e of her commercial treaties with the powers. When the
negotiation of a new treaty with the United States was begun, our
representative demanded that at least two new ports in Manchuria be
opened to foreign trade and residence. The Chinese commissioners
declined to discuss the subject on the alleged ground that they had no
instructions to do so. It was evident that there was secret opposition
somewhere, and after considerable difficulty Mr. Hay finally secured
evidence that it came from Russia. When confronted with the evidence
the Russian Government finally admitted the facts. We were told that
we could not be admitted to one of the ports that we had designated
because it was situated within the Russian railway zone, and therefore
not under the complete jurisdiction of China, but that another port
would be substituted for it. Secretary Hay and President Roosevelt
were helpless. They accepted what they could get and kept quiet. "The
administrative entity" of China was again utterly ignored. The
difficulty was that we did not have a strong enough navy in the Pacific
to fight Russia alone, and President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay
realized that neither the Senate nor public opinion would consent to an
alliance with England and Japan. Had these three powers made a joint
declaration in support of the open-door policy, the exploitation of
China would have ceased, there would have been no Russo-Japanese war,
and the course of world history during the period that has since
intervened might have been very different.

When we backed down and abandoned Manchuria to Russian exploitation
Japan stepped into the breach. After long negotiations the Japanese
Government finally delivered an ultimatum to Russia which resulted in
the rupture of diplomatic relations and war. After a series of notable
victories on land and sea Japan was fast approaching the end of her
resources, and it is now an open secret that the Emperor wrote a
personal letter to President Roosevelt requesting him to intervene
diplomatically and pave the way for peace. The President was quick to
act on the suggestion and the commissioners of Russia and Japan met at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Here President Roosevelt's intervention
should have ceased. The terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth were a
bitter disappointment to the Japanese people and the Japanese
commissioners undertook to shift the burden from their shoulders by
stating that President Roosevelt