418
THE SHIMONOREKI NEGOTIATIONS.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Act:-
China makes in addition the following concessions, to take effect six months after the date of the present 1st-The following cities, towns, and ports, in addi- tion to those already opened, shall be opened to the trade, residence, industries, and manufactures of Japanese subjects under the same conditions, and with the same privileges and facilities as exist at the pre- sent open cities, towns, and ports of China:
1.-Shashih in the province of Hupeh. 2.-Chungking, in the province of Szechuen. 3.-Seochow in the province of Kiangsu. 4. Hangehow in the province of Chekiang. The Jap nese Government shall have the right to
[June 6, 1895.
same footing with regard to trade as other in some cases startling changes they imagined Treaty Powers, making the existing Treaties would spring out of the furnace of affliction the basis for a new commercial treaty with and humiliation into which the vanity and Japan. This cool proposition was naturally corruption of the rulers of China had brushed aside by Count Tro, but he never-plunged her. Reforms in the administra- theless greatly modified his first demands, tion, in the judiciary, in the financial control, as the following amended conditions of in the system of taxation, in the army and Article VI. will plainly show:-
navy were glibly for told, and a vast expan- sion of native and foreign trade regarded as the inevitable outcome of the construction of railways and the further opening up of the country to intercourse with the world out. side the boundaries of the Central Kingdom. It was readily assumed that the humbled Manchu dynasty would be only too eager to develop the resources of the Empire in order to pay off the indemnity to Japan, and that this desire would prompt them to welcome station Consuls at any or all the above named places. with almost avid delight any proposals to 2nd. Steam navigation for vessels under the Japa-accomplish the work with the aid of Western Bese flag for the conveyance of passengers or cargo capital. The prospect thus portrayed has of shall be extended to the following places :
course aroused some sanguine expectations 1.-On the Upper Yangtze River from Iohang to
Chungking
in the minds of financiers, manufacturers, merchants, and others in Europe and the United States. More especially confident have the American journals been of the good time dawning commercially in the Far East, and some eager inquiries have reached us privately as to the pro spects of trade in the ports and places writers, innocent as an unborn babe of any to be opened up after the war. Some
knowledge of the East or of Oriental peoples, have jumped to the conclusion that the Chinese are now panting for the intro- duction of railways, tramways, the electric light, a national currency, machinery of all kinds, and for mining experts to prospect among the rich mineral deposits of the Empire.
2.-On the Woosung River and the Canal from
Shanghai to Soochow and Hangchow. The clause about the rules and regulations to
is the same
In a supplement to the Peking and Tien- tein Times is published a documentary history of the peace negotiations between China and Japan commencing with the telegraphic announcement to the Japanese Government of the appointment of LI HUNG-CHANG as Minister Plempotentiary with full powers down to the last exchange of pourparlers before the signature of the Treaty of Peace at Shimonoseki on the 17th April. It is impossible, after a perusal of these docu- ments, to resist the conclusion that the attempt on the life of the Chinese Plenipo. tentiary by the fanatic KOYAMA TOYOTARO, though a painful experience for the sufferer, Was a most fortunate event for China. Prior to that regrettable incident the Japanese Government had prudently declined to agree to an armistice except under condi-. tions, which included the occupation by Japanese troops of Taku, Tientsin, and Shan- hai-kwan, the control of the railway between the last-nained places, and the payment by China of a war contribution commensurate in amount with the length of the armistice.up After the fatal bullet had found a billet in the cheek of the Viceroy LT HUNG-CHANG, His Majesty the MIKADO, in token of a desire to make national amends for this injury, most magnanimously offered an unconditional armistice to China, an offer which was eagerly accepted. Nor was this all. In the 6.The removal of the Woosung Bar and deepen.
ing of the channel of the river. subsequent negotiations the Japanese
The demands relinquished are of infinitely
Needless to say these worthy souls bave Plenipotentiary displayed a consideration that would hardly, we think, have been greater importance to foreign trade with reckoned without the host. They have made China than those gained, but they are all
no allowance--because they had no know- unther Chinese Representative, stipulations that Great Britain and France ledge thereof for the obdurate conserva- and made concessus which will certainly sugar to have long runcit svarer repatriam the Chinese, the fatuous habit of be regretted now by foreigners, all dation for the outrages and murders of their drift, the tenacity with which, under the respective subjects in the Yangtsze Valley most extraordinary conditions, the officials and elsewhere, and would have done had the cling to their beloved systein of squeeze. Foreign Ministers of the two Powers beea The concessions obtained by the Japanese in other thau invertebrate politicians whose
the shape of commercial privileges are very attention is wholly absorbed in parochial much less than was hoped or expected and matters. The first telegraphic reports of the there is no ground for thinking that the
by Japanese in the future. In the terms submitted by Count Iro to the Chinese Plenipotentiary, for instance, Article VI. contained the following very reasonable stipulations:
China makes in addition the following concessions,
govern the navigation of the inland waters as that first proposed, but the stipulation for the removal of the Woo- sung Bar is altogether eliminated from the 1educed demands. It will thus be seen that Japan conceded the demands for the opening
to trade of
1.-Peking.
