ur hats at them," so now the believers in Russia's historic
mission in the Far East spoke of their future opponents as "monkeys" and
"parrots."

The war between China and Japan in 1894-5, terminating in the Treaty of
Shimonoseki, which ceded to Japan the Liaotung Peninsula, showed Russia
that if she was not to be forestalled she must be up and doing. She
accordingly formed a coalition with France and Germany, and compelled
Japan to withdraw from the mainland, on the pretext that the integrity
of China must be maintained. In this way China recovered, for a moment,
a bit of lost territory, and further benefits were conferred on her by
a guarantee for a foreign loan, and by the creation of the Russo-Chinese
Bank, which would assist her in her financial affairs. For these and
other favours she was expected to be grateful, and it was suggested
to her that her gratitude might take the form of facilitating the
construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. If constructed wholly on
Russian territory the line would have to make an enormous bend to the
northward, whereas if it went straight from Lake Baikal to Vladivostok
it would be very much shorter, and would confer a very great benefit
on the north-eastern provinces of the Celestial Empire. This benefit,
moreover, might be greatly increased by making a branch line to
Talienwan and Port Arthur, which would some day be united with Peking.
Gradually Li-Hung-Chang and other influential Chinese officials were
induced to sympathise with the scheme, and a concession was granted for
the direct line to Vladivostok through Chinese territory.

The retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula had not been effected by
Russia alone. Germany and France had co-operated, and they also expected
from China a mark of gratitude in some tangible form. On this point
the statesmen of Berlin held very strong views, and they thought it
advisable to obtain a material guarantee for the fulfilment of their
expectations by seizing Kiaochau, on the ground that German missionaries
had been murdered by Chinese fanatics.

For Russia this was a most unwelcome incident. She had earmarked
Kiaochau for her own purposes, and had already made an agreement with
the authorities in Peking that the harbour might be used freely by her
fleet. And this was not the worst. The incident might inaugurate an era
of partition for which she was not yet prepared, and another port which
she had earmarked for her own use might be seized b