“AGREEMENT BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA RESPECTING MANCHURIA
“His Majesty the Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, and His Majesty the Emperor of China, with the object of reëstablishing and confirming the relations of good neighborhood, which were disturbed by the rising in the Celestial Empire of the year 1900, have appointed their Plenipotentiaries to come to an agreement on certain questions relating to Manchuria. These Plenipotentiaries, furnished with full powers, which were found to be in order, agreed as follows:—
“Article 1. His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, desirous of giving fresh proof of his peaceable and friendly disposition toward His Majesty the Emperor of China, and overlooking the fact that attacks were first made from frontier posts in Manchuria on peaceable Russian settlements, agrees to the reëstablishment of the authority of the Chinese Government in that region, which remains an integral part of the Chinese Empire, and restores to the Chinese Government the right to exercise therein governmental and administrative authority, as it existed previous to the occupation by Russian troops of that region.
“Article 2. In taking possession of the governmental and administrative authority in Manchuria, the Chinese Government confirms, both with regard to the period and with regard to all other Articles, the obligation to observe strictly the stipulations of the contract concluded with the Russo-Chinese Bank on the 27th August, 1896, and in virtue of paragraph 5 of the above-mentioned contract, takes upon itself the obligation to use all means to protect the railway and the persons in its employ, and binds itself also to secure within the boundaries of Manchuria the safety of all Russian subjects in general and the undertakings established by them.
“The Russian Government, in view of these obligations accepted by the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of China, agrees on its side, provided that no disturbances arise and that the action of other Powers should not prevent it, to withdraw gradually all its forces from within the limits of Manchuria in the following manner:—
“(a.) Within six months from the signature of the Agreement to clear the southwestern portion of the Province of Mukden up to the river Liao-ho of Russian troops, and to hand the railways over to China.
“(b.) Within further six months to clear the remainder of the Province of Mukden and the Province of Kirin of Imperial troops.
“(c.) Within the six months following to remove the remaining Imperial Russian troops from the Province of Hei-lung-chang.
“Article 3. In view of the necessity of preventing in the future any recurrence of the disorders of last year, in which Chinese troops stationed on the Manchurian frontier also took part, the Imperial Russian and Chinese Governments shall undertake to instruct the Russian military authorities and the Tsiang-Tsungs, mutually to come to an agreement respecting the numbers and the disposition of the Chinese forces until the Russian forces shall have been withdrawn. At the same time the Chinese Government binds itself to organize no other forces over and above those decided upon by the Russian military authorities and the Tsiang-Tsungs as sufficient to suppress brigandage and pacify the country.
“After the complete evacuation of Manchuria by Russian troops, the Chinese Government shall have the right to increase or diminish the number of its troops in Manchuria, but of this must duly notify the Russian Government, as it is natural that the maintenance in the above-mentioned district of an over large number of troops must necessarily lead to a reinforcement of the Russian military force in the neighboring districts, and thus would bring about an increase of expenditure on military requirements undesirable for both States.
“For police service and maintenance of internal order in the districts outside those parts allotted to the Eastern Chinese Railway Company, a police guard, under the local Governors (‘Tsiang-Tsungs’), consisting of cavalry and infantry, shall be organized exclusively of subjects of His Majesty the Emperor of China.
“Article 4. The Russian Government agrees to restore to the owners the Railway Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang-Sinminting, which, since the end of September, 1900, has been occupied and guarded by Russian troops. In view of this, the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of China binds itself:—
“1. In case protection of the above-mentioned line should be necessary, that obligation shall fall exclusively on the Chinese Government, which shall not invite other Powers to participate in its protection, construction, or working, nor allow other Powers to occupy the territory evacuated by the Russians.
“2. The completion and working of the above-mentioned line shall be conducted in strict accordance with the Agreement between Russia and England of the 16th April, 1899, and the Agreement with the private Corporation respecting the loan for the construction of the line. And furthermore, the corporation shall observe its obligations not to enter into possession of, or in any way to administer, the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang-Sinminting line.
“3. Should, in the course of time, extensions of the line in Southern Manchuria, or construction of branch lines in connection with it, or the erection of a bridge in Niu-chwang, or the moving of the terminus there, be undertaken, these questions shall first form the subject of mutual discussion between the Russian and Chinese Governments.
“4. In view of the fact that the expenses incurred by the Russian Government for the repair and working of the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang-Sinminting line were not included in the sum total of damages, the Chinese Government shall be bound to pay back the sum which, after examination with the Russian Government, shall be found to be due.
“The stipulations of all former Treaties between Russia and China which are not affected by the present Agreement shall remain in force.
“The Agreement shall have legal force from the day of its signature by the Plenipotentiaries of both States.
“The exchange of ratifications shall take place in St. Petersburg within three months from the date of the signature of the Agreement.
“For the confirmation of the above, the Plenipotentiaries of the two Contracting Powers have signed and sealed two copies of the Agreement in the Russian, French, and Chinese languages. Of the three texts which, after comparison, have been found to correspond with each other, that in the French language shall be considered as authoritative for the interpretation of the Agreement.
“Done in Peking in duplicate, the 26th March, 1902.”
“At the same time, M. Lessar handed a note to the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, which declares, in the name of the Imperial Government, that the surrender of the civil government of Niu-chwang into the hands of the Chinese administration will take place only upon the withdrawal from that part of foreign forces and landing parties, and the restoration to the Chinese of the town of Tien-tsin, at present under international administration.
“From the above, it is shown that the Imperial Government, in complete adherence to its repeated declarations, commences the gradual evacuation of Manchuria in order to carry it out upon the conditions above enumerated, if no obstacles are placed in the way by the unexpected action of other Powers or of China herself; that the surrender of the civil government of Niu-chwang into the hands of the Chinese administration is to take place according to a written declaration given to the Celestial Government, only when foreign forces and landing parties are withdrawn from the port, and if, at the same time, the question of the restoration of Tien-tsin to the Chinese has been conclusively settled.
“The Chinese Government, on its side, confirms all the obligations it has previously undertaken toward Russia, and particularly the provisions of the 1896 Agreement, which must serve as a basis for the friendly relations of the neighboring Empires. By this defensive Agreement, Russia undertook in 1896 to maintain the principle of the independence and integrity of China, who, on her side, gave Russia the right to construct a line through Manchuria and to enjoy the material privileges which are directly connected with the above undertaking.
“After the instructive events of the last two years, it is possible to hope for the complete pacification of the Far East, and the development of friendly relations with China in the interests of the two Empires. But, undoubtedly, if the Chinese Government, in spite of their positive assurances, should, on any pretext, violate the above conditions, the Imperial Government would no longer consider itself bound by the provisions of the Manchurian Agreement, nor by its declarations on this subject, and would have to decline to take the responsibility for all the consequences which might ensue.”[[414]]
The comparatively mild terms of this Convention may well be pointed out.[[415]] Except in the negative reservations of Article 4, there is found here no provision for the exclusive control by the Russians of the mining and railway enterprises either in or out of Manchuria. On the contrary, the sovereign rights in Manchuria, including those respecting the disposition of military forces, will in eighteen months be almost completely restored to the Chinese Government, and the entire agreement will become operative from the very day of its signature. The Convention seemed to confirm the avowed intention of Russia to love peace and respect the integrity of China. It is not strange that Prince Ching personally thanked Great Britain, Japan, and the United States for the valuable support they had rendered China in the negotiations which had terminated in the conclusion of this instrument.[[416]]
If, however, the subsequent conduct of Russia in Manchuria has appeared to contradict the tenor of the Agreement, it is only necessary to point out how elastic and expansive its terms are. Paragraph 5, Article 2, of the Bank Agreement of September 8, 1896, imposing upon the Chinese Government the duty to protect the Manchurian Railway and the persons employed in it, is not only reinforced but also expanded so as to make it incumbent upon China “to secure within the boundaries of Manchuria the safety of all Russian subjects in general and the undertakings established by them.” Unless Manchuria is considered a territory distinct from the rest of the Chinese Empire, no Russians or other foreigners have the right to reside in the interior save in the treaty posts. Yet the Chinese Government is held responsible for the security of the Russians and their enterprises in Manchuria, which is regarded virtually as a Russian colony, into which immigrants from Siberia and European Russia have been sent with wonderful rapidity. Nor does this additional obligation on the part of China any longer bind her to a private company called the Russo-Chinese Bank, but henceforth to the Government of the Czar. The discharge of so onerous a duty is made a condition for the Russian evacuation of Manchuria.
It is not generally known that this condition, otherwise so difficult, was practically impossible so long as the presence of the Russian forces kept the Chinese troops greatly reduced in number. The apprehended disorder must come, as it always has done, and as none knew better than the Russians, from the groups of unoccupied men, the so-called mounted bandits (ma tseh), who infested the Provinces of Sheng-king and Kirin, where they sided with whatever power suited their fancy and interest, exercised their own law, and in one way or another kept the country in a state of great instability. It should be noted that they were either disbanded soldiers or the possible candidates for the Chinese troops to be levied to safeguard Manchuria—for military life in China seldom attracts peaceful citizens. So long as the presence of the Russian forces rendered the regular service of the outlaws in the Chinese army unnecessary, their means of subsistence would be derived less often from a settled agricultural life than from plundering. Between March, 1902, and August, 1903, a Russian officer successfully enlisted the service of some 450 of these marauders, and employed them in the timber work which the Russians secured in Eastern Manchuria in the name of one of the chiefs of the bandits.[[417]] Before and after this period, however, the Russian officers continually reported sanguinary conflicts with the robbers, the fear of whom has seemed to constitute the main justification for the steady progress of the Russian measures of tightening a hold upon Manchuria.[[418]] Side by side with this grave situation, we should also observe that the Convention provided that, even after the evacuation, if an evacuation were possible, the numbers and the stations of the Chinese troops, upon whom the duty of protecting the rapidly increasing Russian subjects and properties in Manchuria would devolve, should always be made known to Russia, so that unnecessarily large forces should not be stationed. Russia would judge whether the Chinese forces were excessive, and exert her influence to keep them in reduced numbers,[[419]] while, at the same time, their capacity as well for receiving the banditti into their ranks as for affording protection to the Russian life and property would, to say the least, soon reach its limits. Thus the explicit terms of the Convention were constructed so as to be greatly neutralized, as it would seem, by what was implied and could only be inferred by analysis. In the light of these considerations may be seen the statement that, “undoubtedly, if the Chinese Government, in spite of their positive assurances, should, on any pretext, violate the above conditions [i. e., of the Convention], the Imperial Government would no longer consider itself bound by the provisions of the Manchurian Agreement, nor by its declarations on this subject, and would have to decline to take the responsibility for all the consequences which might ensue,”[[420]]—a reservation which Count Lamsdorff considered “a very necessary one.”[[421]] In the same light, also, one may read the statement made by Sir Ernest Satow to Prince Ching, that “the Convention did not appear to His Majesty’s Government to be entirely satisfactory,”[[422]] and also the pungent remark of Lord Lansdowne to M. de Staal, that there were several points in the Agreement which had caused much criticism in England, particularly those provisions which limited China’s right to dispose of her own military forces and to construct railway extensions within her own territory. “I did not, however,” adds the Marquess, “desire to examine these provisions too microscopically, and I shared his [M. de Staal’s] hope that the Agreement would be loyally and considerately interpreted on both sides, and that the evacuation of the province would be completed within the appointed time.”[[423]]
The last but not the least difficulty about the Agreement was its absolute silence regarding the so-called “railway guards,” organized ostensibly by the Eastern Chinese Railway Company, whose existence would make the promised evacuation almost entirely nominal. It will be remembered that, so far as the published agreements between China and Russia are concerned, one fails to find any conventional ground for the organization of the railway guards, save in Article 8 of the Statutes—not a Russo-Chinese agreement, but purely Russian statutes—published on December 11/13, 1896, which provided: “The preservation of order and decorum on the lands assigned to the railway and its appurtenances should be confined to the police agents appointed by the Company. The Company should draw up and establish police regulations.”[[424]] This right of Russia to police the railway lands seems to have been tacitly perpetuated by the present Convention of 1902,[[425]] and, from this, it may perhaps be assumed that the Chinese Government had some time before April 8, 1902, agreed to the statutory rule of Russia which has just been quoted. However that may be, a permission to establish a police force could scarcely justify the organization of railway guards selected from the regular troops and receiving a higher pay than the latter. Moreover, it still remains to be officially declared that the numbers of the guards would not be determined by Russia at will and without consulting China. These guards seem to have numbered only 2000 or 3000 before the Manchurian campaign of 1900, but in October of that year Mr. Charles Hardinge, the British Chargé d’Affaires at St. Petersburg, wrote to Lord Salisbury: “I learn that active recruiting for this force is now in progress, and its numbers are to be raised to 12,000 men under command of officers in the regular army. Intrenched camps are also being constructed at all the strategic positions along the line.”[[426]] Then, on the eve of the termination of the first period of evacuation in 1902, it was reported by Consul Hosie: “I am credibly informed that the number of the military guard of the Russian railways in Manchuria has been fixed at 30,000 men.”[[427]] Latterly, the name has been changed to the “frontier guards,” which, after the beginning of the present war, were said to have been made up of fifty-five mounted squadrons, fifty-five foot companies, and six batteries of artillery, aggregating 25,000 men, instead of 30,000, and guarding the railways in sections of thirty-three miles.[[428]] There is no intention here to maintain the accuracy of these reports, or to decide whether the numbers are adequate for the purpose in view, but one would be tempted to think that the Russian Government made a regrettable omission in the new Manchurian Agreement, when it made no reference to the forces which were justified by no open contract with China, and, theoretically speaking, were not incapable of an indefinite expansion.
CHAPTER XIV
THE EVACUATION
Unsatisfactory as the Manchurian Agreement of April 8, 1902, appeared to Great Britain and Japan, they refrained from entering any protest against its conclusion. They probably preferred the imperfect obligation the Convention imposed upon the contracting parties to an indefinite prolongation of the dangerous conditions which had prevailed. What remained for them and for China was to watch the conduct of Russia in Manchuria and test her veracity according to their own interpretations of the Agreement. In the mean time, the questions which had existed between China and the Powers were being one after another disposed of; the distribution of the indemnities was finally agreed upon on June 14, the Provisional Government of Tien-tsin by the Powers came to an end on August 15, and the rendition of the city to the Chinese authorities was accomplished. The date set for the evacuation of the southwest of the Sheng-king Province up to the Liao River, October 8, drew on, and the evacuation took place. The Tartar General Tsêng-chi had received an Imperial mandate to take over from the hands of the Russians the specified territory and its railways, even before the middle of September,[[429]] and, on October 28, Prince Ching was able to state to Sir Ernest Satow: “Their Excellencies the Minister Superintendent of Northern Ports and the Military Governor of Mukden have now severally reported by telegram that all the railways outside the Great Wall have been handed back, and that the southwest portion of the Mukden (Sheng-king) Province as far as the Liao River has been completely evacuated by Russian troops.”[[430]] But what was evacuation? Some troops may have been sent to European Russia, others to different stations in Siberia, including the strategically important Nikolsk, near the eastern border of Manchuria, and still others to Mongolia, where Russian forces were reported to have suddenly increased, until in December they were said to have numbered about 27,000.[[431]] No small number were also transferred to Port Arthur[[432]] and Vladivostok.[[433]] It was, however, alleged by several observers that the main part of the so-called evacuation meant nothing more than the transferring of Russian troops from Chinese towns and settlements to the rapidly developing Russian settlements and quarters within Manchuria. It was reported from various sources[[434]] that along the 2326 versts of the railroads there were about eighty so-called depots, each two to five square miles in extent, which had been marked out as the sites of new Russian settlements, and in many cases as stations of the railway guards. The most important line, connecting Port Arthur with Harbin, was studded with such depots at every fifteen or twenty miles. In many of these depots were to be seen extensive barracks built of brick, one at Liao-yang, for example, being capable of holding 3000 men, and another at Mukden, in the building of which bricks of the wall of the Chinese Temple of Earth were surreptitiously utilized,[[435]] accommodating 6000. Besides the barracks, permanent blockhouses were met with every three or four miles. The guards of the railways, whose numbers were just at this time fixed at 30,000,[[436]] were recruited from the regular troops, from whom they were distinguished by green shoulder-straps and collar-patches, and also by higher pay, and the regular troops themselves could be contained in large numbers in the depots and barracks and blockhouses when the evacuation was completed.[[437]] At the same time, the Russians seemed to have destroyed nearly all the forts and confiscated the guns of the Chinese, whose defense had thus been reduced almost to nil. The military power of the Tartar Generals at the capitals of the three Manchurian Provinces was held under a strict surveillance of the Russian officers, who also readily controlled highroads and rivers. It was, moreover, uncertain how much of this control and supervision by the Russians would be relaxed after the promised evacuation, or how much it would then be replaced by the powerful position the Russians would hold in their own quarters in Manchuria. The conclusion seemed inevitable to some people that by the so-called evacuation, if it should ever take place in the face of the enormous obstacles which the Agreement did not seek to remove, Russia would gain a much stronger hold upon the Manchurian territory than during the preceding period of open military occupation.[[438]] It was also pointed out that the forts, docks, and other military and naval establishments at Port Arthur, costing millions of rubles, were not compatible with the short term of the lease of the port, and their practical value would be seriously impaired by a true evacuation of the rest of Manchuria.
