A History of The Nations and Empires Involved and a Study
by
Logan Marshall
Part 5 out of 6
and, aided by the priests and by various national discontents,
endeavor to bring about the destruction of its opponents. Against
the Radicals and Liberals, among whom even the Voltairean Thiers
was included, superstition and fanaticism were let loose, and
against the Bonapartists was directed the terrorism of
courts-martial.
The French could not rest with the thought that their military
supremacy had been broken by the superiority of the Prusso-German
arms; their defeats could have proceeded only from the treachery
or incapacity of their leaders. To this national prejudice the
Government decided to bow, and to offer a sacrifice to the
popular passion. And thus the world beheld the lamentable
spectacle of the commanders who had surrendered the French
fortresses to the enemy being subjected to a trial by
court-martial under the presidency of Marshal Baraguay
d'Hilliers, and the majority of them, on account of their proved
incapacity or weakness, deprived of their military honors, at a
moment when all had cause to reproach themselves and endeavor to
raise up a new structure on the ruins of the past. Even Ulrich,
the once celebrated commander of Strasbourg, whose name had been
given to a street in Paris, was brought under the censure of the
court-martial. But the chief blow fell upon the
commander-in-chief of Metz, Marshal Bazaine, to whose "treachery"
the whole misfortune of France was attributed. For months he was
retained a prisoner at Versailles, while preparations were made
for the great court-martial spectacle, which, in the following
year, took place under the presidency of the Duc d'Aumale.
MACMAHON A ROYALIST PRESIDENT
The result of the party division in the Assembly was, in May
1873, a vote of censure on the ministry, which induced them to
resign. Their resignation was followed by an offer of resignation
on the part of Thiers, who experienced the unexpected slight of
having it accepted by the majority of the Assembly, the
monarchist MacMahon, Marshal of France and Duke of Magenta, being
elected President in his place. Thiers had just performed one of
his greatest services to France, by paying off the last
instalment of the war indemnity and relieving the soil of his
country of the hated German troops.
The party now in power at once began to lay plans to carry out
their cherished purpose of placing a Legitimist king upon the
throne, this honor being offered to the Count de Chambord,
grandson of Charles X. He, an old man, unfitted for the thorny
seat offered him, and out of all accord with the spirit of the
times, put a sudden end to the hopes of his partisans by his
medieval conservatism. Their purpose was to establish a
constitutional government, under the tri-colored flag of
revolutionary France; but the old Bourbon gave them to understand
that he would not consent to reign under the Tricolor, but must
remain steadfast to the white banner of his ancestors; he had no
desire to be "the legitimate king of revolution."
This letter shattered the plans of his supporters. No man with
idea like these would be tolerated on the French throne. There
was never to be in France a King Henry V. The Monarchists, in
disgust at the failure of their schemes, elected MacMahon
president of the republic for a term of seven years, and for the
time being the reign of republicanism in France was made secure.
While MacMahon was thus being raised to the pinnacle of honor,
his former comrade Bazaine was imprisoned in another part of the
palace at Versailles, awaiting trial on the charge of treason for
the surrender of Metz. In the trial, in which the whole world
took a deep interest, the efforts of the prosecution were
directed to prove that the conquest of France was solely due to
the treachery of the Bonapartist marshal. Despite all that could
be said in his defense, he was found guilty by the court martial,
sentenced to degradation from his rank in the army, and to death.
BAZAINE'S SENTENCE AND ESCAPE
A letter which Prince Frederick Charles wrote in his favor only
added to the wrath of the people, who cried aloud for his
execution. But, as though the judges themselves felt a twinge of
conscience at the sentence, they at the same time signed a
petition for pardon to the president of the republic. MacMahon
thereupon commuted the punishment of death into a twenty years'
imprisonment, remitted the disgrace of the formalities of a
military degradation, without canceling its operation, and
appointed as the prisoner's place of confinement the fortress on
the island of St. Marguerite, opposite Cannes, known in
connection with the "iron mask." Bazaine's wealthy Mexican wife
obtained permission to reside near him, with her family and
servants, in a pavilion of the sea-fortress. This afforded her an
opportunity of bringing about the freedom of her husband in the
following year with the aid of her brother. After an adventurous
escape, by letting himself down with a rope to a Genoese vessel,
Bazaine fled to Holland, and then offered his services to the
republican government of Spain.
In 1875 the constitution under which France is now governed was
adopted by the republicans. It provides for a legislature of two
chambers; one a chamber of deputies elected by the people, the
other a senate of 300 members, 75 of whom are elected by the
National Assembly and the others by electoral colleges in the
departments of France. The two chambers unite to elect a
president, who has a term of seven years. He is
commander-in-chief of the army, appoints all officers, receives
all ambassadors, executes the laws, and appoints the cabinet,
which is responsible to the Senate and House of Deputies - thus
resembling the cabinet of Great Britain instead of that of the
United States.
This constitution was soon ignored by the arbitrary president,
who forced the resignation of a cabinet which he could not
control, and replaced it by another responsible to himself
instead of to the Assembly. His act of autocracy roused a violent
opposition. Gambetta moved that the representatives of the people
had no confidence in a cabinet which was not free in its actions
and not republican in its principles. The sudden death of Thiers,
whose last writing was a defense of the republic, stirred the
heart of the nation and added to the excitement, which soon
reached fever heat. In the election that followed the republicans
were in so great a majority over the conservatives that the
president was compelled either to resign or to govern according
to the constitution. He accepted the latter and appointed a
cabinet composed of republicans. But the acts of the legislature,
which passed laws to prevent arbitrary action by the executive
and to secularize education, so exasperated the old soldier that
he finally resigned from his high office.
GREVY, GAMBETTA AND BOULANGER
Jules Grevy was elected president in his place, and Gambetta was
made president of the House of Deputies. Subsequently he was
chosen presiding minister in a cabinet composed wholly of his own
creatures. His career in this high office was a brief one. The
chambers refused to support him in his arbitrary measures and he
resigned in disgust. Soon after the self-appointed dictator, who
had played so prominent a part in the war with Germany, died from
a wound whose origin remained a mystery.
The constitution was revised in 1884, the republic now declared
permanent and final, and Grevy again elected president. General
Boulanger, the minister of war in the new government, succeeded
in making himself highly popular, many looking upon him as a
coming Napoleon, by whose genius the republic would be
overthrown.
In 1887 Grevy resigned, in consequence of a scandal in high
circles, and was succeeded hy Sadi-Carnot, grandson of a famous
general of the first republic. Under the new president two
striking events took place. General Boulanger managed to lift
himself into great prominence, and gain a powerful following in
France. Carried away by self-esteem, he defied his superiors, and
when tried and found guilty of the offense, was strong enough in
France to overthrow the ministry, to gain re-election to the
Chamber of Deputies, and to defeat a second ministry.
But his reputation was declining. It received a serious blow
through a duel he fought with a lawyer, in which the soldier was
wounded and the lawyer escaped unhurt. The next cabinet was
hostile to his intrigues, and he fled to Brussels to escape
arrest. Tried by the Senate, sitting as a High Court of Justice,
he was found guilty of plotting against the state and sentenced
to imprisonment for life. His career soon after ended in suicide
and his party disappeared.
THE PANAMA CANAL SCANDAL
The second event spoken of was the Panama Canal affair. De
Lesseps, the maker of the Suez Canal, had undertaken to excavate
a similar one across the Isthmus of Panama, but the work was
managed with such wild extravagance that vast sums were spent and
the poor investors widely ruined, while the canal remained a
half-dug ditch. At a later date this affair became a great
scandal, dishonest bargains in connection with it were abundantly
unearthed, bribery was shown to have been common in high places,
and France was shaken to its center by the startling exposure. De
Lesseps, fortunately for him, escaped imprisonment by death, but
others of the leaders in the enterprise were condemned and
punished.
In the succeeding years perils manifold threatened the existence
of the French Republic. A moral decline seemed to have sapped the
foundations of public virtue, and the new military organization
rose to a dangerous height of power, becoming a possible
instrument of ambition which overshadowed and portended evil to
the state. The spirit of anarchy, which had been so strikingly
displayed in the excesses of the Parisian Commune, was shown
later in various instances of death and destruction by the use of
dynamite bombs, exploded in Paris and elsewhere. But its most
striking example was in the murder of President Carnot, who was
stabbed by an anarchist in the streets of Lyons. This
assassination, and the disheartening exposures of dishonesty in
the Panama Canal case trials, stirred the moral sentiment of
France to its depths, and made many of the best citizens despair
of the permanency of the republic.
DESPOTISM OF THE ARMY LEADERS
But the most alarming threat came from the army, which had grown
in power and prominence until it fairly overtopped the state,
while its leaders felt competent to set at defiance the civil
authorities. This despotic army was an outgrowth of the
Franco-Prussian war. The terrible punishment which the French had
received in that war and in particular the loss of Alsace and
Lorraine, filled them with bitter hatred of Germany and a burning
desire for revenge. Yet it was evident that their military
organization was so imperfect as to leave them helpless before
the army of Germany, and the first thing to be done was to place
themselves on a level in military strength with their foe. To
this President Thiers had earnestly devoted himself, and the work
of army organization went on until all France was virtually
converted into a great camp, defended by powerful fortresses, and
the whole male population of the country were practically made
part of the army.
The final result of this was the development of one of the most
complete and well-appointed military establishments in Europe.
The immediate cause of the reorganization of the army gradually
passed away. As time went on the intense feeling against Germany
softened and the danger of war decreased. But the army became
more and more dominant in France, and, as the century neared its
end, the autocratic position of its leaders was revealed by a
startling event, which was claimed to prove the moral decadence
of France and the controlling influence and dominating power of
the members of the General Staff. This was the celebrated Dreyfus
Case, the CAUSE CELEBRE of the period. At the time concerned it
excited the utmost interest, stirring France to its center, and
attracting the earnest attention of the world. It aroused
indignation as well as interest, and years passed before it lost
its hold on public attention. It can be dealt with here only with
great brevity.
THE DREYFUS CASE
Albert Dreyfus, an Alsatian Jew and a captain in the Fourteenth
Regiment of Artillery of the French army, detailed for service at
the Information Bureau of the Minister of War, was arrested
October 15, 1894, on charge of having sold military secrets to a
foreign power. The following letter was said to have been found
at the German embassy by a French detective, in what was declared
to be the handwriting of Dreyfus:
"Having no news from you I do not know what to do. I send you in
the meantime the condition of the forts. I also hand you the
principal instructions as to firing. If you desire the rest I
shall have them copied. The document is precious. The
instructions have been given only to the officers of the General
Staff. I leave for the maneuvers."
