Part 21 (1/2)
Asia, the greatest of the continents and the seat of the earliest civilizations, yields us the most remarkable phenomenon in the history of mankind. In remote ages, while Europe lay plunged in the deepest barbarism, certain sections of Asia were marked by surprising activity in thought and progress. In three far-separated regions - China, India, and Babylonia - and in a fourth on the borders of Asia - Egypt - civilization rose and flourished for ages, while the savage and the barbarian roamed over all other regions of the earth. A still more extraordinary fact is, that during the more recent era, that of European civilization, Asia rested in the most sluggish conservatism, sleeping while Europe and America were actively moving, content with its ancient knowledge while the people of the West were pursuing new knowledge into its most secret lurking places.
And this conservatism seemed an almost immovable one. For a century England has been pouring new thought and new enterprise into India, yet the Hindus cling stubbornly to their remotely ancient beliefs and customs, though they show some signs of a political awakening. For half a century Europe has been hammering upon the gates of China, but not until recently did this sleeping nation show any signs of waking to the fact that the world was moving around it. As regards the other early civilizations - Babylonia and Egypt - they long ago were utterly swamped under the tide of Turkish barbarism and exist only in their ruins. Persia, once a great and flouris.h.i.+ng empire, likewise sank under the flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion, and today seems in danger of being swallowed up in the tide of Russian and British ambition. Such was the Asia upon which the nineteenth century dawned, and such it remains in some measure today, though in parts of its vast area modern civilization has gained a firm foothold.
This is especially the case with the island empire of j.a.pan, a nation the people of which are closely allied in race to those of China, yet who have displayed a greater progressiveness and a marked readiness to avail themselves of the resources of modern civilization. The development of j.a.pan has taken place within a brief period. Previous to that time it was as resistant to western influences as China continued until a later date. They were both closed nations, prohibiting the entrance of modern ideas and peoples, proud of their own form of civilization and their own inst.i.tutions, and sternly resolved to keep out the disturbing influences of the restless West. As a result, they remained locked against the new civilization until after the nineteenth century was well advanced, and China's disposition to avail itself of the results of modern invention was not manifested until the century was near its end.
WARLIKE INVASION OF CHINA
China, with its estimated population of 300,000,000, attained to a considerable measure of civilization at a very remote period, but until very recently made almost no progress during the Christian era, being content to retain its old ideas, methods and inst.i.tutions, which its people looked upon as far superior to those of the western nations. Great Britain gained a foothold in China as early as the seventeenth century, but the persistent attempt to flood the country with the opium of India, in disregard of the laws of the land, so angered the emperor that he had the opium of the British stores at Canton, worth $20,000,000, seized and destroyed. This led to the ”Opium War” of 1840, in which China was defeated and was forced in consequence to accept a much greater degree of intercourse with the world, five ports being made free to the world's commerce and Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain. In 1856 an arbitrary act of the Chines authorities at Canton, in forcibly boarding a British vessel in the Canton River, led to a new war, in which the French joined the British and the allies gained fresh concessions from China. In 1859 the war was renewed, and Peking was occupied by the British and French forces in 1860, the emperor's summer palace being destroyed.
These wars had their effect in largely breaking down the Chinese wall of seclusion and opening the empire more fully to foreign trade and intercourse, and also in compelling the emperor to receive foreign amba.s.sadors at his court in Peking. In this the United States was among the most successful of the nations, from the fact that it had always maintained friendly relations with China. In 1876 a short railroad was laid, and in 1877 a telegraph line was established. During the remainder of the century the telegraph service was widely extended, but the building of railroads was strongly opposed by the government, and not until the century had reached its end did the Chinese awaken to the importance of this method of transportation. They did, however, admit steam traffic to their rivers, and purchased some powerful ironclad naval vessels in Europe.
COMMODORE PERRY AND HIS TREATY
The isolation of j.a.pan was maintained longer than that of China, trade with that country being of less importance, and foreign nations knowing and caring less about it. The United States has the credit of breaking down its long and stubborn seclusion and setting in train the remarkably rapid development of the island empire. In 1854 Commodore Perry appeared with an American fleet in the bay of Yeddo, and, by a show of force and a determination not to be rebuffed, he induced the authorities to make a treaty of commercial intercourse with the United States. Other nations quickly demanded similar privileges, and j.a.pan's obstinate resistance to foreign intercourse was at an end.
The result of this was revolutionary in j.a.pan. For centuries the Shogun, or Tyc.o.o.n, the princ.i.p.al military n.o.ble, had been dominant in the empire, and the Mikado, the true emperor, relegated to a position of obscurity. But the entrance of foreigners disturbed conditions so greatly - by developing parties for and against seclusion - that the Mikado was enabled to regain his long-lost power, and in 1868 the ancient form of government was restored, the n.o.bles being relegated to their original rank and their semi-feudal system overthrown.
j.a.pAN'S RAPID PROGRESS
The j.a.panese quickly began to show a striking activity in the acceptance of the results of western civilization, alike in regard to objects of commerce, inventions, and industries, and to political organization. The latter advanced so rapidly that in 1889 the old despotic government was, by the voluntary act of the emperor, set aside and a limited monarchy established, the country being given a const.i.tution and a legislature, with universal suffrage for all men over twenty-five. This act is of remarkable interest, it being doubtful if history records any similar instance of a monarch decreasing his authority without appeal or pressure from his people. It indicates a liberal spirit that could hardly have been looked for in a nation that had so recently opened its doors. It was, however, probably the result of a previous compact with the n.o.bles who aided the Mikado to regain his throne. Today, j.a.pan differs little from the nations of Europe and America in its inst.i.tutions and industries, and from being among the most backward, has taken its place among the most advanced nations of the world.