So far as the immediate interests of foreign nations, aside from the general principle of the integrity of the Chinese Empire, were concerned, nothing was more to be desired than a speedy evacuation of the treaty port of Niu-chwang, where the Russians had maintained a provisional government since August 5, 1900.[[439]] At the conclusion of the Agreement of April, 1901, M. Lessar delivered a note verbale to the Chinese Government, stating that Niu-chwang would be restored as soon as the Powers terminated their administration of Tien-tsin, and that, if the latter event did not take place before October 8, then Niu-chwang would be surrendered to China in the first or second month after that date.[[440]] The rendition of Tien-tsin was accomplished by the Powers on August 15, but the restoration of Niu-chwang not only did not follow it, but seemed to be indefinitely delayed for the trivial reasons presented one after another by the Russian authorities: that, for instance, one or two foreign gunboats were present in the harbor;[[441]] that the Chinese had refused to agree to the constitution of a sanitary board;[[442]] and that the Chinese Tao-tai detailed to receive back the civil government of the port had not arrived from Mukden, where, it has been discovered, he had been detained by the Russians much against his will.[[443]] Up to the present time, the maritime customs dues at this important trade port have been paid to the Russo-Chinese Bank, and, for a large sum thus received, the Bank is said to have paid to the Chinese authorities neither the amount nor the interest.[[444]]
CHAPTER XV
DEMANDS IN SEVEN ARTICLES
The most important section of Manchuria, strategically, namely, that part of the Province of Sheng-king which lies east of the Liao River and the entire Province of Kirin, was to be evacuated, according to the Agreement, before April 8, 1903. As that date drew near, and long afterward, the disposition of the Russian forces appeared incompatible with even the nominal withdrawal which characterized the first period of evacuation. It is true that in the Sheng-king Province, except the regions bordering on the Yalu River on the Korean frontier, the Russian troops began to withdraw soon after the end of the first period, but only “to the railway line.”[[445]] The important border regions, especially Fêng-hwang-Chêng and An-tung, however, remained in Russian occupation, the former still holding 700 cavalry in June.[[446]] From March, there had been mysterious movements of small detachments of troops toward this frontier,[[447]] of which Count Lamsdorff and M. Witte alike professed a complete ignorance,[[448]] but concerning which M. Plançon, the Russian Chargé d’Affaires at Peking, had made an explanation which seemed utterly unintelligible, that the Russian troops had been moved in order to counteract a threatened Japanese movement. It soon appeared, however, that the Russians had begun to cut timber on both sides of the Yalu River,[[449]] and, with the consent of Admiral Alexieff, had hired the services of some Russian soldiers,[[450]] some of whom had gone to Yong-am-po on the Korean side of the Yalu.[[451]] The detachments outside of Fêng-hwang-Chêng, amounting at first to only five men at Tatung-kao and twenty at Yong-am-po, would have been small enough to be ignored, had it not been for the significant fact that the occupation of Yong-am-po, which will be discussed later on,[[452]] constituted a menace to the integrity of the Korean Empire similar to one which threatened China when Russia leased Port Arthur; for a railway concession granted in the Russo-Chinese Agreement of March 27, 1898,[[453]] would bring this port into connection with the entire railroad and military system of Manchuria and the great Russian Empire. Further west, at Liao-yang, except the nominal withdrawal reported in the previous August,[[454]] there was no indication of its evacuation,[[455]] and at Mukden, the capital of Sheng-king, 3200 soldiers, who constituted the major part of the forces, were reported to have evacuated,[[456]] but the remainder, after proceeding to the train, suddenly returned and took up their old quarters,[[457]] some or all of them wearing civilian dress.[[458]] It is unknown whither the 3200 men had gone, but the Russian Consul merely moved to the railway outside the town.[[459]] To the north, it was evident in May that the Province of Kirin had hardly begun to be evacuated even in the nominal sense, as in parts of the Sheng-king Province.[[460]] So late as in September, the Russian authorities at Peking talked to Prince Ching of leaving 6000 or 7000 troops in the Kirin and Hei-lung Provinces for another year.[[461]]
Long before September, however, it had become apparent that the delay in the second part of the Manchurian evacuation was due to no casual event. The appointed time-limit, the 8th of April, had hardly been twenty days past, with no signs indicative of a possible speedy withdrawal, when new demands in seven articles of an highly exclusive nature, which the Russian Chargé d’Affaires had lodged at the Foreign Office of Peking,[[462]] leaked out,[[463]] were confirmed by Prince Ching,[[464]] and spread broadcast over the astonished world. Further evacuation was probably implied, if not declared, to be dependent upon the acceptance of these demands,[[465]] the most authentic version[[466]] of which is here subjoined:—
“1. No portion of territory restored to China by Russia, especially at Niu-chwang and in the valley of Liao-ho, shall be leased or sold to any other Power under any circumstances; if such sale or lease to another Power be concluded, Russia will take decisive steps in order to safeguard her own interests, as she considers such sale or lease to be a menace to her.
“2. The system of government actually existing throughout Mongolia shall not be altered, as such alteration will tend to produce a regrettable state of affairs, such as the uprising of the people and the disturbances along the Russian frontier; the utmost precaution shall be taken in that direction.
“3. China shall engage herself not to open, of her own accord, new ports or towns in Manchuria, without giving previous notice to the Russian Government, nor shall she permit foreign consuls to reside in those towns or ports.
“4. The authority of foreigners who may be engaged by China for the administration of any affairs whatever, shall not be permitted to extend over any affairs in Northern Provinces (including Chili), where Russia has the predominant interests.
“In case China desires to engage foreigners for the administration of affairs in Northern Provinces, special offices shall be established for the control of Russians: for instance, no authority over the mining affairs of Mongolia and Manchuria shall be given to foreigners who may be engaged by China for the administration of mining affairs; such authority shall be left entirely in the hands of Russian experts.
“5. As long as there exists a telegraph line at Niu-chwang and Port Arthur, the Niu-chwang-Peking line shall be maintained, as the telegraph line at Niu-chwang and Port Arthur and throughout Sheng-king Province is under Russian control, and its connection with her line on the Chinese telegraph poles at Niu-chwang, Port Arthur, and Peking is of the utmost importance.
“6. After restoring Niu-chwang to the Chinese local authorities, the customs receipts there shall, as at present, be deposited with the Russo-Chinese Bank.
“7. After the evacuation of Manchuria, the rights which have been acquired in Manchuria by Russian subjects and foreign companies during Russian occupation shall remain unaffected; moreover, as Russia is duty-bound to insure the life of the people residing in all the regions traversed by the railway, it is necessary, in order to provide against the spread of epidemic diseases in the Northern Provinces by the transportation of passengers and goods by railway train, to establish at Niu-chwang a quarantine office after the restoration of the place to China; the Russian civil administrators will consider the best means to attain that end. Russians only shall be employed at the posts of Commissioner of Customs and Customs Physician, and they shall be placed under the control of the Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs. These officials shall perform their duties conscientiously, shall protect the interests of the Imperial maritime customs, and shall exhaust their efforts in preventing the spread of those diseases into the Russian territories. A permanent Sanitary Board, presided over by the Customs Tao-tai, shall be established. The foreign Consuls, Commissioner of Customs, Customs Physician, and Agent of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company shall be Councilors of the Board. As regards the establishment of the Board and the management of its affairs, the Customs Tao-tai shall consult with the Russian Consul, and the Customs Tao-tai shall devise the best means to obtain funds necessary for the purpose.”
These demands, as will be seen, comprised, besides the non-alienation of Manchuria to any other Power, and the status quo in Mongolia, drastic measures of closing the former territory against the economic enterprise of all nations but the Russians; and, in that respect, were supplementary to the Agreement concluded a year before, which studiously omitted clauses prejudicial to the principle of the open door. From the standpoint of this last principle, therefore, no demands could be more objectionable than those now presented by M. Plançon. The Empress Dowager of China was said to have sneered at the report, and to have remarked that, if she had been disposed to grant such demands, she would never have requested the Powers to withdraw as soon as possible their forces from North China.[[467]] Prince Ching not only considered the Russian terms quite unacceptable, but failed to see any reason or right on the part of Russia to impose fresh conditions which infringed China’s sovereign rights. He accordingly refused to entertain these conditions, perhaps on April 23.[[468]] The Japanese Government had already entered a firm protest,[[469]] and was followed by that of the British Government, which considered the demands as violating the most-favored-nation clause, and otherwise highly inadmissible.[[470]] Before the British protest reached him, Mr. Townley, the British Chargé, had assured Prince Ching that the latter would receive from Great Britain similar support in resisting the Russian demands to that which was given him during the negotiation of the Manchurian Convention.[[471]] Soon afterward, the United States Government also instructed Mr. Conger to urge on the Peking Foreign Office the advisability of refusing the first and second of the conditions laid down by Russia, and, moreover, made direct inquiries at the Russian Government in a friendly spirit, pointing out that the reported demands were not in accordance with the proposed stipulations contained in the new draft treaty between the United States and China, a copy of which was communicated to Count Lamsdorff.[[472]] This latter act of Secretary Hay was promptly followed by Great Britain, whose Government instructed its Ambassador at St. Petersburg to address the Foreign Minister in language similar to that used by the American Representative.[[473]] It may be safely inferred that the Japanese Government also took a similar step. There thus resulted a natural coöperation between the three Powers, whose straightforward policy was clearly expressed by Lord Lansdowne as follows: “To open China impartially to the commerce of the whole world, to maintain her independence and integrity, and to insist upon the fulfillment of treaty and other obligations by the Chinese Government which they have contracted towards us.”[[474]]
According to the instructions he had received from his Government, Mr. MacCormick, the United States Ambassador, had an interview with Count Lamsdorff in the evening of April 28. The Count at once denied in the most positive manner that such demands as were rumored had been made by the Russian Government. He expressed surprise that they should have been credited in any quarter, and that a friendly government like that of the United States should be the only one to question him as to whether Russia could have made demands some of which were on the face of them ridiculous, as, for instance, those for the right of using China’s telegraph poles and for the restriction of foreign trade in Manchuria. It may be questioned whether Count Lamsdorff has ever made to a strong Power another denial in as positive language, which was, one will soon observe, as quickly falsified by subsequent events, as this remarkable disclaimer of April 28, 1903. He went on to say that he could give the United States Government the most positive assurances that Russia would faithfully adhere to its pledges regarding Manchuria, and to her assurances to respect the rights of other Powers. Moreover, American capital and commerce were what Russia most desired to attract in order to develop Manchuria. The Count also intimated that any delay in the evacuation was due to the natural necessity of obtaining assurances that China was fulfilling her part of the agreement. This could be better ascertained by the Russian Minister, M. Lessar, who had been absent from Peking on sick leave, but was about to return to his post, than by an acting Chargé d’Affaires.[[475]] A careful reading of this disclaimer will show that it denied that the reported demands had been made by Russia, but it did not establish that no demands whatsoever had been made by her. This consideration would seem to make it truly remarkable that Mr. MacCormick should have been, as he was, entirely satisfied with the result of the interview, and should have had no further remark to make. He could perhaps have inquired whether M. Plançon had acted without authorization, what were the conditions he had proposed, and by what means M. Lessar was expected to obtain the assurances from China that her obligations would be fulfilled.[[476]]
The positive statements of Count Lamsdorff were partly reinforced and partly neutralized by the clever remarks made on April 29 by Count Cassini, the Russian Ambassador at Washington, which appeared in the New York Tribune of May 1. He considered it unfortunate that Mr. Conger should have been misinformed, by unreliable parties, of Russia’s intentions in Manchuria, of which they were grossly ignorant,—a matter which was regretted, he was sure, no less by the American Government than by Russia. He, however, not only intimated that some sort of negotiation was in progress between Russia and China regarding Manchuria, but was bold enough to say that the United States would assist Russia in quieting the uneasy sentiment caused by false reports. He said:—
“Because of the singularity of the interest held by the United States in Manchuria—for all the world realizes that yours is a trade, not a territorial one—it lies within the power of your Government to exert a powerful influence in the preservation of peace there. Russia’s desire is also for peace, not disturbances, in Manchuria, and it is to this end that negotiations are now proceeding in Peking in the effort to establish a condition of evacuation, and to safeguard Manchuria against a recurrence of the troubles of 1900.
“Striking evidence of the direct effect in this country caused by unrest in China was seen in 1900, when, I am told, many cotton mills in the United States were forced to shut down until conditions in China were again normal. This fact and the evidence the United States has already given of its desire to make for peace are sufficient assurance that the Washington Government will lend its strong moral support to calm excitement wherever it has been aroused by the incorrect reports from Peking.”
According to Count Cassini, it was “because of the long standing and genuine friendliness which, without exception, had characterized the relations of these two great countries, as well as in recognition of the frankness with which the American Secretary of State had dealt with my Government in all diplomatic matters,” that the latter took pleasure in assuring the United States regarding negotiations pending with another Power, “even though in so doing all diplomatic precedent was broken.” “I am not aware,” he said, “that any other Powers have received from the Foreign Office [of St. Petersburg] such a statement as was handed your Ambassador.” In referring to Mr. MacCormick’s interview, however, it will be seen that Count Lamsdorff made no direct reference to the negotiations at Peking, still less to their contents, and the assurances he gave had before and have since been frequently and in similar terms repeated to other Powers by Russia.
By far the most illuminating part of M. Cassini’s conversation was its practical confirmation of the truth of one of the reported demands of Russia which were considered the most objectionable, and which Count Lamsdorff specifically denied, characterizing them “as on the face of them ridiculous,” namely, that no new ports should be opened in Manchuria for the world’s trade. “Of the opening of new treaty ports in Manchuria,” said M. Cassini, “it is impossible for me to speak at present, but it is the earnest conviction of those best acquainted with the state of affairs there that such a move will not be to the best interest of the territory. Were the question solely a commercial one, it would be different. But open a treaty port in Manchuria, and close upon the heels of commerce will follow political complications of all kinds, which will increase the threats to peace.” In this statement Count Cassini not only virtually contradicted Count Lamsdorff, but also, as we shall soon see, was subsequently contradicted by the latter.
A careful reader of these words uttered by one of Russia’s greatest diplomatic agents abroad will feel satisfied that, despite Count Lamsdorff’s elastic statement to the contrary, Russia was actually proposing some terms to China, and that one of those terms probably was that Manchuria should have no more treaty ports. When diplomacy relies, even to a slight extent, upon subterfuges, it risks a certain lack of consistent unity among its exponents, and the rule could hardly have for exceptions even such highly trained diplomats as Lamsdorff and Cassini.
