rance, had, as already noted,
combined to prevent Japan from fully exploiting her victory over
China. The latter country, however, had every appearance of a melon
ripe for cutting; and under guise of security for loans, indemnity
for injuries, railroad and treaty-port concessions, and special
spheres of influence, each European nation endeavored to mark out
its prospective share. Russia, in return for protecting China against
Japan, gained a short-cut for her Siberian Railway across Northern
Manchuria, with rail and mining concessions in that province and
prospects of getting hold of both Port Arthur and Kiao-chau. But,
at an opportune moment for Germany, two German missionaries were
murdered in 1897 by Chinese bandits. Germany at once seized Kiao-chau,
and in March, 1898, extorted a 99-year lease of the port, with
exclusive development privileges throughout the peninsula of Shantung.
"The German Michael," as Kaiser Wilhelm said at a banquet on the
departure of his fleet to the East, had "firmly planted his shield
upon Chinese soil"; and "the gospel of His Majesty's hallowed person,"
as Admiral Prince Heinrich asserted in reply, "was to be preached
to every one who will hear it and also to those who do not wish
to hear." "Our establishment on the coast of China," writes
ex-Chancellor van Buelow, "was in direct and immediate connection
with the progress of the fleet, and a first step into the field
of world politics... giving us _a place in the sun_ in Eastern
Asia."[1]

[Footnote 1: From London _Spectator_, Dec. 26, 1897, quoted in
Morse, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE, Vol. III,
p. 108.]

[Illustration: THEATER OF OPERATIONS, RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR]

Thus forestalled at Kiao-chau, Russia at once pushed through a
25-year lease of Port Arthur, and proceeded to strengthen it as
a fortified port and naval base. England, though preoccupied with
the Boer War, took Wei-hai-wai as a precautionary measure, "for as
long a time as Port Arthur shall remain a possession of Russia."[1]
France secured a new base in southern China on Kwang-chau Bay, and
Italy tried likewise but failed. Aroused by the foreign menace,
the feeling of the Chinese masses burst forth in the summer of 1900
in the massacres and uprisings known as the Boxer Rebellion. In
the combined expedition to relieve the legations at Peking Japanese
troops displayed superior deftness, discipline, and endurance,
and gained confidence in their ability to cop