THE FAR EAST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue XXXXV, 9 December 1903, Page 3

THE FAR EAST.

BRITISH TROOPS FOR CHINA. LONDON, TVc. 7. A draft of the second battalion of the Sherwood Foresters has been ordered to join the first battalion, stationed at Hongkong. Families are not allowed to accompany the draft. RUSSIAN STEAMER SEIZ-ER. St. Petersburg, Dec. 7. Japan has seivd the Russian steamer Tokaimaru, recently in collision o-i the h'g!h seas. Russet flis ~ clai us 1 • bility lor ilr-naf-s, and threatens to sr'/.e a Japanese mail steamer unless the vessel is released. REPORTED ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT. Received 8, (p.'m.. LONDON, Dec. 8. Russia's silence regarding Japan's demands is explained by the fact that it was mentioned by Reuter's Pekin correspondent that China was negotiating an agreement conceding moat of Russia's supplementary terms for the so-called evacuation of Mamchuria. The agreement, while nominally confirmins the Chinese sovereignty, gives Russia an advisory share in the Government of Manchuria. RECENT EVENTS. DEVELOPMENTS OF THB PRESENT CRISIS. Tra view of tlie present "excursions and alarms," it may be well to recall the course of events in the Far East during the past few years. On July 31st, 1894, was was formally declared by Japan against China, and notified to the Powers. ,The fighting- by land and sea went steadily in favour of the Japanese, ■who, indeed, carried all before them. In May, 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseiri. negotiated t>y Li Hung Chang, who visited Japan for th» purpose, was ratified, aiwi brought peace as between the two countries. Following the "break up of China," as it was called at the time, there began a scramble by the Powers for territory, Japan, under pressure, from Russia, France and Germany, relinquished Port Arthur and the territory she had occupied on the mainland. Germany was the first of .China's disinterested protectors to profit by her weakness.

The murder of two German missionaries in Shan-Tung gave Germany a pretext for landing a force at Kiao-Chau in November, 1897, and demanding mining and railway privileges in the Shan-Tung province. Prince Henry of Prussia was Sent to China in command of a

.German battleship, as the Emperor expressed it, to strike with his '"mailed fist" if necessary. Then on December 18th, 1897, there appeared .an official -announcement which heralded much. It 'was, in effect, that the Russian fleet, by permission of China, would winter at Port Arthur.

On February 22nd, 1898, came the news that the Chinese Government had agreed with Great Britain to open all the inland waters, and undertaken not to alienate to any foreign Power territory in the basin of the Yangste-Kiang. In March there ;was a report that Russia had demanded the surrender by China of ell sovereign rights over Port Arthur and Talien-wan, on the same terms as had already been granted £o Germany in regard to Kiao-Chau. Neyt, the world heard that Ohina bad practically handed over the Jientnsula to Russia, and had agreed to conditions for the development of the trans-Manchuriaii railway. The excitement caused in England about, this time will not readily be forgotten. On April 2nd, 1898, it became known that England had been given a lease of Wei-hai-wet. The first act of a prolonged drama had thus been the war between China and Japan, the second the scramble for territory following it, and thirdly, in the summer of 1900 came the '-Boxer" rising, it led to large military operations by the Powers and to the successful relief of the Peking Legations which had >een besieged. The allied troops got to Peking on Aug. 14, and entered the forbidden City" on the 17th Afcout the middle of January, 1901 the terms of peace imposed' by the Allies were accepted : gradually matters grew quieter, and the Chinese Court, which had fled, returned to Peking. The visit of the Marquis Ito to England, early last year, heralded another event having far-reaching effect, namely, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. Russia, meanwhile, has secured a firm hold over Manchuria, and completed her railway from the Baltic to the Yellow Sea. Her apparent intention was> to extend her operations to Korea, and this as well as her repeated pledges to "evacuate" Manchuria on October Bth, has produced the existing tension with Japan.