Count Lamsdorff’s disclaimer was uttered on April 28, and Count Cassini’s statement was dated April 29 and appeared in the press on May 1. In the mean time, the Foreign Office of Peking had refused the Russian conditions in an official note. Yet, on April 29, M. Plançon suggested that each condition might be answered separately, and the suggestion was verbally refused by Prince Ching. Thereupon the Russian Chargé presented a note intimating that his Government wished to be assured on the first three of the original demands, namely, whether a territorial cession to another power in the Liao Valley was contemplated by China; whether there was an intention to assimilate the administration of Mongolia to that of China proper; and whether China would permit the appointment of foreign Consuls in Manchuria in other places than Niu-chwang. In reply, Prince Ching stated, naturally, that there had never been any question of ceding territory in the Liao Valley to a foreign Power; that the question of altering the administrative system of Mongolia had been discussed, but it had been disapproved by the Throne, and was not under consideration for the present; and that, in regard to the appointment of new Consuls in Manchuria, it depended upon the opening of new ports, which would be decided only by the extent of the commercial development of Manchuria.[[477]] On the next day, or, as the late Sir M. Herbert rather inaccurately wrote to Lord Lansdowne, “two days after the Russian Government had categorically denied that the demands had been made,” M. Plançon reiterated to Prince Ching, not three, but all, of the seven conditions, and, consequently, the Chinese treaty commissioners at Shanghai were instructed, for the present, to refuse to their American colleagues the opening of treaty ports in Manchuria, which the latter had been demanding. The United States Government, however, taking little heed of M. Cassini’s argument, instructed its commissioners at Shanghai, on the strength of Count Lamsdorff’s denial, to insist upon the opening of new Manchurian ports.[[478]] Against this demand, M. Plançon seems to have renewed his pressure upon the Chinese Government several times during May,[[479]] saying that he had received no instructions from St. Petersburg to revoke his opposition.[[480]] At last, Secretary Hay instructed Mr. Conger to suggest to M. Lessar, on the latter’s arrival at Peking, that a simultaneous communication should be made by them to the Peking Foreign Office to the effect that the Russian Government had, as Count Lamsdorff had said, no objection to the opening of the treaty ports.[[481]] The Russian Minister returned to Peking toward the end of May, and telegraphed to his Government the suggestion made by the American Government.[[482]] He, as well as M. Cassini, renewed the assurance that Russia was not opposed to the opening of the ports, and Mr. MacCormick, who returned on leave to Washington, confirmed the assurance.[[483]] Secretary Hay now hoped that the only possible opposition to be met would come from none but the Chinese Government, and requested the support in the matter[[484]] of the British and Japanese Ministers at Peking, which was willingly given. So late as on June 5, however, M. Cassini addressed a note to Mr. Hay, inquiring what was the meaning attached by the United States Government to the term “treaty port,” and what action it wished Russia to take. Mr. Hay could only refer, in answer to the first query, to the correspondence which passed between the Russian and the United States Governments in 1899,[[485]] and request, in reply to the second, that Russia should inform China that it was untrue that the former was, as had been stated by China, preventing the opening of the treaty ports.[[486]] Secretary Hay was so urgent about this matter that he considered it indifferent whether the opening was granted in a treaty or, as a compromise, by a special Imperial edict.[[487]] M. Lessar had the first interview after his return with Prince Ching on June 10,[[488]] and, according to the Japanese press, renewed the original seven conditions,[[489]] including the refusal of ports. The Prince was believed to have refused to discuss any of the conditions except those regarding the establishment of a sanitary board and the payment of customs duties into the Russo-Chinese Bank at Niu-chwang, which might be reconsidered. The Prince was then granted another five days’ sick leave, returned to the summer palace, and declined to see any foreign Minister.[[490]] Rumors were then afloat which would have one believe that the Prince, in spite of the earnest protests of the British and Japanese Representatives, was gradually yielding to Russian influence. It is at least significant that at this critical point he informed Mr. Townley, the British Chargé d’Affaires, on June 19, that an agreement would soon be arrived at with Russia whereby Manchuria would be preserved to China without any loss of sovereign rights. He added that China would open treaty ports in Manchuria, if she saw fit, after the Russian evacuation.[[491]] The significance of these remarks could easily be read between the lines. Not only was the Russian evacuation uncertain, but also it was no less patent to Russia than to China that, in the marts, the opening of which was under discussion, namely, Mukden and perhaps Harbin, as well as An-tung and Tatung-kao near the Korean boundary, the immediate trade prospects were not considered so great as the political danger which their opening might to some degree avert. Had the evacuation been certain, and had the commercial consideration been the sole question involved, it would have been unnecessary either to hasten their opening or even to select those very places. Nor would MM. Cassini, Lessar, and Plançon have been so strongly opposed to the proposition. Seen in the light of these considerations, Prince Ching’s new position appeared plainly to indicate the gaining of Russian influence upon the helpless Foreign Office of Peking.
M. LESSAR
Russian Minister at Peking
Nor for two years and a half since the first agreement was reported to have been concluded between Admiral Alexieff and Tartar General Tsêng-chi, had the Manchuria question vexed the world. If the question had concerned none but Russia and China, and the former had been slow to promise and loyal to her pledges and the latter strong enough to guard her own interest, the uncertain conditions in Manchuria would not have constituted, as they did, a grave and continual menace to the general peace of the Far East. Unfortunately, the Russian pledges, on the one hand, were attended by serious conditions, some of which it seemed impossible to fulfill and others contrary to the recognized principles of international intercourse to which Russia had professed constant devotion, and, on the other, China had again and again shown herself impotent to resist what she would otherwise reject. Above all, Great Britain and the United States were, both from interest and from principle, firmly committed in the East to a policy which was in constant danger of being undermined by the conduct of Russia. For Japan, however, the Manchurian question possessed an even graver significance, for, with the fall of the Three Eastern Provinces into the Russian hands, the independence of Korea, as well as the security of Japan herself, would be threatened, while a consequent closure of Manchuria against Japan’s economic activity would seriously maim her growth and life as a nation. It was now considered, therefore, that the irritating situation should no longer be allowed to continue, and that the time had at last come when Japan should with determination deal directly with Russia, in order to effect once for all an arrangement satisfactory and beneficial to all the parties concerned and to the world at large.
CHAPTER XVI
DIPLOMATIC STRUGGLE IN KOREA, I
Manchuria, however, constituted only one half—perhaps the less important half—of the great Eastern problem which perplexed the world and imperiled the future life of Japan. In the other half, namely, Korea, Japan was confronted by a situation similar and closely allied to that in Manchuria, and more directly menacing to herself. Let us briefly describe the evolution of the complex Korean question which ensued upon the Chinese-Japanese war of 1894–5.
The war had arisen from the conflicting wishes of the belligerent Powers regarding Korea, China asserting suzerain rights over the Peninsular Kingdom, and the interests of Japan making its effective independence imperative. Unfortunately, Korea’s lack of material strength rendered her real independence impossible, and her strength could be secured, from the Japanese point of view, only by a thoroughgoing reform of her administrative, financial, and economic system, which had sunk into a state of unspeakable corruption and decay. By her victory, the colossal task devolved upon Japan of reforming the national institutions of a people whose political training in the past seemed to have made them particularly impervious to such an effort. Perhaps no work more delicate and more liable to blunder and misunderstanding could befall a nation than that of setting another nation’s house in order who would not feel its necessity. In this difficult enterprise, the Japanese showed themselves as inexperienced as the Koreans were reluctant and resentful. Three million yen were furnished by Japan to Korea in the interest of various reforms, as also were numerous councilors, including such able men as Shūichirō Saitō and the late Tōru Hoshi. Some of the others, however, were either inferior in attainments or impatient of slow processes. The entire movement was intrusted to the direction of the new Japanese Minister, Count K. Inoüé, a generous, brilliant, and bold statesman. He presented to the Korean sovereign a plan of reform, which included the proposal to remove from her share of political control the versatile Queen, whose family of the Min had grown powerful by means of the abuses which the Count wished to eradicate. In this attempt, in which he was largely successful, of drawing a line of demarcation between the Court and the Government, he inevitably incurred the deep ire of the family whose influence had been predominant both at the capital and in the country. Other measures of his reform further antagonized the official nobility of the Kingdom.[[492]] The influence of the Count, however, was so great, and the training of Korean troops by Japanese officers seemed so successful, that even the domineering Queen was obliged to await a more favorable moment to regain her lost prestige.
At that time Russia was represented at Seul by M. Waeber, who had been in Korea for more than ten years, and whose personality and diplomatic arts had won him warm friends in the Court, particularly the Queen and her party. At one time, before the late war, when the ascendency of the Chinese Resident, Yuan Shi-kai, had created disaffection among certain Koreans, M. Waeber was said to have succeeded in quietly allying himself with those people and promoting Russian influence over them.[[493]] It was now again found possible for him and his talented wife to recommend themselves to the large body of men and women whose feeling the Japanese had in one way or another alienated, and slowly but surely to undermine the latter’s influence in Seul.[[494]] The successful coercion of Japan by the three Powers after the treaty of Shimonoseki must also have gone far toward reducing the prestige of Japan in the eye of the Koreans, who are singularly susceptible to the influence of events of this nature.
As soon as Count Inoüé left Seul, the Queen again came to the front. On July 7, 1895, she suddenly accused of treason the most influential member of the Cabinet and chief of the pro-Japanese party, Pak Yong-hio, who again had to flee to Japan, where he had recently spent ten years of a refugee’s life.[[495]] Count Inoüé returned to Seul, and again the Queen held her breath. A Cabinet was organized of partisans of reform. The Count was, however, relieved of his post late in July, and in September was succeeded as the Japanese Minister by Viscount Lieutenant-General Gorō Miura, a man of undoubted sincerity, but utterly without diplomatic training. No sooner had Inoüé left Korea than the Queen reasserted herself, increased the personnel of her household, and restored many of her old extravagances so lately removed by the reformer. She had been further embittered by the sharp rivalry shown against her and the Min by the King’s father, Tai-wen-kun, and his party. The Queen finally planned a coup d’état, early in October, with a view to disbanding the soldiers trained by Japanese officers and replacing the progressive Cabinet members with her friends. A crisis was imminent, and it was at this juncture that some of the Japanese in Seul betrayed themselves into a crime which caused a bitter disappointment and lasting disgrace to the Government and the nation at home. Perceiving that a passive attitude would result in a great calamity, certain Koreans and Japanese rose early on October 8, to bring Tai-wen-kun out of his secluded residence. Accompanied by two battalions of trained soldiers, the veteran statesman rode toward the King’s palace, where he was to present a plan of reform, but was opposed by the guard, who fired at his escort. In the midst of the mêlée which ensued, some of the bravoes rushed into the Inner Palace and murdered the Queen.[[496]] The deed was no less crushing a blow to the Japanese nation than it was to the bereaved King of Korea, for the former’s ardent desire always to adhere to the fairest principles of international conduct was, for once, frustrated by the rash act of a handful of their brethren at Seul. The pernicious influence of the Queen passed away, and the power of the reform Cabinet was for the moment assured, but only at the expense of a revolting crime which the Japanese will never cease to lament. It is probable that the murder of the Queen, as apart from the rise of Tai-wen-kun, was premeditated, and also that Minister Miura had been prevailed upon to connive at the guilt. The Japanese Government at once recalled and tried him and forty-seven other suspected persons, and prohibited Japanese from visiting Korea without special permission.
Mr. (now Baron) Komura, who presently succeeded to the Ministry at Seul, seemed to reverse the policy of his predecessors and abstain from active interference. The Korean Cabinet also appeared powerless to check the Russian party, whose power was growing apace. Prominent politicians out of office frequently conferred at the Russian Legation, where some of them were even said to have taken refuge from the law. There a leader of this party (who till May of the present year represented Korea at St. Petersburg) matured a plan to overthrow the Cabinet, or, in case of failure, to abduct the King and the Crown Prince to Vladivostok. The plan, however, was discovered on November 28,[[497]] only to be followed by another, which proved successful. In January, 1896, there took place a slight uprising in Northern Korea, at the instigation, it was said, of pro-Russian leaders. When the major portion of the army had been sent out of the capital to suppress the alleged rebellion, 127 Russian marines with a cannon suddenly landed at Chemulpo on February 10, and immediately entered Seul. The next day, before dawn, the King, with the seal of the state, as well as the Crown Prince and Princess and some court ladies, fled in disguise to the Russian Legation, where the King remained for a twelvemonth, till February 20 of the following year. At his arrival at the Legation, an edict was issued proclaiming the Cabinet Ministers guilty of treason, and ordering their decapitation. Another edict canceling the order appeared too late, for the Prime Minister and two other Ministers had been murdered on the streets in broad daylight, and their heads exposed by the wayside, while three others had fled to Japan for life.[[498]] The murders of February, 1896, would have come down to history as more atrocious than the crime of October 8, 1895, had it not been for the fact that the latter involved the life of a queen.
The King being virtually in the custody of the Russians, their ascendency resulted as a matter of course. They secured, among other things, an immense timber concession on the northern frontier and on Uinung Island,[[499]] and a mining concession along the Tumên River.[[500]] The Korean forces trained by Japanese officers were abolished in May,[[501]] and the Japanese soldiers stationed at the ports and Seul also were reduced in number.[[502]]
The Government at Tokio even appeared, for a time at least, to forsake its historic policy of safe-guarding Korea’s independence by its sole aid, but to seek Russia’s coöperation toward the same end. With this object in view, Japan seized the occasion of the coronation of the Czar to send Field Marshal Marquis Aritomo Yamagata[[503]] as special envoy to St. Petersburg, with a commission to negotiate with the Russian Government an agreement regarding the relative position of the two Powers in Korea. The result was the following Yamagata-Lobanoff Protocol, signed on June 9, 1896:—
“Article I. The Japanese and Russian Governments should, with the object of remedying the financial embarrassments of Korea, counsel the Korean Government to suppress all unnecessary expenses and to establish an equilibrium between expenditure and revenue. If, as a result of the reforms which should be considered indispensable, it should become necessary to have recourse to foreign debts, the two Governments should, of a common accord, render their support to Korea.
“Article II. The Japanese and Russian Governments should try to abandon to Korea, in so far as the financial and economic situation of that country should permit, the creation and the maintenance of an armed force and of a police organized of native subjects, in proportions sufficient to maintain internal order, without foreign aid.
“Article III. With a view to facilitating communications with Korea, the Japanese Government shall continue to administer the telegraphic lines which are actually in its possession.
“It is reserved to Russia to establish a telegraphic line from Seul to her frontier.
“These various lines should be purchased by the Korean Government, as soon as it finds means so to do.
“Article IV. In case the principles above expounded require a more precise and more detailed definition, or if in the future other points should arise about which it should be necessary to consult, the Representatives of the two Governments should be instructed to discuss them amicably.”[[504]]
A few days earlier, on May 14, there was concluded at Seul between M. Komura and M. Waeber, the Japanese and Russian Ministers, a Memorandum dealing with matters of more immediate interest to the two Powers.[[505]] M. Waeber agreed to advise the Korean King to return from the Russian Legation to his palace, as soon as there was no more apprehension for his safety, M. Komura pledging in return to keep the Japanese political bravoes (sō-shi) in Seul under a strict surveillance (Article I.). It was declared that the present Cabinet members[[506]] of Korea were noted for generous and mild principles, and had been appointed to their posts by the King of his own accord. The Japanese and Russian Representatives should always make it their aim to advise the King to govern his people in generous spirit (Article II.). The remainder of the Memorandum is more worthy of record:—
“Article III. The Representative of Russia quite agrees with the Representative of Japan that, at the present state of affairs in Korea, it may be necessary to have the Japanese guards stationed at some places for the protection of the Japanese telegraph line between Fusan and Seul, and that these guards, now consisting of three companies of soldiers, should be withdrawn as soon as possible and replaced by gendarmes, who will be stationed as follows: fifty men at Tai-ku, fifty men at Ka-heung, and ten men each at ten intermediate posts between Fusan and Seul. This distribution may be liable to some changes, but the total number of gendarme force shall never exceed 200 men, who will afterwards be gradually withdrawn from those places in which peace and order have been restored by the Korean Government.[[507]]
“Article IV. For the protection of the Japanese settlements at Seul and the open ports against the possible attacks by the Korean populace, two companies of Japanese troops may be stationed at Seul, one company at Fusan and one at Gensan, each company not to exceed 200 men. These troops shall be quartered near the settlements, and should be withdrawn as soon as no apprehensions of such attacks could be entertained.
