o the
Chinese dominions north of the Great Wall.[50]

In 1899 Talienwan and Kiaochow were respectively thrown open by Russia
and Germany to foreign trade, and, encouraged by these measures, the
United States government initiated in September of the same year a
correspondence with the great European powers and Japan, with a view
to securing their definite adhesion to the "open door" policy. The
British government gave an unqualified approval to the American
proposal, and the replies of the other powers, though more guarded,
were accepted at Washington as satisfactory. A further and more
definite step towards securing the maintenance of the "open door" in
China was the agreement concluded in October 1900 between the British
and German governments. The signatories, by the first two articles,
agreed to endeavour to keep the ports on the rivers and littoral free
and open to international trade and economic activity, and to uphold
this rule for all Chinese territory as far as (_wo_ in the German
counterpart) they could exercise influence; not to use the existing
complications to obtain territorial advantages in Chinese dominions,
and to seek to maintain undiminished the territorial condition of the
Chinese empire. By a third article they reserved their right to come
to a preliminary understanding for the protection of their interests
in China, should any other power use those complications to obtain
such territorial advantages under any form whatever. On the submission
of the agreement to the powers interested, Austria, France, Italy and
Japan accepted its principles without express reservation--Japan first
obtaining assurances that she signed on the same footing as an
original signatory. The United States accepted the first two articles,
but expressed no opinion on the third. Russia construed the first as
limited to ports actually open in regions where the two signatories
exercise "their" influence, and favourably entertained it in that
sense, ignoring the reference to other forms of economic activity. She
fully accepted the second, and observed that in the contingency
contemplated by the third, she would modify her attitude according to
circumstances.

Meanwhile, negotiations carried on by the British minister at Peking
during 1898 resulted in the grant of very important privileges to
foreign commerce. The payment of the second instalment of the Japanese