7th March.
ForGETrUL of the yood old saw that two blacks don't make a white, Russian apologists are much given to argue that if Russia has no right in Manchuria, neither ha' Japan in Corea. Many of these claims on behalf of the Muscovite are merely the special pleading of the paid advocate, or the interested arguments of one with an axe to grind, Where they are not, they are, as we shall show, based on un entire ignorance of p"st history, and especially of that of the last fifty yeara, Asa matter of fiot, for long periods in her history, Corea has either been openly recognised as a vassal S-ate, or has actually been so, though nominally independent. It is some sixteen or seventeen centuries ago since Japan first received the submission of Corea, Since then there have been many ups and downs for both countries, but even at the time when the Manchus had made their power paramount throughout the peninsula, there were still annual missions sent with tribute to Jabin and these continued till our own times, at lest till the year 1832, Towards the end, these embassies, it is true, had little significance politically, except as links with the Been through the fire of revolution ast; and subsequently, Japan having
and civil strife, there was a good deal of friction before the modern arrangement was come to by means of the Treaty of 1876.
Japan had learnt her lesson. There were wi-er heads to control her destinies and to govern her intercourse than the fiery Samurai of the past had provided. "It was of course known to Japan, and the world generally, that China had claims to the suzerainty of Corea in virtue of the Manchu conquest. But by 1876 China was, in the of Japan, beginning to be a negligible quantity and hence we find the treaty with Corea opening with a bold declaration of Corean independence. "Chosen," itran, "being an independent State, enjoys the same sovereign rights as does Japan." Had anybody a right to object to such a preamble, it would have been China. ut at that time China was busily occupying herself in an interesting effort to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. She waned to maintain her hold on Corea, but she did not wish to quarrel with Japan, She consequently did n—thing.
Then came the revolution of 1884, when the Japanese Minister had to flee for his life, and was sen: bick with sufficient troops in his r tinue to induce the Corears to treat him with respect, It was this incident which led to the celebrated agr: ement, arranged by Count Ito and Li-Hung-chang, known as the Tientsin Convention. China had kept a garrison in Corea since the previous outbreak of 1882, and now Japan refused to withdraw hers without some distinct understanding with China respecting the future, and the gist of the settlement was that no military interference should be made Corean affairs by either party without previous notice having been given to the other. In this way Japanese influence in the peninsula, whick, as we have seen, had once been paramount, then quiescent, and then practically non-existent fur a time, was restored to at least as high a standing as that of China.
Lord Curzon, in his " Problems of! the Far East," criticises Japanese action in Corea; and, writing in the first half of 1894, says: "It is, in my judgment, greatly to be regretted that in the present summer her Government, anxious to escape from domestic tangles by spirited foreign policy, hus abandoned this statemanlike attitude, and his embarked upon a headlong course of aggression in Corea, for which there appears to have been no sufficient provocation, and the ulterior consequences of which it is impossible t forecast."
It is somewhat strange that Lord Curzon with his more than usual acumen, failed to see the real point of the Japanese action of 1894-5. It is still more strange, when in the same volume he takes others to task for failing to grasp the fact that Japan was somethin; more than a builder of temples ani tea-houses, and a purveyor of pric-A-prac, and it is strangest of all when we find him writing thus: "Even the fortunes of remote Corea are ina manner bonnd up with the politics of Hindostan seeing that it. is by the sume foe that, in the last resort, both are threatened, and that the tactics which aim at the appropriation of the smaller unit have as their ulterior objective the detriment of the greater."
Lord Curzon doubtless sees as clearly to-day as Japan saw in 1894 what her true policy had to be. It. was through Corea to what was behind that Japan was looking. By the Chinese concessions of 1858-1860 Russia had been brought down to the River Tumen, so that she was now cuterminous with Corea.
Viadivostock was close at hand Coreans were invited to cross the border, to engage in agriculture, etc., ete, and their children were educated and brought up in the faith of the Greek church, thus forming an admire able band of agents by whose means Rassian designs have been pushed ever since, as she only knows how to sh them. Corean ports, free from have been almost too much in the way of temptation for Russian pioneers to resist, Twenty-four years ago when the Kuldja dispute was at its height Port Lazareff was expected almost daily at one time to pass under the flag of St. Andrew, It was Russian intrigue, it is believed by many, that wns responsible for the Seoul outbreak of 1884, and one of our late fellow: residents lost his post as adviser to the King when it was found that he hal been trying to bring about a secret agreement by which Russia was to have control of the Corean army and perhaps the occupation of Tsushima. As far back as the early sixteen a Russian frigate made a prolonged stay at this island, which was only brought to a close by the British Admiral threatening to go there himself and stay as long as the Russian stayed.
In 1886, however, when we agreed to evacuate Port Hamilton, China got from Russia a "distinct and official pledge" that under no citcumstances would she occupy Corean territory. Since that time the same "distinct and official" pledge has been made to Japan. How, more sue, Russia has broken her word in these as in other cases, how she has invaded Corean territory under the refence of timber cutting, how she hands, and dndtuoe Japan to agree to has tried to get"Masampo into her
a partition of the peninsula altogether—all this is matter. of too recent occurrence to need repetition. He who sees in procedure. of this sort argument that tells in favour of Russia end against Japan must indeed be admired for his partisanship.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.