The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-22
PEACE KElGNS
BRITISH LION AND RUSSIAN BEAR
NOW LIKE>GENTLE LAMBS.
Tien-Tsin Incident, which Never Was
More Than IA ..Tempest i'm a Tea
pot" Temporarily Closed.
TROOPS WILL BE WITHDRAWN
AND THE QUESTION AT ISSUE SET
TIED By THE DIPLOMATS.
Statement by Lord Lansdowne I'm the
House of Lords That shows the
Affair Was Exaggerated.
NEVER ANY DANGER OF WAR
ACTION OF THE LONDON PRESS CRIT
ICIsED AT ST. PETERSBURG.
"CommonpInce Incident" So Magnihed
that Ii Almost Assumed the
Gravity of a Casus Bel1i.
Statement by Lord Lansdowne I'm the
House of Lords That shows the
Affair Was Exaggerated.
NEVER ANY DANGER OF WAR
ACTION OF THE LONDON PRESS CRIT
ICIsED AT ST. PETERSBURG.
"CommonpIace Incident" So Magnihed
that Ii Almost Assumed the
Gravity of a Casus Bel1i.

cident has been temporarily disposed of.
tempest in a teapot" There was never
any probability of the incident leading to
war between England and Russia. 1t was
reported yesterday that the Russian COM
msnder had demanded the withdrawal OF
the British troops from the railway siding
and an immediate apology, but there has
been no confirmation of this report and 1T
is now regarded on par with the stock
gamblers rumor that Russians and British
had fired on each other. The end of the
incident was announced by Lord Lans-
downe in the House of Lords yesterday,
when he stated that Russia and Great Brit
ain had agreed TO withdraw their troops
from the disputed territory and refer the
question at issue TO the home govern
ments. thereby meaning that it would be
settled by diplomatic action.
semi-official statement issued at st.
Petersburg yesterday was to the effect that
a commonplace incident at Tien-Tsin had
been terribly exaggerated by the British
press until 1t has almost assumed the grav-
ity OF a casus belli. According to the state
ment the trouble was due to British troops
trying to forcibly possess disputed terri
tory. The statement recites that the mat
ter Is manifestly question for diplomatic
treatment. and the Russian government
has no doubt but that it will be amicably
settled TO the satisfaction of the govern
ments at London and St. Petersburg.
The more staid papers OF London. with
recollections of the earlier Chinese exag-
gerations, declined to credit the sensational
TT,
believe the Tien-Tsin difficulty will be read :
lily solved by diplomacy. In regard to the
suggestion in a Shanghai dispatch that the
Russian squadron has designs on Korea,
the papers think il highly improbable that
Russia has any present intention of risking
a naval war with Japan. which they con-
slider would unquestionably follow any for
ward movement of Russia in the hermit
kingdom. The japanese minister Baron
Haishi Itashu. in interview. does not
attach any importance TO the dispatches
from Shanghai and Kobe. He says that If
Russia had any important designs on Ko-
rea. she would require an army and not
fleet. The minister had no information re-
garding the reported mobilization of the
Japanese fleet.
The China situation is well summed up
I'm Linley Sambourne's cartoon in Punch
representing a Russian warrior i'm an ORR
entail boudoir, armed to the teeth and quite
at home, while John Bull and Germany are
looking over the reed palings and cautious
ly asking the man in possession what he is
doing. The moral applies equally to the
small affair of the railway siding at Tien-
Tsin and the large matter in Manchuria,
for Russia is in complete possession and
has, nobody knows how many, secret
treaties in her well-stocked pocket. and
there can be no assurance that the allies
are prepared to turn out the intruders
The railway siding dispute was so petty
that suspicion was excited in diplomatic
circles that the crisis was brought on arti-
fcially by Russia for the sake OF diverting
attention from Manchuria.
1T Is generally believed that Russia will
procure a secret treaty with China" says
the Peking correspondent of the Daily
Mail. fully establishing her prior claims
TO the disputed concession at Tien-Tsin.
Unfortunately this dispute is only an iso-
lated instance of the friction of interests
between the two powers. The other in
stances have not obtained such promi-
nence."
DIR. Morrison. wiring TO the Times from
claim to the railway siding al Tien-Tsin is
based on the grant of new concession,
made to Russia by il Hung Chang since
the occupation. This concession embraces
a huge area in a commanding position, with
river frontage of te'o and one-half miles
Such a grant Is scarcely compatible with
the pledges OF the powers as to disinterest-
edness, and IL is doubtful whether Ii Hung
Chang. as viceroy of Chilli. had the right
TO make IL. Evidently the Russians them
selves have their misgivings. for in order
TO strengthen their position they are bring
Ing the greatest pressure TO bear upon the
Chinese owners TO yield them titles of land.
The Anglo-French trouble Is purely local.
but these incidents should open the eyes of
the powers to one of the manifold dangers
or the fatuous scheme of converting the
legation quarter in Peking into an interna-
tional fortress. Imagine the condition cf
such fortress with 1000 troops of diff
ferent nations cooped up there Although
no decision has yet been taken as TO the
strength OF the different legation guards
Germany has already nearly completed bar
racks for three hundred men. and Others
are preparing To follow her example,