ement of Count Terauchi, the evil conditions inimical to the
prosperity and happiness of the people are fast disappearing.
Comparative peace and order reign; and there appears to be no reason
why the fruits of progressive civilization should not ultimately be
gathered in Japan's new province as plentifully as they are in Japan
herself.

*The Story of Korea, by Longford.

SITUATION IN 1911

The unstable element of the East Asian situation to-day is the
position occupied by Japan and Russia in Manchuria. Both powers
possess privileges there which will not be easily surrendered, and
which are likely, sooner or later, to prove incompatible with China's
autonomy. It was apprehended at the outset that Russia would not long
consent to occupy the place assigned to her by the Treaty of
Portsmouth, and that she would quickly prepare for a war of revenge.
Her statesmen, however, showed as much magnanimity as wisdom. On July
30, 1906, they signed with Japan a convention pledging the
contracting parties to respect all the rights accruing to one or the
other under the Portsmouth Treaty. If international promises can be
trusted, continuous peace is assured between the two powers. Russia,
however, is not only doubling the track of her Siberian Railway, but
is also building a second line along the Amur; while Japan will soon
command access to central Manchuria by three lines; one from Dalny to
Kwanchengtsz; another from Fusan via Wiju to Mukden, and a third from
the northeastern coast of Korea via Hoiryong, on the Tumen, to Kilin.

These developments do not suggest that when the lease of Liaotung and
the charter of the railways mature--in twenty-five years and thirty
years, respectively, from the date of their signature--either Japan
or Russia will be found ready to surrender these properties.
Meanwhile, the United States of America is gradually constituting
itself the guardian of China's integrity in Manchuria, and the
citizens of the Pacific slope, under the influence of the labour
question, are writing and speaking as though war between the great
republic and the Far Eastern empire were an inevitable outcome of the
future. This chimera is unthinkable by anyone really familiar with
the trend of Japanese sentiment, but it may encourage in China a
dangerous mood, and it helps always to foster an unquiet feeling. On
the whole, when we add the chaotic condition into which China is
apparently falling, it has to be admitted that the se