The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-08-13
QUARREL tNDSN MURDER THE INVASION OF RUSSIA

When two years ago it became known
that Russia had obtained the privilege
of carrying the great Siberian railway
across Manchuria instead of following
the northern curve of the Amur. this
fact coupled with the leasing" of Port
Arthur and Tailien-Wan left the dis
tinct impression that Manchuria had
become virtually a Russian province.
The treaty carried with 1t the right to
police the line with such forces as
should be needed to guard 1t, Russia to
be the judge of necessity. Acting under
that privilege Cossacks by the thou
sands have been poured into the pro-
vince. To spare Chinese feelings they
have carried the flag of the Chinese
Eastern railway and have worn a spe-
cial uniform, not too Russian, but they
are Cossacks just the same. The rail-
way under the new name, has been
built with great rapidly, not only from
its terminals, but from two or three in
termediate points which could be reach
ed by river steamers carrying construc-
ton material up the Argun and the
Sungari, the latter a tributary of the
Amur, which penetrates the heart Of
Manuchuria. The railway is actually
completed north from Port Arthur be-
yond Mukden, west from VladivostolS
far toward Hardin, and from Hardin
many miles toward each of these stems.
At Tsitsihar, too, at New Tsurukhaitui,
where the line crosses from Siberia in
! to Manchuria, and at Onon, where il
/ branches from the Siberian railway,
construction has been under way. The
result is that the railway probably
| would have been connected through to
/ NladiVostok within another year If the
uprising had not occurred. 1t is this
railway work in Manchuria that is re-
! ported destroyed by the Chinese.
! 1t is quite to be expected that the ca
ravan route from Pekin to Irkutsk by
! way of Kalgan. Urga and Kiakhta
should be interrupted and the Russian
goods stored or in transit destroyed It
/ is not as clear what may be going on at
| Kudia, i'm far western Iii. That is a
| Mohammedan region in close commun-
| ication with eastern Russian TurSestan,
whence strong Russian forces could be
! supplied Kuldja for ten years in the
1 guise of preserving peace in a disturb
| ed portion of the Chinese empire.
| The Chinese invasion of Siberia may
be merely an attack on their nearest
neighbors, the Russians, who have been
most active in encrOachment upon the
middle kingdom. Beyond that. how
ever, it may be the effort to repeat the
incursions of Ghenghiz Khan and Ia
! merlane. who swept west from the Chi
nese empire and brought terror to Eu-
| rope. AS the country invaded, the Rus
sian empire obtains a certain privilege
| in defining ultimate peace with the Chi
nese. which is certain to be used. Either
these reports from Russia are true. in
which event the car will have reason
and right to claim heavy payment, or
they are not true and have been re-
ported through their official sources in
order to establish a nreteXt for war and
invasion of China from the north. In
either case it is evident that a large
part of the Asiatic war may be fought
in Manchuria, as well as that which
the allied forces will wage from the
Tientsn gateway to Picking.
TRUMBULL WHITE.