Previous to the arrest of Dreyfus, the editor of the LIBRE
PAROLE, had been carrying on a violent anti-Semitic agitation in
his paper. He now raved about the Jews in general, declared
Dreyfus guilty of selling army secrets to the Germans, and by his
crusade turned public opinion in Paris strongly against the
accused.
As a result of this assault and the statement that the letter was
in the handwriting of the accused, he was tried before a military
court, which sat behind closed doors, kept parts of the
indictment from the knowledge of the prisoner and his lawyer, and
in other ways manifested a lack of fairness.
As a result of this secret trial the accused was found guilty and
condemned to be degraded from his military rank, and by a special
act of the Chamber of Deputies was ordered to be imprisoned for
life in a penal settlement on Devil's Island, off the coast of
French Guiana, a tropical region, desolate and malarious in
character. The sentence was executed with the most cruel
harshness. During part of his detention Dreyfus was locked in a
hut, surrounded by an iron cage, on the island. This was done on
the plea of possible attempts at rescue. He was allowed to send
and receive only such letters as had been transcribed by one of
his guardians.
He denied, and never ceased to deny, his guilt. The letters he
wrote to his counsel after the trial and after his disgrace are
most pathetic assertions of his innocence, and of the hope that
ultimately justice would be done him. His wife and family
continued to deny his guilt, and used every influence to get his
case reopened.
The whole affair in time excited a strong suspicion that Dreyfus
had been used as a scapegoat for some one higher up and had been
unjustly condemned, the fact of his being a Jew being used to
excite prejudice against him. Many eminent literary men of France
advocated the revision of a sentence which did not appeal to the
sense of justice of the best element of France.
It was declared that military secrets continued to leak out after
Dreyfus's arrest, and that the handwriting of the letter found
was closely similar to that of Count Ferdinand Esterhazy, an
officer in the French army, of noble Hungarian descent. This
matter was so ventilated that some action became necessary and
Esterhazy was tried secretly by court-martial, the trial ending
in acquittal.
At this juncture, Emile Zola, the celebrated novelist, stepped
into the fray as a defender of Dreyfus, writing a notable letter
to President Favre, in which he accused the members of the
court-martial of acquitting Esterhazy under order of their
chiefs, who would not admit that a military court of France could
possibly make a mistake.
This letter led to the arrest and trial of Zola and of the editor
who published it. Their trials were conducted in a secret manner
and they were found guilty and sentenced to a heavy fine and a
year's imprisonment. Zola escaped imprisonment by absenting
himself from France.
By this time the interest of the whole world was enlisted in the
case, the action of the French courts was everywhere condemned,
and in the end it was deemed advisable to bring Dreyfus back to
France and accord him a new trial. This trial, which lasted from
August 7 to September 7, 1899, indicated that he had been
convicted on the most flimsy and uncertain evidence, largely
conjectural in character, while there was strong evidence in his
favor. Yet the judges of the court-martial seemed biased against
him, and by a vote of three judges to two, he was again found
guilty - "of treason, with extenuating circumstances," as if
treason could be extenuated.
The whole affair was a transparent travesty upon justice, and the
method by which it was conducted threw into a strong light the
faulty character of the French method of trial. The result,
indeed, was so flagrantly unsatisfactory that no further
punishment was inflicted upon the accused, and in July, 1906, his
case was brought before the Court of Appeals, with the result
that he was acquitted and restored to his rank in the army.
CHURCH AND STATE
Later events of interest in French history had to do with the
status of the Catholic Church in France and with the relations of
France, Germany and Spain to Morocco, the latter more than once
threatening war. The union of Church and State in France, which
had only before been broken during the turbulent period of the
Revolution, was definitely abrogated by a law of December 19,
1905, proclaiming the separation of Church and State in that
country. By this, and a supplementary act in 1907, the Catholic
church was put on the same footing in the republic as the
Protestant and Jewish congregations. The use of church buildings,
which had been the property of the state since the Revolution,
was granted only under conditions which the Pope refused to
accept, and religious liberty made a radical advance in France.
THE MOROCCO CONTROVERSY
Meanwhile troubles had arisen on the borders of Algeria between
the French army of occupation and the unruly Moroccan tribes
beyond the boundary. The efforts of France to abate these
disturbances, which found support in the British government,
aroused opposition in Germany, which objected to the claim of
France to a predominant interest in Morocco. The affair went so
far that Emperor William II visited Tangier, had a conference
with the representatives of the Sultan, and was reported to have
agreed to enforce the integrity of Morocco. The friction that
resulted was allayed by a conference of the Powers held at
Algeciras, Spain, in 1905, and the trouble was temporarily
settled by a series of resolutions establishing a number of
reforms in Morocco, the privileged position of France along the
Moroccan-Algerian frontier being acknowledged.
Disturbances continued, however, and the murder of a French
doctor by the tribesmen in March, 1907, led to the occupation of
a Moroccan town by French troops. Later in the year a more
serious affair took place at the port of Casablanca, which was
raided by insurgent tribesmen and European laborers and others
were massacred. A French force landed on August 7th and a
desperate fight took place, during which nearly every inhabitant
of the town was killed and wounded or had fled, the dead alone
numbering thousands.
In 1911 matters in Morocco grew serious, there being severe
fighting by Spanish troops in the Spanish concession around
Alcazar, while tribal outbreaks against Fez, the Sultan's
capital, brought a French military expedition to that point. By
this, communication between the capital and the coast was
established, the French government undertaking to organize the
Sultan's army and carry out certain works of public improvement.
These movements revived the suspicions of Germany and that
country took the decisive step of sending a war vessel to Agadir,
a southern port of Morocco, with the ostensible purpose of
protecting the persons and property of German subjects. This act
led to the suspicion in France that Germany meant more than she
said and that her real purpose was to gain a permanent hold on
Moroccan territory. There was heated talk of war, as there
usually is in such cases, but the affair was, in the end,
amicably adjusted.
It became known that France wished to secure a free hand in
Morocco, outside of the coastal provinces held by Spain, and was
willing in return to concede to Germany a considerable amount of
territory in French Congo. The agreement finally reached, with
the assent of the other Powers, especially Spain, which had a
vital interest in the problem, was that France should be given a
protectorate over Morocco, and in return should cede to Germany a
region in French Congo, in equatorial Africa, of about 230,000
square kilometers, containing a population of from 600,000 to
1,000,000, and adjoining the German district of Kamerun, France
retaining certain transit privileges in the region.
Thus ended a source of dispute which had more than once
threatened war and would have so ended at this time but for the
vigorous support of France by Great Britain. It ended greatly to
the advantage of France, whose interests in Morocco far
outweighed any advantages likely to arise from her holdings in
central Africa. Behind all this lay the probability that her
influence in and hold upon Morocco would increase until
eventually it would develop into a virtual, perhaps an actual,
sovereignty over that country.
Chapter XV. RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR
The Outcome of Slavic Ambition
Siege of Sebastopol - Russia in Asia - The Russo-Japanese War -
Port Arthur Taken - The Russian Fleet Defeated
Among the most interesting phases of nineteenth-century history
is that of the conflict between Russia and Turkey, a struggle for
dominion that came down from the preceding centuries, and still
seems only temporarily laid aside for final settlement in the
years to come. In the eighteenth century the Turks proved quite
able to hold their own against all the power of Russia and all
the armies of Catharine the great, and they entered the
nineteenth century with their ancient dominion largely intact.
But they were declining in strength while Russia was growing, and
long before 1900 the empire of the Sultan would have become the
prey of the Czar had not the other Powers of Europe come to the
rescue. The Czar Nicholas designated the Sultan as the "sick man"
of Europe, and such he and his empire had truly become.
Of the various wars which Russia waged against Turkey, the first
of modern historical importance was that of 1854-55, known as the
"Crimean War" and made notable by the fact that Britain, France
and Sardinia joined the Turks in their struggle against the
Muscovite armies.
The Western powers had long been fearful of letting
Constantinople fall into the hands of Russia. They had interfered
to prevent this after the victory of Russia in 1829, when
Adrianople was taken and Constantinople threatened. War broke out
again in 1853 and Russia seemed likely to triumph. This led
Britain and France to declare war in 1854. Armies were sent by
them to the Black Sea, and in September a strong force was landed
on the coast of the Crimean peninsula.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL
Their purpose in this movement was the capture of the fortress of
Sebastopol and the destruction of the Russian fleet in its
harbor. But the Muscovite defense was vigorous and the stronghold
proved difficult to take. Battles took place on the banks of the
Alma and at Balaclava, in both of which the allies were
successful, the latter being made notable by the heroic British
"Charge of the Light Brigade," which has since been famous in
song and story.
But the fortress held out during the succeeding winter and until
late in 1855, despite the vigor of the siege. After the middle of
August the assault became almost incessant, cannon balls dropping
like an unceasing storm of hail in forts and streets. On the 5th
of September began a terrific bombardment, continuing day and
night for three days, and sweeping down more than 5,000 Russians
on the ramparts. At length, as the hour of noon struck on
September 8th, the attack, of which this play of artillery was
the prelude, began, the French assailing the Malakoff, the
British the Redan, these being the most formidable of the
defensive works of the town. The French assault was successful
and Sebastopol became untenable. That night the Russians blew up
their remaining forts, sunk their ships of war, and marched out
of the town, leaving it as the prize of victory to the allies.
This success put an end to the war. Britain, Sardinia, which had
joined the coalition, and Turkey were eager to continue it, but
Napoleon III had reasons of his own for withdrawing his troops,
and the other allies found it desirable to consent to a treaty of
peace. Russia was far from being conquered, but its finances were
in a deplorable state, and the Czar proved ready to make terms
with his enemies.
This did not end Russia's efforts to win Constantinople. A new
war broke out in 1877, in which none of the Powers came to the
aid of the Turks, and their dominion in Europe would have been
brought to an end but for the jealousy or these Powers, which
forced the conquering Muscovites to withdraw from the hoped-for
prize. The events of this war are given in the following chapter,
as part of the history of the Balkan States.
RUSSIA IN ASIA
Russia, though so often checked in the effort to capture
Constantinople, and with it win an opening to the Mediterranean,
was long more successful in another field of ambition, that of
Asiatic conquest and the expansion of empire over the great
Eastern continent. Here it had gradually won a vast stretch of
territory, including the immense area of Siberia and the realms
of the Caucasus and Turkestan. The result of the Boxer outbreak
in China in 1900 increased the Russian dominion in Asia, giving
the empire a hold upon Manchuria, with control of the fine
seaport of Port Arthur. It began to appear as if this whole
region would become Russian territory, possibly including Korea
and Japan.