“For the protection of the Russian Legation and Consulates, the Russian Government may also keep guards not exceeding in number the Japanese troops at these places, which will be withdrawn as soon as tranquillity in the interior is completely restored.”[[508]]
A casual reading of these agreements will show how far the Japanese Government had receded from the position she originally took in regard to Korea. Ever since Japan concluded her treaty with Korea in 1876,[[509]] which for the first time established the international position of the latter State as a sovereign Power, Japan’s policy had been to uphold the independence and the opening of the Peninsular Kingdom. From the strict terms of this policy, Japan has allowed herself to depart twice,—in her agreements, first, with China in 1885, and, again, with Russia in 1896,—not by forsaking its principles, but in each case by entering, in the pursuit of the policy, into an impossible association with an aggressive Power. In each of the two instances the attempt failed within a decade, and resulted in hostilities. In 1885, Japan and China simultaneously withdrew their forces from Korea, and thereby cleared the ground for the renewed conflict of their opposing interests, which were artificially placed on a par with one another. In 1896, Japan admitted Russia’s right to build a telegraph line in North Korea which should correspond to the Japanese line in the south, and to station in Korea a number of troops equal to that of the Japanese soldiers. Despite the millenniums of her historic relations with Korea, and the actual preponderance of her interests therein, and after her successful liberation of the Kingdom from Chinese suzerainty by a costly war, Japan, now admitted into the Peninsular politics on an equal footing with herself a Power which owed its bright success to a mere diplomacy of less than two years’ standing, and whose policy seemed to be guided by principles entirely at variance with the independence and strength of Korea.
At the coronation of the Czar, Korea was represented by an influential, pro-Russian member of the Min family. It was then rumored that he concluded with the Russian Government a secret agreement by which Korea undertook to employ Russian military instructors and financial councilors. However that may be, the Russian Representatives at Seul are said to have since appealed more than once to the “secret agreement” in their attempts to force the engagement of Russian service upon the Korean Government.[[510]] If these reports were true, no better proof of the light estimate with which Russia from the first regarded the Yamagata-Lobanoff Protocol could be found than her alleged agreement with Min Yong-hwan, for the latter was a direct reversal of the first two Articles of the former. Russia may be credited with having succeeded, by her separate and mutually contradictory arrangements with Min, Yamagata, and Li Hung-chang,[[511]] in simultaneously bringing the three Eastern Powers to terms.
Whatever the truth of the reported Russo-Korean Agreement, Russia did no sooner sign her Japanese Protocol of June 9, than she began to violate its terms. In the same month, it was resolved that Korean troops should henceforth be instructed under the Russian system of military education, and accordingly, in October, three army officers, a medical officer, and ten soldiers from Russia arrived at Seul. In April, 1897, M. Waeber was urging upon the Seul Government the employment of 160 officers and soldiers, and, despite the reluctance of Korea and inquiries from Japan, three Russian officers and ten soldiers entered the capital in July, whose service for three years was finally, on September 6, imposed upon the Korean Government by M. A. de Speyer, the new Russian Minister. Thus the royal guard and five battalions of the Korean infantry, numbering about 3000, came under Russian instruction.[[512]] A month later, M. Speyer requested that the control of all the receipts from the taxes and customs be placed in the hands of one M. Kir Alexieff. At that time, however, a British subject, Mr. MacLeavy Brown, had not served his term as Financial Adviser and General Director of Customs of Korea. Failing the assent of the Finance Department, M. Speyer pressed upon the Foreign Department, which yielded at last. The British Consul, Mr. Jordan, protested in vain, for, on October 26, the Korean King issued an edict releasing Mr. Brown from his duties. A Russo-Korean Bank was soon organized to transact the financial and economical affairs of Korea. On December 27, seven British men-of-war visited Chemulpo, and Mr. Jordan went thither, returning to Seul accompanied by a naval officer and ten marines. Mr. Brown was consequently restored to his office, and M. Alexieff had to content himself with a subordinate position under him.[[513]]
It was a misfortune to Russia that her able representative at Seul, M. Waeber, who had been in Korea since 1884, had been transferred to Mexico, and was replaced by M. Speyer. The former diplomat’s pleasing manners were succeeded by the latter’s overbearing conduct, which appeared gradually to alienate from Russian influence many a former friend of M. Waeber. The anti-Russian sentiment grew finally so strong that a large number of intelligent Koreans organized the Korean Independence Society, whose object was declared to be to restore the military, financial, and political control of the Kingdom to the hands of the Koreans. The impatient M. Speyer was reported to have written a note to the Korean Government, on March 7, 1898, asking for a reply within twenty-four hours to the query whether Korea was really in want of the service of the Russian experts, whose position had become rather precarious. The astounded Government replied politely but firmly in the negative. Other events occurred which further evinced the arbitrary attitude of M. Speyer. With an equally astonishing decision, he ordered, on March 17, all the financial and military councilors to be recalled to Russia. The Russo-Korean Bank was also disorganized. M. Speyer himself leaving Korea in April, his post was occupied by the amiable M. Matunine.[[514]] About this time, a new Russo-Japanese Protocol was signed at Tokio between Baron Rosen, the Russian Minister to Japan, and Baron Nishi, the Foreign Minister of the Japanese Government.
It is evident that the relaxation of Russia’s diplomacy in Korea was in no small measure due to the swift movement of events, as well as her own all-engrossing activity, in China. The Nishi-Rosen Protocol of April 25, 1898, concluded as it was at this unfavorable moment for Russia, was far more in Japan’s favor than the agreements of 1896. It not only gave an explicit recognition of the independence of Korea, but also incorporated in the second Article the best principles of the previous agreement, and, in addition, fully recognized the special economic interests of Japan in the Peninsula. The entire Protocol deserves quotation:—
“Article I. The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia definitely recognize the independence and the perfect sovereignty of Korea, and mutually engage to abstain from all direct interference in the internal affairs of that country.
“Article II. Desirous of removing all possible causes of misunderstanding in the future, the Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia mutually engage, in case Korea should have recourse to the counsel and assistance of either Japan or Russia, not to take any measure regarding the nomination of military instructors and financial advisers, without having previously arrived at a mutual accord on the subject.
“Article III. In view of the great development of the commercial and industrial enterprises of Japan in Korea, as also of the considerable number of the Japanese subjects residing in that country, the Russian Imperial Government shall not obstruct the development of the commercial and industrial relations between Japan and Korea.”[[515]]
Each one of these three Articles should be carefully noted, for five years later, in 1903, they, together with the last Article of the Yamagata-Lobanoff Protocol of June 9, 1896, became a conventional ground for Japan’s direct negotiations with Russia which preceded the present war. Particular attention is called to the third Article, wherein Russia recognized for the first time the peculiar interest of the Japanese nation in the economic development of Korea.
Less artificial as the Protocol was in comparison with the former agreements, it was, however, hardly adequate as an instrument to reconcile the conflicting interests of Russia and Japan. Fresh complications could well be expected from the second Article, for it, on the other hand, barred the reformatory attempts of a Power whose interests demanded the independence and strength of Korea, and, on the other, cleared the ground for the renewed activity of another Power which had little intention to abstain from undermining the vital interests of Japan. Under these precarious circumstances was opened the second period of the Russo-Japanese relations in Korea.
CHAPTER XVII
DIPLOMATIC STRUGGLE IN KOREA, II
From 1899, both Japan and Russia were represented at Seul by new Ministers, Mr. G. Hayashi and M. Paul Pavloff. The latter had been the Chargé at Peking, where he had recently made a brilliant success in securing for Russia a lease of Port Arthur and Talien-wan, and the right to connect these ports by rail with the great Siberian line. The contrast of character between the bold and ambitious Pavloff and the slow, tenacious Hayashi was an interesting index to the dramatic struggle which ensued in Korea between the rival Powers. For five years after the arrival of the diplomats, the desires of Russia and Japan seemed to clash, not only in Seul, but also in all directions within the Peninsula. Nearly every move made by either Power was countervailed by the other, Russia in most cases being the prime mover and Japan closely disputing the action of her rival. The feeble Government of Korea was sorely vexed between the vigorous demands and protests of the contending Powers, while the flexible will of the Emperor[[516]] and the discord and venality of his servants aggravated the endless confusion of the situation. Let us now briefly observe how this keen rivalry manifested itself in the south, at the capital, and in the north of Korea.
In South Korea, nothing better could be desired by Russia than a lease of Masampo, a harbor unsurpassed for its naval facilities and most admirably situated as a connecting-point between Vladivostok and Port Arthur. An opportunity came in May, 1899, when Masampo, together with two other ports, was opened for foreign trade, for the foreigner is at liberty to purchase land within the three-mile radius of an open port. In the same month, M. Pavloff with the Military Attaché visited Masampo on his way home on a furlough, and was met there by Admiral Makaroff, commander of the Eastern squadron of the Russian navy, and, after making an extended survey of the coast and the harbor, selected the most strategic site on the foreshore, which he earmarked by setting up posts at its limits. This large lot, M. Pavloff notified the local authorities, would presently be purchased by a private Russian steamship company as the site for a dock and coaling-sheds. It was not till July that M. Stein, interpreter at the Russian Legation, went to the port with a view to effecting the purchase of the selected lot, which, to his chagrin, had already been bought by certain Japanese subjects from its legitimate owners. In vain the Russian Chargé demanded the Seul Government to cancel the contract and resell the land to the Russian company, for, as the Government repeatedly explained, the authorities had no right to interfere with the alienation of private land by its owners within the three-mile radius of any treaty port. As unavailing was the request of the Chargé upon Mr. Hayashi to induce the buyers to relinquish even a portion of the purchased lot. Then the local authorities at Masampo were approached by the Russian Representatives, and consequently the deed of purchase was for a long time withheld by them, though it was at length given to the new owners. On September 14, M. Stein, now the Chargé, notified the Korean Government that, under the instructions of the Russian Foreign Minister, he would be obliged to take liberty of action in order to protect Russian interest, if the Japanese contract was not canceled; on October 4, again, he threatened that a forcible seizure of land would result from the non-compliance of the Korean Government. The replies of the latter were unalterably firm in refusing to annul a lawful transaction.[[517]] In the mean time, Russian diplomatic agents, naval officers, and engineers from Seul and Vladivostok were frequently visiting Masampo, and buying from the natives tracts of indifferent value.[[518]] In March, 1900, M. Pavloff returned from his furlough, and demanded the signature of the Masampo lease-contract in quite indefinite terms which he had previously framed. On March 16, Rear Admiral Hilidebrand came to Chemulpo with several war-vessels, and proceeded to Seul, where he was magnificently received by M. Pavloff and had an audience with the Emperor. Two days later, the lease agreement was signed[[519]] by the Korean Foreign Minister and M. Pavloff, which, however, was of little practical use so long as the most important tract had been bought by the Japanese. On the same day, the Minister secured from the Korean Government a pledge not to alienate any part of the Kojedo Island near Masampo and its surrounding territories, Russia herself engaging not to seek such alienation on her part.[[520]]
M. PAVLOFF
Late Russian Minister at Seul
No sooner did Russia appear to content herself with these valueless formal pledges from Korea than she again sought to acquire land round Masampo. At the close of March, M. Pavloff had almost succeeded in securing the purchase of Nampo outside the three-mile limit of Masampo, but the reminder of Mr. Hayashi, expressed through the Foreign Office of Seul, that the foreigner was not entitled to own land beyond the fixed radius of a treaty port, produced its desired effect. Nampo was forsaken, and another lot inside the three-mile boundary was purchased by the Russians.[[521]] In May, M. Pavloff wished to lease Tja-pok on the inner shore of Masampo, but, finding again that a Japanese subject had already leased it, finally acquired the lease of Pankumi upon the outer shore, for the purpose of erecting a hospital, warehouses, and a recreation ground, for the use of the Russian navy.[[522]] This concession, however, has not been extensively utilized by the Russians, owing probably to the inferior site of Pankumi.[[523]] Mr. Hayashi met the Russian concession by acquiring, between May and October 29, 1901, about forty acres of land within the treaty limits of Masampo as a settlement for Japanese citizens.[[524]]
It is needless to add that the firm attitude of the Korean Government, which alone saved Masampo from the fate of Port Arthur, was in the main due to the persistent representations and support rendered to Korea by Mr. Hayashi against Russian encroachment. For if the control of Masampo was a matter of supreme importance for the Russian navy, Japan, on her part, could not for a moment tolerate the presence, in the harbor so near to herself, of a Power whose vast dominion was extending eastward with tremendous pressure. Russia’s ill success at Masampo, however, was not to mark the end of her activity on the southern coast of Korea, which contains a few other harbors only second in importance to Masampo. In one of these, Chinhai Bay, M. Pavloff made, about March, 1901, an unauthorized demand for a lease, which again was refused.[[525]] From that time till the opening of the Russo-Japanese negotiations in 1903, the Russian Representative did not think the time opportune to prefer further demands on this coast.
Turning now to the diplomacy at the Korean capital, we observe that its first aim seems to have been to repeat the old policy of replacing Mr. MacLeavy Brown, a British subject, as the Director-General of Korean Customs, with M. Kir Alexieff, and also to put Korea under financial obligation to Russia by means of a loan. In March, 1901, Mr. Brown was suddenly ordered by the Korean Government, which acted obviously at the instance of the Russian Representative, to vacate his residence and surrender his post. The British Chargé, Mr. Gubbins, had barely succeeded in prevailing upon the Korean Government to revoke the latter half of the order, when in May another order was issued calling for the delivery, not only of Mr. Brown’s official residence, but also of the customs office building—an order equivalent to a dismissal from office. From this predicament Mr. Brown was narrowly rescued by an earnest representation made on May 5 by Mr. Hayashi to the Korean Emperor.[[526]] By this time, the affair had been complicated by an agreement of a 5,000,000 yen loan, which had been signed on April 19, between the Korean Government and the French agent, M. Cazalis, of the Yunnan Syndicate.[[527]] It is hardly necessary to give the detail of this abortive agreement, for it was never ratified by the Emperor, but fell through from the inability of the Syndicate to fulfill its terms.[[528]] It is only necessary to say that if the loan had materialized, a large control over the coinage, mining, and general finances of Korea would have passed into the hands of the French subjects and perhaps also of the Russo-Chinese Bank. This Bank, in the latter half of 1902, seems to have offered a fresh loan through its agents at Seul, Gunzburg and Company, under the condition that the firm should obtain a permanent monopoly of ginseng, which had then been in the hands of the Japanese, and also the right of working certain mines.[[529]] This proposition also miscarried, evidently owing to the protest from the Japanese Minister, who discovered in it a violation of the first Article of the Yamagata-Lobanoff Protocol of June 9, 1896. A Belgian loan, which was rumored early in 1903, seems to have shared the same fate with all the loans previously suggested.[[530]]
In this connection, it should be noted, in justice to all the parties concerned, that toward the latter half of 1900 there was a movement in Japan to suggest a loan to the Korean Government, but that the Premier, Marquis Yamagata, declined to countenance the scheme.[[531]] He probably did not wish his nation to become a party to a violation of an agreement it made with Russia in 1896.
In 1902–3, the interest of Russia was represented at Seul, not only by her regular Representative, but also by Baron Gunzburg, who served as an agent for many an economic enterprise in Korea proposed by the Russians, by an Alsatian lady, Mlle. Sonntag, a relative of Mme. Waeber and an influential member of the court circle, and, temporarily, by M. Waeber himself,[[532]] who had come to Seul as special envoy of the Czar to attend the fortieth anniversary of the accession of the Korean Sovereign to the throne.[[533]] These persons were further supported by a few Koreans who had lived in Siberia and adopted Russian citizenship, and whose rapid promotion in office had excited jealousy among the nobility in Seul.[[534]] Among the latter, also, there were Russian sympathizers of the greatest political influence. Taking advantage of the continual discord among the politicians in Seul, which at that time manifested itself in the rancorous hatred between the supporters of the Crown Prince and those of Lady Öm, who aspired to the position of the Queen, the Russians succeeded in enlisting the good-will of the leaders of both parties, Yi Yong-ik and Yi-Keun-thaik. Once a lad of mean birth in the north,[[535]] Yi Yong-ik, by his unscrupulous methods, had amassed a large fortune and risen to the Ministry of the Imperial Household, until, in November, 1902, he found himself the object of a sharp opposition by Yi Keun-thaik and a large section of the gentry of Seul. He at once took refuge in the Russian Legation, and was then taken on board the “Korietz” to Port Arthur, where he used his seal of the Imperial Estates Board and transacted his official business as before.[[536]] On January 13, 1903, he returned to Seul, and used his influence to further the already started obstruction to the bank-notes issued by the Korean branch of the First Bank of Japan. These notes had first appeared in May, 1902, and, beside the deplorable monetary system of Korea, met so great a demand from the commercial world that, by the end of the year, the amount issued had risen nearly to 1,000,000 yen against a reserve only a little below that sum.[[537]] Suddenly, at the instance of the Russians who wished to issue similar notes from the Russo-Chinese Bank, the Korean Government had prohibited the circulation of the Japanese notes in December, 1902. The credit of the notes and the benefit of their use had been so obvious, however, that, in spite of the Government order, the Director-General of the Customs had still received payments in them, and the Chinese Minister had advised his countrymen to continue their use. The veto had then been removed, only to be renewed at the return of Yi Yong-ik from Port Arthur. He had entertained the desire, which has been found utterly impracticable, of himself establishing a central bank and issuing paper notes.[[538]] He employed all the means at his disposal to resist the opposition of the Japanese Representative, who was now supported by his British colleague, Mr. Jordan. The bank-notes were not reinstated till February 13, 1903, when a compromise was at last reached with the Korean Government.[[539]] It is impossible to establish the complicity of the Russian diplomats in Yi Yong-ik’s obstruction, which thus ended in failure, beyond the fact that the Korean politician had been in close touch with the Muscovites. From the historical point of view, Russia could hardly have interfered with the issue of the Japanese bank-notes without transgressing the third Article of the Nishi-Rosen Protocol of April 25, 1898.
