£12,008; the falling off in the last two years being due to the disturbed state of the country. The following table shows the principal exports from Newchwang during the years 1900-1; but it must be remembered that large quantities of goods enter Manchuria duty free at Port Arthur and Dalny, so that the customs returns do not by any means represent the total trade of the country.

The foreign imports in 1901 amounted to over £2,500,000. The principal goods arriving at the port of Newchwang in direct steamers are Japanese cotton goods and yarns, Indian yarn, Japanese coal and matches, American flour, and Hong-Kong sugar. The coasting steamers carry large quantities of American drills, jeans, and sheetings. These three items formed a third of the total foreign imports of Newchwang. The trade in American piece goods has grown with extraordinary rapidity and has forced English cottons, which are more heavily sized and lose weight in washing, out of the market. Indian yarn comes next in importance to American. The total value of cotton and yarn imported in 1901 was £1,757,295. Woollen goods, which are only worn by the well-to-do, were imported to the value of £18,955. The total value of metals imported was £72,787, the chief item being old iron. The wheels of the carts used in the carrying trade are all bound with massive iron tyres to enable them to withstand

the rough roads of the country, and each cart is drawn by a team of some seven animals; it is, therefore, not surprising that the demand for iron, and especially for horse-shoes, is so large. The imports classed as sundries" attained a value in 1901 of £683,070.

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The mercantile flag was represented in Newchwang as follows: Japan, 261; Britain, 194; Germany, 48; America, 10; Norway, 9; Austria, 5; Russia, 3; and Sweden, 1; so that Russia takes the lowest position but one. The proportion of Manchurian trade which now falls to Russia is, in fact, not large; but Russia has always pursued a far-sighted policy with regard to this country, and it is evidently not her intention that her trade there should always remain at its present low level. Her interest in Manchuria is commercial as well as railway and political. "First, all along the border, especially in the south-east corner of Kirin, there is an immense overland trade in salt, cattle, and spirits. Russia, too, has nearly the monopoly of the fur trade. The sable is mostly found in Hei-lungchiang and Kirin, and the centre of the trade is at Harbaroffsk, a Russian border town at the junction of the Sungari and Amur rivers. Sometimes the Manchu hunters take the skins to Harbaroffsk; sometimes they are collected by Russian dealers who travel into Manchuria." As the colonisation of the maritime province proceeds, it will depend more and more for its grain supplies on the fertile cornfields of Kirin, and here again Russia will occupy a new sphere of commercial influence. The Manchurian Railway has placed her in a position to command the supplies she requires. The Harbin to Port Arthur Railway passes through Mukden, and not far from Kirin. "At Kirin the inland naval docks and shipbuilding yards are in the charge of Russian officials, and a gunboat commands the river. Coming south we find Russians guarding the Korean frontier and collecting all the taxes there, while a Russian passport is necessary for travel in any part of Manchuria."

On the only bit of coast now left to Manchuria there are three ports. The advance of Russian influence at Port Arthur and Dalny has already been dealt with : "The third port, Newchwang, in the forthcoming phase might prove a thorn in the flesh to Russia," so steps are being taken to secure it also. Newchwang has been a treaty port since 1861, but in spite of the fact that British interests were predominant there, nothing was done to improve its capacity as a port. As soon, however, as Russia took "temporary" possession after the Boxer rising in the autumn of 1900, improvement became the order of the day. Roads, sanitation, lighting, and many other public works have been carried out, and Russia is about to reap the benefit. The introduction of the European-Russian tariff at Vladivostok has, as we have already shown, driven away a considerable proportion of trade to other ports, amongst others to Newchwang. Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, author of "Overland to China," believes that this move is not so prejudicial to Russian interests as at first sight appears. "Newchwang," he says, "is the natural outlet for Manchuria, and will eventually be one of the principal termini of the Trans-Siberian-Manchurian line; so that the forcing of trade through this channel, which seems suicidal on the part of Russia, since Vladivostok is far more Russian than Newchwang, is in reality but one more step in the great game, for Russia intends to make a bold bid for Newchwang."