THE RUSSO-JAPAN WAR
The danger of this roused Japan to action. When it became evident
that the Russians had no intention to respect the rights of China
in Manchuria, and showed signs of an aggressive movement against
Korea, the island empire lost no time in making war. In February,
1904, Japan withdrew her minister from St. Petersburg and three
days later, without the formality of a declaration of war,
attacked the Russian fleets at Chemulpo and Port Arthur and
landed troops in Korea.
The Japanese quickly proved themselves able warriors. On April
13th admiral Togo drove back the Russian fleet, its flagship, the
PETROPAVLOVSK, striking a mine and sinking with its crew and
admiral. On land the Russians were defeated at the battle of the
Yalu, Manchuria was invaded and Port Arthur invested and
bombarded. Battles followed in rapid succession, with victory for
the island warriors in every instance. General Oka won a fierce
battle on the heights of Nan-Shan and captured the Russian port
of Dalny. General Kuroki fought his way northward to Liao-yang,
where was fought one of the great battles of the war, lasting
seven days and ending in the retreat of the Russians.
The next field of action was at Mukden, the Manchurian capital,
when the armies met in September, and remained face to face until
March of the following year. It was not until then that a
decisive action took place, the armies numbering nearly 500,000
each. The struggle was long continued, but finally ended in a
second retreat of the Russians. There were no further engagements
of importance in this quarter, though the armies remained face to
face for months in a long line south of Harbin.
PORT ARTHUR TAKEN
Meanwhile Port Arthur had become closely invested. One by one the
hills surrounding the harbor were taken by the Japanese, after
stubborn resistance. Big siege guns were dragged up and began to
batter the town and the ships. On August 16th, General Stoessel,
commander at Port Arthur, having refused to surrender, a grand
assault was ordered by Nogi. It proved unsuccessful, while the
assailants lost 14,000 men. The bombardment continued, the
buildings and ships suffering severely. Finally tunnels were cut
through the solid rock and on December 20th the principal
stronghold in the east was carried by storm. Other forts were
soon taken and on January 2, 1905, the place was surrendered, the
Japanese obtaining 40,000 prisoners, 59 forts, about 550 guns,
and other munitions. The fleet captured consisted of four damaged
battleships, two damaged cruisers and a considerable number of
small craft. These ships had been effectually blockaded in the
harbor, lying practically inactive during the siege.
THE RUSSIAN FLEET DEFEATED
Russia, finding its naval force in the Pacific put out of
commission through the activity of the doughty Togo, had
meanwhile despatched another fleet from the Baltic, comprising
nearly forty vessels in all. These made their way through the
Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean and on May 27, 1905, entered the
Strait of Tsushuma, between Korea and Japan. Hitherto not a
hostile vessel had been seen. Togo had held his fleet in ambush,
while keeping scouts on the lookout for the coming Russians.
Suddenly the Russians found themselves surrounded by a long line
of enemies, which had suddenly appeared in their front. The
attack was furious and irresistible; the defense weak and
ineffective. Night was at hand, but before it came five Russian
warships had gone to the bottom. A torpedo attack was made during
the night and the general engagement resumed next morning. When a
halt was called, Admiral Togo had sunk, disabled or captured
eight battleships, nine cruisers, three coast-defense ships, and
a large number of other craft, the great Russian fleet being
practically a total loss, while Togo had lost only three torpedo
boats and 650 men. The losses in men by the Russians was 4,000
killed, and 7,200 prisoners taken. It was a naval victory which
for completeness has rarely been equalled in history.
Russia, beaten on land and sea, was by this time ready to give up
the struggle, and readily accepted President Roosevelt's
suggestion to hold a peace convention in the United States. The
terms of the treaty were very favorable to Russia, all things
considered; but the power of Japan had been strained to the
utmost, and that Power felt little inclined to put obstacles in
the way. The island of Sakhalin was divided between them, both
armies evacuated Manchuria, leaving it to the Chinese, and Port
Arthur and Dalny were transferred to Japan.
Yet though Japan received no indemnity and little in the way of
material acquisitions of any kind, she came out of the war with a
prestige that no one was likely to question, and has since ranked
among the great Powers of the world. And she has added
considerably to her territory by the annexation of Korea, in
which there was no one to question her right.
Since the events here described Japan has entered the concert of
the nations by an alliance with Great Britain for mutual defense
in case of either Power being attacked in the East. And this
treaty bore fruit in 1914 when Japan, as an ally of Great
Britain, took part in the war between the great Powers of Europe
by attacking Kiaochou, a district and fortress held by Germany on
the northern coast of China.
This was in accordance with the Japanese theory of "the Orient
for the Orientals" and its dislike of European aggression upon
the Asiatic coast. Japan went farther than this, taking
possession of all the islands held by Germany in the North
Pacific - afterwards handed over to Australia for administration
- those in the South Pacific being at the same time occupied by
expeditions from New Zealand and Australia. In this way the great
European war was to a minor extent transferred to the waters and
lands of the Far East.
Chapter XVI. GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES
How England Became Mistress of the Seas
Great Britain as a Colonizing Power - Colonies in the Pacific
Region - Colonization in Africa - British Colonies in Africa -
The Mahdi Rebellion in Egypt - Gordon at Khartoum - Suppression
of the Mahdi Revolt - Colonization in Asia - The British in India
- Colonies in America - Development of Canada - Progress in
Canada
In the era preceding the nineteenth century Spain, France, and
Great Britain were the great colonizing Powers, the last named
being the latest in the field, but rapidly rising to become the
most important.
The active Powers in colonization within the nineteenth century
were the great rivals of the preceding period, Great Britain and
France, though the former gained decidedly the start, and its
colonial empire today surpasses that of any other nation of
mankind. It is so enormous, in fact, as to dwarf the parent
kingdom, which is related to its colonial dominion, so far as
comparative size is concerned, as the small brain of the elephant
is related to its great body.
Other Powers, not heard of as colonizers in the past, have since
come into this field, though too late to obtain any of the great
prizes. These are Germany and Italy, the latter having recently
added to its acquisitions by the conquest of Tripoli. But there
is a great Power still to name, which in its way stands as a
rival to Great Britain, the empire of Russia, whose acquisitions
in Asia have grown enormously in extent. These are not colonies
in the ordinary sense, but rather results of the expansion of an
empire through warlike aggression. Yet they are colonial in the
sense of absorbing the excess population of European Russia. The
great territory of Siberia was gained by Russia before the
nineteenth century, though within recent years the Russian
dominion in Asia has greatly increased, and has now become
enormous, extending from the Arctic Ocean to the borders of
Afghanistan, Persia and the Asiatic empire of Turkey.
GREAT BRITAIN AS A COLONIZING POWER
With this preliminary preview we may proceed to consider the
history of colonization within the recent period. And first we
must take up the results of the colonial enterprise of Great
Britain, as much the most important of the whole. In addition to
Hindustan, in which the dominion of Great Britain now extends to
Afghanistan and Thibet in the north, the British acquisitions in
Asia now include Burmah and the west-coast region of Indo-China,
with the Straits Settlements in the Malay peninsula, and the
island of Ceylon, acquired in 1802 from Holland.
In the eastern seas Great Britain possesses another colony of
vast dimensions, the continental island of Australia, which, with
its area of nearly 3,000,000 square miles, is three-fourths the
size of Europe. The first British settlement was made here in
1788, at Port Jackson, the site of the present thriving city of
Sydney, and a part of the island was maintained as a penal
settlement, convicts being sent there up to 1868. It was the
discovery of gold in 1851 to which Australia owed its great
progress. The incitement of the yellow metal drew the
enterprising thither by thousands, until the population of the
colony is now more than 4,000,000, and is still growing at a
rapid rate. There are other valuable resources besides that of
gold. Of its cities, Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, with its
suburbs, has more than 500,000 population; Sydney, the capital of
New South Wales, 600,000, while there are other cities of rapid
growth. Australia is the one important British colony obtained
without a war. In its human beings, as in its animals generally,
it stood at a low level of development, and it was taken
possession of without a protest from the savage inhabitants.
COLONIES IN THE PACIFIC REGION
The same cannot be said of the inhabitants of New Zealand, an
important group of islands lying southeast of Australia, which
was acquired by Great Britain as a colony in 1840. The Maoris, as
the people of these islands call themselves, are of the bold and
sturdy Polynesian race, a brave, generous, and warlike people. A
series of wars with the natives began in 1843 and continued until
1869, since which time the colony has enjoyed peace. It can have
no more trouble with the Maoris, since there are said to be very
few left. They had vanished before the "white man's face." At
present this colony is one of the most advanced politically of
any region on the face of the earth, so far as attention to the
interests of the masses of the people is concerned, and its laws
and regulations are interesting experiments for the remainder of
the world.
In addition to those great island dominions in the Pacific, Great
Britain possesses the Fiji Islands, the northern part of Borneo,
and a large section of the extensive island of Papua or New
Guinea, the remainder of which is held by Holland and Germany. In
addition there are various coaling stations on the islands and
coasts of Asia. In the Mediterranean its possessions are
Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus, and in America the great dominion of
Canada, a considerable number of the islands of the West Indies,
and the districts of British Honduras and British Guiana.
The history of colonization in two of the continents, Asia and
Africa, presents certain features of singularity. Though known
from the most ancient times, while America was quite unknown
until four centuries ago, the striking fact presents itself that
at an early date in the nineteenth century the continents of
North and South America had been largely explored from coast to
center, while the interior of Asia and Africa remained in great
part unknown. This fact in regard to Asia was due to the hostile
attitude of its people, which rendered it dangerous for any
European traveler to attempt to penetrate its interior. In the
case of Africa it was due to the inhospitality of nature, which
had placed the most serious obstacles in the way of those who
sought to enter it beyond the coast regions. This state of
affairs continued until the latter half of the century, within
which period there was a remarkable change in the aspect of
affairs, both continents being penetrated in all directions and
their walls of isolation completely broken down.
COLONIZATION IN AFRICA
Africa is not only now well known, but the exploration of its
interior has been followed by political changes of the most
revolutionary character. It presented a virgin field for
colonization, of which the land-hungry nations of Europe hastened
to avail themselves, dividing up the continent between them
until, by the end of the century, the partition of Africa was
practically complete. It is one of the most remarkable
circumstances in history that a well-known continent remained
thus so long unexplored to serve in our own days as a new field
for the outpouring of the nations. The occupation of Africa by
Europeans, indeed, began earlier. The Arabs had held the section
north of the Sahara for many centuries, Portugal claimed - but
scarcely occupied - large sections east and west, and the Dutch
had a thriving settlement in the south. But the exploration and
division of the bulk of the continent waited for the nineteenth
century, and the greater part of the work of partition took place
within the final quarter of that century.
