RUSSIA AND JAPAN. 635 a new "Great Power" in the Far East, which would doubtless aimat holding the place China, its traditional rival, had once occupied as the chief native state of Eastern Asia. Not long after the enforced revision of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, it was reported that Russia was takingprecautions to secure her own predominance in that region, and that M. Cassini, the able diplomatist who watched overher interests at Pekin, had concluded a secret convention with the Chinese Government, in virtue of which the new Siberian Railway wasnot merely to endat Vladivostock,but was to be completed by a branch running through Manchuria and the Liao-tung peninsula to Niu-chwang and Port Arthur. The country traversed by the new line was to remainChinese territory,but in order to secure the constructionand workingof therailway from any interruption,the Czar was to have the right to establish garrisons of his troopsalong the line,and his fleets were to be allowedto makeuse of the dockyardandharbour of Port Arthur as theirnaval basein the Pacific. Of course the existence of the convention was officially denied by the Russian Government, but none the less it existed. In England the denial was generally accepted, and some of the Arthur open to the claims of possible rivals, who might follow the German precedent set at Kiau-chow, she sent her fleet to occupy Port Arthur. In an agreement with the Pekin Government, dated March 27th, 1898, it was stipulated that Russia was to have a "lease" of Port Arthur, Ta-lien-wan, and the adjacent territory for twenty-five years. The lease might be prolonged by mutual agreement. Within the ceded territory and the neighbouring waters Russia was to have full naval and military control, with the right to erect forts and barracks for her troops. Already Russian garrisonshad been established inManchuria,as China northof theGreat Wall hadbeenoverrun without firing a shot. Russia, not Japan, had reaped tlae full fruit of the victories wonby Ito on the sea,andby Oyama and Yamagata,Nodzu andOshima on the land,in1804 and1895.

At first it looked as if England would meet this aggression with an armed protest;but her statesmen, while still speaking of the necessity of maintaining the integrity of China, and keeping the door of the Chinese empire open for British commerce, chose the easier, and for the moment safer, method of demanding compensation at the expense of the Power they affected to protect. A " lease" of Wei-hai-wei to Great Britain was set off against the " lease" of Port Arthur to Russia, and with this there was a vague promise of the Yang-tse Valley beingassigned as the Britishsphere of influence. France, too, aslced for " compensation," and obtained the lease of Kwang-chan-wanBay, on the south coast of China, opposite the island of Hai-nan.

leadingorgans of public opinion, after referring to the Russian declaration of 1895 that the seizure ofPort Arthur could not be tolerated by the Western Powers, as it would put an end to theindependenceof China, went on to observe that it was incredible that after such an expression of opinion Russia would challenge England by embarking on tlaevery course which she had herselfdeclaredto be a casus belliwhen it was attemptedby Japan. Great Britain proceeded to organise a fortified coaling station on the Island of Liu-kung-tao at Wei-hai-wei,and to improve the harbour as an anchoragefor her fleet in Chinese waters. She had also obtaineda grant of an extension of the territory she possessed on the Kow-loon peninsula opposite the island of Hong Kong. Local opposition to this cession led to some skirmishes withthe Chinese "braves" in the springof 1879. Meanwhile Russia hadrepaired and rearmedthe fortifications of Port Arthur,and had largely reinforced her garrisons in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria "for the protection of the railway works." The country north of tlae Great Wall was practically recognised by England as a Russiansphere of influenceby theAnglo-Russian agreement of April, 1899. Russia in return undertook not to interfere with English railway concessions in the Yang-tseValley. The agree-Russia would probably have gone on denying the existence of the Cassini convention, and would not have occupied Port Arthur till the Siberian Railway wasnearer completion, but her hand was forced by the impatience of the German Emperor to secure a footing in the China seas. In the winter of 1897,in order to exact compensation for the murder of some German missionaries by a Chinese mob, a German squadron seized the harbour of Kiauchow, on the east coast of Shan-tung;and in January, 1898,it wasannounced that the Kaiser had secured from the Pekin Government alease for ninety-nine years of the town and bay of Kiau-chow and the adjacent portion of Shantung. Rus,ia now recognised that an international scramble for the spoils of China was beginning, and,fearintr any longer to leave Port