Negotiations Were Carried On, In The First Place By Lord
Salisbury, And In The Second By Lord Rosebery, With The Chinese Minister
In London, And The Draft Of More Than One Convention Was Prepared.
Among
such contemplated arrangements were the dispatch of a mission from Burmah
to China, and of a return one
From China; the appointment of the Head
Priest of Mandalay as the person to send the mission, thus making it a
purely native matter, outside the participation of the British government;
and the concession of material advantages on the Irrawaddy and in the Shan
country, as the equivalent for the surrender of the tribute. It is
probable that one of these three arrangements would have been carried out,
but that, on certain points being referred to Pekin, the knowledge came to
the ears of the British government that if the Tibetan mission were
withdrawn, the Chinese would be content with the formal admission of their
claim to receive the tribute mission from Burmah in accordance with
established usage. As both governments wanted a speedy settlement of the
question, the Chinese, with the view of allaying the rising agitation in
Tibet and getting rid of a troublesome question, and the English not less
anxious to have the claims of China in Burmah defined in diplomatic
language, the convention which bears Mr. O'Conor's name was drawn up and
signed with quite remarkable dispatch. For the abandonment of the Macaulay
mission, and the recognition of their right to receive the tribute mission
from Burmah, the authorities at Pekin were quite, at the moment, willing
to forego material claims such as a port on the Irrawaddy. Diplomacy has
not yet said the last word on this matter, and the exact frontier between
Burmah and China has still to be delimited, but the fixing of a definite
date for the dispatch of the first mission from Mandalay to Pekin, which
is timed to set out in January, 1894, is in itself of hopeful augury for
the settlement of all difficulties. When this matter is composed there
will be no cloud in the sky of Anglo-Chinese relations, and that such an
auspicious result will be obtained is not open to serious doubt. The most
gratifying fact in the history of China during the last ten years is the
increasing sympathy and tacit understanding between the two great empires
of England and China in Asia, which must in time constitute an effective
alliance against any common danger in that continent, and the aggressive
policy of Russia.
THE WAR WITH JAPAN AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
We have seen that, up to 1892, it had been customary to receive the
representatives of foreign powers in the Tse Kung Ko, or Hall of Tributary
Nations. Naturally, much dissatisfaction was provoked by the selection of
a place of audience which seemed to put the treaty powers on the same
footing as tributary states, and, accordingly, the foreign ministers
undertook to exact from the Tsungli Yamen, or Board for Foreign Affairs,
the designation of a more suitable locality in the imperial city for the
annual ceremony.
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