Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-18
SAKHALIN STATUS.
japanese Statement Excepted to by
Russian Correspondent.

Having read the statement from a jap
| arese member of parliament, made few
| days ago to the Associated Press, giving the
| Japanese attitude regarding Sakhalin, An
| exardre Briantchanioff correspondent of
| the SlOvo of St.Petersburg, voicing the Rus
| sian exceptions to the statement said to-
| day:
"One of the great bars to the conclusion
of a treaty of peace, much desired by
the whole civilized world. Is the difference
between the plenipotentiaries the ques-
| ton of Sakhalin. The Japanese pretend
| tia. sakhaln is really an organic part of
their empire. They say it only came into
Russia's possession through force and that
Russia would lose little in cedng it back to
Japan, as she has shown her. inability to
exploit its resources, having used 1t only
for the colonization of criminals.
The japanese, they say, on the contrary
have always considered themselves the
riektful owners and having now taken it
by conquest, will never submit to relin-
gushing it. OF course, It is certain that the
Japanese, once in legal possession of the
island will accomplish there more than the
Russian government in the past, not only in
agricultural. industrial and a colonzng
way, but especially In a military and STRAIT
egI: way.
I'VE cannot deny that the success of their
arms have given them certain claims to
the island, but those are the only claims
they possess"
But possession can only be legalized by
the ratification of a treaty.
1t is an error for them to claim historical
| rights to the possession. Up to the last
century the island was inhabited only by
the native barbaric traders Then a few
/ Russian cOlOpiStS landed and orcnpiad
tain parts of the island The Japanese be
gan fishing in the waters of the southern
end of the island. Some very small fishing
villages were built
AT last the legal status of the island
arose Propositions made to divide it
| between Russia and Japan. The Japanese
never made any claim TO the whole of the
| island, and their political interests were
| so limited that in 1850 treaty of Symodo)
| and 1870 Greatly of St Petersburg) the
! Japanese only asked the delimitation of the
| frontier between the two possessions at the
| extreme south of the island. In 1873 the
! Japanese minister for foreign affairs, Soies-
! sima proposed to Russia to cede the Jap
| anese part of the island in exchange for
! Russian neutrality during the war of con-
| quest which they then contemplated against
| Korea, and finally, in 1875 it was the Jap
anese who transferred the pour parlors re-
! gardng the island to st. Petersburg and
| brought them to conclusion, receiving in
| return for their possessions in south Sag
| halin, the Russian Kuriles.
| They never claimed they were forced to
| the exchange. No one in Japan protested
| against this treaty their fishing interests in
| the waters of the island having been fully
| protected. They then made no pretensions
| to colonization there. as they had not vet
| completed the colonization of the most
| northerly of their own group of Islands
| Haddarde
| Instead of desiring to extend their colo
| niZing efforts northward they had turned
| tn, ir eyes to the more alluring prospects to
the west and south-Korea, Formosa and
| the Philippines.
| The claims to historical and national rights
! to the island therefore not warranted.
| The Japanese in a word, seeking to
| profit by their present success to complete
| ly and definitely assure their paramount
| position In the far east. Saghalin in their
| hands means Vladivostok, Russas sole and
| insufficient base on the Pacific. at the mercy
| of Japan. Vladivostok could be attacked
| from three sides
| Russia would no longer have the possbiIl-
| ty of resisting Japanese encroachment. A.
! her bidding she would be compelled to
| withdraw from her position in the orient.
| Japans claim to Saghalin is easily compre-
4 hended. But it is impossible to understand
| the lack of foresight of America, France
| and even England, which do not seem to
| realize the impending and far-reaching con-
sequences