Thus far we have related the comparative failure of Russia’s diplomacy in South Korea and at the capital. In the north, however, which was conterminous with her dominion and with Manchuria, Russia achieved a greater success. On March 29, 1899,[[540]] M. Pavloff succeeded, after his earlier and much larger demands had failed, in leasing for twelve years, for the use of Count H. Keyserling, a Russian subject, three whaling stations[[541]] on the northeastern coast, each 700 by 350 feet in extent. This concession was offset by one secured by a Japanese citizen, on February 14, 1900,[[542]] which conferred upon him the right of whaling for three years, subject to renewal, along the Korean coast, excepting the waters for the distance of three li adjoining the three provinces on which the Keyserling concessions were situated and the Province of Chul-la.
Farther north, upon the frontier, the long boundary line naturally divides itself into two parts, namely, the Tumên River, separating Korea from Primorsk of Siberia and the Kirin Province of Manchuria, and the Yalu River, which borders upon the strategically most important Province of Sheng-king of South Manchuria. Along the former stream, Russia acquired by a treaty of 1884[[543]] the opening of the port of Kiong-hung to the Russian land trade, and a free navigation of the Tumên. A dozen years later,[[544]] when the Sovereign sojourned at the Russian Legation, the Muscovites concluded an agreement with the Seul Government whereby they were granted the privilege of mining gold and other minerals for fifteen years, and coal for twenty years, in two districts near Kiong-hung, as well as the right to construct a railway or carriage-road from the mines to the shore. It has often been reported that the poverty-stricken people as well as the venal officers along the river have continually mortgaged their property to the Russians, who thus have acquired extensive tracts of land, circulated Russian coins among the natives, and otherwise implanted their influence far and wide. Then early in 1902, M. Pavloff sought to make a step in advance in this direction, when, without permission from Korea, a telegraph line was extended from Possiet to Kiong-hung across the Tumên River. He desired that the Seul Government should recognize the accomplished fact, and Rear Admiral Skrydloff, commanding the Pacific squadron of the Russian navy, visited the capital on February 17, and intimated his hope that the question would be amicably settled. The Foreign Minister, Pak Che-sun, however, successfully ordered on February 22 that the telegraph line so surreptitiously built be removed. In the mean while, it was discovered that the St. Petersburg Government had had nothing to do with the building of the line which had recently been removed. M. Pavloff, however, succeeded in securing the dismissal of Pak from his post. He also persisted in demanding the right of the Russians to reconstruct the line across the Tumên River. He was as much justified in preferring such a demand, as was the Korean Government in refusing to accede to it. The latter was probably apprehensive that its concession to Russia would be followed by similar demands from other Powers. At present, the Korean telegraph line reaches from Seul to Kion-song, some forty miles from Kiong-hung.[[545]]
On the Yalu River, also, M. Pavloff desired a telegraphic connection with Wiju from Port Arthur and from Harbin, which, after a failure in May, 1902, was at last granted in April, 1903.[[546]]
More important, however, is the question of the Seul-Wiju Railway, which had been the bone of contention between Japan and the allied Powers of Russia and France, until the outbreak of the present war suddenly changed the situation in favor of the former. By the temporary articles of August 20, 1894,[[547]] Korea had granted a prior right to the Japanese Government or companies to construct railways between Seul and Fusan. The actual undertaking, however, was so delayed, that, on March 29, 1896,[[548]] Mr. James R. Morse, an American citizen, succeeded in acquiring the Seul-Chemulpo concession, and began to build the line. In October, 1898, Mr. Morse sold the concession to certain Japanese capitalists, and the line, which was the first railway owned abroad by Japanese subjects, has been in running order since July, 1900. The contract for the other line—Fusan-Seul—was not made by the Japanese till September 8, 1898.[[549]] Prior to this, on July 3, 1896,[[550]] a French company had acquired a grant to connect Seul with Wiju on the Yalu by rail. Finding, however, little prospect of starting the work within the specified period of three years, the company tried to sell the concession, first to the Russian Government and then to Japan, but neither was prepared to accept the proposed terms. About 1900, Yi Yong-ik instituted in the Imperial Household Department the Northwestern Railway Bureau, over which he presided, with the express purpose of building the line with Korean capital. The French Minister at Seul, however, had a short time before obtained exclusive right to furnish material and engineers for the building of the line, so that Korean money and French skill were to be enlisted for the service.[[551]] After a long delay, President Yi held a great undertaking ceremony on May 8, 1902, but it was patent to every one that no Korean capital was forthcoming. As was expected, not a mile of rail having been laid, the work was suspended in June, and indefinitely postponed.[[552]] Considering, however, that a Seul-Wiju line would naturally pass through the gold mines of Yun-san and Yin-san and the coal region of Ping-yang, and the great agricultural province of Hwang-hai, as well as such commercial centres as Kai-song, Ping-yang, Hwang-ju, and An-ju, the advantages of controlling this line appeared too great for the competing foreigners to leave its construction to the care of the impecunious Korean Government. Particularly jealous were the Russians of the line passing into the hands of their political rivals, for then—if, furthermore, a railway connection were effected by the same rivals between Wiju and Niu-chwang—the deep-laid design of Russia to make Dalny the great trading port for Manchuria and North China would be seriously upset by the railway reaching directly from the producing centres of these regions and Korea to the port of Fusan, whence a ready communication oversea might well radiate toward Japan, Europe, and America. It was natural, therefore, for M. Stein, Russian Chargé d’Affaires, again to recommend, as he did on February 15, 1903, the honest Baron Gunzburg to the Korean Government, and to demand of the latter on behalf of the Baron the right of laying the Seul-Wiju Railway. The Government, however, declined[[553]] to entertain the application, as it was its intention to complete the line on its own resources, and not to concede it to any foreign Power.[[554]] Later, another attempt was made in August by the Seul Government to reopen the work of construction, for which a French syndicate represented by M. Rondon was to supply all machinery,[[555]] but, again, the lack of funds frustrated the attempt. Since that time, no important development of this question had transpired before the beginning of hostilities between Russia and Japan.
We have so far seen enough of Korean diplomacy to comprehend something of the Russian method of furthering her influence over Korea, and of the manner in which Japan struggled to safeguard her fast increasing interests[[556]] in the peninsula and to maintain the terms of the Russian agreements of 1896 and 1898. We have, however, reserved up to this point the latest and most important question of the timber concession upon the northern frontier. In no other matter had the characteristic method of Russian diplomacy excited more apprehension in Korea and Japan, for nothing could better illustrate the close connection, in the Muscovite policy, of Manchuria and North Korea—a connection which appeared to threaten at once the integrity of the two adjoining Empires and the safety of Japan—than the Yong-am-po incident which arose in April, 1903, in relation to the timber concession. The contract[[557]] for this concession dated so far back as August 28, 1896, when the Korean King was a guest at the Russian Legation. It had secured for a Russian merchant at Vladivostok the right to organize a Korean lumber company (Article 1), having a monopoly for twenty years of the forestry enterprise round the Mu-san region upon the Tumên River and also on the Uinung Island in Japan Sea (Article 2). The work, in order to be valid, had to be begun within one year after the signature of the agreement (Article 15). Only when work in these two regions should have been under way, the company might, within five years[[558]] from the same date, start a similar exploitation along the Yalu River (Article 2).[[559]] Accordingly, the Russian syndicate undertook to fell trees at Mu-san in 1897 and again in 1898,[[560]] though never on a large scale.[[561]] On the Uinung Island, however, where good timber had nearly been exhausted after many years of cutting by the Japanese, the Russians had at no time made a serious attempt to exploit it. Under these circumstances, the right of the Russians to exploit forests upon the Yalu so late as 1903 was at least not clear.[[562]] Nevertheless, the extensive public works at Port Arthur and Dalny and on the railways had created so great a demand for timber, that the Chinese woodmen were cutting trees along the foot of the Long White Mountains and sending them downstream to An-tung, where alone the traffic annually aggregated the sum of 1,500,000 taels.[[563]] The Russians now seemed to have planned to exploit both sides of the Yalu, and they would not have caused trouble, had they employed legitimate means to accomplish their ends. On the Manchurian side, finding that a foreigner could not get a timber concession from the Chinese authorities, they used the name of a leader of the mounted bandits whom a Russian military officer had befriended, and, after securing a concession, employed those bandits in felling trees.[[564]] In regard to the Korean side of the river, after nearly seven years’ inactivity since the grant of the concession, M. Stein, Russian Chargé at Seul, suddenly notified the Korean Government, on April 13, 1903, that Baron Gunzburg would henceforth represent at Seul the interest of the timber syndicate, which would now commence its work upon the Yalu.[[565]] Early in May, forty-seven Russian soldiers in civilian dress, presently increased to sixty, besides a larger number of Chinese and Koreans under Russian employ, were reported to have come to Yong-am-po,[[566]] a point near the mouth of the river and rather remote from the places[[567]] where actual cutting was in progress, and had begun to construct what was claimed to be timber-warehouses, but later proved to be, besides some godowns, a blacksmith plant and a six-foot mound.[[568]] At the same time, there was taking place a mysterious mobilization of troops from Liao-yang and Port Arthur towards Fêng-hwang-Chêng and An-tung on the other side of the Yalu.[[569]] The Korean frontier officers reported that a panic had been created among the inhabitants, and that the Korean-Manchurian commerce had stopped.[[570]] Presently, the Russian soldiers at Yong-am-po were reported to have been increased, first by 100, and then by 200, who purchased from the natives, under the name of a Korean citizen and against the wishes of the local authorities, fifteen houses and some twelve acres of land.[[571]] When the Korean Government had, on May 15, demanded of M. Stein to order the evacuation of the Russians,[[572]] M. Pavloff, who had recently returned from his trip to Russia, requested, on the contrary, that the Korean Government should protect the Russian subjects at Yong-am-po.[[573]] A desultory discussion then ensued between M. Pavloff and the Korean Government, while further increases of the Russian forces at An-tung beyond the river were reducing the frontier regions generally into a state of anarchy.[[574]] About the middle of June, the Russians forcibly seized rafts belonging to some Koreans and Chinese that came down the stream, and shot two Chinese who resisted.[[575]] A Japanese-Chinese syndicate, also, which had secured a timber concession in this region in March from the Korean Government, reported that its rafts had been seized, and its work had consequently been suspended.[[576]] Prior to this, four Russian war-vessels under command of Admiral Starck came to Chemulpo in the night of June 5,[[577]] and stayed there till the 11th. No matter whether there was any significance in this act, it is sufficient to record that it took place at this critical moment. Not the least serious feature of the affair was the disagreement of opinion about it inside the Korean Government. When, on June 11, the Council of State passed a resolution that the conduct of the Russians upon the frontier was contrary to the treaty arrangements between the two Powers, the Foreign Office, on the 14th, sought to refute the ground in an elaborate note.[[578]] The gravity of the situation as evinced in all these facts need hardly be pointed out. Whatever the intentions of the Russian Government or even of its Representative at Seul, the action of the Muscovites at Yong-am-po was precisely of a nature to remind one of their previous fortification of Port Arthur, which had eventually prepared their entry into the whole of Manchuria. The fact that the occupation of Yong-am-po took place simultaneously with the suspension of the evacuation of Manchuria and with the active military connection between its army centres and the Korean frontier, gave the present affair an exceedingly ominous appearance. And yet, in the face of these perilous circumstances, the Korean Government showed itself so impotent and so little alive to the situation as to be divided against itself on a minor point of the law of the case. In such a state of things, the usual method of Japan to resist Russia through Korea would be utterly futile.
It is unnecessary to recall that any attempt upon the integrity of Korea was in violation of the fundamental principle which formed the first Article of the Nishi-Rosen Protocol of April 25, 1898,[[579]] as well as against the spirit of this and the two other Russo-Japanese agreements regarding Korea. These agreements seemed to Japan to have in one way or another been palpably violated by the Russians in many of their actions in Korea, to which the Yong-am-po affair was a climax. Under circumstances so continually irritating to the peace of the East and so threatening to her own vital interests, the Government of Japan now felt justified, when the climax was reached, in opening direct negotiations with Russia, in order to arrive at such a definite understanding of the relative position of the Powers in Korea, as would insure the mutual benefit of the three nations concerned.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE RUSSO-JAPANESE NEGOTIATIONS, I
It was in view of these dangerously unstable circumstances in Manchuria and Korea that, on June 23, 1903, the four principal members of the Japanese Cabinet[[580]] and five Privy Councilors[[581]] met before the Throne, and decided on the principles upon which negotiations with Russia should be opened.[[582]] Having thus formulated the policy to be pursued, Baron Komura telegraphed to the Japanese Minister at St. Petersburg, Mr. Kurino, on July 28, as follows[[583]]:—
BARON KOMURA
Japanese Foreign Minister
“The Imperial Government [of Japan] have observed with close attention the development of affairs in Manchuria, and its present situation causes them to view it with grave concern.
“So long as it was hoped that Russia would carry out, on the one hand, the engagement that she made with China, and, on the other, the assurances she had given to other Powers, regarding the subject of the evacuation of Manchuria, the Imperial Government maintained an attitude of watchful reserve. But the recent conduct of Russia has been, at Peking, to propose new demands, and, in Manchuria, to tighten her hold upon it, until the Imperial Government is led to believe that Russia must have abandoned the intention of retiring from Manchuria. At the same time, her increased activity upon the Korean frontier is such as to raise doubts as to the limits of her ambition.
“The unconditioned and permanent occupation of Manchuria by Russia would create a state of things prejudicial to the security and interest of Japan. The principle of equal opportunity would thereby be annulled, and the territorial integrity of China impaired. There is, however, a still more serious consideration for the Japanese Government. That is to say, if Russia was established on the flank of Korea, it would be a constant menace to the separate existence of that Empire, or at least would make Russia the dominant Power in Korea. Korea is an important outpost in Japan’s line of defense, and Japan consequently considers her independence absolutely essential to her own repose and safety. Moreover, the political as well as commercial and industrial interests and influence which Japan possesses in Korea are paramount over those of other Powers. These interests and influence, Japan, having regard to her own security, cannot consent to surrender to, or share with, another Power.
“The Imperial Government, after the most serious consideration, have resolved to consult the Russian Government, in a spirit of conciliation and frankness, with a view to the conclusion of an understanding designed to compose questions which are at this time the cause of their anxiety. In the estimation of the Imperial Government, the moment is opportune for making the attempt to bring about the desired adjustment, and it is believed that, failing this opportunity, there would be no room for another understanding.
“The Imperial Government, reposing confidence in your judgment and discretion, have decided to place the delicate negotiations in your hands.
“It being the wish of the Imperial Government to place their present invitation to the Russian Government entirely on an official footing, you are accordingly instructed to open the question by presenting to Count Lamsdorff, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, a note verbale to the following effect:—
“‘The Japanese Government desire to remove from the relations of the two Empires every cause of future misunderstanding, and believe that the Russian Government share the same desire. The Japanese Government would therefore be glad to enter with the Imperial Russian Government upon an examination of the condition of affairs in the regions of the extreme East, where their interests meet, with a view to defining their respective special interests in those regions.