In this work of colonization Great Britain and France stand
foremost in energy and success. Today the British possessions and
protectorates in Africa embrace 2,132,840 square miles; or, if we
add Egypt and the Egyptian Soudan - practically British territory
- the area occupied or claimed amounts to 2,446,040 square miles.
The claims of France, including a large area of the Sahara
desert, are much larger, covering 4,000,000 square miles. Germany
lays claim to 930,000;; Italy, to 59l,000; Portugal, to 800,000;
Spain, to 86,600, the Congo Free State, to 800,000; and Turkey to
the 363,200 square miles of Egypt. The parts of Africa unoccupied
or unclaimed by Europeans are a portion of the Desert of Sahara,
which no one wants; Abyssinia, still independent; Morocco, a
French protectorate; and Liberia, a state over which rests the
shadow of protection of the United States.
BRITISH COLONIES IN AFRICA
Of the British colonial possessions in Africa the most important
is that in the far south, extending now from Cape Town to Lake
Tanganyika, and including an immense area replete with natural
resources and capable of sustaining a very large population. This
region, originally settled in the Cape Town region by the Dutch,
was acquired by the British as a result of an European war.
Subsequently the Boers - descendants of the Dutch settlers - made
their way north, beyond the British jurisdiction, and founded the
new colonies of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.
The British of Cape Town at a later date followed them north,
settling Natal, defeating the Zulu blacks and acquiring new
territory, and eventually coming into hostile contact with the
Boers.
Defeated at first by the latter, a war of conquest broke out in
1899, ending in 1902 with the overthrow of the Boer republics,
after a brave and vigorous resistance on their part. Under the
ambitious leadership of Cecil Rhodes and others, British dominion
in South Africa was extended northward over the protectorates of
Rhodesia and Basutoland, reaching, as stated, as far north as
Lake Tanganyika and embracing an area of about 1,300,000 square
miles. Other British colonial possessions in that continent
include the large province of British East Africa, covering
520,000 square miles, a large area in Somaliland and possessions
on the west coast of 150,000 square miles area. To these, in a
minor sense of possession, should be added Egypt, now extending
to British East Africa.
We have mentioned the respective regions held by other European
nations in Africa, France surpassing Great Britain in colonial
area though not in population. Among the French African
possessions are included the great island of Madagascar, lying
off the east coast of the continent. Mention should be made here
of the extensive and promising Congo Free State, under the
suzerainty of Belgium. Covering eight hundred thousand square
miles, it comprises the populous and richly agricultural center
of Africa, its vast extension of navigable waters yielding
communication through its every part.
The occupation of Africa, at least that part of it which became
British territory, was not consummated without hostile
activities. The most recent of these was the long war between the
Boer and British armies, the final success being a costly and not
very profitable triumph of the British arms. Of other hostile
relations may be mentioned the invasion of Abyssinia by a British
army in 1867, the suppression of the revolt of Arabi Pasha in
1879, and the series of events arising from the Mahdist outbreak
in 1880.
THE MAHDI REBELLION IN EGYPT
The latter events call for some mention; and need to be preceded
by a statement of how Britain became dominant in Egypt. That
country had broken loose in large measure from the rule of Turkey
during the reign of the able and ambitious Mehemet Ali, who was
made viceroy in 1840. In 1876 the independence of Egypt was much
increased, and its rulers were given the title of khedive, or
king. The powers of the khedives steadily increased, and in
1874-75 Ismail Pasha greatly extended the Egyptian territory,
annexing the Soudan as far as Darfur, and finally to the shores
of the lately discovered Victoria Nyanza. Egypt thus embraced the
valley of the Nile practically to its source, presenting an
aspect of immense length and great narrowness.
Soon after, the finances of the country became so involved that
they were placed under European control, and the growth of
English and French influence led to the revolt of Arabi Pasha.
This was repressed by Great Britain, which bombarded Alexandria
and defeated the Egyptians, France taking no part. As a result
the co-ordinate influence of France ended, and Great Britain was
left as the practical ruler of Egypt, which position she still
maintains.
In 1880 began an important series of events. A Mohammedan prophet
arose in the Soudan, claiming to be the Mahdi, a Messiah of the
Mussulmans. A large body of devoted believers soon gathered
around him, and he set up an independent sultanate in the desert,
defeating four Egyptian expeditions sent against him, and
capturing El Obeid, the chief city of Kordofan, which he made his
capital in 1883.
The effort to subdue the outbreak proved a long and arduous one,
and was accomplished only after many years and much loss to the
British and Egyptian forces. No time was lost in sending an army
against the fanatical Arabs. This was led by an English officer
known as Hicks Pasha. He fell into a Mahdist ambush at El Obeid,
and after a desperate struggle, lasting three days, his force was
almost completely annihilated, Hicks being the last to die. Very
few of his men escaped to tell the tale of their defeat.
Other expeditions of Egyptian troops sent against Osman Digna
("Osman the Ugly"), a lieutenant of the Mahdi, similarly met with
defeat, and the Mahdists invested and besieged the towns of
Sinkat and Tokar.
To relieve these towns, Baker Pasha, a daring and able British
leader, was sent with a force of 3,650 men. Unfortunately, his
troops were mainly Egyptian, and the result of preceding
expeditions had inspired these with a more than wholesome fear of
the Mahdists. They met a party of the latter, only about 1,200
strong, at a point south of Suakim, on the Red Sea. Instantly the
Egyptians broke into a panic of terror and were surrounded and
butchered in a frightful slaughter.
"Inside the square," said an eye-witness, "the state of affairs
was almost indescribable. Cavalry, infantry, mules, camels,
falling baggage and dying men were crushed into a struggling,
surging mass. The Egyptians were shrieking madly, hardly
attempting to run away, but trying to shelter themselves one
behind another." "The conduct of the Egyptians was simply
disgraceful," said another officer. "Armed with rifle and
bayonet, they allowed themselves to be slaughtered, without an
effort at self-defense, by savages inferior to them in numbers
and armed only with spears and swords."
Baker and his staff officers, seeing affairs were hopeless,
charged the enemy and cut their way through to the shore, but of
the total force two-thirds were left dead or wounded on the
field. Such was the "massacre" of El Teb, which was followed four
days afterwards by the capture of Sinkat and slaughter of its
garrison.
To avenge this butchery, General Graham was sent from Cairo with
reinforcements of British troops. These advanced upon Osman and
defeated him in two engagements, the last a crushing one, in
which the British lost only 200 men, while the Arab loss, in
killed alone, numbered over 2,000.
GORDON AT KHARTOUM
These events took place in 1884 and in the same year General
Charles Gordon - the famous Chinese Gordon - ascended the Nile to
Khartoum, to relieve the Egyptian garrison of that city. He
failed in this, the Arabs of the Soudan flocking to the standard
of the Mahdi in such multitudes that Khartoum was cut off from
all communication with the north, leaving Gordon and the garrison
in a position of dire peril.
It became necessary to send an expedition for their relief, this
being led by Lord Wolseley, the hero of the Zulu and Ashanti
wars. This advanced in two sections, a desert and a river column.
Two furious attacks were made by the Mahdists on the desert
troops, both being repulsed with heavy loss. On reaching the
river, they proceeded in steamers which Gordon had sent down the
Nile to meet them. But there was unavoidable delay, and when the
vicinity of Khartoum was reached, on January 28, 1885, it was
learned that the town had been taken and Gordon killed two days
before. All his men, 4,000 in number, were killed with him.
SUPPRESSION OF THE MAHDI REVOLT
After this misfortune the Arabs were left in possession for
nearly twelve years, no other expedition being sent until 1896,
while it was not until 1898 that the Anglo-Egyptian forces
reached the vicinity of Khartoum. They were commanded by General
Kitchener, one of the ablest of British soldiers. His men were
well drilled and very different in character from those led by
Baker Pasha. They met the Arabs at Omdurman, near Khartoum, and
gave them a crushing defeat, more than 10,000 of them falling,
while the British loss was only about 200. This ended the Arab
resistance and the Soudan was restored to Egypt, fourteen years
after it had been taken by the Mahdi.
Brief mention of the holdings of other nations in Africa must
suffice. Germany has large areas in East Africa and Southwest
Africa, with smaller holdings elsewhere. The possessions of
France extend from Algeria and Tunis southward over the Sahara
and the Soudan, with holdings on the east and west coasts.
Portugal has large, feebly held districts in the south-central
coast region, and Italy holds small districts on the Red Sea and
Somaliland and the recently acquired Tripoli. Spain's holdings
are on the coast of Morocco and the Sahara.
COLONIZATION IN ASIA
The colonizing enterprise in Asia within recent years has been
confined to Great Britain, France and Russia, which nations have
gained large possessions in that great continent. Russia has made
its way during several centuries of conquest over Siberia and
Central Asia, until its immense possessions have encroached upon
Persia and Afghanistan in the south and China in the east. At
present, while the dominion of Russia in Europe comprises about
2,000,000 square miles, that in Asia is more than 6,500,000
square miles, the total area of this colossal empire being more
than equal in area to the entire continent of North America.
The possessions of other nations in Asia are, aside from small
holdings on the Chinese coast, in the south of that continent.
Holland has a group of rich islands in the Indian Ocean, Portugal
some small holdings, and France a large area in Indo-China,
gained by invasion and conquest. This includes Cambodia,
Cochin-China and Tonquin, won by hard fighting since 1862.
Great Britain, in addition to the extensive peninsula of India,
with the neighboring rich island of Ceylon, has of late years
acquired the fertile plains of Burmah, now included in its Empire
of India, the whole covering an area of nearly 2,000,000 square
miles. Its other Asiatic possessions include Hong Kong, in China;
the Straits Settlements and other Malay states; Borneo and
Sarawak, ad Aden and Socotra, in Arabia.
THE BRITISH IN INDIA
The British control of India began with the founding of
commercial settlements early in the seventeenth century. Areas of
land were gradually acquired, and rivalry began later between
England and France for the control of Indian territory. The power
of the British East India Company in India was largely extended
by the military operations of the famous Lord Clive, and under
Warren Hastings, a later governor of ambitious character,
received new accessions.
During the nineteenth century many accessions of territory were
made, the one threat to British dominion in the peninsula being
the great Sepoy rebellion, or Indian Mutiny, which needed all the
resources of the Company to overcome. The most important event
that succeeded was the taking over the powers of government, so
far exercised by the East India Company, and vesting them in the
Crown, which assumed full control of the now immense holdings of
the Company. Subsequently came the raising of India to the
dignity of an empire, and the adding to the title of Queen
Victoria the further title of Empress of India. Since that period
the establishment of British dominion in India has become almost
complete, extending to the Himalayas in the north, and over
Baluchistan in the west and Burmah in the east. As a result
India, Canada and Australia have become the great trio of
semi-continental British colonial possessions, India being far
the richest and most populous of them all.
