Chapter XI (2)

Korea, Japan has a free hand in, 246;
Russian activity, 256;
high-handed conduct of the Japanese, 256;
murder of the Queen, 257;
Russia’s offer of service, 257;
the agreement between Russia and Japan, 258;
Russia renounces active intervention in Korea, 272

Koreans settled in and about Vladivostok, 13, 50–53;
Koreans introduce the art of writing into Japan, 86

Kowloon, the peninsula of, ceded to England, 273

Krasnoyarsk, the theatre at, 41;
the English-Siberian Company establishes an agency at, 62

Kuang-Su, Emperor of China, 277;
his reforming tendencies, 278

Kuznetsk attractive to Siberian immigrants, 47

L

Lamuts, the, 6

Land-owners, rich, greatly needed in Siberia, 26

Land tenure in Japan, 180

Larches, great height of the, 6

Leather, Russian, imported into Siberia, 26

Lena, River, discovered in 1637, 3

Letters, time occupied to reach the Far East shortened by one-half by
the Trans-Siberian Railway, 79

Liao-ho, River, 73

Liao-tung, peninsula of, the Japanese ordered to quit, 247;
Japan receives compensation for same, 251, 252;
Russia obtains the peninsula, 271, 272

Li-Hsi, King of Korea, his vacillating conduct, 257

Li Hung-Chang commences the Peking Railway, 189;
his immense fortune, 217;
Li and the war settlement, 251;
his tour to Europe a sort of punishment, 267;
he returns to power, 278

_Likin_, or Chinese inland Customs, total amount, 219;
a pernicious system, 240, 241

Literati, the, 204;
the three honorary degrees, 205;
the public examinations, 205;
syndicate for helping them on, 206;
the subjects they are examined in, 206;
no progress to be expected from them, 211;
their hatred of foreigners, 232, 233, 277

Littoral province annexed by Russia, 13;
population, 13, 51;
immigrants arriving by sea, 44;
preponderance of the male over the female sex, 51;
Russians only slightly in the majority, 52

London, distance to Vladivostok and Port Arthur, 76

M

Manchu Dynasty, the, dethrones the Mings, 199

Manchuria, Chinese activity in, 52;
Russians exploring Manchuria, 66, 67;
Chinese Manchuria, 73

Manchurian Railway, China allows Russia to build the, 67;
cannot be completed in contracted time, 67;
absolutely in Russia’s hands, 71;
its length, 72, 73;
difficulties to be overcome in construction, 73;
great political importance, 74;
Port Arthur the terminus, 74;
its cost, 75

Manchus, the, oppose the Russians in Siberia, 3;
they prosper in the Amur and Littoral provinces, 13;
number, 51

Mandarinate, the, never acclimatized in Japan, 87;
the curse of China, 204;
not hereditary, 205;
therefore the more pernicious, 209;
cowardice of the military mandarins, 223;
hatred of foreigners, 232, 233;
looks upon China as a prey, 248

Marshlands on the banks of the Obi and the Irtysh, 7

Match industry, Japanese, 121

Merchants, Siberian, 17;
charges brought against Japanese merchants, 140;
merchants in ancient Japan, 141;
honesty of Chinese merchants, 240

Mikado, almost a god, 85;
Imperial self-effacement, 88, 90;
the Court reduced to absolute poverty, 97;
the Imperial family universally respected, 103;
agreement with the south-western clans against the Shogun, 104;
the Mikado refuses to acknowledge the Shogun, 105;
he ratifies the treaties of 1865, 106

Milk, excellent, in Siberia, 22

Millet in China, 199

Mings, Tombs of the, 199, 200

Minusinsk, the centre of settlement in Siberia, 48

_Mir_ system introduced in Siberia, 24

Missionaries, female, 230;
Chinese superstitions regarding missionaries, 232

Moji, rapidly rivalling Nagasaki, 112

Mongolia, Russian, 12

Mongolian pirates settle in Kiu-Siu, 84

Mongols, the Kalmuck, 10

Mosque, the northernmost in the world at Tomsk, 10

Mosquitoes, troublesome, in Siberia, 9

Mouravief-Amurski, Count, favours the Trans-Siberian Railway, 64

Mujiks, 10
(_see_ also Siberians)