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Even if this final conquest should never be made, it is obvious that with a Russified Manchuria the advantages of the treaty port would be nullified. And the work of "Russification goes on apace. What " evacuation" means we have already seen; Newchwang has nominally been evacuated, but, apart from the fact that the troops are close at hand, the Russian fleet in the Far East has been largely increased, and is now chiefly to be found in Chinese waters. "The collection of maritime revenues, too, is to be carried on by RussoChinese officials, who are to wear Russian uniform, and

1

will, therefore, appear to the native to be actually the Emperor of Russia's officials." Proclamations were, in fact, issued in August 1901 by the Imperial Controller of Newchwang which assumed a predominating influence on the part of Russia, and were in direct contravention of the rights of a treaty port. The Times of September 13th, 1901, stated that the Russian administration at Dalny had refused to permit Americans to build go-downs for the storage of American kerosene, and had also announced the intention of the Russian Government to exclude American oil altogether from Manchuria in the future. The closing of the " open door in Manchuria is becoming every day more and more apparent. The Japanese find it difficult to travel, and Americans are looked on "with keen suspicion if they venture further than a couple of miles from Newchwang. The Russians refuse to recognise a British passport in Manchuria, and insist that all British subjects travelling in that country must possess Russian passes, which are only procured with great difficulty and considerable delay from Port Arthur." The New York Times ascribes the recent decrease of American trade in Manchuria directly to the Russian occupation, and adds: "It is not, of course, to be supposed that we are, in any event, going to fight Russia for our Manchurian trade, but we shall doubtless exercise a highly benevolent neutrality toward any Power whom the Manchurian or Korean situation may bring into collision with Russia."

The prospect of such a collision, which was rendered not impossible by the re-occupation of Newchwang by Russia in April 1903, elicited, as we have seen, emphatic protests from the Government of the United States.

"As this port has now reverted to the control of the Imperial Russian Government, all you who have matters in dispute and the like should bring your petitions to the superintendents or other Government officers, where redress can be obtained and cases settled in perfect justice and impartiality.

If, after the issuance of these presents there be found any person disobeying this proclamation, I will punish the delinquent severely, and will exercise no mercy. Tremble! Be most careful! Do not say by-and-by that you have had no notice. A Special Proclamation."

Exclusive concessions to Russia, Mr. Hay said, would contravene existing treaties between China and the United States, injure American interests, and impair Chinese sovereignty. And The New York Times on the same occasion, referring to the Anglo-Japanese alliance, said: "While we were not a party to it, it is no secret that our interests and our sympathies were wholly enlisted on the side of its objects. The recent and present performances of Russia give us a fair opportunity to underwrite' the alliance, so to say, so that for most practical purposes Russia finds herself confronted with an Anglo-Japanese-American alliance.” 1

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B. CENTRAL ASIA

1. TURKESTAN

1

The advance of Russia into Central Asia, which has resulted in the acquirement of the vast provinces of Turkestan and Trans-Caspia and in the supremacy of Russian influence in the Khanates of Bokhara and Khiva, may be divided into five stages: (1) 1703-18, (2) 1732-1830, (3) 1834-65, (4) 1866-76, (5) 1879-86. As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century an arrangement between Russia and her neighbours in Central Asia had become necessary on account of the incursions of Mongolian nomads into the newly settled territory of Siberia. The frontier had to be protected, and friendly relations with the Khanates were desirable in view of Russian commercial interests in China. With a view, therefore, to obtaining a footing in the affairs of the Khanate of Khiva, Peter the Great in 1703 sent an embassy to congratulate a new Khan on his accession. The Khan, who was hard pressed by his more powerful neighbour, the Amir

1 Hosie, "Manchuria," ch. x. "Foreign Office Reports: Trade of Newchwang, 1900 and 1901"; "Trade of China, 1901." Weekly Times, September 13th, December 13th, 1901. Times, April 5th, August 16th, 1901; August 6th, September 2nd, 1902; May 9th, 1903. Morning Post, July 26th, September 20th, 1901. Board of Trade Journal, June 11th, 1903.