IM 



CHINA. 



ward made an associate plenipotentiary, and by 

 an American. John W. Poster, as legal adviser, 

 tbe Chioest plenipotentiary arrived in Shimo- 

 nesski on March 19. This port was chosen 

 lor UM conferences because UM Chinese could 

 tbere communicate directly with their Govern- 

 eat by cable. As condition* for an arn 

 UM Japanese Government first demanded the 

 snrrenoWof Taktt. with its forts Tientsin and 

 Shan-Hai-Kwan as a guarantee, but Li would 

 not accede to this, and even sought to obtain a 

 list that the Jananene would not advance 

 Taku or Shan- Hai-K wan jH-ndmt: the no- 

 tions, lest the confusion and alarm that 

 | | 

 - 



t would produce at the capital 

 the conclusion of an honorable 



should prevent the conclusion of an honorable 

 peace. Count Ito would not agree to an armis- 

 ttos except on UM conditions named, and at the 



on March 24. informed the Chinese 

 envoy of UM intention of the Japanese troops 

 to oooupy Formosa, 



The war party in Japan was agitating against 

 UM conclusion of peace before the Japanese 

 army entered Pekin. When Li- 1 lung-Chang 

 from this second meeting a young 

 Koyama, one of the 



. -; rad i oaUed Bosnia, shot 

 a pistol, the bullet penetrating his 

 r. In consequence of this attempted 

 envoy the Mikado, 

 on March 80, proclaimed an unconditional ar- 

 mistice, with the exclusion of Formosa. The 

 wound healed readily. 



On April 1 the Japanese plenipotentiaries sub- 

 mitted the first draft of a treaty, providing for 

 UM independence of Korea, cession of Manchu- 

 ria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, the payment 

 of an indemnity of 800.000,000 taels, the opening 

 of 7 new treaty ports, the abolition of the Hkin 

 lax. the free navigation of certain water ways, 

 the removal of the bar in the Woosung river, 

 and the temporary occupation of Wei-IIai \V, i 

 and Mukden. The Chinese plenipotentiaries 

 prepared a counter-draft, in which it was pro- 

 id that China and Japan should recognize 

 guarantee the neutrality of Korea, that the 

 ion of territory should be reduced to the 

 Vain district of Manchuria and the Pescadores, 

 and that tbe war indemnity should be 100,000,000 

 taels. Eventually Li- 1 lung-Chang gave way on 

 most of tbe disputed points. 



On April 10 the Japanese Premier submitted 

 to tbe viceroy Li, then sufficiently recovered to 

 attend the conference, a new draft containing 

 tbe maximum concessions that Count Ito was 

 willing to give. After exhausting every argu- 

 ment, and protesting that no la 

 peace would follow, and that the European 

 powers would not permit their interests to be 

 thus imnenM. L.Hu rig-Chang was forced to 

 accept tbe Japanese ultimatum. 



Treaty ef SbloBwki.-A treaty of peace 

 "T^ ^ April 17 by Li.UunK-cW and 



nrPong in behalf of China and by Count 

 Ito and Viscount MuUu, the Japanese Premier 

 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in behalf of 

 Japan. China, in the first article, recognized the 

 complete independence of Korea, and agreed that 

 UM payment of tribute and the performance of 

 ceremonies and formalities by Korea to 

 in derogation of such independence should cease 



for the future. In the second article China ceded 

 j'erpctuiJy and full sovereignty, to- 

 : with all for I illcations, arsenals, and public 

 property tin-mil, tin- southern part of tin- prov- 

 ince of rYnir-Tien. the country included I 

 the Yalu as far as the mouth of the river Anpin^ 

 ami the Lino up to Ying-Kow. the boundary 

 running through Frn^-Hunng and Bal-Tcheng; 

 also the island of Formosa and the Pescadore 

 group of islands. The part of Manchuria 

 was that \vhuh the Japanese armies had overrun 

 and occupied, including the Regent's 8 word ami 



Port Arthur. The third article provided for the 

 at ion of the boundaries in Manchuria l.y 

 a joint commi-sion. The fourth artie!, 

 the war indemnity to be paid by China to Japan 

 at 200,000,000 kuping taels, , of 'which :>o.(HKi.(KM> 

 taels were to be paid in .six months, an equal 

 sum at the end of twelve months, and the re- 

 mainder in six annual installments of the same 

 amount, with interest at 5 per .11 un- 



paid portions from the date the first installment 

 was duo, China to have the ri.u'ht to f. 

 the dates of payment, and all interest to In- 

 waived incase the whole indemnity should he 

 paid within three years. The fifth artici 

 vided for the emigration within two years of in- 

 habitants of the ceded territories who should not 

 desire to become Japanese subjects ; nUo for tin- 

 transfer of Formosa within two months from 

 the exchange of ratifications. The sixth article 

 bound China to appoint immediately plenipo- 

 tentiaries to conclude with Japan a new 

 of commerce and navigation, and a convention 

 to regulate frontier intercourse and trade on the 

 basis of the treaties and conventions subsisting 

 between China and European powers, Japan to 

 receive most -favored-nation treatment pending 

 the conclusion of such treaty and convention. 

 China agreed, in addition, to open within six 

 months as new treaty ports Shashih, in Hupeh, 

 Chung-Kin^, in Szecnoen, Suchow, in Kiangsu, 

 and Hangchow, in Chekiang, and to permit 

 Japan to station consuls in these places ; also to 

 allow vessels under the Japanese flag to 

 passengers and cargo on the ni.per Yangtse 

 river between Ichang and Chun-Kinp. and on 

 the Woosung river and the canal from Shanghai 

 to Suchow and Hangchow: furthermore, to 

 the right to Japanese subjects purchasing goods 

 or produce in the interior of China to rent or 

 hire warehouses without the payment of any 

 taxes or exactions ; and. finally, to allow Japanese 

 subjects to engage freely in all kinds of manu- 

 facturing industries in the open cities, towns, 

 and jHirts of China, and to import all kinds of 



r\. paying only the stipulated import 

 duties thereon, and on the manufactured prod- 

 ucts only such island transit dues and other 

 charges as are levied on imported merchandise. 

 The seventh article provided for the evacuation 

 by the armies of Japan within three mou 

 China, excepting Wei-Hai- Wei, which, the eighth 

 article provides, shall be temporarily occupied 

 as a guarantee until the first two installments of 



icmnity shall have been paid, and shall 

 then be evacuated, provided the Chinese Govern- 



iakes arrangements for pledging the cus- 

 toms revenue as security for the remaining part 

 of the indemnity. The ninth article provid 

 the restoration of prisoners of war, China under- 