COLONIES IN AMERICA
We have next to deal with the British colonial possessions in
America, including the great Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland,
and the minor holdings of British Guiana, British Honduras, and
the several islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbadoes, the Bahamas
and the Bermudas. Of these Canada is the only one that calls for
notice here.
Occupying the northern section of the western hemisphere lies
Great Britain's most extended colony, the vast Dominion of
Canada, which covers an immense area of the earth's surface,
surpassing that of the United States, and nearly equal to the
whole of Europe. Its population, however, is not in accordance
with its dimensions, though of late it is growing rapidly, being
now over 7,000,000. The bleak and inhospitable character of the
far northern section of its area is likely to debar that region
from ever having any other than a scanty nomad population, fur
animals being its principal useful product. It is, however,
always unsafe to predict. The recent discovery of gold in an
arctic country traversed by the Klondike river, brought miners by
the thousands to that wintry realm, and it would be very unwise
to declare that the remainder of the great northern region
contains no treasures for the craving hands of man. So far as the
fertile regions of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan are
concerned, the recent demonstration of their great availability
as wheat-producing territory has added immensely to our
conception of the national wealth of Canada, which promises to
become one of the great wheat-growing regions of the earth.
First settled by the French in the seventeenth century, this
country came under British control in 1763, as a result of the
great struggle between the two active colonizing powers for
dominion in America. The outcome of this conquest is the fact
that Canada, like the other colonies of Great Britain, possesses
a large alien population, in this case of French origin.
DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA
At the opening of the nineteenth century the population of Canada
was small, and its resources were only slightly developed. Its
people did not reach the million mark until about 1840, though
after that date the tide of immigration flowed thither with
considerable strength and the population grew with some rapidity.
In 1791 the original province of Quebec had been divided into
Upper and Lower Canada, and racial and religious conditions of
the next fifty years led to severe political conflicts. As a
result an act of union took place, the provinces being reunited
in 1840.
Upper Canada, at the opening of the eighteenth century, was only
slightly developed, the country being a vast forest, without
towns, without roads, and practically shut out from the remainder
of the world. The sparse population was made up largely of United
Empire Loyalists - refugees from the successful revolution in the
Thirteen Colonies. But it began to grow with the new century,
numbers crossed the Niagara River from the States to the fertile
lands beyond, immigrants crossed the waters from Great Britain
and France, Toronto was made the capital city, ad the population
of the province soon rose to 30,000 in number. Lower Canada,
however, with its old cities of Quebec and Montreal, and its
flourishing settlements along the St. Lawrence River, continued
the most populous section of the country, though its people were
almost exclusively of French origin. The strength of the British
population lay in the upper province.
In time the union which existed between the two larger provinces
of Canada became unfitted to serve the purposes of the entire
colony. The maritime provinces began to discuss the question of
local federation, and it was finally proposed to unite all
British North America into one general union. This was done in
1867, the British Parliament passing an act which created the
"Dominion of Canada." The new confederation included Ontario
(Upper Canada), Quebec (Lower Canada), New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia. Four years later Manitoba and British Columbia were
included, and Prince Edward Island in 1874. Since then other
additions have been made. A parliament was formed consisting of a
Senate of life members appointed by the Crown and an Assembly
elected by the people.
Some important questions which have arisen in Canada since the
dates above given had largely to do with its relations to the
United States and its people. One of the most troublesome of
these was that relating to the productive fisheries on the banks
of Newfoundland and the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
For years the problem of the rights of American fishermen in
these regions excited controversy. Several partial settlements
have been made and in 1877 the sum of $5,000,000 was awarded to
Great Britain in payment for the privileges granted to the United
States. A treaty was signed in 1888 for the settlement of other
branches of this vexatious question.
The discovery of gold on the Klondike River in 1896 developed
another problem, that of the true boundary between Alaska and
Canada. At first, under the belief that the gold region was in
Alaska, it brought a rush of American miners to that region. But
it was soon found that the mining region was in Canada and the
mining laws imposed by the Canadian authorities were bitterly
objected to by the American miners. The question of boundary has
since been definitely settled by an international tribunal of
British and American jurists and the present boundary line marked
out by a scientific commission.
The industrial development of the Dominion within recent years
has been great. Agriculturally the development of the fertile
wheat fields of the middle west is of the most promising
character, while railway progress has been highly encouraging.
The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway was a remarkable
enterprise at the time of its construction. Recently Canada is
approaching a position of rivalry with the United States in this
particular, a new transcontinental line, the Grand Trunk Pacific,
having been completed in 1914, while the Canadian Northern is
rapidly progressing.
PROGRESS IN CANADA
Railways have spread like a network over the rich agricultural
territory along the southern border land of the Dominion, from
ocean to ocean, and are now pushing into the deep forest land and
rich mineral and agricultural regions of the interior and the
northwest, their total length in 1914 approaching 30,000 miles.
These roads have been built largely under different forms of
government aid, such as land grants, cash subsidies, loans, the
issue of debentures, and the guarantee of interest on bonds.
In manufacturing industry almost every branch of production is to
be found, the progressive enterprise of the people of the
dominion being great, and a large proportion of the goods they
need being made at home. The best evidence of the enterprise of
Canada in manufacture is shown by the fact that she exports many
thousand dollars worth of goods annually more than she buys -
England being her largest customer and the United States second
on the list.
Not only is the outside world largely ignorant of the importance
of Canada, but many of her own people fail to realize the
greatness of the country they possess. Its area of more than
three and one-half millions of square miles - one sixteenth of
the entire land surface of the earth - is great enough to include
an immense variety of natural conditions and products. This area
constitutes forty per cent of the far extended British empire,
while its richness of soil and resources in forest and mineral
wealth are as yet almost untouched, and its promise of future
yield is immense. The dimensions of the dominion guarantee a
great variety of natural attractions. There are vast
grass-covered plains, thousands of square miles of untouched
forest lands, multitudes of lakes and rivers, great and small,
and mountains of the wildest and grandest character, whose
natural beauty equals that of the far-famed Alpine peaks. In
fact, the Canadian Pacific Railway is becoming a route of
pilgrimage for the lovers of the beautiful and sublime, its
mountain scenery being unrivaled upon the continent.
In several conditions the people of Canada, while preserving the
general features of English society, are much more free and
untrammeled. The class system of Great Britain has gained little
footing in this new land, where early every farmer is the owner
of the soil which he tills, and the people have a feeling of
independence unknown to the agricultural population of European
countries. There has been great progress also in many social
questions. The liquor traffic is subject in some Provinces to the
local option restriction; religious liberty prevails; education
is practically free and unsectarian; the franchise is enjoyed by
all citizens; members of parliament are paid for their services;
and though the executive department of the government is under
the control of a governor-general appointed by the Crown, the
laws of Canada are made by its own statesmen, and a state of
practical independence prevails. Recognizing this, and respecting
the liberty-loving spirit of the people, Great Britain is chary
in interfering with any question of Canadian policy, or in any
sense attempting to limit the freedom of her great transatlantic
colony.
Chapter XVII. THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN
Development of World Power in the East
Warlike Invasions of China - Commodore Perry and His Treaty -
Japan's Rapid Progress - Origin of the China-Japan War - The
Position of Korea - Li Hung Chang and the Empress - How Japan
Began War - The Chinese and Japanese Fleets - The Battle of the
Yalu - Capture of Wei Hai Wei - Europe Invades China - The Boxer
Outbreak - Russian Designs on Manchuria - Japan Begins War on
Russia - The Armies Meet - China Becomes a Republic
Asia, the greatest of the continents and the seat of the earliest
civilizations, yields us the most remarkable phenomenon in the
history of mankind. In remote ages, while Europe lay plunged in
the deepest barbarism, certain sections of Asia were marked by
surprising activity in thought and progress. In three
far-separated regions - China, India, and Babylonia - and in a
fourth on the borders of Asia - Egypt - civilization rose and
flourished for ages, while the savage and the barbarian roamed
over all other regions of the earth. A still more extraordinary
fact is, that during the more recent era, that of European
civilization, Asia rested in the most sluggish conservatism,
sleeping while Europe and America were actively moving, content
with its ancient knowledge while the people of the West were
pursuing new knowledge into its most secret lurking places.
And this conservatism seemed an almost immovable one. For a
century England has been pouring new thought and new enterprise
into India, yet the Hindus cling stubbornly to their remotely
ancient beliefs and customs, though they show some signs of a
political awakening. For half a century Europe has been
hammering upon the gates of China, but not until recently did
this sleeping nation show any signs of waking to the fact that
the world was moving around it. As regards the other early
civilizations - Babylonia and Egypt - they long ago were utterly
swamped under the tide of Turkish barbarism and exist only in
their ruins. Persia, once a great and flourishing empire,
likewise sank under the flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion,
and today seems in danger of being swallowed up in the tide of
Russian and British ambition. Such was the Asia upon which the
nineteenth century dawned, and such it remains in some measure
today, though in parts of its vast area modern civilization has
gained a firm foothold.
This is especially the case with the island empire of Japan, a
nation the people of which are closely allied in race to those of
China, yet who have displayed a greater progressiveness and a
marked readiness to avail themselves of the resources of modern
civilization. The development of Japan has taken place within a
brief period. Previous to that time it was as resistant to
western influences as China continued until a later date. They
were both closed nations, prohibiting the entrance of modern
ideas and peoples, proud of their own form of civilization and
their own institutions, and sternly resolved to keep out the
disturbing influences of the restless West. As a result, they
remained locked against the new civilization until after the
nineteenth century was well advanced, and China's disposition to
avail itself of the results of modern invention was not
manifested until the century was near its end.
WARLIKE INVASION OF CHINA
China, with its estimated population of 300,000,000, attained to
a considerable measure of civilization at a very remote period,
but until very recently made almost no progress during the
Christian era, being content to retain its old ideas, methods and
institutions, which its people looked upon as far superior to
those of the western nations. Great Britain gained a foothold in
China as early as the seventeenth century, but the persistent
attempt to flood the country with the opium of India, in
disregard of the laws of the land, so angered the emperor that he
had the opium of the British stores at Canton, worth $20,000,000,
seized and destroyed. This led to the "Opium War" of 1840, in
which China was defeated and was forced in consequence to accept
a much greater degree of intercourse with the world, five ports
being made free to the world's commerce and Hong Kong ceded to
Great Britain. In 1856 an arbitrary act of the Chines authorities
at Canton, in forcibly boarding a British vessel in the Canton
River, led to a new war, in which the French joined the British
and the allies gained fresh concessions from China. In 1859 the
war was renewed, and Peking was occupied by the British and
French forces in 1860, the emperor's summer palace being
destroyed.
