentuated th movement, and since then Japanese ii shuctors have diilkd and armed th 'Jhinese troops, and have been accepted ,r authorities on all scientific and lcarnei' subjects. Practically these arc the posi tions c f the two Powers at the Court o I fkm at the present time, and in ord to raalise (he attitude of China, toward (he combatants it is necessarv that the mould he tome in mind. —The Proem?:* of tho Reform Partv.—

The rapprochement with Japan, referrc o above, gained at once the cordial suppoi )f the Refcrm Party in China, who In-. ilways resisted the acquisition of Poi Arthur tv Russia, and have strenuously hi meffpctivc-Iy opposed thu poticv which k ■i» the advanc- _of that Power in Mai diuria. In their efforts to check the ba. ermg away of Chinese Tights and pevse: ion in " Hie Three Provinces" they hav I'.psatedly memorialised the Throne, an. ■ iavs made public their views in a wav whicl has commonly drawn down the official dis k-asuic of the Court of Pekin. But sup lortod as they Lave been by the justice o L'eir can*?, and bv countenance of sue' •nlightened Vice-rovs ai Chang Chih Tuiv md \uun Shih Kai, they have been ah/ .o escape the condign pu'nishmente usual; iwarded to thotc who thwart tha imperii.

It is, however, to b; doubted wh-stht he Dowager Empress has of lata been a ■pposed the views of the reformers a; sas been sometimes imagined. From tl. rime when death removed" Li Hung Chan; rom ■ her counsels passing events ha\\ orced upon her the conviction that the pre:ious assurances of Rut si an diplomatists ate too often falsified by eventualities, md that the outcome of the past series o negotiations relating to Manchuria hns re •'ulted in that important territory behv irtually wrested from the Chinese" Crown' Russian troops have marched through it v»;herever they have liked, and have occu pied such towns as suited their purposes, md in one case, at Niuchwang, havt actually appropriated the revenues due tt ihe Chinese Government. —China's Position Summarised.—

It is impossible that the Dowager Empress can have overlooked these encroach ments. and indeed signs have not been wanting that she resents the occupation bv Russia of any portion of Chinese territory, n-ore especially of the imperial province "oi Manchuria.' Her prompt and decided refusal to allow the Governor of Mukden to supply the carts requisitioned by the Russians for military purposes is an indication of the way which the political wind is blowing at Pekin just now. Russia has st long tyrannised over China that it requirer ome rude shock to awaken her out of hu hypnotised condition. That shock has now come, and with her full recognition of the evil there has appeared a dens ex machina in the shape of Japan, on which she feels •she can lean with confident dependence. The choice between life and death is now before her. If Russia should gain theupp.r hand she is well aware, that it would me.m the absorption of Manchuria, and possibl of Northern China by that Power. An. this would be beginning of the end. Whereas if the fortunes of war were tr favor Japan she knows that sho may look to her new ally for honest help and support. The recent steps t;;fcen by the United States to secure the neutrality of China will probably bind her action to the regions of sympathies, but there can be no doubt on which side these wi'.l be. If the Manchu dynasty of China is to be re-establi-hed it must be by the success in the present contest, of thp Japanese, since this would inevitably lead to the recovery of Manchuria from the Russians, and to the freedom of China from the self-imposed heavy yoke at Muscovite influence.

On Wednesday Next; A. BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE, By Douglas Sladen.