The j.a.panese army has been organized upon the European system, and armed with the most modern style of weapons, the German method of drill and organization being adopted. Its navy consists of about two hundred war vessels, built largely in British dockyards and manned by sailors trained under British officers. A number of powerful s.h.i.+ps are in process of building. Railroads have been widely extended; telegraphs run everywhere; education is in an advancing stage of development, embracing an imperial university at Tokio, and inst.i.tutions in which foreign languages and science are taught; and in a hundred ways j.a.pan is progressing at a rate which is one of the greatest marvels of the twentieth century. This is particularly notable in view of the longer adherence maintained by the neighboring empire of China to its old customs, and the slowness with which it yielded to the influx of new ideas.
ORIGIN OF THE CHINA-j.a.pAN WAR
As a result of this difference in progress between the two nations we have to describe a remarkable event, one of the most striking evidences that could be given of the practical advantage of modern civilization. Near the end of the century war broke out between China and j.a.pan, and there was shown to the world the singular circ.u.mstance of a nation of 40,000,000 people, armed with modern implements of war, attacking a nation of 300,000,000 - equally brave, but with its army organized on an ancient system - and defeating it as quickly and completely as Germany defeated France in the Franco-German War. This war, which represents a completely new condition of affairs in the continent of Asia, is of sufficient interest and importance to speak of at some length.
Between China and j.a.pan lay the kingdom of Korea, separated by rivers from the former and by a strait of the ocean from the latter, and claimed as a va.s.sal state by both, yet preserving its independence as a state against the pair. j.a.pan invaded this country at two different periods in the past, but failed to conquer it. China has often invaded it, with the same result.
Thus it remained practically independent until near the end of the nineteenth century, when the question of predominance in it became a cause of war between the two rival empires.
Korea long pursued the same policy as China and j.a.pan, locking its ports against foreigners so closely that it became known as the Hermit Nation and the Forbidden Land. But it was forced to give way, like its neighbors. The opening of Korea was due to j.a.pan. In 1876 the j.a.panese did to this secluded kingdom what Commodore Perry had done to j.a.pan twenty-two years before. They sent a fleet to Seoul, the Korean capital, and by threat of war forced the government to open to trade the port of Fusan. In 1880 Chemulpo was made an open port. Later on the United States sent a fleet there which obtained similar privileges. Soon afterwards most of the nations of Europe were admitted to trade, and the isolation of the Hermit Nation was at an end. Less than ten years had sufficed to break down an isolation which had lasted for centuries. In less than twenty years after - in the year 1899 - an electric trolley railway was put in operation in the streets of Seoul - a remarkable evidence of the great change in Korean policy.
THE POSITION OF KOREA
Korea was no sooner opened to foreign intercourse than China and j.a.pan became rivals for influence in that country - a rivalry in which j.a.pan showed itself the more active. The Koreans became divided into two factions, a progressive one that favored j.a.pan, and a conservative one that favored China. j.a.panese and Chinese soldiers were landed upon its soil, and the Chinese aided their party, which was in ascendency among the Koreans, to drive out the j.a.panese troops. War was threatened, but it was a averted by a treaty in 1885 under which both nations agreed to withdraw their troops and to send no officers to drill the Korean soldiers.
The war, thus for the time averted, came nine years afterwards, in consequence of an insurrection in Korea. The people of that country were discontented. They were oppressed with taxes and by tyranny, and in 1894 the followers of a new religious sect broke out in open revolt. Their numbers rapidly increased until they were 20,000 strong, and they defeated the government troops, captured a provincial city, and put the capital itself in danger.
The Min (or Chinese) faction was then at the head of affairs in the kingdom and called for aid from China, which responded by sending some two thousand troops and a number of war vessels to Korea. j.a.pan, jealous of any such action on the part of China, responded by surrounding Seoul with soldiers, several thousands in number.
Disputes followed. China claimed to be suzerain of Korea and j.a.pan denied it. Both parties refused to withdraw their troops, and the j.a.panese, finding that the party in power was acting against them, advanced on the capital, drove out the officials, and took possession of the palace and the king. A new government, made up of the party that favored j.a.pan, was organized, and a revolution was accomplished in a day. The new authorities declared that the Chinese were intruders and requested the aid of the j.a.panese to expel them. War was close at hand.
LI HUNG CHANG AND THE EMPRESS
China was at that time under the leaders.h.i.+p of a statesman of marked ability, the famous Li Hung Chang, who, from being made viceroy of a province in 1870, had risen to be the prime minister of the empire. At the head of the empire was a woman, the Dowager Empress Tsu Tsi, who had usurped the power of the young emperor and ruled the state. It was to these two people in power that the war was due. The dowager empress, blindly ignorant of the power of the j.a.panese, decided that these ”insolent pigmies” deserved to be chastised. Li, her right-hand man, was of the same opinion.
At the last moment, indeed, doubts began to a.s.sail his mind, into which came a dim idea that the army and navy of China were not in shape to meet the forces of j.a.pan. But the empress was resolute.
Her sixtieth birthday was at hand and she proposed to celebrate it magnificently; and what better decorations could she display than the captured banners of these insolent islanders? So it was decided to present a bold front, and, instead of the troops of China being removed, reinforcements were sent to the force at Asan.
HOW j.a.pAN BEGAN WAR
There followed a startling event. On July 25th three j.a.panese men-of-war, cruising in the Yellow Sea, came in sight of a transport loaded with Chinese troops and convoyed by two s.h.i.+ps of the Chinese navy. The j.a.panese admiral did not know of the seizure of Seoul by the land forces, but he took it to be his duty to prevent Chinese troops from reaching Korea, so he at once attacked the wars.h.i.+ps of the enemy, with such effect that they were quickly put to flight. Then he sent orders to the transport that it should put about and follow his s.h.i.+ps.