!
2.-Siangtan, in the province of Hunan. 3.-Wuchow, in the province of Kwangsi. Also
4.The right of steam navigation on the Siang
River and Tungting Lake. 5.-The right of navigation on the West River
from Canton to Wuchow,
to take effect six months after the date of the present conditions of the Treaty of Peace stated that Chinese Government will voluntarily concede
act
dition to those already opened, are opened to trade, residence, industries, and manufactures of Japanese Bubjects, under the same conditions and with the same privileges and facilities as exist at the present open cities, towns, and ports of China
1.-Peking.
1st.-The following cities, towns, an I ports, in ad-
2.-Shashib in the province of Hupeh. 3. Siangtan in the province of Hunan. 4Chungking in the province of Szechuan.
Wuchow in the province of Kwangsi. 6.-Soochow in the province of Kiangsu. 7-Hangehow in the province of Chekiang.
The Japanese Government shall have the right to station Consuls at any or all of the above named places.
2nd. Steam navigation for vessels under the Japanese flag for the conveyance of passengers and cargo shall be extended to the following places:
1.-On the Upper Yangtze River from Ichang to
Chungking.
2.On the Siang River and Lake Tungting from
the Yangtze River to Siangtan.
cash to
they included the opening of the West River even the smallest advantage to trade. Nor to trade, and there was at least this founda- is there much hope that the means of com- tion for the statement, that it had been unication even will be improved rapidly. demanded. The veteran maudarin LI HUNG. The country will be drained of CHANG no doubt chuckles over the fact that pay the Japanese indemnity, and the man- he has at least succeeded in purging the darius are too jealous of foreign influence Treaty of most of the stipulations that could to allow the introduction of foreign capital, enure to the benefit of the rabidly hated no matter how beneficially it might be em- Westerus. If the Treaty Powers are not ployed in the interests of the nation. If wholly emasculated of their former energy proof of this were needed, it is only neces they will now make it their business to see sary to refer to the action and policy of the
CHANG CHIH-TUNG. that the demands withdrawn by Court Iro Viceroy
Some five from Article VI. of the Treaty of Peace years ago this official formulated a scheme. between China and Japah are embodied in for building the Chinese trunk railway with new Conventions with China..
Chinese capital and Chinese material, for which purpose he established, at enormous cost, ironworks at Hanyang wherein to manufacturerails from iron ore to be quarried in Hupeh, and commenced opening When the eighteen separate states or pro-coal mines in the same province wherewith to vinces collectively described as China by foreigners lay prostrate under the foot of the vigorous little Empire of Japan it was very commonly believed in Western countries that, so soon the struggle came to an end, the Chinese Government or nation would be gin to set their house in order and at once inauguate great reforms and improvements To this demand the Chinese counter pro- with a view to avert any repetition of the dis- posal was of course ludicrously inadequate.aster which had overtaken them. Optimistic It simply ignored all the concessions de manded and proposed to place Japan on the
3. On the West River from Canton to Wuchow. 4.On the Woosung River and the Canal from
Shanghai to Soochow and Hangchow,
The Rules and Regulations which now govern the
navigation of the inland waters of China by foreign
yeasels shall, so far as applicable, be enforced in re spect of the above named routes until new Rules and Regulations are conjointly agreed to
The Article, which was a very lengthy one, also contained the following highly important clause :-
:
7th.hina ongages to at once proceed, nader the advice of experts, to remove the Woosung Bar at the mouth of the Huangpu River in such a manner as to maintain constantly a clear channel of at least twenty
feet in depth at low water:
THE REGENERATION OF CHINA.
writers in the Press of Europe and America drew vivid pictures of the far-reaching and
funds, spending probably as much as the first smelt it. After exhausting all available. section, of the proposed line would cost, he achieved a modified success, though it is doubtful whether the native material will not prove more, costly than the imported product, while on the other hand some years of valuable time have been lost. Untaught by experience the Viceroy-having been transferred from Wuchang to Nanking—is now about to repeat his experiment by establishing large ironworks in the latter city to supplement those at Hanyang in turning out rails for the proposed railway.