The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-04-25
FULL SIGNIFICANCE OF MAN
cHURlAN TREATY.
EASTERN PROBLEM SOLVED
To American Diplomacy Belongs the
Credit for the Present Sat.
isfactory Settlement.

Chicago, April 22.-The Washing.
ton correspondent of the Record-Her.
aid says: International news of the
highest possible Importance reached
diplomatic Washington today. 1t in.
has been solved and that the menace
to the worlds peace, which has so
long held like a cloud on the Asiatic
horizon, has at last been removed. II
this shall prove to be the case-and
there seems little reason to doubt it
American diplomacy must be given
credit for the great work.
The news relates to the terms of
the new treaty between Russia and
China. Various reports concerning
this important compact have been
in circulation, but I now give the
salient contents of that document, a
full copy Of which is expected here in
a short time.
First Russia agrees to restore the
civil administration of Manchuria
without reserve to the Chinese en-
pire.
Second-Russia agrees to ~evacuate
Manchuria completely, so far as mil
ltary or civil control is concerned,
within n year from the aate of the
treaty.
Thlrd-Russia agrees to remove her
army with a. reservation of a small
force for guarding the Russian rail
way within one year, withdrawing a
part of the troops in four months,
another part in eight months and the
final quota in 10 months.
Fourth-Russia surrenders all
claim to exclusive railway and min
ing privileges in Manchuria and
pledges herself and China to the
s'open door" principle in that prov
ince.
Literally Back to China.
The meaning of this is that Russia
surrenders Manchuria and turns the
whole province back to China. It
has no other meaning in the eyes of
the foreign officers. This also is the
view expressed by the Russian gov
eminent and Russian ambassadors in
various capitals. The honor of the
Russian government is pledged to
this evacuation. And when the evacu-
alton is accomplished and Manchuria'
has been turned over to the full SOW
ereignty of the Chinese empire, as
every M has a right to expect it
will be according to the terms of
the solemn agreement, the far eastern
problem may be regarded as well-nigh
solved.
1t was Russia's persistent occupa-
ton of Manchuria that threatened the
peace of the world; for Manchuria
was the key to the whole Chinese sit
uation. AS long as Russia held that
province in the grip of 80, 900 soldiers;
as long as Russia held not only mil
itary sway but administered the civil
government, the integrity of the Chi
nese empire was threatened. If Rus
STA could thus seize and hold Man
churia Korea was not safe from a sim
liar acquisition, nor North China it.
self. Hence the agreement ct Rus
STA to surrender the province and
withdraw her troops is taken through
out the world as a sign of peace. as
an earnest that Muscovite ambition
to overrun the most of eastern Asia
and master the Chinese empire has at
last been abandoned, temporarily if
not permanently.
Praised by Russian Ambassador.
"You should be very proud of your
foreign Office" said Count Cassini,
the Russian ambassador to Washing
ton, a few days ago, speaking to an
American gentleman who called at
the embassy. !" Secretary Hay has
done nor than any other living man
to solve the eastern problem. All the
powers have now adopted his plat
form for the integrity of the Chinese
empire and the open door,"
Praise from Count Cassini is praise
indeed. But other diplomatists echo
it. They point out that it was Secre-
tary Hay who injected into the con-
troversy over China's future the
moral idea which has proved to be the
key to the whole complicated problem.
This he did in October, 1899, when the
world first learned through a Wash
ington dispatch that the principle Of
the open door had been proclaimed
by the American government. That
principle the United States has stuck
to through all the changes and COM