These wars had their effect in largely breaking down the Chinese
wall of seclusion and opening the empire more fully to foreign
trade and intercourse, and also in compelling the emperor to
receive foreign ambassadors at his court in Peking. In this the
United States was among the most successful of the nations, from
the fact that it had always maintained friendly relations with
China. In 1876 a short railroad was laid, and in 1877 a telegraph
line was established. During the remainder of the century the
telegraph service was widely extended, but the building of
railroads was strongly opposed by the government, and not until
the century had reached its end did the Chinese awaken to the
importance of this method of transportation. They did, however,
admit steam traffic to their rivers, and purchased some powerful
ironclad naval vessels in Europe.
COMMODORE PERRY AND HIS TREATY
The isolation of Japan was maintained longer than that of China,
trade with that country being of less importance, and foreign
nations knowing and caring less about it. The United States has
the credit of breaking down its long and stubborn seclusion and
setting in train the remarkably rapid development of the island
empire. In 1854 Commodore Perry appeared with an American fleet
in the bay of Yeddo, and, by a show of force and a determination
not to be rebuffed, he induced the authorities to make a treaty
of commercial intercourse with the United States. Other nations
quickly demanded similar privileges, and Japan's obstinate
resistance to foreign intercourse was at an end.
The result of this was revolutionary in Japan. For centuries the
Shogun, or Tycoon, the principal military noble, had been
dominant in the empire, and the Mikado, the true emperor,
relegated to a position of obscurity. But the entrance of
foreigners disturbed conditions so greatly - by developing
parties for and against seclusion - that the Mikado was enabled
to regain his long-lost power, and in 1868 the ancient form of
government was restored, the nobles being relegated to their
original rank and their semi-feudal system overthrown.
JAPAN'S RAPID PROGRESS
The Japanese quickly began to show a striking activity in the
acceptance of the results of western civilization, alike in
regard to objects of commerce, inventions, and industries, and to
political organization. The latter advanced so rapidly that in
1889 the old despotic government was, by the voluntary act of the
emperor, set aside and a limited monarchy established, the
country being given a constitution and a legislature, with
universal suffrage for all men over twenty-five. This act is of
remarkable interest, it being doubtful if history records any
similar instance of a monarch decreasing his authority without
appeal or pressure from his people. It indicates a liberal spirit
that could hardly have been looked for in a nation that had so
recently opened its doors. It was, however, probably the result
of a previous compact with the nobles who aided the Mikado to
regain his throne. Today, Japan differs little from the nations
of Europe and America in its institutions and industries, and
from being among the most backward, has taken its place among the
most advanced nations of the world.
The Japanese army has been organized upon the European system,
and armed with the most modern style of weapons, the German
method of drill and organization being adopted. Its navy consists
of about two hundred war vessels, built largely in British
dockyards and manned by sailors trained under British officers. A
number of powerful ships are in process of building. Railroads
have been widely extended; telegraphs run everywhere; education
is in an advancing stage of development, embracing an imperial
university at Tokio, and institutions in which foreign languages
and science are taught; and in a hundred ways Japan is
progressing at a rate which is one of the greatest marvels of the
twentieth century. This is particularly notable in view of the
longer adherence maintained by the neighboring empire of China to
its old customs, and the slowness with which it yielded to the
influx of new ideas.
ORIGIN OF THE CHINA-JAPAN WAR
As a result of this difference in progress between the two
nations we have to describe a remarkable event, one of the most
striking evidences that could be given of the practical advantage
of modern civilization. Near the end of the century war broke out
between China and Japan, and there was shown to the world the
singular circumstance of a nation of 40,000,000 people, armed
with modern implements of war, attacking a nation of 300,000,000
- equally brave, but with its army organized on an ancient system
- and defeating it as quickly and completely as Germany defeated
France in the Franco-German War. This war, which represents a
completely new condition of affairs in the continent of Asia, is
of sufficient interest and importance to speak of at some length.
Between China and Japan lay the kingdom of Korea, separated by
rivers from the former and by a strait of the ocean from the
latter, and claimed as a vassal state by both, yet preserving its
independence as a state against the pair. Japan invaded this
country at two different periods in the past, but failed to
conquer it. China has often invaded it, with the same result.
Thus it remained practically independent until near the end of
the nineteenth century, when the question of predominance in it
became a cause of war between the two rival empires.
Korea long pursued the same policy as China and Japan, locking
its ports against foreigners so closely that it became known as
the Hermit Nation and the Forbidden Land. But it was forced to
give way, like its neighbors. The opening of Korea was due to
Japan. In 1876 the Japanese did to this secluded kingdom what
Commodore Perry had done to Japan twenty-two years before. They
sent a fleet to Seoul, the Korean capital, and by threat of war
forced the government to open to trade the port of Fusan. In 1880
Chemulpo was made an open port. Later on the United States sent a
fleet there which obtained similar privileges. Soon afterwards
most of the nations of Europe were admitted to trade, and the
isolation of the Hermit Nation was at an end. Less than ten years
had sufficed to break down an isolation which had lasted for
centuries. In less than twenty years after - in the year 1899 -
an electric trolley railway was put in operation in the streets
of Seoul - a remarkable evidence of the great change in Korean
policy.
THE POSITION OF KOREA
Korea was no sooner opened to foreign intercourse than China and
Japan became rivals for influence in that country - a rivalry in
which Japan showed itself the more active. The Koreans became
divided into two factions, a progressive one that favored Japan,
and a conservative one that favored China. Japanese and Chinese
soldiers were landed upon its soil, and the Chinese aided their
party, which was in ascendency among the Koreans, to drive out
the Japanese troops. War was threatened, but it was a averted by
a treaty in 1885 under which both nations agreed to withdraw
their troops and to send no officers to drill the Korean
soldiers.
The war, thus for the time averted, came nine years afterwards,
in consequence of an insurrection in Korea. The people of that
country were discontented. They were oppressed with taxes and by
tyranny, and in 1894 the followers of a new religious sect broke
out in open revolt. Their numbers rapidly increased until they
were 20,000 strong, and they defeated the government troops,
captured a provincial city, and put the capital itself in danger.
The Min (or Chinese) faction was then at the head of affairs in
the kingdom and called for aid from China, which responded by
sending some two thousand troops and a number of war vessels to
Korea. Japan, jealous of any such action on the part of China,
responded by surrounding Seoul with soldiers, several thousands
in number.
Disputes followed. China claimed to be suzerain of Korea and
Japan denied it. Both parties refused to withdraw their troops,
and the Japanese, finding that the party in power was acting
against them, advanced on the capital, drove out the officials,
and took possession of the palace and the king. A new government,
made up of the party that favored Japan, was organized, and a
revolution was accomplished in a day. The new authorities
declared that the Chinese were intruders and requested the aid of
the Japanese to expel them. War was close at hand.
LI HUNG CHANG AND THE EMPRESS
China was at that time under the leadership of a statesman of
marked ability, the famous Li Hung Chang, who, from being made
viceroy of a province in 1870, had risen to be the prime minister
of the empire. At the head of the empire was a woman, the Dowager
Empress Tsu Tsi, who had usurped the power of the young emperor
and ruled the state. It was to these two people in power that the
war was due. The dowager empress, blindly ignorant of the power
of the Japanese, decided that these "insolent pigmies" deserved
to be chastised. Li, her right-hand man, was of the same opinion.
At the last moment, indeed, doubts began to assail his mind, into
which came a dim idea that the army and navy of China were not in
shape to meet the forces of Japan. But the empress was resolute.
Her sixtieth birthday was at hand and she proposed to celebrate
it magnificently; and what better decorations could she display
than the captured banners of these insolent islanders? So it was
decided to present a bold front, and, instead of the troops of
China being removed, reinforcements were sent to the force at
Asan.
HOW JAPAN BEGAN WAR
There followed a startling event. On July 25th three Japanese
men-of-war, cruising in the Yellow Sea, came in sight of a
transport loaded with Chinese troops and convoyed by two ships of
the Chinese navy. The Japanese admiral did not know of the
seizure of Seoul by the land forces, but he took it to be his
duty to prevent Chinese troops from reaching Korea, so he at once
attacked the warships of the enemy, with such effect that they
were quickly put to flight. Then he sent orders to the transport
that it should put about and follow his ships.
This the Chinese generals refused to do. They trusted to the fact
that they were on a chartered British vessel and that the British
flag flew over their heads. The daring Japanese admiral troubled
his soul little about this foreign standard, but at once opened
fire on the transport, and with such effect that in half an hour
it went to the bottom, carrying with it one thousand men. Only
about one hundred and seventy escaped.
On the same day that this terrible act took place on the waters
of the sea, the Japanese left Seoul en route for Asan. Reaching
there, they attacked the Chinese in their intrenchments and drove
them out. Three days afterwards, on August 1, 1894, both
countries issued declarations of war.
Of the conflict that followed, the most interesting events were
those that took place on the waters, the land campaigns being an
unbroken series of successes for the well-organized and
amply-armed Japanese troops over the medieval army of China,
which went to war fan and umbrella in hand, with antiquated
weapons and obsolete organization. The principal battle was
fought at Ping Yang on September 15th, the Chinese losing 16,000
killed, wounded and captured, while the Japanese loss was
trifling. In November the powerful fortress of Port Arthur was
attacked by army and fleet, and surrendered after a two days'
siege. Then the armies advanced until they were in the vicinity
of the Great Wall, with the soil and capital of China not far
before them.
THE CHINESE AND JAPANESE FLEETS
With this brief review of the land operations, we must return to
the movements of the fleets. Backward as the Chinese were on
land, they were not so on the sea. Li Hung Chang, a born
progressive, had vainly attempted to introduce railroads into
China, but he had been more successful in regard to ships, and
had purchased a navy more powerful than that of Japan. The
heaviest ships of Japan were cruisers, whose armor consisted of
deck and interior lining of steel. The Chinese possessed two
powerful battleships, with 14-inch iron armor and turrets
defended with 12-inch armor, each carrying four 12-inch guns.
Both navies had the advantage of European teaching in drill,
tactics, and seamanship. The Ting Yuen, the Chinese flagship, had
as virtual commander an experienced German officer named Von
Hanneken; the Chen Yuen, the other big ironclad, was handled by
Commander McGiffen, formerly of the United States navy. Thus
commanded, it was expected in Europe that the superior strength
of the Chinese ships would ensure them an easy victory over those
of Japan. The event showed that this was a decidedly mistaken
view.
