asdu

Vol. 58

aprit

No. 1

It must remain in Japan's hanglis fournals

THE past week has emphasized the advance of Russia in Asia. In Korea it has come to light that Russians are now in charge of the arsenals. This, in addition to the forced appointment of Russians to the command of the army and the seizure of the customs, has almost given Korea to Russia. It is reported that England and Japan are to make a joint naval demonstration on a very large scale as a formal protest against this practical surrender of Korea to Russia, and dispatches from Shanghai declare that an English fleet of seventeen men-of-war has assembled in the harbor of Chemulpo. There is no evidence that England has been caught napping by her competitors, or that she will tamely submit to the designs of Russia and Germany. Further evidence of Russia's activity is seen in her occupation of Manchuria, and finally of Port Arthur. thermore, it is said that Russia is now negotiating an additional loan for China on condition that the English railway engineers in North China be dismissed, and that all army drill instructors other than Russian be discharged. The feeling in Russia itself seems to have become more strongly anti-British. The St. Petersburg "Novosti" says: "In consequence of the pretension of England to compensate herself for the Russian occupation of Port Arthur by the acquisition of Port Hamilton, or Lazareff, and in view of the possibility of the disturbing action of Japan, Europe stands on the brink of grave diplomatic complications. It is therefore well to recall that the reinforcement of the German squadron in the Pacific permits Russia, France, and Germany effectively to prevent a disturbance of the balance of power between the three Powers on one hand, and Great Britain and Japan on the other, such as might be produced by violent seizures of territory." Japan is still, however, in possession of Wei-Hai-Wei, the important fortress opposite Port Arthur on the Pechili Gulf, which guards the entrance to Tientsin and Peking. аль

indemnity is paid. Some

LIBRARY.

are urging a formal alliance with Jap the "Chronicle" asserting that England will her moral support to the Island Empire, will distinctly warn China concerning action in certain contingencies. At all events, the general feeling in England is towards demanding a quid pro quo if concessions have been made to other Powers. Whatever Germany or France or Japan may do in China, the two main forces there must always be England and Russia-the one the greatest of colonial Powers, the other the greatest of homogeneous empires. However heavily Russia may press down from the north, the commercial interests of the south are vastly more important, and these are likely to be dominated, as they have been, by England. The long-impending Anglo-Russian conflict may be precipitated in China before it is in India. The real issue is commercial; the fight is for the markets of the future.

Mr. Charles Denby, Jr., the son of our Minister to China and recently a Secretary of the Legation at Peking, has written an interesting letter to the New York "Evening Post" on the Far Eastern situation. Now that Germany is intrenched at Kiaochau and Russia at Port Arthur, Mr. Denby thinks that England will seize the island of Chusan, near Shanghai, and that France may take the island of Hainau and territory on the mainland adjoining Tongking. In the partition of China the United States has an interest, as our trade there is second only to that of England. The present Chinese tariff treats all alike, and China is the only great field where the American manufacturers meet all rivals on equal terms." Our treaties with China provide that American goods shall not be discriminated against, and that no monopoly shall be granted to any one. "With the seizure of territory these treaties fall to the ground, 1

OCT 8 1909 R

and spheres of influence hostile to American commerce spring into existence before the European aggressors have time to raise the cry of vested interests." Mr. Denby recommends us to demand that, whoever may become masters of the soil, equality of tariff shall be maintained, in order that the American manufacturer shall not bear the burden of a tax imposed by his competitors.

In the succeeding issue of the same journal Mr. Clarence Cary writes in like tenor, declaring that our Government officials should be stirred to the early lodgment of a firm protest against interference with our present commercial privileges. While at present our rapidly growing exports reach China under light duties and sheltered by the most-favorednation clause of the treaties, it is certain, according to Mr. Cary, that inside any German or other European (except an English) port our goods will encounter a hostile and purposely exclusive tariff. The protest should be prompt, "seeing that, at least for a short while, the grabbing powers will be measurably conciliatory to others than the Chinese, and ready individually to approve such an attitude on our part as an embarrassment to their respective rivals." Mr. Cary predicts that, as has been the case in Africa, any foreign zones now installed on China's coasts will grow along the path of least resistance towards the interior, and, that though this result will doubtless wipe out the present obnoxious likin (or inland barrier tax), the substitution of a chain of foreign colonial custom-houses will be no less insufferable. Mr. Cary also calls attention to the fact that our Minister to China is a man of large experience there and "an uncommonly capable and stiff-backed American." He is now awaiting the arrival of an untried successor—“ a kind of swapping of horses while crossing a stream-which is quite in keeping with our system of diplomatic changes on the advent of each new administration.” We may add that if the partition of China arrays Russia, Germany, and France against England and Japan, our trade interests would lie with the latter. The former emphasize commercial monopoly, and Germany in particular is smarting under the Dingley tariff. The freer trade characteristic of British policy has been imitated by Japan, not only at home, but also in opening China to commerce at the expiration of the late war.