N

Nagasaki, Christians in, 94;
Nagasaki the only port left open to European commerce, 96;
penetration of Western ideas into Japan through Nagasaki, 102;
its scenery, 110;
the chief coaling port on the Pacific, 111

Nan-kow, 201

Natives of the Tundra Zone, 16;
declining tribes, 13, 52

Navy, Japanese, strengthened, 141;
its importance, 165

Nertchinsk, treaty of, 3;
corn ripens there, 8;
the silver mines now of little value, 29;
now merely a huge village, 39

Newspapers, Japanese, 163

Nicholas II. stops transportation into Siberia, 53

Nikko, magnificent temples at, 202

Niu-chwang, railway being laid to;
the Niu-chwang Railway affair, 275

Nobunaga Ota seizes the government, 91

O

Oats, 7, 24

Obi, climate in its upper valley, 21;
gold-mines exhausted in its basin, 29;
the Upper Obi attracts most Siberian immigrants, 47;
stores landed at the mouth of the Obi, 62;
canal between the Obi and the Yenissei, 65

Odessa, enormous Customs on tea at, 36

Okhotsk, the, discovered, 3;
native tribes in the region of the, 52

Olekma, a tributary of the Lena, 7

Omsk, situation of, 38;
the Trans-Siberian Railway, 45

Opium-smoking in China, 225, 241

Opium War, the, 228

Orthodox Church, Kirghiz converted to the, 10;
it abstains from propaganda in China, 248

Osaka, the Manchester of Japan, 118;
its industries, 119–121;
construction of a new harbour, 120

Ostiaka, the, 6;
their origin, 10

_Ostrogs_, or Siberian block-houses, 3

P

Paris, distance to Vladivostok and Port Arthur, 76;
also to Tokio, 77

Parliaments, Japanese, instability of, 154;
composition of the two Chambers, 157, 158, _note_;
opposition to the clan Cabinets, 157–159;
a dissolution, 159;
the various parties, 160, 161;
signs of improvement, 162, 163

Pe-chi-li, Gulf of, Russia dominates the, 74;
its flatness, 188

Peking, the railway at, 77;
the city and walls, 191, 192;
street scenes, 192, 193;
shops, 193;
the main thoroughfares and side streets, 194;
houses, 194;
scene from the walls, 195;
insolence of the people to foreigners, 195;
monuments, 195, 196;
its decay, 196;
the environs, 199;
entry of the Allies into Peking, 228;
projection of a railway to Hankow, 268

_Père Marquette_, size of the, 69

Peter the Great’s wish to extend Russia westwards, 3

Petersburg, St., distance to Vladivostok and Port Arthur, 76

Petroleum, use of, by the Japanese, 114

Pigs non-existent in Japan, 120

Pine-trees, Siberian, 6, 11

Pinto, Fernan Mendez, the Portuguese navigator, arrives in Japan, 92

‘Pity of the Slav,’ the, 21

Podorojne, the official passport for Siberia, 58

Population, Siberian, in 1851, 3, 4;
in 1897, 4, 13;
superiority of the Russians in Western Siberia, 10;
in the Amur and Littoral, 13, 14;
Asiatics in the Amur, 49;
annual increase of the population, 55;
rural population of Japan, 126, 127;
its annual increase, 134;
population of China, 213, 214, _note_

Port Arthur better placed than Vladivostok, 49;
to be the principal terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 67;
its distance from the European capitals, 76;
Russia obtains the lease of Port Arthur, 271;
it is weakened by Wei-hai-wei, 273

Ports, Chinese, 188

Portuguese, first appearance in Japan, 92;
great influx of the, 93

Postal-road of Siberia, the, 11;
its animation, 21;
horses sometimes difficult to obtain, 21;
eight large towns situated on it, 38;
cost of travelling, 57, 58;
fairly well kept, 58;
its monotony past Lake Baikal, 58

Postal service, Japanese, cheapness of the, 176

Post-stations, Siberian, each provided with forty horses, 21;
the postmaster at Kluchi, 57;
their appearance, 60;
uncleanliness, 61

