The Oskaloosa herald., 1901-03-21


ing with the Transvaal question still peRa-t
i expect to see England yiels
"As to the statement that French SOL
oiers attacked an Engiis... oficer. we do
rot believe 1t to be tue, for though the
alleged attack occur. red yesterday. we have
not yet had any advioes on the subject
-erms Modified.
LondJn. March 20.-Dg Morrison,
wing to the Times from Picking.
SAYS:
Prince Ching received me TUESDAY and
cnparned me Information as to Russia's
ma5V6cations Of the M~ahehurian conven-
f, fisI Ths Cntnese minister at 81. Peters
b,,rg o6fFialy reports that Russia has
esrsaS ~ sliu,inate the clause granting
her exclusive privileges IN Mongolia ana
Turkestan, and also 20 moo'tk, yhrlogn oth-
err clauses objected to b CninS' Fflhee
Ching warmly appreciates the assistance
! rendered China by ths Intervention OF Eng
land. the United States and Japan, buthe
is not optimistic concerning the return OF
the court TO Peking. The Russian amend
ments do not seem to modify senslbiy the
= character Of the convention as creating a
permanent protectorate. The amSnded
clause giving Russia the light to eonstruct
q railway Joining the Manehurtan line 10
The great wall declares that the conces-
@A1AA "a NAAN ava y
Kwan and Niu-ChwaEg to a fore'SA COM
pany was a breach Of 4 previous agreemeht
between China and Russia.
mo agreement has hitherto been pub
lished with which that concession could
conflict, and 1t IS evident there nave been
a series of such secret agreements, be-
I ginning with the secret treaty which Ii
Hung Chang negotiated during his mission
to Russia in 1896. / questioned Prince Ching
concerning this treaty, and he assented to
my suggestion OF its existence without the
, slightest demur. ! have reason TO believe
Il originally promised China protection
onIy against Japan, but was modified at
Chira's request to include protection
/ against aggression by all foreign powers.
China invoked its provisions after Ger
many secured Htao-Chou, but Russia
turned a deaf ear"
Fear Negotiations VIII FaiL
Washington. March 20.-lt is feared
here that the negotiations at Picking
respecting indemnities may fail. ow-
ing to the greed of individual nations.
Mr.. Rockhill, our special commission
er. who has been in close communica-
ton by cable with the state depart
ment, has nothing but discouraging
reports to make of this important
branch of the negotiations. 1t ap-
pears hat the ministers cannot agree
uuon n uniform basis OF indemnity,
some Of the powers demanding enor-
nous sums.
In most cases the powers contend
for the right of fixing their own in
IDENTITIES. The result is that each
power, in order not to be outdone.
FIXES the total of it's claims at an
enormous figure, far beyond anything
known to the history of indemnity
collections. When the point is made
| that the sum total of these national
claims is far beyond the ability of
China to pay, some of the nations re
ply by protesting a willingness b
scale down their claims as soon as
the fact of China's inability is mani
tested. However, as another precau-
ton, the same nations promptly adj
just their claims so that the scaling
down process, if applied, would still
leave them with a total indemnity
claim at least equal to that of any
of the other nations. The difficulty
encountered in passing this point in
the negotiations is attracting more
of the attention of the officials here
| than the threatened collision between
the allies at Tientsin, which, by the
way, thus far has not been the sub
iect of a report to the state depart
ment from Mr.. Rockhill, though there
is reason to believe that some of the
ambassadors here have made it the
basis of unofficial conferences with
the secretary of state.