The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-08-03

made in 1884, within the last 25S
years, is tributary one, the same un-
der which Corea now annually send.
tribute to the Peking court, and which
was established in the most anomalou!
way. Originally it was not a treat,
with China at all; it Las only become
SO by ancient custom. This treat,
was made in 1886 with IL Manchu
lprlnee who was in open rebellion
against The Ming dynasty, the mos,
popular one the Chinese ever had
This prince and general was also wag-
ing war across the Corean border, loot
ing fields and homes, and the king, i'll
order to free his people from these
raids, promised not to take any further
part in the controversy and as An earn
est of faitI, agreed to send annually to
the Manchu rebel certain tribute.
which was faithfully done for the eight
years of warfare which follow ed, when
the Manchus, in 1914, overthrow the
MingS, and have continued to admin
ister the government down to the pres
ent time.
Though this tributary treaty was
made with a rebellious leader, the
kings of Corea have kept this tributary
pledge, perhaps because the traitor he
came patriot by becoming the head
IF the government. The mistaken
notion OF Corea's vassalage has grown
out uf the fact that most people re-
gard tributary and vassal as svnony-
NOUS terms; whereas all writer's on i'll
ternationaI jurisprudence make the
| broadcast possible distinction, assigning
20 vassa! states the same relation to the
| suZeraln state that the slave holds to
the master, while tn the tributary state
is assigned all the elements of sover-
eighty with reference to internal and
external affairs that the superior state
possesses. The vassaI derives abso-
lutely no authority except from the
suzerain, while the strict obligations of
tributary states are discharged when
the tribute is paid. If tributary rela-
IfIlt1 han
Britain is the vassal of China by rea-
son of the tribute she pays the Chinese
government for account of Burmah.
So also were the European states
vassals of the Barbary states bv reason
of the tribute they paid those states to
keep their black pirates from molesting
their commerce. | might mention
o;her similar instances, but these are
sufficient. The unerring test, however,
of a states sovereignty and inIepend-
ent character is it's right to negotiate,
to conclude treaties OF friendship, nav
igation and commerce, to exchange
pubic ministers, to declare war or
peace with other sovereign and ind
pendent powers. These are rights
and conditions consistent with sover-
eighty which, when possessed by
state, place it in the great family OF in
dependent nations. while states which
do not possess such powers must he
ranked as semi-independent or vassal,
according to The terms of the agree
ment. Corea has in the past exercised
and is now exercising all the functions
of ii sovereign and independent state.
In 1876 Corea in her sovereign ca
pacity conclud4d a treaty of frier dship,
navigation and commerce with Japan,
without contention on the part of
China on the score Of vassalage. Six
years later, Or My %, 1882, the
American treaty was signed at Che
muIpo Uensen). 1t is true that the
preliminary discussions over the pro-
visions of this treaty Viceroy Ii, who
had been requested by the king to aid
in it's formation, brought up Tor dis
cussion the subject of vassalage. Two
dl ats were submitted to that conven-
ton, one by the viceroy and the other
by the American envoy. The first
clause in the viceroy's draft was for
the recognition of vassal or dependent
relations between China and Corea,
which the agent Of the United States
declined to consiusr Or even discuss
further than to say that, as his mission
was to make treaty with all indie
pendent state, such treaty he would
have or none at all. Notwithstanding
this, tie viceroy urged the adoption of
the dependent clause to point beyond
which he could not 60 without break
ing off negotiations, when he yielded,
but thereafter In all the treaty conven-
tions which followed not one word was
heard from China on the subject of vas
salage. Neither Was it mentioned in