Potatoes in Japan, 130

Powers’ change of tone towards China after the war, 185;
their surprise at China’s downfall, 243

Protestants not tolerated in Russia, 14, 15;
their churches in all large Siberian towns, 15

R

Railway loan, Japanese, 145;
extension of lines, 150;
cheapness of fares, 176;
railway concessions granted by China, 267, 268

Raskolniks, the, 16

Reindeer, the, in Northern Siberia, 6

Religion, Japan refuses to accept our, 174;
the Chinese and our religion, 230

Restaurants on the Trans-Siberian Railway, 78, 79

Rice, cultivation of, in Japan, 126;
annual production, 129;
its preponderance, 130;
commerce in, 138

Rivers of Siberia covered for months by ice, 4;
villages on the banks of the most important, 11;
Chinese rivers, 188

Russia, expansion eastwards, 1;
abandons the lower Amur, 3;
her colonization, 4;
the Empire as a gold-producing centre, 27;
overland commerce with China, 32;
population, 43;
emigration, 44;
her subjects only allowed to work the Siberian gold-mines, 53;
concessions to the English-Siberian Company, 62;
allowed by China to build the Manchurian Railway, 67;
which is absolutely in the hands of Russia, 71;
Japan’s distrust of, 168;
her new policy in China, 186;
Russia displeased by the war, 245;
desires an outlet to the sea, 245;
she covets North China, 246;
Russia, France, and Germany order Japan to quit Liao-tung, 247;
Japan’s fear of Russia, 247;
better liked than any other European Power by China, 248;
her warlike intentions against Japan, 250;
China becomes alarmed of Russia, 251;
her influence in the war settlement, 251, 252;
Russia stands guarantee for China, 255;
her activity in Korea, 256;
offer of service to Korea, 257;
agreement with Japan in Korea, 258;
Russia’s preponderating influence, 258, 259;
she obtains the lease of Port Arthur, 271, 272;
danger of war with England, 272;
the Niu-chwang Railway affair, 275;
Russia’s interests in China political, 286

Russians, their religious toleration, 14;
manner of taking tea, 31, 32;
prejudice against tea conveyed by sea, 34;
Russians naturally sociable, 59;
their nomadic habits, 70

Russo-Chinese Bank established, 255, 256

S

Saigon, 77

Saigon, Marshal, quells the Satsuma insurrection, 108

_Saké_, the Japanese drink, 130, 131

Sakhalin, Island of, population, 13;
inveterate criminals sent to, 54

Samoyeds, the, 6;
their number, 10

_Samourai_, the, 6;
become hereditary, 90;
their position in ancient Japan, 98;
opposed to the Shogunate, 101;
correspondence between certain _samourai_ and Europeans, 102;
wearing of the two swords prohibited, 108;
public offices in their hands, 156

Satsumata-Choshiu combination, the, 156, 157;
its rule, 161, 162

Sayan Mountains, the, 12

Scenery of Central Siberia, 9

Selenga River, 12

Serfdom never existed in Siberia, 20

Shanghai two days from Port Arthur, 77;
the town, 235;
industrial activity at, 237;
railway to Woosung, 268

Shan-tung, coal-beds in, 184;
Germany constitutes Shan-tung a sphere of interest, 271

Sheep unknown in Japan, 128

Shimonosaki, Strait of, 112;
treaty of, 228;
Article 6, 236, 246

Shintoism, 85;
its rites, 86

Shogunate, the, 89, 90;
the _kammong_ daimios allied to the Shogunate, 99;
the southern clans dangerous to it, 100;
its decline, 101;
frightened at America’s demand for the opening of the ports, 104;
its enemies, 104;
powerlessness, 105;
its abasement, 105;
last bid for power, 106;
and total overthrow, 107