“‘If this suggestion fortunately meets with the approval, in principle, of the Russian Government, the Japanese Government will be prepared to present to the Russian Government their views as to the nature and scope of the proposed understanding.’
“In presenting the foregoing note to the Russian Foreign Minister, you will be careful to make him understand that our purposes are entirely friendly, but that we attach great importance to the subject.
“You will present the note to Count Lamsdorff as soon as possible, and keep me fully informed regarding the steps taken by you under this instruction; and immediately upon the receipt of an affirmative reply from the Russian Government, the substance of our proposals will be telegraphed to you.”
To this request of Japan, Count Lamsdorff expressed a perfect agreement,[[584]] for, as he had very often said to Mr. Kurino, “an understanding between the two countries was not only desirable, but was the best policy.” “Should Russia and Japan enter into a full understanding,” said he, “no one would in future attempt to sow the seeds of discord between the two countries.”[[585]] The assent of the Foreign Minister was later sustained by the Czar.[[586]]
Thus the way was opened for an amicable interchange of the views of the two Powers. This auspicious beginning of the negotiations stands in striking contrast to their disastrous end. The discrepancy was perhaps in no small measure due to a political situation at St. Petersburg which was completely beyond the control of Count Lamsdorff, and probably also of the Czar. It should be remembered that Baron Komura, like Marquis Itō, was of the opinion that the conclusion of a satisfactory agreement with Russia was not only desirable, but also possible. The same belief was strongly shared by Mr. Kurino. It is also difficult to suppose that Count Lamsdorff entered upon the negotiations with a deliberate intention to introduce into them insurmountable difficulties, as he was presently obliged to do, so as to bring them to a complete deadlock. On the contrary, his remarks quoted in the preceding paragraph seem to indicate that he and Mr. Kurino had frequently talked of the wisdom of coming to a perfect adjustment of the interests of the two Powers in the East, and that he was gratified that the opportunity was offered by the Japanese Government to give effect to what he had long considered “the best policy.” About this time, however, it had begun to be surmised abroad that the peace party, with which the Count and M. Witte were said to be in sympathy, had been largely overshadowed by the less intelligent warlike faction. It was unknown what were the results of the observations of General Kuropatkin, the then Minister of War, who had made a tour of the East between the end of April and the end of July. Nor was it possible to discover what took place in the great conference held at Port Arthur early in July, in which the General, as well as Admiral Alexieff, MM. Lessar, Pavloff, Rosen, and Pokotiloff, took part. However that may be, it could hardly be denied that henceforth the Eastern affairs passed under the sway of a less thoughtful body of men at St. Petersburg, and of that executive officer of great talent, but strategist and diplomat of unknown value, Admiral Alexieff, at Port Arthur. M. Witte was relieved of his Ministry of Finance, and transferred to the presidency of the council of ministers, which was known to be of small real authority. On August 13, an Imperial ukase was published in the Russian Official Messenger, stating that, “in view of the complex problems of administration of the eastern confines of the Empire, we [the Czar Nicolas] found it necessary to create a power capable of assuring the peaceful development of the country and satisfying urgent local needs.” For this purpose, a special vice-regency called the Far East was created out of the Amur and Kwan-tung territories, and Admiral Alexieff was appointed Viceroy of the Far East. He was vested with supreme power in the civil administration of the territories, with the command of the naval forces in the Pacific and of all the troops quartered in the country under his jurisdiction, and with the management of the diplomatic relations of these regions with the neighboring States. The Viceroy was released from the jurisdiction of the Ministers at St. Petersburg, and the only control to be exercised over him by the central power was through a special committee of men[[587]] nominated by the Czar and presided over by himself.[[588]] Statutes concerning this special committee of the Far East—which has in itself no executive power—were promulgated on September 30.[[589]] When we consider the probable state of Russian politics at the time, the significance of thus elevating Alexieff and clothing him with enormous powers could hardly be concealed. Henceforth the control of the Eastern diplomacy of Russia seemed to have rested more with the Viceroy at Port Arthur than with the Foreign Minister at St. Petersburg.[[590]]
Admiral Alexieff was appointed Viceroy on August 13. On the preceding day,[[591]] the first Japanese note was handed to Count Lamsdorff by Mr. Kurino, who had held it for about a week pending the Czar’s assent to Japan’s proposition of July 28, already quoted. In this note, delivered on August 12, Baron Komura wrote as follows:—
ADMIRAL ALEXIEFF
Viceroy of the Far East
“In reference to my telegram of the 28th July, the Imperial Government, after giving most serious consideration to the condition of affairs in those regions where the interests of the two Powers meet, have decided to propose the following articles as the basis of an understanding between Japan and Russia:—
“1. ‘A mutual engagement to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Chinese and Korean Empires, and to maintain the principle of equal opportunity for the commerce and industry of all nations in those countries.
“2. ‘A reciprocal recognition of Japan’s preponderating interests in Korea and Russia’s special interests in railway enterprises in Manchuria, and of the right of Japan to take in Korea, and of Russia to take in Manchuria, such measures as may be necessary for the protection of their respective interests as above defined, subject, however, to the provisions of Article 1 of this Agreement.
“3. ‘A reciprocal undertaking on the part of Russia and Japan not to impede the development of those industrial and commercial activities, respectively, of Japan in Korea and of Russia in Manchuria, which are not inconsistent with the stipulations of Article 1 of this Agreement.
“‘An additional engagement on the part of Russia not to impede the eventual extension of the Korean Railway into Southern Manchuria so as to connect with the Eastern Chinese and Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang lines.
“4. ‘A reciprocal engagement that, in case it should be found necessary to send troops by Japan to Korea, or by Russia to Manchuria, for the purpose either of protecting the interests mentioned in Article 2 of this Agreement, or of suppressing insurrection or disorder liable to create international complications, the troops so sent are in no case to exceed the actual number required, and are to be forthwith recalled as soon as their missions are accomplished.
“5. ‘The recognition on the part of Russia of the exclusive right of Japan to give advice and assistance in the interest of reform and good government in Korea, including necessary military assistance.
“6. ‘This Agreement to supersede all previous arrangements between Japan and Russia respecting Korea.’
“In handing the foregoing project to Count Lamsdorff,” wrote Baron Komura to Mr. Kurino in the same dispatch which contained the proposed Articles, “you will say that it is presented for the consideration of the Russian Government in the firm belief that it may be found adequate to serve as a basis upon which to construct a satisfactory arrangement between the two Governments, and you will assure Count Lamsdorff that any amendment or suggestion he may find it necessary to offer will receive the immediate and friendly consideration of the Imperial Government. It will not be necessary for you to say much in elucidation of the separate items of the project, as they are largely self-explanatory; but you might point out that the project taken as a whole will be found to be little more than a logical extension and amplification of the principles already recognized by, or of conditions embodied in the previous engagements[[592]] concluded between, the two Governments.”[[593]]
These articles are memorable, as their more essential features were never altered in the later notes from Japan, as the persistent rejection by Russia of the principles embodied in these articles inevitably ended in hostilities, and, the most important of all, as much of the future of the East would seem to depend upon whether these principles should win or fail through the war. The principles were as obvious as the note was “largely self-explanatory.” At their basis was the desire for a general, lasting peace of the Far East, or, in other words, an effective elimination of unnatural, irritating circumstances, so that the East may develop its enormous material and moral resources, and thereby establish with the West an intimate and mutually beneficial relationship. Upon this fundamental desire were built two great principles, which had long been the mottoes of Eastern diplomacy; namely, the territorial integrity of, and the “open door” in, China and Korea. These principles, which Russia had frequently avowed on her own initiative, Japan now requested her to uphold mutually with herself. Side by side with these considerations, the vested interests and the peculiar position, respectively, of Russia in Manchuria and Japan in Korea, were to be reciprocally recognized by the two Powers, in such a way, however, as not to infringe the two great principles already named. Observe that the Russian interests in Manchuria were not less respected than the Japanese interests in Korea, nor was the Russian occupation of Manchuria more guarded against than the Japanese annexation of Korea. The only ground in the note for a possible misinterpretation was the Article which provided for Japan’s sole right to advise and aid Korea for the cause of the good government and reform of the latter. Experience had shown that the independence and progress of Korea, upon which one half of Japan’s own future rested, would be possible only by the internal reform and development of the Peninsular Empire, and that, unfortunately, the task of reform could not safely be left either with the indolent Korea or with another Power, be it China or Russia, whose ultimate object would be best served were Korea to remain feeble. The reform of Korea may truly be called the penalty of Japan’s geographical position, and the latter’s success in the fulfillment of this most delicate mission must depend on her sense of just proportion and utmost self-control. And nothing seems to kindle the Japanese nation with a higher ambition than their profound determination to perform what they deem their historic mission in the fairest spirit of human progress. Only along these lines, moreover, by a peculiar coincidence of circumstances, the securest interests of Japan as a nation seem to lie. For it appears to be her singular fortune that her interests become every year more closely tied with the best tried principles of progress. Upon fairness her life depends, and upon it the natural growth of the millions of the East would seem to rest. It appeared, therefore, evident to the Japanese statesmen that in no other manner than along the course suggested by their propositions to Russia could the welfare of all the interested parties be assured, and the future repose and progress of the East guaranteed. On the other hand, however, nothing could be more distasteful to the party presumably in control of the Eastern policy of Russia at the time than the reciprocal understanding proposed by Mr. Kurino in his note of August 12.
Before replying to this note, Count Lamsdorff suddenly demanded, on August 23, that negotiations should be conducted at Tokio instead of at St. Petersburg, as had been desired by Japan[[594]]. This move of Russia was closely parallel to the policy she once pursued in China regarding the lease of Port Arthur, when she declined to negotiate at the Russian Capital[[595]]. A discussion at St. Petersburg might save it from many of the vexatious delays which would naturally attend its being held at an Eastern capital, away from the Foreign Office of the Power whose interest counseled procrastination. Of the several reasons presented by Russia for her proposition, one was that the local knowledge of Viceroy Alexieff had constantly to be consulted. Japan pointed out that the proposed Agreement concerned matters of principle, and not of local detail[[596]]. Her repeated request, however, to negotiate at St. Petersburg was firmly refused by Russia, as was also Japan’s suggestion that her note be made the basis of the discussion.[[597]] Negotiations were therefore transferred to Tokio, and the Japanese note and the Russian counter-note—the latter not then received—were together to serve as the base of the pourparlers[[598]]. This question, which marked the beginning of many long delays to follow, itself consumed two weeks before any real progress of the negotiations could be made.
After a delay of nearly eight weeks, Russia, on October 3, sent her counter-note, which, as will be seen from the following telegram of the 5th, from Baron Komura to Mr. Kurino, revealed the utter irreconcilability of the wishes of the two Powers:—
“Baron Rosen [Russian Minister at Tokio] came back from Port Arthur on the 3d instant. He called on me the same day, and handed me the following as the Russian counter-proposals, which, he said, had been sanctioned by His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, upon the joint representations of Admiral Alexieff and himself:—
“1. ‘Mutual engagement to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Korean Empire.
“2. ‘Recognition by Russia of Japan’s preponderating interests in Korea, and of the right of Japan to give advice and assistance to Korea tending to improve the civil administration of the Empire without infringing the stipulations of Article 1.
“3. ‘Engagement on the part of Russia not to impede the commercial and industrial undertakings of Japan in Korea, nor to oppose any measures taken for the purpose of protecting them, so long as such measures do not infringe the stipulations of Article 1.
“4. ‘Recognition of the right of Japan to send, for the same purpose, troops to Korea, with the knowledge of Russia, but their number not to exceed that actually required, and with the engagement on the part of Japan to recall such troops as soon as their mission is accomplished.
“5. ‘Mutual engagement not to use any part of the territory of Korea for strategical purposes, nor to undertake on the coasts of Korea any military works capable of menacing the freedom of navigation in the Straits of Korea.
“6. ‘Mutual engagement to consider that part of the territory of Korea lying to the north of the thirty-ninth parallel as a neutral zone into which neither of the contracting parties shall introduce troops.
“7. ‘Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and its littoral as in all respects outside her sphere of interest.
“8. ‘This Agreement to supersede all previous agreements between Russia and Japan regarding Korea.[[599]]’”
In comparing this counter-note with the original note of Japan, it will at once be seen that Russia seriously reduced Japan’s demands concerning Korea by excluding her right of rendering advice and assistance to Korea in the latter’s military affairs, and also by quietly suppressing the important clause providing for mutual recognition of the principle of the equal economic opportunity for all nations in Korea. Moreover, Russia imposed upon Japan the following new conditions regarding Korea: not to use any part of the territory for strategical purposes; not to fortify the southern coast; and to consider the territory north of the thirty-ninth parallel, covering nearly one third of the area of the Empire, as neutral[[600]] between the two Powers. As regards Manchuria, Russia silently discarded the two fundamental principles proposed by Japan and often avowed by Russia herself, namely, China’s sovereignty over it and the equal economic opportunity for all nations therein. On the contrary, Russia requested Japan to declare Manchuria and its littoral as outside of her sphere of interest. If the Power which exchanged necessaries of life with Manchuria in fast growing quantities, controlled more than ninety per cent. of the exports at Niu-chwang, and numbered tens of thousands of its subjects residing in the Three Provinces, should be required by Russia to declare itself uninterested in Manchuria, the exclusive designs of Russia upon the territory would seem to need no stronger proof. The general tenor of the note of October 3 was, thus, to exclude Manchuria from discussion, and, furthermore, to restrict Japan’s influence in Korea. Russia explained that the question of Manchuria rested between herself and China, and that she had no reason to make any arrangement about it with a third Power. To this, Japan replied that she had asked from Russia no concession of any kind in Manchuria, but merely requested her to recognize anew the principles which she had voluntarily and repeatedly professed. Such a recognition, Japan contended, was of vital interest to her, inasmuch as the Russian occupation of Manchuria would continually threaten the independence of Korea.[[601]] It was evident from Russia’s counter-note that there lay an impassable gulf between the propositions of the two Powers, not only in the actual terms under discussion, but also in the principles involved in them, for, to all appearance, nothing could prove more clearly that Russia was bent upon absorbing and closing up all Manchuria, as well as marking out Northern Korea as an eventual sphere of her influence, and that she was unwilling to recognize the profound and increasing common interest of Japan and Manchuria, and the vital importance to the former of the independence, strength, and development of Korea.
The date fixed in the Convention in April, 1902, for the final evacuation of Manchuria arrived on October 8, 1903—five days after the Russian counter-note was received by Japan, but the day came and passed with no sign of the evacuation. On the contrary, the Russian Minister at Peking was engaged, regardless of the negotiations at Tokio between his Government and the Japanese, in urging Prince Ching to change the terms of the Convention. Those who had been impressed by the manner and contents of the Russian reply to the Japanese note did not fail to observe in M. Lessar’s conduct at Peking another proof of the slight weight which the Russians attached to the overtures of Japan at least concerning Manchuria. For, if Russia succeeded in securing China’s consent to her new demands regarding Manchuria, which in every way transgressed the principles contained in the Japanese note, the Manchurian negotiations between Russia and Japan would become unnecessary. The Russian course of action at Tokio and Peking was thus consistent in ignoring Japan’s vital interests in Manchuria, and, therefore, was regarded as consistently insulting to Japan. The secret of the situation seemed to be, as has been already suggested, that the centre of gravity of Russian diplomacy in the East had largely shifted from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur—from Count Lamsdorff to the inflexible Admiral Alexieff. Ever since the latter had convened, at Port Arthur, early in July, a large council of the diplomatic, military and naval, and financial agents of Russia in the Eastern Asiatic countries, as well as General Kuropatkin, who was then traveling in the Orient, it had appeared that the Viceroy of the Far East,[[602]] and not the Foreign Office at the Russian Capital, was the guiding spirit of the Czar’s policy in Korea, China, and Japan. Hereafter, Count Lamsdorff could perhaps moderate the terms, and transmit to Japan the revised contents, of the Viceroy’s unconciliatory views, but had otherwise lost the control of the situation. The reason why Alexieff had risen to such a great influence may not be known until the relations he had with M. Bezobrazoff, the late von Plehve, and other influential politicians at St. Petersburg of that day, become more clearly understood than they are to-day. As to the probable views of the Viceroy regarding the situation in the East, it is not hard to infer them from the diplomatic history in China, Korea, and Japan, during the half year ending with February, 1904.
