lance of gain in these shabby transactions in the north
of China was enormously in favour of Russia. She now pushed on her
railway southwards with all possible energy. It soon appeared that Port
Arthur could not remain an open port, and it was closed to merchant
ships. Then Talienwan was named in place of it, but under restrictions
which made the place of little value to foreign merchants. Thereafter
the new port of Dalny was set apart for purposes of commerce, but the
efficacy of the arrangements there has never been tested. In the
intentions of the Czar, Port Arthur was to become the Gibraltar of the
Far East, while Dalny, as the commercial terminus of the trans-Siberian
line, figured as the Cadiz of the new age of exploration and commerce
opening out to the gaze of Russia.

That motives of genuine philanthropy played their part in the Far
Eastern policy of the Czar may readily be granted; but the enthusiasts
who acclaimed him as the world's peacemaker at the Hague Congress (May
1899) were somewhat troubled by the thought that he had compelled China
to cede to his enormous Empire the very peninsula, the acquisition of
which by little Japan had been declared to be an unwarrantable
disturbance of the balance of power in the Far East.

These events caused a considerable sensation in Great Britain, even in a
generation which had become inured to "graceful concessions." In truth,
the part played by her in the Far East has been a sorry one; and if
there be eager partisans who still maintain that British Imperialism is
an unscrupulously aggressive force, ever on the search for new enemies
to fight and new lands to annex, a course of study in the Blue Books
dealing with Chinese affairs in 1897-99 may with some confidence be
prescribed as a sedative and lowering diet. It seems probable that the
weakness of British diplomacy induced the belief at St. Petersburg that
no opposition of any account would be forthcoming. With France acting as
the complaisant treasurer, and Germany acquiescent, the Czar and his
advisers might well believe that they had reached the goal of their
efforts, "the domination of the Pacific."

With the Boxer movement of the years 1899-1900 we have here no concern.
Considered pathologically, it was only the spasmodic protest of a body
which the dissectors believed to be ready for operation. To assign it
solely to dislike of European missionaries argues sheer inability to
grasp the laws of evidence. Mission