Siberia, its conquest by Russia, 2;
treated as a penal settlement, 3;
opened to colonization, 3;
population, 3, 4, 13, 55;
Siberia compared with Canada, 4, 5, 55;
its rivers, 4;
climate, 5, 25;
the three zones, 5–7;
its scenery, 9, 11, 12;
conditions of existence better in Siberia than in Russia, 9;
the Russian population in the West, 10;
religious toleration, 14–16;
Siberia a prolongation of Russia, 15, 17, 49;
absence of great landlords, 17, 26;
land rented to farmers, 18;
primitive methods of cultivation, 21, 25;
domestic animals, 22;
the more populous regions, 23;
land tenure, 24;
lack of means of communication, 25;
mineral wealth, 27–29;
limited industries, 30;
the tea traffic, 31;
other commerce, 37;
towns, 38, 39;
immigration, 43–48;
transportation of convicts, 53–55;
what is needed, 55;
loneliness of the country, 58;
inundations, 59;
a cross-country journey, 61;
Siberia entered by the Arctic Ocean, 61–63;
trade between England and Siberia, 62;
the Ural Railway, 65;
trans-continent river and rail system fails, 65, 66;
the Trans-Siberian Railway, 66–75;
the transformation it will effect, 79, 80

Siberians, conditions of peasant life, 9, 10;
better off in Siberia than in Russia, 18;
their ignorance of hygiene, 18;
apathy of the peasants, 19;
their favourite texts from Scripture, 20;
the ‘pity of the Slav,’ 21;
the traffic on the postal-road, 21;
ignorance of the peasants of agricultural science, 24, 25;
rich, 41;
do not like the new railway, 42;
nor immigration, 46;
their resignation, 59

Sibir, Tobolsk erected on its site, 2

Silk imported into Siberia, 37;
Chinese silk exported, 241

Silver mines, Siberian, 28

Stanovoi Mountains, the, 47

Stretensk on the Amur, 25

Strogonofs obtain trading concessions, 2

Suiko, Empress, 87

Sungari River, 73, 74

Summer Palace, the, 202, 203

Sze-chuan, coal-beds of, 184

T

Tarantass, the, 57

Tatar, kingdoms annexed, 1;
Tatar driven southwards, 2;
the Kirghiz, 10–22;
Tatar women in China, 193

Taxes, Japanese, 150, 151;
Chinese, 218, 219

Tea, traffic in Siberia, 31;
routes taken, 32, 35;
tea passing through Kiakhta, 33;
duty, 33, 36, 37, _note_;
Hankow the great tea mart in China, 34;
Nijni-Novgorod, 35;
difficulties of transport, 36;
its value, 36;
total amount exported from China, 241

Telega, the, 45

Telephone, the, in Siberia, 40;
in Tokio, 114

Temples, Chinese, 202

Theatres, Siberian, 41

Tien-tsin, the railway at, 77, 189;
the town, 189;
inundations, 190;
the Treaty of Tien-tsin, 228;
industry at, 237

Tiumen, 11

Tobacco introduced by the Portuguese into Japan, 94;
its cultivation, 130

Tobolsk, its erection, 2;
the ancient capital of Siberia, 38;
a meeting-place for immigrants, 45

Tobolsk, the Government of, 10;
population, 13;
education in, 20, 23;
excellent soil, 24;
number of immigrants, 47

Tokio, distance to Vladivostok, 77;
removal of the Court to, 108;
railway to Yokohama opened, 108;
population, 113;
its up-to-datedness, 114;
fires, 114, 115;
means of getting about, 116;
badly lighted, 117

Tokugawa, the, 100

Tomsk, the mosque at, 10;
the neighbouring country, 11;
population, 38;
its new university, 40;
theatre, 41

Tomsk, Government of, population, 13, 23;
excellent soil, 24;
number of immigrants annually, 47

Tongking, its copper-mines attract the French to, 185;
Customs lowered, 260;
poor country in the neighbourhood, 262

Towns, absence of large, in Siberia, 38;
those along the highroad, 39;
their appearance, etc., 39–41

Trans-Baikalia, climate, 5;
scenery, 12;
population, 13;
Buddhists, 51

Trans-Siberian Railway, 10;
destined to revolutionize Siberia, 42, 56;
why originally designed, 64, 65;
the Ural Railway, 65;
Alexander III. decrees its execution, 66;
how it will cross Lake Baikal, 66, 69;
length, 66, 73;
the Manchurian section, 67;
its construction easy, 67, 68;
bridges, 68;
workmen, 70;
its cost, 70;
distance viâ the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Far East, 76;
the _train-de-luxe_, 77;
journey to the Far East much shortened by it, 77;
fares, 78;
restaurants, 78, 79;
too expensive for heavy merchandise, 79;
facilities for forwarding letters to the East, 79;
Russia awaiting its completion, 259