Let us make a brief review of the diplomatic manœuvres of the Russian Representative at Peking regarding Manchuria, which proceeded much as if his Government were not engaged in negotiations with Japan in respect to the same territory. The secret Manchurian agreement which was reported to have been concluded on July 20[[603]] was probably unfounded, and its detail may otherwise be safely left unnoticed. The nature of the Russian policy regarding Manchuria could, however, be inferred from the remarkable exchange of views which took place at London in July between Lord Lansdowne and the Russian Ambassador, Count Benckendorff. In this interview on July 11, the latter said, in effect: “Whatever may be the result of the negotiations which are pending between Russia and China, ... the Imperial Government [of Russia] has no intention of opposing the gradual opening of China, as commercial relations develop,[[1]] of some towns in Manchuria to foreign commerce, excluding, however, the right to establish ‘Settlements.’ This declaration does not apply to Harbin. The town in question being within the limits of the concessions for the Eastern Chinese Railway, is not unrestrictedly subject to the Chinese Government;[[604]] the establishment there of foreign consulates must therefore depend upon the consent of the Russian Government.”[[605]] The three conditions here printed in italics would seem not only contradictory to the declaration made by Count Lamsdorff to Mr. MacCormick on April 28,[[606]] but also almost tantamount to opposing the opening of any new treaty port in Manchuria. For it was well understood that the desire on the part of some Powers for the speedy opening of some new ports in Manchuria was largely calculated to prevent the aggressive and exclusive proceedings of Russia in that territory. If, as Count Benckendorff suggested, the development of trade relations was the sole reason for “gradually” opening some towns, if foreign settlements should be excluded from the new ports, and if Harbin, and logically all the towns situated at the “depots” of the railway, could not be opened without Russian consent, Manchuria, excepting the regions touching the few towns which had already been opened, would remain open to the growing influence of Russia, but practically sealed to the rest of the world.[[607]] This inference was presently demonstrated by the new demands made at the Peking Foreign Office by M. Lessar on September 6. These demands, presented, as they were, in the midst of the Russo-Japanese negotiations at Tokio and on the eve of the close of the period of Manchurian evacuation, deserve a special notice. Briefly stated, M. Lessar requested: (1) that China should not alienate, in any manner, any port, of whatever size, of Manchuria to any other Power; (2) that Russia should be allowed to construct wharves on the Sungari River, to connect them by telegraph, and to station Russian troops to protect the telegraph lines and the ships plying the river; (3) that Russia should be allowed to establish post stations along the road from Tsitishar to Blagovestchensk; (4) that no greater duties should be imposed on goods brought into Manchuria by rail than those now imposed on goods transported by road or river; (5) that after the withdrawal of the Russian troops, the branches of the Russo-Chinese Bank should be protected by Chinese troops, but at the cost of the Bank; and (6) that a Russian doctor should be appointed member of the Sanitary Board at Niu-chwang. On these conditions, the Russian forces would evacuate Niu-chwang and the rest of the Sheng-king Province on October 8, the Kirin Province after four months, and the Hei-lung Province at the end of one year.[[608]] Of these, the first demand was interpreted to imply the prevention of the establishment of new foreign settlements and concessions in any part of Manchuria. As to the meaning of stationing troops along the Sungari and building a post road from Tsitsihar to Blagovestchensk, it is instructive to observe that Prince Ching opined that, if China conceded these demands and Russia then nominally withdrew, the latter would still be in virtual possession of the territory.[[609]] The British and Japanese Ministers at Peking naturally warned China not to accept the Russian propositions.[[610]] The Foreign Office, after some hesitation,[[611]] finally refused all of the demands in a written note, on September 24.[[612]] This refusal, however, by no means terminated the Manchurian negotiations at Peking. As the Chinese Government showed inclinations, vacillating as they were, to sympathize with Japan in her efforts to maintain the sovereign rights of China in Manchuria, M. Lessar is said to have resorted to occasional threats that, if a war should occur between Russia and Japan and the latter be defeated, China would repent her sorry plight only too late, for then Manchuria would not be hers. Particularly vigorous was his obstruction of the effort of the United States Commissioners at Shanghai to secure the opening of new ports in Manchuria to foreign trade.[[613]] In spite of all this, however, on October 8—the very day once fixed for the final evacuation of Manchuria—the American-Chinese treaty was signed, opening Mukden and An-tung as treaty ports. The next day saw the conclusion of the Japanese-Chinese treaty, bearing the date of October 8, which also provided for the opening of Mukden and Tatung-kao. It was perhaps nothing more than a singular coincidence of circumstances that Mukden should be, as it was, occupied by Russian soldiers shortly after its opening had been secured by the United States and Japan. Early in the morning of October 28, 780 Russian soldiers with eight cannon suddenly, without warning, rushed through the city gate and took possession of the Yamên of the Tartar General, Tsêng-chi, holding him in custody and reducing the military forces under his control.[[1]] A generally accepted ground for this precipitous act was naught more than that a subordinate Taotai under the jurisdiction of the Tartar General had undertaken to punish some recalcitrant bandits who had been under Russian employ. The Journal de Saint Pétersbourg explained, however, that the seizure of Mukden was owing “to the apathy of the Chinese authorities, to the non-execution of the promises made on their part, and to the agitation which prevailed in the district.”[[614]] Mukden being the sepulchral city of the reigning dynasty of China, its sudden occupation by the Russians appeared to have aroused a bitter resentment among the educated classes throughout the Empire.
Turning to the Korean frontier, the conduct of the Russians at Yong-am-po[[615]] on the left side of the Yalu, near its mouth, had now assumed an unmistakably political character. Early in July a telegraphic connection had been made without permission with An-tung, a strategic centre in Eastern Manchuria. At the instance of the Japanese Minister, the Korean Government succeeded in enforcing the removal of the line.[[616]] Late in the same month, the Commissioner of Forestry of Korea and Baron Gunzburg visited Yong-am-po, and drafted an agreement leasing the port to the Timber Company, nominally represented by the Baron. The contract bore neither a definite period of time for the lease nor fixed area of the leased territory, in the Korean text of the agreement, but, according to the Russian document, the lease is said to have extended over twenty years and covered a space equivalent to 204 acres. The company also was granted, in the Korean text, judiciary rights over the residents within the leased area.[[617]] At the same time, extensive works had been started by the Russians at Yong-am-po, including the erection of large brick buildings and the laying out of roads, streets, and light railways, to be later increased by what was conceded to be a fort; while, beyond the river, the military forces at An-tung and other centres had been in the process of augmentation.[[618]] The situation had now become so grave that Mr. Hayashi, Japanese Minister at Seul, was obliged to enter sharp protests at the Korean Foreign Office against the conclusion of the lease agreement,[[619]] and to urge again the opening of Wiju, and now also of Yong-am-po, to foreign trade. Both the British and American Representatives also pressed the Seul Government to open these ports.[[620]] The Russian Minister, M. Pavloff, however, was as strenuously opposed to the opening of these ports as Mr. Hayashi was to the conclusion of the lease agreement. The conditions were almost identical with those in 1898 under which Great Britain urged the opening of Talien-wan, so as to counteract the Russian aggression upon it and Port Arthur, and also with those in Manchuria, in this same year, where the American and Japanese Governments demanded the opening of new ports in order to prevent the exclusion of foreign trade and industry from Manchuria under Russian rule. The struggle between the open and the exclusive policy, however, continued much longer in Korea than in China, owing largely to the extremely unstable political conditions at Seul, which enabled the Russian diplomats oftener and longer to influence the Korean court.[[621]] As regards the lease of Yong-am-po, the Korean Government was now so alive to the serious nature of the agreement that it proposed to modify its terms late in August.[[622]] M. Pavloff, however, persistently urged the Korean Government to ratify the original agreement. On August 27, for instance, he and Baron Gunzburg remained at the Foreign Office from one to six o’clock in the afternoon, requesting the immediate conclusion of the contract, until the Foreign Minister escaped out of the door and tendered his resignation.[[623]] At the same time, the conduct of the Russians on the frontier grew even more menacing than before. The cutting of timber was started at different points, where many Koreans were forced into unpaid service, and the bandits in Russian employ created disorder among peaceful citizens.[[624]] Moreover, according to the reports of Korean officials, the Russians had occupied at Yong-am-po—now named Nicolas—a ground far more extensive than the lease-area stipulated in the yet unratified agreement.[[625]] All this while, the Russians at the Capital exercised a powerful influence over both Yi Keun-thaik and Yi Yong-ik, two of the most noted politicians at Seul, and over the strong party upholding the interests of Lady Öm.[[626]] It was through these pro-Russian people that the unique idea of declaring the neutrality of Korea before the outbreak of any war—an idea which had more than once been unsuccessfully proposed[[627]]—was again brought forward, and finally, early in 1904, carried into effect in an awkward manner.[[628]]
Russian activity in Korea and Manchuria, which has been briefly described, may be said to constitute the reverse side of the diplomacy of the Czar’s Government at Tokio. The actual control of the Eastern situation having probably passed from the central power to Port Arthur, it was now founded, perhaps not upon greater practical wisdom than before, but apparently upon a uniform basis. For the conclusion is forced upon the student that Viceroy Alexieff’s policy must have been, on the one hand, to deal with Japan’s overtures lightly and leisurely, but, on the other, to hasten the establishment of Russian control in Manchuria and upon the Korean frontier, so that Japan might in time be compelled to bow to the situation and accept terms dictated by Russia. The proof of this policy had already seemed abundantly sufficient by the time when the Russian counter-note reached Baron Komura on October 3. It is impossible to tell whether, in framing such a policy, the Viceroy had taken into consideration the fact that the entire nation of Japan felt as one man that they had come to the greatest crisis known in their long history.
CHAPTER XIX
THE RUSSO-JAPANESE NEGOTIATIONS, II
The Russian counter-note having been received on October 3, Baron Komura began to confer with Baron Rosen upon the basis of both the Japanese note and the Russian reply.[[629]] Meanwhile, the Japanese statesmen again held deliberations on the 10th and 24th of October,[[630]] and agreed upon the “irreducible minimum,” which was accordingly communicated to the Russian Minister on the 30th in the form of the following note:—
“1. Mutual engagement to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Chinese and Korean Empires.
“2. Recognition by Russia of Japan’s preponderating interests in Korea, and of the right of Japan to give to Korea advice and assistance, including military assistance, tending to improve the administration of the Korean Empire.
“3. Engagement on the part of Russia not to impede the development of the commercial and industrial activities of Japan in Korea, nor to oppose any measures taken for the purpose of protecting those interests.
“4. Recognition by Russia of the right of Japan to send troops to Korea for the purpose mentioned in the preceding Article, or for the purpose of suppressing insurrection or disorder calculated to create international complications.
“5. Engagement on the part of Japan not to undertake on the coasts of Korea any military works capable of menacing the freedom of navigation in the Korean Straits.
“6. Mutual engagement to establish a neutral zone on the Korean-Manchurian frontier extending fifty kilometres on each side, into which zone neither of the contracting parties shall introduce troops without the consent of the other.
“7. Recognition by Japan that Manchuria is outside her sphere of special interest, and recognition by Russia that Korea is outside her sphere of special interest.
“8. Recognition by Japan of Russia’s special interests in Manchuria, and of the right of Russia to take such measures as may be necessary for the protection of those interests.
“9. Engagement on the part of Japan not to interfere with the commercial and residential rights and immunities belonging to Russia in virtue of her treaty engagements with Korea, and engagement on the part of Russia not to interfere with the commercial and residential rights and immunities belonging to Japan in virtue of her treaty engagements with China.
“10. Mutual engagement not to impede the connection of the Korean Railway and the Eastern Chinese Railway when those railways shall have been eventually extended to the Yalu.
“11. This Agreement to supplant all previous Agreements between Japan and Russia respecting Korea.”[[631]]
It will be seen from this note that Japan made several important concessions. These naturally fall under three classes: concessions made to an expressed wish of Russia; those in which desires of Russia were changed from a one-sided into a reciprocal form; and those made voluntarily on the part of Japan. To the first class belongs the free passage of the Korean Straits (Article 5), while the neutralization of territory on both sides of the northern frontier (Article 6), and the mutual declaration that Korea was beyond the sphere of the “special” interests of Russia, and Manchuria of Japan (Article 7), may be said to fall under the second class. Purely voluntary concessions may be said to consist of the tenth Article regarding the Eastern Chinese and Korean Railways meeting on the Yalu, and a part of the eighth Article, in which the “special” interests—not necessarily in the railway work alone, as in the first Japanese note—of Russia in Manchuria were unequivocally recognized. Other Articles are largely identical with those of the first note, except the new ninth Article, which embodied the matter-of-fact principle that the treaty rights of Russia in Korea, and of Japan in Manchuria, should be mutually respected. Taken as a whole—with the only exception regarding the preponderating interests of Japan in Korea, and the natural wishes of Japan arising from this peculiar situation, the former of which had been wholly,[[632]] and the latter partially,[[633]] recognized by Russia—the prevailing characteristic of the second Japanese note may be said to be its reciprocal nature. The special interests of Russia[[634]] in Manchuria counterbalanced the preponderant interests of Japan in Korea,[[635]] and each other’s right to take necessary measures to protect those interests was recognized.[[636]] At the same time, Manchuria was declared as far beyond the sphere of Japanese special interests as was Korea of the Russian,[[637]] while, on the other hand, the treaty rights of Russia in Korea, and of Japan in Manchuria, were to be respected as a matter of course.[[638]] If Russia was requested not to impede the economic activity of the Japanese in Korea,[[639]] Japan also agreed not to fortify the Korean coast.[[640]] The case of the neutral zone[[641]] need not be repeated. In spite, however, of the reciprocal nature of the note, it is unnecessary to say, so long as the control of the Eastern policy of Russia remained in the same hands as before, she could hardly be expected to acquiesce in the Japanese proposals.[[642]]
As has been said, the second note was handed by Baron Komura to Baron Rosen on October 30. To this note, after a repeated application from Japan for a speedy answer,[[643]] Russia replied only on December 11, or more than forty days after the receipt of the Japanese note. This second reply of Russia[[644]] was as much a reduction of her former concessions as was the second note of Japan an increase upon hers; for Russia was now entirely silent on the subject of Manchuria, and, regarding Korea, repeated the restrictions proposed in September, as if the second Japanese note had never reached her, besides refusing to recognize Japan’s right to give Korea anything beyond mere advice for the reform of her civil administration. In short, the second counter-note was equivalent to the first minus the clauses regarding Manchuria and Japan’s right to assist Korea in the latter’s reform. The possibility of a reconciliation of the views of the two Powers now appeared remoter than before. If the exact contents of the reply had been publicly shown to the Japanese people, it would have been extremely difficult for the Katsura Cabinet to control their resentment against what would have been regarded under the circumstances as a deliberate insult to their country.
After another meeting of the Cabinet members and Councilors on the 16th, Baron Komura made one more attempt to appeal to the friendly sentiment of the Russian Government. The nature of the third Japanese overture will be seen from the following dispatch, telegraphed by the Baron to Mr. Kurino on the 21st:—
“In my interview with the Russian Minister on December 21, I pointed out that, between our original proposals and the new Russian counter-proposals, there was a fundamental difference concerning the geographical sphere of the understanding. After fully explaining how the Imperial Government had come to consider it desirable, in the general interest, to include in the proposed understanding all the regions in the Extreme East where the interests of the two Empires met, I expressed the hope that the Russian Government would reconsider their position regarding that branch of the question. I also informed him, in detail, of the amendments which the Imperial Government considered it necessary to introduce into Russia’s new counter-proposals. Accordingly, in order to remove every possibility of misunderstanding on the part of Russia respecting the attitude of the Imperial Government, you are instructed to deliver to Count Lamsdorff a note verbale to the following effect:—
“‘The Imperial Government have examined with great care the new Russian counter-proposals of the 11th instant. They regret that the Russian Government did not agree to extend the compass of the suggested understanding over the territory whose inclusion was deemed essential by Japan.
