The Russo-Japanese Conflict

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III KIAO-CHAU Kiao-chau, in the Province of Shan-tung, was, as wilj be remembered, a port marked in the so-called Cassini Convention for the use of the Russian squadron. Its value as a commercial and strategical point cTappui, as well as the greatness of the mineral wealth of Shan-tung, must have...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III KIAO-CHAU Kiao-chau, in the Province of Shan-tung, was, as wilj be remembered, a port marked in the so-called Cassini Convention for the use of the Russian squadron. Its value as a commercial and strategical point cTappui, as well as the greatness of the mineral wealth of Shan-tung, must have been as well known to the Germans as to the Russians.1 How it hap pened that Russia forsook this important position, or, more accurately, how Germany succeeded in securing its lease without a protest from Russia, still remains to be explained. It is known, however, that the offers which had been made by China, perhaps in recognition of Germany's service in the Liao-tung affair,1 of a docking and coaling station on thesouthern coast, bad been declined by Germany;1 and also that Germany's own attempts to secure a point on the Lappa Island near Amoy, and later in Amoy itself, had never materialized. As to Kiao- chau, the desire of Germany for its possession had henceforth been often observed by the Chinese Minister at Berlin,2 but, for the realization of the desire, either the time was not ripe, or the susceptibilities of Russia had to be considered. Toward the latter half of 1897, however, the German Government seemed to have concluded that a general partition of China was now a likelihood, for which emergency Germany should prepare herself by obtaining a powerful. foothold on the littoral. Observe the following statement made, in a retroactive manner, after the lease of Kiao-chau had been acquired, by Herr von Billow in the Reichstag, on April 27, 1898: Mention has been made of the partition of China. Such a partition will not bebrought about by us, at any rate. All we have done is to provide that, come what may, we ourselves shall not go empty-handed. The traveller cannot...