Treaties, Japanese commercial, 178–180;
treaties respecting foreigners in China, 228

Treaty Ports, list of Chinese, 234, _note_;
Shanghai, 235, 237–239;
industries limited to them, 240

Trees of Siberia, 6

Troitskosavsk, 32, 33

Troops, Russian, in the East, 13, 166

Tundra Zone, the, of Siberia, 5;
area and population, 6

Turki population of Siberia, 14

U

United States demand the opening of Japanese ports, 103;
their commerce with China, 284

University at Tomsk, the, 40

Ural Railway opened in 1880, 60

V

Vegetables not cultivated in Siberia, 19

Verkhoyansk, its severe climate, 6

Villages of Siberia, 11;
resemblance to those of Russia, 18;
Japanese villages, 131

Vitim, military government of, 12

Vladivostok, the sea covered with ice in winter, 5;
the military element at, 38;
Vladivostok not so good as Port Arthur, 49;
the town and harbour, 49;
population, 50;
the journey to, 56;
main terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway removed to Port Arthur,
67;
Vladivostok a point of vantage, 74;
distance from Vladivostok to the European capitals, 76;
to Tokio, 77;
Chinese in, 232

Voltaire’s idea of a Siberian highroad, 64

W

Wages in China, increase of, 238, 239

Wei-hai-wei ceded to England, 273

Western civilization not a monopoly of one race, 172

Wheat in Siberia, 7, 24;
in China, 199

Wiggins, Captain, enters the mouth of the Yenissei, 62

Witte, M. de, chief promoter of the Manchurian Railway, 71;
his successful Chinese financial policy, 255

Women, Japanese, freedom of, 132;
Chinese, 193;
they never work in the field, 199;
binding of their feet, 221;
their unhappy lot when married, 224;
immorality, 224

Women and children employed in Japanese match factories, 121;
their unhealthy lodgings, 123;
conditions of labour, 123, 124;
women and children in Shanghai, 237, 238;
their wages, 237

Wood, very dear in China, 34;
used for architectural purposes, 202

X

Xavier, St. Francis, visits Japan, 91;
introduces Christianity there, 93

Y

Yablonovoi Mountains, the, 67

Yang-tsze-Kiang, dense population of the valley of the, 184;
no part of its basin ever to be ceded, 271

Yakutsk, climate, 6;
population, 13;
the eunuchs, 16

‘Yellow Peril,’ the, 186, 239;
if Japan and China united, 246

Yellow River, coal-beds on the banks of the, 184;
its mouth, 188

Yenissei, Government of the population, 12, 13;
immigrants, 47, 48

Yenissei River, its mouth reached in 1636, 3;
gold-mines near it, 7;
its beauty, 11;
Captain Wiggins enters it in 1874, 61, 62;
canal between the Yenissei and the Obi, 65

Yokohama, railway opened to, 108;
the third port in the Far East, 113

Yoritomo overthrows the Taira, 89;
his ingratitude, 89;
first Shogun, 89

Yoshitsune wins the Battle of Dan-no-ura, 89;
his adventures and death, 89

Yunnan, copper-mines of, 184;
a poor province, 261

Z

Zaïmka system in Siberia, the, 24

-----

Footnote 1:

Mr. Richard Davey is responsible for the translation of this work, but
I have added a footnote here and there (signed by my initials), and I
have revised the spelling of the proper names to bring them into
accordance with English usage. To forestall the charge of
inconsistency, I may say that I have acted on the principle generally
adopted in the spelling of European proper names, that is, I have
retained improper spellings consecrated by long custom—for instance,
Chefoo, Suchow, Hankow, Kowloon, just as we write Florence, Munich,
Naples, Moscow. But names not yet regularly Europeanized I have
spelled according to a consistent and more reasonable system of
transliteration-as Kiao-chau, Pe-chi-li, Kwei-chau. The French
spelling of Chinese proper names looks very strange to an English eye,
and would convey a wholly false impression to an English ear.