“‘The Imperial Government, in their original proposition to the Russian Government in August last, endeavored to make it entirely clear that they desired, with a view to remove from the Japanese-Russian relations every cause for future misunderstanding, to bring within the purview of the proposed arrangement all those regions in the Extreme East where the interests of the two Empires met. They cannot believe that a full realization of that desire could be expected if a large and important section of those regions was wholly excluded from the understanding. Accordingly, the Imperial Government feel constrained to ask the Russian Government to reconsider their position on the subject, and they hope that the Russian Government will be able to see their way to arrive at a satisfactory solution of the question.
MR. KURINO
Late Japanese Minister at St. Petersburg
“‘The Imperial Government also find it necessary to ask for the following amendments to the new Russian counter-proposals:—
“‘a. Article II. to read: Recognition by Russia of Japan’s preponderating interests in Korea, and of the right of Japan to give Korea advice and assistance tending to improve the administration of the Korean Empire;
“‘b. Article V. to read: Mutual engagement not to undertake on the Korean coast any military works capable of menacing the freedom of navigation in the Korean Straits; and
“‘c. Article VI. to be suppressed.
“‘Not only as the main points of these amendments cannot be said to be in excess of the modifications which were agreed to ad referendum at Tokio, but also as the Imperial Government considered those changes indispensable, it is believed that they will receive the ready agreement of the Russian Government.’
“In presenting the foregoing note to Count Lamsdorff, you will say that I have spoken to Minister Rosen in a similar sense, and you will also express the desire for a prompt reply.”[[645]]
Mr. Kurino carried out his instructions on December 23, and telegraphed on the same day to Baron Komura: “... He [Count Lamsdorff] told me he had received a telegram from Minister Rosen, stating that the latter had had an interview with Baron Komura, and that particulars would follow; but such particulars had not yet been received by him [the Count.][[646]] When I handed him the note verbale, he received it, and said that he would do his best to send the Russian answer at the earliest possible date; but added that he would have to communicate with Viceroy Alexieff. In conclusion I stated to the Count that, under existing circumstances, it might cause serious difficulties, even complications, if we failed to come to an entente, and I hoped he would exercise his best influence so as to enable us to reach the desired end.”[[647]]
When Minister Kurino saw Count Lamsdorff on January 1, 1904, the latter, as he had been persistently doing during the past few days, remarked that he saw no reason why an entente could not be arrived at, for Minister Rosen would soon be instructed to proceed with the negotiations in a friendly and conciliatory spirit.[[648]] Other statements of the same pacific nature were frequently made, not only by the Count, but also by the Czar, and were circulated through the press and foreign telegraphic service. When, however, the reply of Russia[[649]] reached Tokio on January 6, it was found that here again, as in the first reply of September last, the recognition by Japan of Manchuria and its coast as beyond her sphere of interest—the word “special” not preceding the last word—was insisted upon, while, as before, no mention was made of the territorial integrity of China in Manchuria. As regards the equal opportunity for the enterprise of other nations, it should be noted that Russia now agreed to insert a clause not to obstruct the enjoyment by Japan and other Powers of the treaty rights which they had acquired from China in regard to Manchuria, but only on the condition of maintaining the clauses on the neutral zone in Korea and the non-employment by Japan of any part of Korea for strategical purposes. Moreover, the treaty rights of other Powers in Manchuria, which Russia would respect, explicitly excluded those concerning the foreign settlements in the open ports,[[650]] thus again evincing her exclusive policy. Over and above these considerations, it should be remembered that, as has been pointed out by Baron Komura,[[651]] the treaty rights which China had accorded to other Powers could not be maintained if her sovereignty in Manchuria, the existence of which Russia declined to assure Japan that she would respect, should cease.[[652]]
In a few days there took place an important event which made the Russian position untenable. The Chinese-American[[653]] and Chinese-Japanese[[654]] commercial treaties which had been concluded on October 8, 1903,[[655]] the date appointed for the final evacuation of Manchuria, were ratified on January 11, 1904, the former opening to the world’s trade Mukden and An-tung, and the latter, Mukden and Tatung-kao, thus not only multiplying the treaty rights, including rights of foreign settlements, of Japan and the United States in Manchuria, but also forcibly reinstating the sovereign rights of the Chinese Empire in the territory, and directly reversing the exclusive claims of Russia therein. It will be recalled that Russia had recently seized Mukden, and had been strengthening her forces upon the Yalu, on which the other two new ports were situated. The United States Government, immediately upon the ratification of the treaty, appointed Consuls for the three new open ports.
To return to the Russo-Japanese negotiations. Thus far notes and replies, exchanged three times within a period of five months, must have made the position of each negotiating Power perfectly clear to the other. No further discussion could possibly bring the two Governments nearer to a reconciliation of wishes so diametrically opposed. In the mean time, the Japanese people were suffering from enormous economic losses. A large part of their raw materials had ceased to come, the shipping and trade with Korea and Northern China had declined, the fishing industry had been paralyzed, and, contrary to the tendency at normal times, the banks had been embarrassed with an over-abundance of funds.[[656]] On the other hand, Russia, while circulating the optimistic views of her Emperor and Foreign Minister, had continued her sharp diplomacy at Seul and Peking, and pushed on land and sea her vast warlike preparations in the East.[[657]]
Even then the Japanese Government would not terminate its negotiations with Russia, for it was well aware that upon the conduct of these negotiations the peace of the East depended. If the principles proposed by Japan were not accepted, the integrity of China would be threatened, and the independence of Korea, as well as the vital interest of Japan, would be profoundly endangered; thus the entire future of the Far East would be plunged into unknown perils. Under these circumstances, it seemed that Japan owed to the world as much of patience, as she owed to herself of determination. The situation was gravely discussed by the statesmen on the 11th, and before the Throne again on the 12th.[[658]] On the next day, January 13, now for the fourth time, and against the wishes of the majority of the people, the Government of Tokio reminded Russia of the serious position in which the two Powers found themselves, and begged her to reconsider the situation. Observe the following telegram of the same date from Baron Komura to Mr. Kurino:—
“You are instructed to deliver to Count Lamsdorff the following note verbale in order to confirm to him the views I have communicated to Baron Rosen on the 13th January:—
“‘The Imperial Government, with a view to arriving at a pacific solution of the pending questions, and to firmly establishing for all time the basis of good relations between the two Powers, as well as to protect the rights and interests of Japan, have, from this point of view, given most careful and serious consideration to the reply of the Russian Government which was delivered by his Excellency Baron Rosen on the 26th instant. They have finally come to the conclusion that the following modifications are necessary, i. e.:—
“1. ‘Suppression of the first clause of Article 5 of the Russian counter-proposals (presented to the Japanese Government through Baron Rosen on December 11), that is to say, not to use any part of Korean territory for strategical purposes.
“2. ‘Suppression of the whole Article (6) concerning establishment of a neutral zone.
“3. ‘The Russian proposal concerning Manchuria to be agreed to with the following modifications:—
“a. ‘Recognition by Japan of Manchuria and its littoral as being outside her sphere of interest, and an engagement on the part of Russia to respect the territorial integrity of China in Manchuria.
“b. ‘Russia, within the limits of Manchuria, will not impede Japan nor other Powers in the enjoyment of rights and privileges acquired by them under the existing treaties with China.
“c. ‘Recognition by Russia of Korea and its littoral as being outside her sphere of interest.
“4. ‘Addition of an Article to the following effect: Recognition by Japan of Russia’s special interests in Manchuria, and of the right of Russia to take measures necessary for the protection of those interests.
“‘The grounds for these amendments having been frequently and fully explained on previous occasions, the Imperial Government do not think it necessary to repeat the explanations, beyond expressing their earnest hope for reconsideration by the Russian Government. It is sufficient to say that the suppression of the clause excluding the establishment of settlements in Manchuria is desired because it conflicts with stipulations of the new commercial treaty between Japan and China. In this respect, however, Japan will be satisfied if she receives equal treatment with other Powers which have already acquired similar rights in regard to settlements....
“‘Finally, the above-mentioned amendments being proposed by the Imperial Government entirely in a spirit of conciliation, it is expected that they will be received with the same spirit at the hands of the Russian Government; and the Imperial Government further hope for an early reply from the Russian Government, since further delay in the solution of the question will be extremely disadvantageous to the two countries.’”[[659]]
An early reply was urged by Mr. Kurino at least four times,[[660]] but, even so late as February 1, Count Lamsdorff declined even to name the date on which his reply would be given;[[661]] and, indeed, the reply[[662]] which was being framed was found later to have contained substantially the same points as the three previous replies—points some of which had been repeatedly and unequivocally demonstrated to be entirely irreconcilable with the vital interests of Japan. Just at this time, the activity of the Russian forces in the East seemed to have been accelerated: on January 21, numbers of infantry and artillery left Port Arthur and Dalny for the Korean frontier, soon to be followed by contingents from Liao-yang; on the 28th, Viceroy Alexieff ordered the troops on the Yalu to be placed upon a war footing; on February 1, the Governor of Vladivostok warned the Japanese Commercial Agent at the port to prepare for withdrawing his compatriots to Habarofsk, as he had received instructions from his Government and was ready to proclaim martial law at any time; and, on the 3d, all the war-vessels located at Port Arthur, excepting one, steamed out of the harbor.[[663]]
It was now considered by the Japanese Government that the critical point had been reached. The Cabinet members and Privy Councilors held a conference on February 3, and again, on the next day, before the Throne. On February 5, at 2 P. M., two notes were telegraphed to Mr. Kurino, the one communicating Japan’s decision to break off negotiations which had not been met with proper consideration and had become useless, and to reserve to herself the right to pursue an independent course of action, in order to safeguard her interests and rights and to protect her position menaced by Russia; and the other stating that Japan had been obliged to sever her now valueless diplomatic relations with the Russian Government. We subjoin the entire texts of the telegraphic messages from Baron Komura to Mr. Kurino inclosing the above-mentioned notes:—
“Further prolongation of the present situation being intolerable, the Imperial Government have decided to terminate the pending negotiations, and to take such independent action as they may deem necessary to defend our position menaced by Russia, and to protect our rights and interests. Accordingly you are instructed, immediately upon receipt of this telegram, to address to Count Lamsdorff the following signed note:—
“‘The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, has the honor, in pursuance of instructions from his Government, to address to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias the following communications:—
“‘The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan regard the independence and territorial integrity of Korea as essential to the repose and safety of their own country, and they are consequently unable to view with indifference any action tending to render the position of Korea insecure.
“‘The obstinate rejections by the Russian Government, by means of amendments impossible of agreement, of Japan’s proposals respecting Korea, the adoption of which the Imperial Government regard as indispensable to assure the existence of the Korean Empire and to safeguard Japan’s preponderating interests in the peninsula; and the obstinate refusals of Russia to enter into an engagement to respect China’s territorial integrity in Manchuria, which is seriously menaced by the continued occupation of the province, notwithstanding Russia’s treaty engagements with China and her repeated assurances to other Powers possessing interests in those regions—have made it necessary for the Imperial Government seriously to consider what measures of self-defense they are called upon to take.
“‘In spite of Russia’s repeated delays to reply without intelligible reasons, and of her naval and military activities, irreconcilable with pacific aims, the Imperial Government have exercised during the present negotiations a degree of forbearance which they believe affords sufficient proof of their loyal desire to remove from their relations with the Russian Government every cause for future misunderstanding. But finding in their efforts no prospect of securing from the Russian Government an adhesion either to Japan’s moderate and unselfish proposals or to any other proposals likely to establish a firm and enduring peace in the Far East, the Imperial Government have no other alternative than to terminate the present futile negotiations.
“‘In adopting this course, the Imperial Government reserve to themselves the right to take such independent action as they may deem best to consolidate and defend their menaced position, as well as to protect the acquired rights and legitimate interests of the Empire.
“‘The Undersigned, etc., etc.’”[[664]]
“You are instructed to address to Count Lamsdorff a signed note to the following effect, simultaneously with the note mentioned in my other telegram:—
“‘The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, has the honor, in pursuance of instructions from his Government, to address to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias the following communications:—
“‘Having exhausted without effect every means of conciliation with a view to remove from their relations with the Imperial Russian Government every cause for future complications, and finding that their just representations and moderate and unselfish proposals made in the interest of a firm and lasting peace in the Far East are not receiving due consideration, and that their diplomatic relations with the Russian Government have for these reasons ceased to possess any value, the Imperial Government of Japan have resolved to sever those diplomatic relations.
“‘In the further fulfillment of the command of his Government, the Undersigned has also the honor to announce to his Excellency Count Lamsdorff that it is his intention to take his departure from St. Petersburg with the staff of the Imperial Legation on the ... day.
“‘The Undersigned, etc., etc.’”[[665]]
These notes were transmitted by the Japanese Minister to Count Lamsdorff on February 6, at 4 P. M., Baron Rosen having already been informed by Baron Komura of the severance of the negotiations and general diplomatic relations between the two Powers.[[666]] The first naval engagement occurred at Chemulpo two days later, followed by the naval battle at Port Arthur on the night of February 8–9, and, on the 10th, war was formally declared by the Emperors of both Powers. The Russian Sovereign’s manifesto, which appeared in the Official Messenger, said:—
“We proclaim to all our faithful subjects that, in our solicitude for the preservation of that peace so dear to our heart, we have put forth every effort to assure tranquillity in the Far East. To these pacific ends we declared our assent to the revision, proposed by the Japanese Government, of the agreements existing between the two Empires concerning Korean affairs. The negotiations initiated on this subject were, however, not brought to a conclusion, and Japan, not even awaiting the arrival of our last reply and the proposals of our Government, informed us of the rupture of the negotiations and of diplomatic relations with Russia.
“Without previously notifying us that the rupture of such relations implied the beginning of warlike action, the Japanese Government ordered its torpedo-boats to make a sudden attack on our squadron in the outer roadstead of the fortress of Port Arthur. After receiving the report of our Viceroy on the subject, we at once commanded Japan’s challenge to be replied to by arms.
“While proclaiming this our resolve, we, in unshakable confidence in the help of the Almighty, and firmly trusting in the unanimous readiness of all our faithful subjects to defend the Fatherland together with ourselves, invoke God’s blessing on our glorious forces of the army and navy.”[[667]]
The Japanese Imperial Rescript, countersigned by all the members of the Cabinet, and declaring war against Russia, read as follows:—
“We, by the Grace of Heaven, the Emperor of Japan, seated on the Throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial, do hereby make proclamation to all our loyal and brave subjects:—
“We hereby declare war against Russia. We command our army and navy to carry on hostilities against her with all their strength, and we also command all our officials to make effort, in pursuance of their duties and in accordance with their powers, to attain the national aim, with all the means within the limits of the law of nations.
“We deem it essential to international relations, and make it our constant aim, to promote the pacific progress of our Empire in civilization, to strengthen our friendly ties with other States, and thereby to establish a state of things which would maintain enduring peace in the East, and assure the future security of our Empire without injury to the rights and interests of other Powers. Our officials also perform their duties in obedience to our will, so that our relations with all Powers grow steadily in cordiality.
BARON DE ROSEN
Late Russian Minister at Tokio
“It is thus entirely against our wishes that we have unhappily come to open hostilities against Russia.
“The integrity of Korea has long been a matter of the gravest concern to our Empire, not only because of the traditional relations between the two countries, but because the separate existence of Korea is essential to the safety of our Empire. Nevertheless, Russia, despite her explicit treaty pledges to China and her repeated assurances to other Powers, is still in occupation of Manchuria, and has consolidated and strengthened her hold upon it, and is bent upon its final absorption. Since the possession of Manchuria by Russia would render it impossible to maintain the integrity of Korea, and would, in addition, compel the abandonment of all hope for peace in the Far East, we expected, in these circumstances, to settle the question by negotiations and secure thereby a permanent peace. With this object in view, our officials by our order made proposals to Russia, and frequent conferences were held during the last half year. Russia, however, never met such proposals in a spirit of conciliation, but by her prolonged delays put off the settlement of the pending question, and, by ostensibly advocating peace on the one hand, and on the other secretly extending her naval and military preparations, sought to bring about our acquiescence. It is not possible in the least to admit that Russia had from the first a sincere desire for peace. She has rejected the proposals of our Empire; the safety of Korea is in danger; the interests of our Empire are menaced. At this crisis, the guarantees for the future which the Empire has sought to secure by peaceful negotiations can now only be sought by an appeal to arms.
“It is our earnest wishes that, by the loyalty and valor of our faithful subjects, peace may soon be permanently restored and the glory of our Empire preserved.”[[668]]