Interest in Cuban affairs has largely centered the past week about the execution-or, as most prefer to call it, assassination-of Colonel Ruiz, a Spanish officer and member of Captain-General Blanco's staff, who volunteered to go to a camp of the Cuban insurgents in order to explain the Spanish propositions for autonomy, and to urge the Cuban leaders to accept the propositions. Strictly speaking, Colonel Ruiz did not go under a flag of truce, and the insurgents declare that he had been formally warned that no overtures of the kind would be received, and that a general statement had been made public from the insurgent leaders threatening death to any one who should dare to bring any other proposition than that of absolute independence to a Cuban camp. Whatever may be said as to the technical military questions involved, there can be no doubt that the killing of Colonel Ruiz was absolutely unnecessary, was an act of savage cruelty, and will lessen the claims of the insurgents to be recognized by foreign nations as carrying on war in accordance with civilized rules and customs. A dispatch says that other commissioners of peace sent out by General Blanco to the insurgents have absolutely failed; some have returned, and some, it is believed, have been given the choice of death or of serving in the insurgents' army. Further light is shown on the kind of war waged by the insurgents by this same dispatch, which in a matter-of-fact way records as recent achievements of the insurgents the plundering of grocery stores and private dwellings in one village, the burning of immense cane-fields in certain plantations, the destruction by fire of a little town not very far distant from Havana, the blowing up of a fine bridge with dynamite, and the killing of sixty-three men sent out by the Spanish Commander of another town for the purpose of bringing vegetables into that place. All these feats of war appear to have been accomplished within a few days without the loss of a man on the part of the insurgents.

While it is pretty clearly established that the insurgent leaders in the field have not the slightest intention of accepting Spain's proposition for so-called autonomy, it is also becoming more and more evident that the scheme itself is meeting decided political opposition. Of the citizens of Havana who are loyal to the Spanish Government there are two parties,

and the extreme pro-Spanish faction, usually called the Conservative party, has been all along bitterly opposed to the scheme of autonomy. The Conservatives have gone so far as to decline to take any part in the coming election to be held under the new system for members of the legislative body. To conciliate the Conservatives, General Blanco has now offered to practically place them in control of the local committee for the scrutiny of the electoral lists—a committee which would seem to have much the same extraordinary powers made use of by the returning boards in some of our Southern States in the election of 1876. It is possible that General Blanco will in this way conciliate his political opponents, but it is thought that the result will be a strong majority of extreme Conservatives in the Colonial Chamber.

The full text of the decree of autonomy has at last been published in this country. That which we had before surmised to be true of it is now seen to be an unquestionable fact: it gives enormous powers to the Governor-General, insures practically a balance of power to those seventeen members of the Upper Chamber who are to be appointed by the Governor-General, by making them life members, while the other eighteen members are to be re-elected one-half every five years at the least, and oftener if it pleases the Governor-General to dissolve the Council. Without going into the particular restrictions of the decree, it may be said generally that there are so many obstacles to free legislation on the part of the proposed Cuban Parliament that one can well understand Sagasta's frank statement that the first concern has been "to affirm and strengthen the bond of sovereignty," and to see to it that "the central authority is in no wise lessened or weakened." Apart from the limitations upon free government contained in the decree itself, it is to be noted that the decree is still to receive the approval of the Spanish Cortes, and that it is not absolutely certain that this approval will be given. Moreover, there is no guarantee whatever that the decree, even if ratified, may not be withdrawn at any time in the future at the will of the Ministry and the Cortes. All these things considered, it is not remarkable that the Cuban leaders look with suspicion and incredulity upon the whole plan of autonomy.

The International Commission appointed to assess the damages due for seizures of British vessels in Behring Sea has reported its findings to the Department of State at Washington. The award against this country reaches the sum of $464,000, principal and interest. As the Paris Tribunal ruled that we had no right to claim jurisdiction over Behring Sea as mare clausum, the only real question was as to the amount of the award. The Paris Tribunal merely determined questions of jurisdiction, leaving the actual damages to be settled later. The British-Canadian claim was for $450,000; our State Department admitted $400,000; and finally, in August, 1894, the difference was cut in two and the compromise of $425,000 agreed upon by Sir Julian Pauncefote and Secretary Gresham. Congress, however, refused to sanction this without a Commission. The statement was wrongly made at the time that our laws then forbade pelagic sealing; they do now. The Com mission was appointed, and has held its sittings at Vancouver and Halifax. As has already been pointed out, the damages for seizures of ships include not only the actual value of those ships, their outfits, and the confiscated sealskins, but also the value of the skins which might have been taken if the vessels had not been seized. It is said that the total of the present claims, with interest, amounts to nearly $800,000, but according to Mr. D. M. Dickinson, the counsel for the United States at the arbitration just closed, the total with interest was double that sum.

In deference to the appeal of importers of furs and manufacturers of fur garments, it is understood that President McKinley will not sign before December 29 the bill just passed by Congress prohibiting the importation of Behring Sea sealskins. This will enable the trade to import the skins which had been purchased in London in ignorance of the prospective law. Under the act all skins not taken on the Pribilof Islands will be liable to confiscation on being imported into the United States. As the skins taken on our seal islands are numbered, it is believed that consular officers will have little difficulty in determining which are contraband. Alaskan skins have long enjoyed a merited reputation for their superior durability. The market for Russian, Shetland, South American, and other skins will now receive an impetus. A syndicate has been formed for the prosecu