children--were flung into the Amur by the Cossacks, was only one
incident in the reign of terror by which the Russians sought to restore
their power and their prestige. The resistance of the Chinese troops was
soon overcome, and Russian forces overran the whole province, occupying
even the treaty port of Niu-chwang. The Russian government officially
repudiated all responsibility for the proclamations issued by General
Gribsky and others, foreshadowing, if not actually proclaiming, the
annexation of Chinese territory to the Russian empire. But Russia was
clearly bent on seizing the opportunity for securing a permanent hold
upon Manchuria. In December 1900 a preliminary agreement was made
between M. Korostovetz, the Russian administrator-general, and Tseng,
the Tatar general at Mukden, by which the civil and military
administration of the whole province was virtually placed under Russian
control. In February 1901 negotiations were opened between the Russian
government and the Chinese minister at St Petersburg for the conclusion
of a formal convention of a still more comprehensive character. In
return for the restoration to China of a certain measure of civil
authority in Manchuria, Russia was to be confirmed in the possession of
exclusive military, civil and commercial rights, constituting in all but
name a protectorate, and she was also to acquire preferential rights
over all the outlying provinces of the Chinese empire bordering on the
Russian dominions in Asia. The clauses relating to Chinese Turkestan,
Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and Mongolia were subsequently stated to have
been dropped, but the convention nevertheless provoked considerable
opposition both in foreign countries and amongst the Chinese themselves.
Most of the powers, including Germany, who, however, denied that the
Anglo-German agreement of the 16th of October 1900 applied to
Manchuria,[54] advised the Chinese government not to pursue separate
negotiations with one power whilst collective negotiations were in
progress at Peking, and both Japan and Great Britain pressed for
definite information at St Petersburg with regard to the precise tenor
of the proposed convention. At the same time the two viceroys of the
lower Yangtsze memorialized the throne in the strongest terms against
the convention, and these protests were endorsed not only by the great
majority of Chinese officials of high rank throughout the provinces, but
by popular meetings and influential g