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THE KOREAN BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
(Daity Press, September 26th.) Wedged in between Korea and the coast region of Manchuria, so foolishly ceded to Russia by Prince KONG in 1860 on the absurd suggestion that the Russian ageut, General IGNATIEFF, was in return to use his best endeavours to procure the retire- ment from Peking of Lord ELGIN, China managed to retain her fortress, such as it was, of Hunchun, and a strip of land lead- ing down to the Tumen River, which thus gave her a narrow exit to the Japan Sea from what was left to her of Manchuria. The only foreigner who seems of late to have visited these regions is Mr. GLIVE BIGHAM, who visited Hunchun in October 1899; and in his work, "A Year in China," gives an interesting description of the locality. With regard to the boundary be- tween China and Korea, it is acknowledged on all sides that the northern boundary of Korea should be on the west the Yalu River, and on the east the Tumen. Now there never has been any doubt about the Tumeo, and the strongest evidence with regard to this is that when in 1860 China handed over the sea-coast to Russia, all three, Korea, China, and Russia made without question the Tumen the southern limit of the new Russian territory of Frimorsk. China has all the while continued in occupation of the fort at Hunchun, and has always claimed down to the Tumen, where of late years she has established the village of Yintse.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
River, and so render this small section of Chinese territory inaccessible from the sea.
As we have said, the Chinese, till the events of 1894 awakened them to a sense of the importance of this little strip of territory, had taken no steps of any sort to maintain a gate of entrance from the Japan Sea. Prince KUNG when he yielded to the persuasive voice of General IGNATIEFF and gave up the entire of the eastern sea-coast of Manchuria, had only the idea of getting rid of his momentary tormentor, Lord ELGIN; and was ready to give away any thing to the first pretended friend who would promise to get him off the premises. It does not seem that in 1894 the Chinese had awakened to the fact that by a chance in no way due to their astuteness, they actually had the required gate of entrance; and notwithstanding that they were in actual occupation of Yintse in the autumn of 1899, do they seem even then to have realised the importance of the position That the Japanese especially since their new agreement with Russia, should desire to obtain this corner of Manchuria, which would bring them into immediate touch with the Russian possessions is but natural; and not improbably it is this evident desire of Japan to get a footing on the left bank of the Tumen that has given China an inkling of the importance of the position; and has led to her blocking the way, and being so persistent in her claim to the territory as hers by right as well as by occupation.
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previous article, their assurances that the amall force sent was intended only to restore peace and order in the disturbed locality.
THE COLONIAL OFFICE
RE-SHUFFLE.
(Daily Press, September 27th). Our readers must be awaiting with considerable interest some further informa- tion regarding the announcement male in the Daily Press a few days ago, of the proposed reorganisation of the Imperiat Colonial Office, including the establishment of a secretariat to the newly constituted Imperial Conference. Lord ELGIN's au- nouncement to the House of Lords was too brief to satisfy curiosity on all points. There is a promising sound about the determina- tion to separate the departments of the Colonial Office so that there will be " distinct division dealing with the affairs of the responsibly governed colonies." It now appears that as a result of the changes, the irresponsibly governed colonies, as we feel obliged to call them, must receive more notice and special attention, and time only can show if this is to be for better or worse. Instead of the four departments, each with an Assistant Secretary of State, there are to be three. There will be the "Dominion " Department, confining its attentions to the Dominions and such protectorates as march with their borders, or are what is called "geographically dependent upon them. The Crown Colonies get a Department all to In the agreement of 1712 by which themselves, and as they require For many years along the northwestern the boundaries between China and Korea attention than all the rest put together, it and north-eastern frontiers of Korea by an were arranged, the Yalu and Tumen rivers is fitting that their own particular Depart
The old understanding between her and China are said to be the dividing line.
