wn control, with powers almost equal to those of a Viceroy. They
enabled her to displace Englishmen from various posts in Northern China
and to clog the efforts of their merchants at every turn. The British
Government, we may add, showed a singular equanimity in face of this
procedure.

But this was not all. At the close of March 1896, it appeared that the
gratitude felt by the Chinese Andromeda to the Russian Perseus had
ripened into a definite union. The two Powers framed a secret treaty of
alliance which accorded to the northern State the right to make use of
any harbour in China, and to levy Chinese troops in case of a conflict
with an Asiatic State. In particular, the Court of Pekin granted to its
ally the free use of Port Arthur in time of peace, or, if the other
Powers should object, of Kiao-chau. Manchuria was thrown open to Russian
officers for purposes of survey, etc., and it was agreed that on the
completion of the trans-Siberian railway, a line should be constructed
southwards to Talienwan or some other place, under the joint control of
the two Powers[491].

[Footnote 491: Asakawa, pp. 85-87.]

The Treaty marks the end of the first stage in the Russification of
Manchuria. Another stage was soon covered, and, as it seems, by the
adroitness of Count Cassini, Russian Minister at Pekin. The details, and
even the existence, of the Cassini Convention of September 30, 1896,
have been disputed; but there are good grounds for accepting the
following account as correct. Russia received permission to construct
her line to Vladivostok across Manchuria, thereby saving the northern
detour down the difficult valley of the Amur; also to build her own line
to Mukden, if China found herself unable to do so; and the line
southwards to Talienwan and Port Arthur was to be made on Russian plans.
Further, all these new lines built by Russia might be guarded by her
troops, presumably to protect them from natives who objected to the
inventions of the "foreign devils." As regards naval affairs, the Czar's
Government gained the right to "lease" from China the harbour of
Kiao-chau for fifteen years; and, in case of war, to make use of Port
Arthur. The last clauses granted to Russian subjects the right to
acquire mining rights in Manchuria, and to the Czar's officers to drill
the levies of that province in the European style, should China desire
to reorganise them.[492]

[Footnote 492: Asakawa, chap. ii.]

But the protector had no