one side and partly on the other of the Mekong
river, south of the point where it issues from Chinese territory. The
boundary line was so drawn as to leave both these territories to China,
but it was stipulated that China should not alienate any portion of
these territories to any other power without the previous consent of
Great Britain. Yielding to French pressure, and regardless of the
undertaking she had entered into with Great Britain, China, in the
convention with France in June 1895, so drew the boundary line as to
cede to France that portion of the territory of Kiang Hung which lay on
the left bank of the Mekong. Compensation was demanded by Great Britain
from China for this breach of faith, and at the same time negotiations
were entered into with France. These resulted in a joint declaration by
the governments of France and Great Britain, dated the 15th of January
1896, by which it was agreed as regards boundary that the Mekong from
the point of its confluence with the Nam Huk northwards as far as the
Chinese frontier should be the dividing line between the possessions or
spheres of influence of the two powers. It was also agreed that any
commercial privileges obtained by either power in Yun-nan or Sze-ch'uen
should be open to the subjects of the other. The negotiations with China
resulted in a further agreement, dated the 4th of February 1897, whereby
considerable modifications in favour of Great Britain were made in the
Burma boundary drawn by the 1894 convention.

Kiaochow, Port Arthur, Wei-hai-wei.

While Russia and France were profiting by what they were pleased to call
the generosity of China, Germany alone had so far received no reward for
her share in compelling the retrocession of Liao-tung; but, in November
1897, she proceeded to help herself by seizing the Bay of Kiaochow in
the province of Shan-tung. The act was done ostensibly in order to
compel satisfaction for the murder of two German missionaries. A cession
was ultimately made by way of a lease for a term of ninety-nine
years--Germany to have full territorial jurisdiction during the
continuance of the lease, with liberty to erect fortifications, build
docks, and exercise all the rights of sovereignty. In December the
Russian fleet was sent to winter in Port Arthur, and though this was at
first described as a temporary measure, its object was speedily
disclosed by a request made, in January 1898, by the Russian ambassador
in London that two