It was the superior speed and the large number of rapid-fire guns
of the Japanese vessels that saved them from defeat. The Chinese
guns were mainly heavy Krupps and Armstrongs. They had also some
machine guns, but only three quick-firers. The Japanese, on the
contrary, had few heavy armor-piercing guns, but were supplied
with a large number of quick-firing cannon, capable of pouring
out shells in an incessant stream. Admiral Ting and his European
officers expected to come at once to close quarters and quickly
destroy the thin-armored Japanese craft. But the shrewd Admiral
Ito, commander of the fleet of Japan, had no intention of being
thus dealt with. The speed of his craft enabled him to keep his
distance and to distract the aim of his foes, and he proposed to
make the best use of this advantage. Thus equipped, the two
fleets came together in the month of September, and an
epoch-making battle in the history of the ancient continent of
Asia was fought.
THE BATTLE OF THE YALU
On the afternoon of Sunday, September 16, 1894, Admiral Ting's
fleet, consisting of 11 warships, 4 gunboats, and 6 torpedo
boats, anchored off the mouth of the Yalu River. They were there
as escorts to some transports, which went up the river to
discharge their troops. Admiral Ito had been engaged in the same
work farther down the coast, and early on Monday morning came
steaming towards the Yalu in search of the enemy. Under him were
in all twelve ships, none of them with heavy armor, one of them
an armed transport. The swiftest ship in the fleet was the
YOSHINO, capable of making twenty-three knots, and armed with 44
quick-firing Armstrongs, which would discharge nearly 4,000
pounds weight of shells every minute. The heaviest guns were long
13-inch cannon, of which four ships possessed one each, protected
by 12-inch shields of steel. Finally, they had an important
advantage over the Chinese in being abundantly supplied with
ammunition.
With this formidable fleet, Ito steamed slowly to the
north-westward. Early on Monday morning he was off the island of
Hai-yun-tao. At 7 A.M. the fleet began steaming north-eastward.
It was a fine autumn morning. The sun shone brightly, and there
was only just enough of a breeze to ripple the surface of the
water. The long line of warships cleaving their way through the
blue waters, all bright with white paint, the chrysanthemum of
Japan shining like a golden shield on every bow, and the same
emblem flying in red and white from every masthead, formed a
striking spectacle. Some miles away to port rose the rocky coast
and the blue hills of Manchuria; on the other side was the Korean
Gulf.
Omitting details of the long and uninteresting fight which
followed it may be said that the most remarkable feature of the
battle of the Yalu was that it took place between two nations
which, had the war broken out forty years earlier, would have
done their fighting with fleets of wooden junks and weapons of
the past centuries. As an object lesson of the progress of China
and Japan in modern ideas it is of the greatest interest, though
results were drawn.
CAPTURE OF WEI HAI WEI
In January, 1895, the Japanese fleet advanced against the
strongly fortified stronghold of Wei Hai Wei, on the northern
coast of China. Here a force of 25,000 men was landed
successfully, and attacked the fort in the rear, quickly
capturing its landward defenses. The stronghold was thereupon
abandoned by its garrison and occupied by the Japanese. The
Chinese fleet lay in the harbor, and surrendered to the Japanese
after several ships had been sunk by torpedo boats.
China was now in a perilous position. Its fleet was lost, its
coast strongholds of Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei were held by the
enemy, and its capital was threatened from the latter place and
by the army north of the Great Wall. A continuation of the war
promised to bring about the complete conquest of the Chinese
empire, and Li Hung Chang, who had been degraded from his
official rank in consequence of the disasters to the army, was
now restored to all his honors and sent to Japan to sue for
peace. In the treaty obtained China was compelled to acknowledge
the independence of Korea, to cede to Japan the island of Formosa
and the Pescadores group, and that part of Manchuria occupied by
the Japanese army, including Port Arthur, also to pay an
indemnity of 300,000,000 taels and open seven new treaty ports.
This treaty was not fully carried out. The Russian, British, and
French ministers forced Japan, under threat of war, to give up
her claim to the Liao-tung peninsula and Port Arthur, which
stronghold was soon after obtained, under long lease, by the
Russians.
EUROPE INVADES CHINA
The story of China during the few remaining years of the century
may be briefly told. The evidence of its weakness yielded by the
war with Japan was quickly taken advantage of by the great Powers
of Europe, and China was in danger of going to pieces under their
attacks, which grew so decided and ominous that rumors of a
partition between these Powers of the most ancient and populous
empire of the world filled the air.
In 1898 decided steps in this direction were taken. Russia leased
from China for ninety -nine years Port Arthur and Talien Wan, and
took practical possession of Manchuria, through which a railroad
was built connecting with the Trans-Siberian road, while Port
Arthur afforded her an ice-free harbor for her Pacific fleet.
Great Britain, jealous of this movement on the part of Russia,
forced from the unwilling hands of China the port of Wei Hai Wei,
and Germany demanded and obtained the cession of a port at Kiau
Chau, farther down the coast, in retribution for the murder of
some missionaries. France, not to be outdone by her neighbors,
gained concessions of territory in the south, adjoining her
Indo-China possessions, and Italy, last of all, came into the
Eastern market with a demand for a share of the nearly defunct
empire.
The nations appeared to be settling on China in all directions
and to be ready to tear the antique commonwealth to pieces
between them. Within the empire itself revolutionary changes took
place, the dowager empress having first deprived the emperor of
all power and then enforced his abdication.
Meanwhile one important result came from the war. Li Hung Chang
and the other progressive statesmen of the empire, who had long
been convinced that the only hope of China lay in its being
thrown open to Western science and art, found themselves able to
carry out their plans, the conservative opposition having
seriously broken down. The result of this was seen in a dozen
directions. Railroads, long almost completely forbidden, gained
free "right of way," and promised in the near future to traverse
the country far and wide. Steamers ploughed their way for a
thousand miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang; engineers became busy
exploiting the coal and iron mines of the Flowery Kingdom; great
factories, equipped with the best modern machinery, sprang up in
the foreign settlements; foreign books began to be translated and
read; and the empress even went so far as to receive foreign
ambassadors in public audience and on a footing of outward
equality in the "forbidden city" of Peking, long the sacredly
secluded center of an empire locked against the outer world.
The increase of European interference in China, with indications
of a possible intention to dismember that ancient empire and
divide its fragments among the land-hungry nations of the West,
was viewed in China with dread and indignation, the feeling of
hostility extending to the work of the missionaries, who were
probably viewed by many as agents in the movement of invasion.
THE BOXER OUTBREAK
The hostile sentiment thus developed was indicated early in 1900
by the outbreak of a Chinese secret society known by a name
signified in English by the word "boxers." These ultra-patriots
organized an anti-missionary crusade in several provinces of
North China in which many missionaries and native Christians were
killed. The movement extended from the missionary settlements to
include the whole foreign movement in China, and was evidently
encouraged by the dowager empress and her advisers.
As a result the outbreak spread to Peking, where Baron von
Ketteler, the German minister, was killed, several of the
legation buildings were destroyed, and more than two hundred
refugees were besieged within the walls of the British legation.
The danger to which the ministries and their assistants and
families were exposed aroused Europe and America, and as the
Chinese government took no steps to allay the outbreak, a relief
expedition was organized, in which United States, British,
French, German, Russian and Japanese forces took part.
The fleet of the allies bombarded and destroyed the Taku forts,
and heavy fighting took place at Tien-tsin, Pie-tsang and
Yang-tsun. The military expedition reached Peking and rescued the
besieged on August 14, 1906, the empress and her court fleeing
from the capital. A peace treaty was signed on September 7, 1907,
one of the conditions of which was that China should pay an
indemnity of $320,000,000 to the foreign Powers. The share of
this allotted to the United States was $24,440,000, but after a
portion of this had been paid the United States in 1908 remitted
$10,800,000, on the ground that this was in excess over its
actual expense. This act of generosity won the earnest gratitude
of China.
This event, significant of the latent and active hostilities
between the East and the West, was followed by a much greater one
in 1904-05, when Japan had the hardihood to engage in war with
the great European empire of Russia and the unlooked-for ability
and good fortune to defeat its powerful antagonist.
RUSSIAN DESIGNS ON MANCHURIA
This contest, which takes its place among the great wars of
modern times, must be dealt with briefly here, as it belongs to
European history only in the minor sense of a European country
being engaged in it. It arose from the encroachments of Russia in
the Chinese province of Manchuria and fears on the part of Japan
that the scope of Russian designs might include the invasion and
conquest of that country.
As already stated, Russia secured a lease of Port Arthur, at the
southern extremity of Manchuria, from China in 1896. Subsequently
the Siberian Railway was extended southward from Harbin to this
place, the harbor was deepened, and building operations were
begun at a new town named Dalny, which was to be made Asia's
greatest port. The line of the railway was strongly guarded with
Russian troops.
These movements of Russia excited suspicion in Great Britain and
Japan, which countries so strongly opposed the military
occupation by Russia of Chinese territory that in 1901 Russia
agreed to withdraw her troops within the following year, to
restore the railway to China, and subsequently to give up all
occupation of Chinese territory.
Of these agreements only the first was kept, and that only
temporarily. In 1903 Japan proposed an agreement with Russia to
the effect that both parties should respect the integrity of
China and Korea, while the interest of Japan in Korea and that of
Russia in Manchuria should be recognized. The refusal of Russia
to accept this proposition overcame the patience of Japan, whose
rulers saw clearly that Russia had no intention of withdrawing
from the country occupied or of hampering her future purposes
with agreements. In fact Japan's own independence seemed
threatened.
JAPAN BEGINS WAR ON RUSSIA
The result was in consonance with the Japanese character. In
February, 1904, Japan withdrew her minister from the capital of
Russia and three days later, without the formality of a
declaration of war, attacked the Russian fleets at Chemulpo and
Port Arthur. The result was the sinking of two Russian ships in
Chemulpo harbor, and the disabling of a number of vessels at Port
Arthur.
Troops were landed at the same time. Seoul, the capital of Korea,
was occupied, and an army marched north to Ping-Yang. The first
land engagement took place on the Yalu on April 30th, the
Japanese forces under General Kuroki attacking and defeating the
Russians at that point, and making a rapid advance into
Manchuria.
Meanwhile Admiral Togo had been busy at Port Arthur. On April
13th he sent boats in shore to plant mines. Makharov, the Russian
admiral, followed these boats out until he found Togo awaiting
him with a fleet too strong for him to attack. On his return his
flag-ship, the PETROPAVLOVSK, struck one of the mines and went
down with her crew of 750 and Makharov himself. The smaller ships
reached harbor in bad shape from their experience of Togo's big
guns. On August 10th, the Port Harbor fleet was again roughly
handled by the Japanese, and some days later a Vladivostock
squadron, steaming southward to reinforce the Port Arthur fleet,
was met and defeated. This ended the naval warfare for that
period, all the ships which Russia had on the Pacific being
destroyed or seriously injured.
