A DIPLOMATIC COUP. 301 



inclined from doing so. There is every sign that the 

 decision was come to in haste and in contradiction 

 to a former determination, since five admirably and 

 scientifically constructed forts were built on the island 

 at the mouth of the harbour at a cost of £25,000 ; but 

 the rescission of the order to fortify the place having 

 gone forth before the guns which had already been 

 shipped were able to reach their destination, they stand 

 to-day — powerless either for offence or defence — as 

 glaring illustrations of official fatuity and vacillation. 



The main incidents of the diplomatic coup which led 

 up to the construction of the Manchurian railway are 

 now a matter of history. The Liaotung peninsula 

 ceded to Japan, "in perpetuity and full sovereignty, 

 with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property 

 thereon," by a vanquished China ; the remonstrance 

 of an indignant Russia — indignant that the peace of 

 the Far East should be threatened by the occupation 

 of Chinese territory by an alien Power ! The seizure 

 by the expostulating Power two years later of the 

 very country in question, and the prompt production 

 of an agreement, signed more than two years before, 

 sanctioning the construction by her of railways across 

 Manchuria, are the main points in an interesting little 

 story which throws an illuminating light upon Mus- 

 covite methods, while it at the same time accords 

 triumphant testimony to the success of Muscovite 

 diplomacy. 



The agreement in question, drawn up between the 

 Eusso- Chinese Bank and the Chinese Government, 

 provides for the forming of a company described as 

 the " East Chinese Railway Company," to construct a 

 line across Manchuria from west to east, connected 

 with the Trans -Baikal line on the one hand and 

 the South Ussuri line on the other, with a branch 



