China 



47 



more than the missionaries to the late 

 uprising in China. 



The most potent cause of the Boxer 

 movement was neither the missions 

 nor commerce, but the political in- 

 fluences which were operating for the 

 dismemberment and destruction of the 

 Empire. These influences were espe- 

 cially manifest during 1897 an d 1898. 

 The cession of Formosa to Japan in 

 1895 was not so offensive, as it was the 

 result of a great war, and some compen- 

 sation to the victor in territory seemed 

 natural ; but the effect of the next ag- 

 gression was quite different. Follow- 

 ing the murder of two German Catholic 

 priests by a mob in Shantung in Novem- 

 ber, 1897, the German government sent a 

 strong naval force to the spacious harbor 

 of Kiao-chau, ejected the Chinese forces 

 from the fortifications, and occupied the 

 place with marines. This was soon fol- 

 lowed by the demand of the German 

 minister in Pekin for an apology for the 

 murder of the priests, a large indemnity, 

 and a lease of the harbor and an adjoin- 

 ing extensive section of territory, with 

 the privilege of building railroads and 

 exploiting mines in the province of 

 Shantung. The remonstrances of the 

 Tsung-li Yamen (the foreign office) 

 against this summary method of pro- 

 cedure and the exorbitant demands 

 were of no avail. 



The German seizure of Kiao-chau was 

 followed a month later by the occupation 

 of Port Arthur by a Russian fleet, and 

 in March, 1898, Russia secured a lease 

 of that strong fortress and harbor, as 

 well as the neighboring port of Talien- 

 wan and the control of the peninsula of 

 Liaotung and the adjoining islands, with 

 the privilege of connecting the leased 

 territory by railroad, through Man- 

 churia, with the Siberian trunk line 

 and the right to protect the line with 

 Russian soldiers. Only three years be- 

 fore Russia, in conjunction with its ally, 

 France, and with Germany, had com- 

 pelled Japan to give up the Liaotung 



peninsula on the ground that a nation 

 holding it might at any time threaten 

 Pekin. That action of Russia led Great 

 Britain to demand and secure the lease of 

 the fortress of Wei-hai-wei and a strip 

 of adjoining territory on the opposite 

 promontory, and also a large portion 

 of the mainland opposite Hongkong. 

 France, which had some years before 

 taken the large suzerain territory of 

 Annam and Tonquin, also secured in 

 1898 an enlargement of its possessions 

 in that region at the expense of China 

 in the lease of important harbors and 

 the peninsula opposite the island of 

 Hainan. 



These proceedings were followed by 

 agreements or treaties between Russia 

 and Great Britain and between Germany 

 and Great Britain as to what are termed 

 " spheres of influence" in China with- 

 out consulting the government of that 

 country or taking its wishes or interests 

 into account. At the demand of the 

 same powers several new ports were 

 opened to foreign trade, with the usual 

 concomitants of foreign territorial con- 

 cessions and extraterritorial jurisdiction, 

 until now the extensive Chinese Empire 

 is reduced to the anomalous condition of 

 scarcely possessing a single harbor in all 

 its long line of seacoast where it can 

 concentrate its navy and establish a base 

 of warlike operations without the con- 

 sent of the treaty powers. Not the least 

 of the irritants which induced the Boxer 

 movement was the foreign authority 

 which was exercised in the treaty ports 

 and the abuse and contempt with which 

 the natives were there treated. 



The rulers of China understood full 

 well the causes which had nerved their 

 people to rise in their wrath and under- 

 take the impossible task of the expulsion 

 of the foreigners. In 1900, after the 

 Boxer movement had been put down, 

 L,i Hung Chang, in giving the cause of 

 the outbreak, stated that its chief im- 

 petus was found in the high-handed 

 course of Germany, and it " was due to 



