The Detroit times., 1914-09-11

the goldened brown promontory aud
came within sight OF the white city
smuggling In the hills. like a lamb
flock sheltering against an entem-
pered wind. wondered how II hap
pened that had been wandering
around eastern Asia for so many
years without ever having landed
there before. The lightness OF the
estimation in which one has been
taught 10 hold German enterprise In
the far east probably accounts for IL.
Acquiring spheres OF influence" In
| China has been one OF the CHIEF &C.
equations for many years OF ma
! jority OF the worlds first powers. and
now the world is to have On oppor-
tunity to observe certain results.
This Is interesting to us In far-
reaching sense because we. too. have
thinned our forces In expansion. We,
too, are in the antfpodes, through no
wish or aggressive will Of our own.
true, but there, In honor bound, to
stay until world peace let's Us out.
The history OF the western inva-
sion OF Eastern Asia Is too much
subject OF current comment to re-
quire even a cursory survey In con-
nection with the astounding surface
evidences OF Germany's advance in
the field. so one may pass over that
period during which the United
States was engaged In forcing the
policy OF the open door" In the
Far East and come to the time when
Germany goose-stepped her armies
onto Chinese soil and, gazing with
jealous eyes upon the nations there
assembled, said to them through the
mouth of one noble spokesman in
Berlin:
Germany Is the only country in
the world which is really and abso-
lutely interested in seeing China Wig
orous, strong and independent; every
body In Berlin is aware OF that fact
and II would be grasped In Picking
Iif the authorities there were accus-
toned to seeing beyond their noses.
IL Is Russias aim to make China her
vassal. bound to render military SER
vice and to afford men and material
for the futherance OF Russian pro-
jects: Japan can only rely upon an
enfeebled China for the carrying out
OF her purposes Of expansion: France
casts longing eyes upon the southern
provinces of China and dreams of
extending her colonial empire through
Kwangsi and Kwangtung to Canton,
and through Yunan and Szechuan to
the upper reaches OF the Yangtse:
while England has proved by her at
titude that she Is incapable Of under
standing or appreciating the role
which China is destined to play In the
Far East"
This may be regarded, in the light
of history, as a richly humorous ut
terance.
In the treaty of Shimonoseki. which
was ratified In May, 1895, and which
terminated the China-Japan war, the
Chinese government ceded to Japan
Sin perpetuity and full sovereignty"
that strip of territory known as
Southern Manchuria. Then came the
Triple alliance" GermaiG, Russia
and France, with such representa-
tions and arguments as made Japan
release her claim and retire from
Manchuria In lieu Of certain none
tary considerations.
The "cassInI conventIon.'
Later on. in the same year. there
came to light what Is known as the
"Cassini convention" marvellous
memorandum drawn up by Count
Cassini, at that time Russian minis
ter in Picking, which Is supposed to
have been exchanged between st.
Petersburg and Picking even prior to
the action OF the powers in connec-
ton with the claims Of japan upon
the mainland of Asia. II was subse