Having made this gain by force of arms, Russia turned. to diplomacy. Her progress henceforth
Chineze capital was besieged lower But no tess steady, by Russian diplomats secking recognition for the Soviet govern ment. The first move was a @ramatic renunciation of claims. in-hented from the Tsarist. regime. Moscow offered to deal with Peking upon a basis of complete equality. Temitory seized under the Tears was to be returned; the Chinese Eastern Railway was to be delivered to China without compensation; the Boxer indemnity payments were to be renounced; extraterritorial. ity for Russians was to be eancelled; and alt treaties unfair to China_made by Imperial Russia with Japan or other Powers were to be annulled.
Here was fair talk indeed. And it fell upon ready ears. "China Thad put recently, emerged from fan experience ith, the, west eqn: Pongrs and Japan: that, was not calculated to increase het love for them or her trust in their pure pores. She had. entered the war against Germany at the urgent solicitation of the United States and with the idea that participa on would give her an equal voice with the other Allies at the Paris Peace Conference and assure her recovery of Shantung. Instead, she had seen the German rights in Shantung torned over to Japan and her protests impatiently brushed aside, Not.only did China secure no advantage from the treaty of peace, Dut her erstwhile allies showed no disposition whatever to release her from the Jeading-strings in which they had field her_ for three-quarters of a century. Leas ed territories, indemnity payments, extraterritoriality, legation guards, post-effies and tariff rates, were to: remain as they were. Ohina was in bitter mood. And now came Russia offering to relinquish all these privileges and to trent China as an equal, Small wonder that the Chinese people Yistened with eager ears to the Russian proposals.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.