Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-01
CHINA AND RUSSIA
THE BEARS PAW would CRUSH
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Agents Of the Gear Have Long Been
Scheming for Mastery Of
Asia. zt4

William Ashn1ore in the BostonsTranscripts =,
Twenty years ago leading Chinese states
men while apprehensive or the foreign in
fiuence gradually creeping TO the 'front.'.
still considered themselves the arbiters Of
their own destiny. Their foreign policy had
for its purpose the restriction of the aggres-
sive western man in every possible way;
their method included playing off one west
ern state against another. In this partic-
ular form Of diplomatic artifice they vera
consummate masters and could give points
even to the Sultan of Turkey. s., -
In those days they studied carefully tho
powers and resources of these outside ma
lions in order to decide what would be the
best thing for themselves in any interna-
tlonA complication that might arise. At
that time England stood head and shOul-
ders above all other nations in Chinese estl
nation. Her good will was the thing most
to be desired her III will! the thing most
to be deprecated. America was a very
great power, but she was far distant, and
did not enter much into Chinese calculation
one way or the other. France needed
watching and had to be dealt with adrcitly.
But China had had one brush with her-in
which France was decidedly disappointed
and China correspondence emboldencd.
Japan was rising in importance, but not SO
much as to occasion apprehension as yet.
But now there was Russia. She was still
in the background, comparatively speaking.
She was a neighbOr, that was true, but her
capital was many thousand miles away.
On land there was an impossible desert;
soldiers could not come that way In any
great number; at sea there were every
where in the way the fleets of England.
Russia to the Fore
All that became suddenly and rapidly
changed. 1t is no part of the present paper
to trace the working of Russian ambition
along that immense diagonal line across
Asia from the Dardanelles in the southwest
along the Persian gulf, and the Palmirs In
central Asia to Vladivostock on the north
coast. That belongs to Russian history.
We are to speak of the way China was al
fected by 1t all as the movement reached
her sphere of influence in the western
districts of Ill., of Thibet and of Magnolia
and Manchuria. China discovered that
Russia was bound to come eastward. Forth
with a great national Irritation began be-
tween Russia and China, in which Russia
appeared as a scheming old beau after an
unattractive but rich old heiresS with not
much cash in hand, but with vast estate
that would pay handsomely some day; and
China as a tricky old spinster with large
experience in Irritation and confident of her
ability to manage the other old party when
the time should come.
AS early as the war of 1857 the diplomats
of other nations found that Russia
making up to China on her own account
Russia had enlarged her aspirations. Ham
pered in Europe, she would make it up in
China. She passed as the disinterested
friend of Chna-the one that had China's
welfare at heart more even than her own,
and who wanted to save her from the
Vaccinations of those other fellows"
whose sole object was personal advantage.
The Chinese were too shreWd to be caught
with mere chaff. and so long as it was mere
chaff the Russians had no chance. But
they were practical. They began to work
up their trans-Asiatic railroad scheme The
Chinese saw that such railroad would
change conditions and alter relations and
it produced a marked effect upon them in
favor of Russia.
Ii Hung Chang.
1t was an astute move on the part of
Russia to secure the appointment of Ii
Hung Chang to attend the coronation of the
car. The object was to impress him with
the tranScendent power Of Russia. The
plan was to have him hurried back to China
by way Of Odessa, and not allow him to see
Germany, England and America. So an
occasion of some kind was trunped up to
render necessary an immediate return The
scheme of Russia failed. Ii Hung Chang
did visit other countries of the west and
was impressed with their greatness also
Nevertheless, it is certain that a profound
~ iIlili eSSiOll Was lclt On his
mind. and on his return to China he i'm
parted a deal of that impression to high
officials at Picking and to the empress dow
ager herself. Since that~time there has
been a pro-Russian party at court This
party is not always a wel-defined or a
visible organization, and 1t Is a quantity
greatly variable in its manifestations, but
it is there, and it is there today, though I'M
popular just now. The power of this party,
it Is said by some, lies in the persuasive
fr1f
there may be In that nobody knows. In
such case distributors are careful to apply
a Scripture principle never intended for the
convenience of such kind of people, and
who reward themselves for faithfuness in
this case by not having occasion to observe
the principle in cases for which it was in
tended-''they do their aims in secret