Footnote 2:

The _Times_, September 13th, 1900.

Footnote 3:

For example, the writer signing himself ‘Diplomaticus’ in the
_Fortnightly Review_ for September, 1900, airily dismisses as
‘illusions’ the belief that ‘China was gradually crumbling to ruin,
that she was incapable of organized resistance to the foreigner, that
her millions were unconscious of a national spirit and incapable of
progress.’ Each one of these ‘illusions’ is an elementary fact about
China, except so far as foreign help and guidance may alter it.

Footnote 4:

The _Times_ special correspondent, September 11th, 1900.

Footnote 5:

Written especially for the American edition by the author.

Footnote 6:

The position of the Manchu Dynasty in China is somewhat analogous to
that of the Shogunate in Japan, which was also caught some forty years
ago between the national sentiment and the foreigner. But in Japan,
when the Shogunate fell, there remained the divine Emperor, whose
prestige covered all the reforms which enlightened statesmen carried
out. In China, after the Manchu Dynasty, nothing remains but chaos.

Footnote 7:

‘Yermak,’ the millstone, was the nickname given to Vassil, son of
Timothy, a tracker of the Volga, because he ground the corn for his
party. He was not a Cossack by birth, but joined the Don Cossack
pirates.—H. N.

Footnote 8:

The import of Ceylon tea into Russia is already large, and is
increasing rapidly.—H. N.

Footnote 9:

All that part of Siberia situated east of Baikalia forms a sort of
neutral ground free of the Custom-house. Only spirits, tobacco, sugar,
mineral oils, lucifer matches, and in general all articles of the same
character which are subject to excise duty in Siberia proper, pay
Custom-house duties when they are sent for sale to the Siberian ports
on the Pacific. All other goods have only to pay ‘customs’ if they are
forwarded to parts of the Empire west of Baikalia, and these are paid
at Irkutsk, through which everything is obliged to pass. Tea going
from Kiakhta pays duty at Irkutsk.

Footnote 10:

By means of an ice-breaking steamer vessels are now able to leave or
enter Vladivostok harbour at any time.

Footnote 11:

The Tsar appointed a Commission to inquire into the whole question of
transportation to Siberia, with a view to its cessation. The
Commission is now understood to have reported in this sense.—H. N.

Footnote 12:

The author is misinformed here. The _Baikal_, the great ice-breaking,
train-carrying steamer, and the _Angara_, a smaller passenger-boat,
have both been designed, constructed, and set up on Lake Baikal by Sir
W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., of Newcastle-on-Tyne.—H. N.

Footnote 13:

The official estimate of the total cost of the railway is over
£80,000,000, of which over £50,000,000 were spent by the end of
1899.—H. N.

Footnote 14:

This train has been running for a year as far as Irkutsk.—H. N.

Footnote 15:

A _koku_ equals 4·95 bushels.

Footnote 16:

In 1899 (to December 25) 423,646,605 yen or £42,364,660.—H. N.

Footnote 17:

The Japanese took care to stipulate that the indemnity should be paid
in gold at the exchange of the tael in 1895, which allowed them to
know exactly on what amount of money they could count, which was of
extreme importance to them, Japan having adopted the gold standard,
and the greater part of the indemnity being destined to be spent in
purchases in Europe and the United States.

Footnote 18:

Many of the daimios, whose personal property was very small, are now
extremely poor. The largest fortunes in Japan are those of the
merchants and bankers, who under the old regime used to hide their
wealth to avoid taxation.

Footnote 19:

The Japanese Parliament is composed of two Chambers—the House of
Lords, or Peers, to which belong (1) the Princes of the Blood (13);
(2) all the Princes and Marquises (40); (3) such representatives as
are elected for seven years by the Counts, Viscounts, and Barons
(123); (4) members who are nominated for life by the Emperor (100);
(5) members elected, one for each department, and selected from among
the fifteen more important personages of the department over thirty
years of age (45). The Chamber of Deputies is composed of 300 members,
one for every 128,000 inhabitants, and is elected by all Japanese
subjects over twenty-five years of age who have resided in an
electoral district for a term of twelve months, and who pay 30s.
direct taxes. To be elected, the candidate must be over thirty years
of age and fulfil the same conditions as above. The heads of noble
families can neither be electors nor elected to the Lower Chamber. In
1895 there were 467,887 voters (11 per 1,000 inhabitants), and in all
517,130 persons (12 per 1,000), paying more than 30s. direct taxes.
Among the first class there were 21,070, and among the second class
25,405 _shizoku_, or ancient _samurai_, from which fact we may take it
for granted that there are fewer rich men among the ancient _samurai_
than among the rest of the population. As to the nobles, so-called
_kwazoku_, at least a third of the heads of noble families pay less
than 30s. The proportion of _shizoku_ among those having the right of
vote is less than 5 per cent.