ment should retain the comprehensive title there existed a borderland kept unoccupied, written characters used for the Tumen, are
of the Colonial Department." The term and known as the Hien Tao, or unoccupied. Now bere, as all through these
"colony
as now employed at Home will circuit, which in Japanese is pronounced countries outside China proper, the cha- be understood to mean "Crown Colony." Kando, This borderland was maintained racters are simply phonetic, the language The late Conference has had the result of not being Chinese, and the rivers eliminating a word that to our bigger, having no Chinese names. On recent maps, principally Japanese, the of the river is written with the cha- racters Teoman, the first in both and cases being in the lower tone, therefore with an identical initial-both are
by China to prevent unauthorised commu- nication between the two countries, and China used to keep here a frontier guard to prevent smuggling. With the decay of China's executive the keeping of the guard here became a burden, and the district in consequence became a refuge for marauders aud fugitives from justice, and China some years back before her war with Japan arranged with Korea to throw it open to settlement. With the usual happy-go-lucky practice of China, though she had retained the fort of Hunchun, she was blind to the advantage it gave her of affording an entrance to the Japan Sea, from which the village of Tintse is only fourteen miles distant. On occupying the Hien Tao, China took measures to remove the Korean squat ters, and her right in this respect has never been questioned, and we find that at the time of Mr. BIGHAM's visit in October 1899 China Was in full occupation of the territory down to the boundary,
the left bank of the Tumen river. So little idea had Korea of making any claim to land on the opposite bank of the river that Mr. BIGRAM found there was no ferry boat nor any means of communication, and it was only after a considerable delay that his servant happened to find a small fishing boat, on the river, which he pressed into his service, and made the fisherman take him across. The boat was so small and unsuit. able that, as he says, it was with a vast deal of crowding and at considerable risk that they got to the other side of the river at the Korean town of Kyong Heung. Now this Kando to which the Korean administration has been making claim is not an island at all, but is simply a portion of this Hien Tao, or "unoccupied" land, and the claim to it is evidently made in order to effectually shut China out from access to the Tumen
name
14
more
democratic, independent, and touchy de- pendencies was becoming offensive. If their loyalty can be secured by such a verbal concession to their pride of status, we need not grumble. An indulgent smile seems more fitting. It has been pointed out that "the new departmental change is as full of meaning, in its way, as that which in the middle of last century severed the Colonies from their incongruous association with the War Department." There remains the third or "General" Department, to occupy itself with legal, financial and other business, under the supervision of the Senior Assistant Under-Secretary of State. It will be interesting to learn, as we hope to do by a later mail, just how far this Departinent is likely to overlap the others. Apparently it is to have permanent com- mittees of experts, to "take a collective view of contracts, concessions, and ques- tious of patronage. We hope it may early take a collective view of the Crown Agent system. There is at present a good deal of uncertainty as to the precise nature and scope of its duties, and as to its relation to the other two Departments. says that its first secretary is to be Mr. Just, who is now, as Assistant Under- Secretary, in charge of the department comprising South Africa, and who accom- panied Mr. CHAMBERLAIN On his South African tour.
practically identical, and the caligraphist left to chose would be equally likely to chose one or other in writing the name. The Chinese of course has logic on his side when he points to the map showing how closely connected are the sources of the two rivers in the Tapeh Shan, and how they mark the clearest and most evident frontier, which moreover corresponds with the ethnographic divisions of the country. On the other hand, the Japanese have discovered a rival Tumen. which is pretended to rise in the Pehteo Shan, and taking a north-easterly course to flow after a course of some three hundred li into the river Sungari. It is sufficient to say that such a river has not been heard of hitherto, and does not exist on any of the maps. Moreover, and this is perhaps the strongest reason for rejecting the contention, the river could not, even if located, form any efficient line of separation, either topically or ethnologically. If we are to decide on the evidence forthcoming, the Japanese evidence as to a pssible other Tumen must be rejected as entirely irrele vant to the point. On the other hand there is the undoubted fact that for half a century No one on the Colonial Omos staff could well the Chinese have failed to take advantage have a better claim to the appointment, for Mr. of the position, and notwithstanding they Just was joint secretary to the late Conference have been in occupation of the left bank of and assistant secretary to the first Conference twenty years ago. His subordinates are also to the river for some twenty years have never
be members of the Civil Service, and Lord-Elgin made any use of the water way. Still this
is confident of being able to find men who have is hardly sufficient to justify the Japanese visited the self-governing colonies. But what is after all these years in taking forcible | to be the status of the Secretariat ? From Løped possession, and we have gladly noted, in a ' Elgin's statement it might almost appear that
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