CHINA. 



115 



stall by obtaining a similar concession from the 

 provincial authorities, which, however, the Im- 

 perial Government disallowed. The military com- 

 manders at Tientsin decided that the continu- 

 ance of the provisional Government was neces- 

 sary to maintain communication with Pekin. 

 The ministers at Pekin then had another confer- 

 ence and agreed in principle to the restoration 

 of the city to the Chinese. On April 12 the allied 

 commanders agreed on the conditions for abolish- 

 ing the provisional Government as soon as the 

 forts were destroyed or by July 1 at the latest. 

 The Chinese Government must undertake not to 

 restore the forts or build any new ones between 

 Pekin and Taku and Shanhaikwan, not to for- 

 tify the native city of Tientsin or rebuild the 

 wall, and not to keep a garrison there or a 

 police force exceeding 2,500 nor augment the gar- 

 risons within 30 kilometers of the railroad. For- 

 eign troops may move freely within 30 kilome- 

 ters of the native city, but no Chinese troops 

 must enter within that radius. The Chinese au- 

 thorities can not arrest foreign soldiers, who 

 will be supervised by international police guards. 

 The foreign troops retain possession of the pri- 

 vate places and public buildings they occupy 

 and may occupy the summer resorts at Peitaiho 

 and in the hills west of Pekin. Only one Chinese 

 war-vessel shall be at Taku at a time, and no 

 mines or torpedoes shall be placed in the Peiho 

 river. For the restoration of the railroad no 

 time was set. It was worked under British mili- 

 tary control, having when the foreign forces en- 

 tered Pechili been operated by the Russians, who 

 arrived first, then taken over by the Germans, 

 and finally transferred to the British, who 

 claimed the right to guard and manage the line 

 because British capital had built it and a British 

 staff" was on hand. Conditions for the transfer 

 to the Chinese were negotiated with the British 

 minister. The British and Chinese corporation 

 applied to be made agents for the purchase of 

 all railroad material for the northern railways, 

 I but the Chinese Government insisted on having 

 liberty to buy by. open tender. Yuan-Shih-Kai 

 ! and Hu-Yu-Fen signed an agreement with Sir 

 , Ernest Satow for a British military director and 

 , Japanese and German assistant directors to be 

 i added to the Chinese board to supervise trans- 

 i port requirements of the foreign garrisons. It 

 I was further stipulated that any branch lines or 

 i extensions within 80 miles of the existing line 

 *hall be built only by the Imperial Chinese Rail- 

 road Administration. Railroads from Tungchau 

 to Tongshan, from Pekin to the Great Wall, and 

 :r'rom Tientsin to Paoting-Fu were specially men- 

 tioned. The agreement required the ratification 

 if the powers, nearly all of which objected stren- 

 lously. If the Chinese Government needed funds 

 o build the branches and extensions it was 

 stipulated that it could only apply to the British 

 md Chinese corporation. The agreement was 

 agned without the knowledge of the Foreign 

 )ffice. The Belgians were the first to lodge a 

 omplaint, Li-Hung-Chang on April 9, 1901, hav- 

 ng given an undertaking that the Tientsin and 

 'aoting-Fu line, if built, should be constructed 

 >y the Pekin and Hankau Railroad Syndicate. 

 Americans and Frenchmen were interested in this 

 'reject. Russia raised 'an objection to the con- 

 truction of the railroad from Pekin to the Great 

 Vail under British auspices as a violation of 

 ngagements of the Chinese Government, as it 

 as also of the Anglo-Russian railroad agree- 

 icnt of 1899. The Germans found their scheme 

 )r a line from Shantung to Tientsin thwarted, 

 '.ussia announced that Manchuria would not be 



.u.->? 



II 



evacuated if the British peristed in this plan to 

 control the northern railways. The United 

 States and the other powers joined in the protest. 

 The Foreign Office memorialized the Throne, 

 blaming Yuan-Shih-Kai and Hu-Yu-Fen, and the 

 Board of Censors punished those officials by re- 

 ducing their rank. The agreement, which the 

 Chinese Government had duly signed, was pre- 

 sented to the foreign ministers for their assent. 

 It was modified afterward by a concession made 

 by Great Britain to Russia that, if the line from 

 Pekin to the Great Wall is built, it shall be done 

 with Chinese capital only and shall not be mort- 

 gaged to foreigners. That there should be no 

 military directors on the Tientsin Railroad Board 

 was also demanded, and when England would 

 not give way on this point the Russian minister 

 notified the Chinese Government that if any 

 military directors are appointed in the adminis- 

 tration . of any part of the northern railroads 

 they shall in every case include a Russian Con- 

 fronted with this alternative, England gave way, 

 and Germany and Japan consented that there 

 should be no military directors. 



The Pekin, Tientsin and Shanhaikwan Rail- 

 road, as well as the other northern railroad from 

 Shanhaikwan to Niuchwang, are nominally the 

 property of the Chinese Government, but have 

 been managed by English officials in the inter- 

 est of the English bondholders. The dispute be- 

 tween England and Russia, which nearly led to 

 a clash at arms in the spring of 1901, regarding 

 a concession of land in Tientsin to the Russian 

 trading community that was claimed by the Brit- 

 ish for a railroad siding, was referred to Heir 

 Detring, the Commissioner of Customs, for arbi- 

 tration. 



The Chinese Government found it impossible to 

 accept the conditions for the restoration of Tien- 

 tsin. There were no Chinese garrisons nor sol- 

 diers in the area where the garrisons were for- 

 bidden to be increased. The commanders yielded 

 to the demands of the Viceroy to the extent of 

 allowing him a body-guard of 300 men ; but with 

 this force and the 2,500 police he could not un- 

 dertake to preserve order in one of the wealthiest 

 and most populous districts of China where for- 

 eign soldiers were at liberty to go to and fro at 

 -will and on a river crowded with boats and in- 

 fested with pirates. Fresh armed intervention 

 must necessarily ensue. The ministers conceded 

 also the right of the Chinese authorities to arrest 

 foreign lawbreakers within their jurisdiction and 

 would allow more than one Chinese war-vessel 

 at Peiho, and they agreed to restore the private 

 property seized for the accommodation of the 

 foreign soldiery. The rest of the conditions they 

 persisted in maintaining, although it was a clear 

 breach of the treaty of peace to impose any new 

 conditions, as it was for the international troop* 

 to retain possession after Sept. 22, 1901, the date 

 fixed for the evacuation. The Americans had 

 already withdrawn from the military provisional 

 Government. The Japanese wished to withdraw, 

 but felt constrained to support the British com- 

 mander, who as senior officer was chiefly respon- 

 sible for the difficulty, although the German com- 

 mander was even more insistent upon upholding 

 the hard terms. On June 18 Russia announced 

 her withdrawal from the Tientsin foreign Gov- 

 ernment, as she would not be a party to impos- 

 ing new conditions. France this time did not 

 follow the lead of Russia, and was left with 

 England, Germany, Italy, and Japan to bear the 

 onus. China on July 3 appealed to the United 

 States to intercede with the other powers so as 

 to secure a modification of the intolerable terms 