Footnote 20:

In normal times, before the exceptional augmentation of the effective
resulting from the events of 1898, England had in the Far East only
twenty-six vessels, and even now her fleet is still inferior to that
of Japan.

Footnote 21:

At the present time the Russian troops in Manchuria and the Lower Amur
do not exceed 60,000 men.

Footnote 22:

‘Politics and Peoples of the Far East.’ London: Fisher Unwin. 1895.

Footnote 23:

The population of China has been very variously estimated. There exist
official statistics, but the question is, what faith can be placed in
them? The ‘Statesman’s Year Book,’ which is generally well informed,
returns 383,000,000 for China Proper, and 402,000,000 for the entire
Empire. Some travellers, however, are of opinion that these figures
should be greatly modified, and hold that the correct medium is
between 200,000,000 and 250,000,000, because the mountainous regions
are very thinly populated, and travellers erroneously form an opinion
from the condition of the valleys through which they pass, which are
generally densely populated.

Footnote 24:

Quoted by Mr. Henry Norman, ‘Peoples and Politics of the Far East.’

Footnote 25:

The admirable and even gallant conduct of the Chinese Regiment from
Wei-hai-wei under its British officers in the recent severe fighting
about Tien-tsin affords a striking confirmation of M. Leroy-Beaulieu’s
words.—H.N.

Footnote 26:

The following is the list of the Treaty Ports: To the north of the
Blue River, Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, Chefoo, and near the mouth of the
river Shanghai and its annex, Wusung. On the Yang-tsze-Kiang:
Chin-Kiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kiu-kiang, Sha-shi, Hankow, It-chang,
Chung-king—in all eight river stations, of which Nanking is not really
‘open,’ although mentioned in the French treaty of Tien-tsin. Not far
from Shanghai is Suchow, on the inland canals. On the coast south of
the Blue River are Hangchow, Ning-po, Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow.
At the mouth of the West River is Canton, and higher up the river
Samshui, Wuchow, and since the spring of 1899 Nanning-fu. On the Gulf
of Tongking: Pakhui, and in the island of Hainan, Hoi-how. The open
towns on the frontier of Indo-China are: Lung-chau, Mongtse, Ho Kau,
Szemao, Tchoun-ning-fu, and a sixth, Tong-hing, is not as yet
occupied. The open ports were in 1842, according to the Treaty of
Nanking, only five in number, but were increased by the treaty of
Tien-tsin to nineteen; others were opened by the treaty of Shimonosaki
in 1895, and by the convention with England signed in 1897. A more
recent treaty with this Power (1898) promises, but without fixed date,
however, the opening of three new ports: Kin-chau in Manchuria,
Fu-ning in Fo-kien, and Yo-chau in Hu-nan (opened in December, 1899).

Footnote 27:

The story of the improper salute was a newspaper fiction. No
foundation for it has ever been adduced. The ‘threats’ after the
sinking of the _Kow-Shing_ were wholly unofficial, and the matter was
referred to arbitration by the two Governments.—H. N.

Footnote 28:

It is to be regretted that the author does not give the name of the
newspaper in which he read this ludicrous utterance; we should
doubtless then see that it is far from representative of British
opinion.—H. N.

Footnote 29:

M. Leroy-Beaulieu cannot seriously believe that the independence of
China is threatened by Great Britain. British policy is, as it always
has been, to maintain her independence by every means.—H. N.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcriber’s note:

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.

2. Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as
printed.

3. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together
at the end of the last chapter.

4. P. 125, changed “40 per cent.” to “4 per cent.”