THE ARMIES MEET
On land the Japanese made successful movements to the north and
south. An army under General Oku landed in the Liao-tung
peninsula early in May, cut the railway to Port Arthur, and
captured Kin-chau, nearly forty miles from that port. There
followed a terrible struggle on the heights of Nan-Shan, ending
in the repulse of the Russian garrison, with a loss of eighty
guns. This success gave the Japanese control of Dalny, which
formed for them a new base. General Nogi soon after landed with a
strong force and took command of the operation against Port
Arthur.
The northern army met with similar success, General Kuroki
fighting his way to the vicinity of Liao-yang, where he soon had
the support of General Nozdu, who had landed an army in May. Oku,
marching north from the peninsula, also supported him, the three
generals forcing Kuropatkin, the Russian commander-in-chief, back
upon his base. Marshal Oyama, a veteran of former wars, was made
commander-in-chief of the Japanese armies.
Liao-tung became the seat of one of the greatest battles of the
war, lasting seven days, the number of dead and wounded being
over 30,000. It ended in the retreat of Kuropatkin's army, which
fell back upon the line of defenses covering Mukden, the
Manchurian capital. Here he was again attacked by Kuroki, who
captured the key of the Russian position on the 1st of September,
and held it until reinforcements arrived.
For a month the armies faced each other south of Mukden, the
resting spell ending in a general advance of the Russian army,
which had been largely reinforced. In the battle that followed
the Russians lost heavily, but failed to break the Japanese
lines, and after a fortnight of hard fighting both sides desisted
from active hostilities, holding their positions with little
change.
PORT ARTHUR TAKEN
Meanwhile Port Arthur had become closely invested. One by one the
hills surrounding the harbor were taken by the Japanese, after
stubborn resistance. Big siege guns were dragged up and began to
batter the town and the ships. On August 16th, General Stoessel,
commander at Fort Arthur, having refused to surrender, a grand
assault was ordered by Nogi. It proved unsuccessful, while the
assailants lost 14,000 men. The bombardment continued, the
buildings and ships suffering severely. Finally tunnels were cut
through the solid rock and on December 20th the principal
stronghold in the east was carried by storm. Other forts were
soon taken and on January 2, 1905, the port was surrendered, the
Japanese obtaining 40,000 prisoners, 59 forts, about 550 guns,
and other munitions. The fleet captured consisted of four damaged
battleships, two damaged cruisers and a considerable number of
smaller craft.
We left the armies facing each other at Mukden in late September.
They remained there until February, 1905, without again coming
into contact, and no decisive action took place until March.
Kuropatkin's force had meanwhile been largely reinforced, through
the difficult aid of the one-tracked Siberian railway, and was
now divided into three armies or approximately 150,000 each.
Oyama had also received large reinforcements and now had 500,000
men under his command. These consisted of the armies under
Kuroki, Nozdu and Oku, and the force of Nogi released by the
capture of Port Arthur.
General Grippenburg had command of one of the Russian armies and
on January 25th took position on the left bank of the Hun River.
Here, in the month following, he lost 10,000 of his men, and then
threw up his post, declaring that his chief had not properly
supported him. On January 19th, a Japanese advance in force
began, attacking with energy and forcing Kuropatkin to withdraw
his center and left behind the line of the Hun. Here he fiercely
attacked Oku and Nogi, for the time checking their advance. But
Bilderling and Linievitch just then fell into difficulties and it
became necessary to retreat, leaving Mukden to the enemy.
There were no further engagements of importance between the
armies, though they remained face to face for months in a long
line south of Harbin. Kuropatkin during this time was relieved
from command, Linievitch being appointed to succeed him. The
remaining conflict of the war was a naval one, of remarkable
character.
RUSSIAN FLEET DEFEATED
Russia, finding its Pacific fleet put out of commission, and
quite unable to face the doughty Togo, had despatched a second
fleet from the Baltic, comprising nearly forty vessels in all.
These made their way through the Suez Canal and Indian Ocean and
moved upward through the Chinese and Japanese Seas, finding
themselves on May 27, 1905, in the strait of Tsushuma, between
Korea and Japan. Hitherto not a hostile vessel had been seen.
Togo had held his fleet in ambush, while keeping scouts on the
lookout for the coming Russians.
Suddenly the Russians found themselves surrounded by a long line
of enemies, which had suddenly appeared in their front. The
attack was furious and irresistible; the defense weak and
ineffective. Night was at hand, but before it came five Russian
warships had gone to the bottom. A torpedo attack was made during
the night and the general engagement resumed next morning. When a
halt was called, Admiral Togo had sunk, disabled or captured
eight battleships, nine cruisers, three coast-defense ships, and
a large number of other craft, the great Russian fleet being
practically a total loss, while Togo had lost only three torpedo
boats and 650 men. The losses in men by the Russians was 4,000
killed, and 7,300 prisoners taken. Altogether it was a naval
victory which for completeness has rarely been equaled in
history.
Russia, beaten on land and sea, was by this time ready to give up
the struggle, and readily accepted President Roosevelt's
suggestion to hold a peace convention in the United States. The
terms of the treaty were very favorable to Russia, all things
considered; but the power of Japan had been strained to the
utmost, and that Power felt little inclined to put obstacles in
the way. The island of Sakhalin was divided between them, both
armies evacuated Manchuria, leaving it to the Chinese, and Port
Arthur and Dalny were transferred to Japan.
Yet though Japan received no indemnity and little in the way of
material acquisitions of any kind, she came out of the war with a
prestige that no one was likely to question, and has since ranked
among the great Powers of the world. And she has added
considerably to her territory by the annexation of Korea, in
which there was no one to question her right.
CHINA BECOMES A REPUBLIC
While Japan was manifesting this progress in the arts of war,
China was making as great a progress in the arts of peace. The
building of railroads, telegraphs, modern factories, and other
western innovations proceeded apace, modern literature and
systems of education were introduced, and the old competitive
examinations for office, in the Confucian literature and
philosophy, were replaced by examinations in modern science and
general knowledge. Yet most surprising of all was the great
political revolution which converted an autocratic empire which
had existed for four or five thousand years into a modern
constitutional republic of advanced type. This is the most
surprising political overturn that history anywhere presents.
For many years a spirit of opposition to the Manchu rulers had
existed and had led more than once to rebellions of great scope.
The success of Japan in war was followed in China by a
revolutionary movement whose first demand was for a
constitutional government, this leading, on September 20, 1907,
to an imperial decree outlining a plan for a national assembly.
On July 22, 1908, another decree provided for provincial
assemblies to serve as a basis for a future parliament. Later the
government promised to introduce a parliamentary system within
nine years.
The idea of such a government spread rapidly throughout the
country, and the demand arose for an immediate parliament. As the
government resisted this demand, the revolutionary sentiment
grew, and in October, 1911, a rebellious movement took place at
Wuchang which rapidly spread, the rebels declaring that the
Manchu dynasty must be overthrown.
Soon the movement became so threatening that the emperor issued a
decree appealing to the mercy of the people, and abjectly
acknowledging that the government had done wrong in many
particulars. Yuan Shi-Kai, a prominent revolutionary statesman,
was made prime minister and a national assembly convened. It had
become too late, however, to check the movement, and at the end
of 1911 a new republic was announced at Nanking, under the
provisional presidency of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a student of modern
institutions in Europe and America. The abdication of the emperor
quickly followed, in February 12, 1912, ending a Manchu dynasty
which had held the throne for 267 years. Yuan Shi-Kai was later
chosen as president.
This is a very brief account of the radical revolution that took
place and we cannot go into the details of what succeeded. It
must suffice to say that the republic has since persisted, Yuan
Shi-Kai still serving as president. The republic has a parliament
of its own; a president and cabinet and all the official
furniture of a republican government. There is only needed an
education of the people into the principles of free government
"of the people, for the people, and by the people" to complete
the most remarkable political revolution the world has yet known.
Chapter XVIII. TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES
Checking the Dominion of the Turk in Europe
The Story of Servia - Turkey in Europe - The Bulgarian Horrors -
The Defense of Plevna - The Congress of Berlin - Hostile
Sentiments in the Balkans - Incitement to War - Fighting Begins -
The Advance on Adrianople - Servian and Greek Victories - The
Bulgarian Successes - Steps toward Peace - The War Resumed -
Siege of Scutari - Treaty of Peace - War between the Allies - The
Final Settlement
In the southeast of Europe lies a group of minor kingdoms, of
little importance in size, but of great importance in the
progress of recent events. Their sudden uprising in 1912, their
conquest of nearly the whole existing remnant of Turkey in
Europe, and the subsequent struggle between them for the spoils
are specially important from the fact that Servia, one of this
group of states, was the ostensible - hardly the actual - cause
of the great European war of 1914.
These, known as the Balkan States from their being traversed by
the Balkan range of mountains, comprise the kingdoms of Roumania,
Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and the recent and highly
artificial kingdom of Albania. Greece is an outlying member of
the group.
THE STORY OF SERVIA
Of these varied states Servia is of especial interest from its
immediate relation to the European contest. Its ancient history,
also, possesses much of interest. Minor in extent at present, it
was once an extensive empire. Under its monarch, Stephen Dushan
(1336-56), it included the whole of Macedonia, Albania, Thessaly,
Bulgaria, and Northern Greece, leaving little of the Balkan
region beyond its borders. In 1389 its independence ended as a
result of the battle of Kossova, it becoming tributary to the
conquering empire of the Turks. In another half century it became
a province of Turkey in Europe, and so remained for nearly two
hundred years.
Its succeeding history may be rapidly summarized. In 1718 Austria
won the greater part of it, with its capital, Belgrade, from
Turkey, but in 1739 it was regained by the Turks. Barbarous
treatment of the Christian population of Servia by its
half-civilized rulers led to a series of insurrections, ending in
1812 in its independence, by the terms of the Treaty of Bukarest.
The Turks won it back in 1813, but in 1815, under its leader,
Milosh, its complete independence was attained.
After the fall of Plevna in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78,
Servia joined its forces to those of Russia, and by the Treaty of
Berlin it obtained an accession of territory and full recognition
by the Powers of Europe of its independence. In 1885 a national
rising took place in Eastern Roumelia, a province of Turkey,
which led to the Turkish governor being expelled and union with
Bulgaria proclaimed. Servia demanded a share of this new
acquisition of territory and went to war with Bulgaria, but met
with a severe defeat. When, in 1908, Austria annexed the former
Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the people of Servia
were highly indignant, these provinces being largely inhabited by
people of the Servian race. The exasperation thus caused is of
importance, especially as augmented by the agency of Austria in
preventing Servia from obtaining a port on the Adriatic after the
Balkan war of 1912-13. The seething feeling of enmity thus
engendered had its final outcome in the assassination of the
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