The Proposed Innovation Was Resisted For Some Time; But
When Sir Nicolas O'Conor Was Appointed British Minister At Pekin, An
Exception Was Made In His Favor, And A Place Of Superior Importance To The
Hall Of Tributary Nations Was Chosen For The Presentation Of His
Credentials.
The Emperor Kwangsu agreed to receive him in the Cheng Kuan
Tien Palace, or pavilion which forms part of the imperial residence of
Peace and Plenty within the Forbidden City.
In pursuance of this
arrangement, the British representative, attended by his suite, proceeded
to this pavilion on December 13, 1892, and was received at the principal
entrance by the high court officials. It was also noted that the emperor
took a greater interest in the ceremony than on preceding occasions, and
followed with attention the reading of Queen Victoria's letter, by Prince
Ching, then president of the Tsungli Yamen. Thenceforth, there was
observed with every year a decided improvement in the mode of receiving
foreign diplomatists, and, eventually, the imperial audience was
supplemented with an annual dinner given by the Board for Foreign Affairs.
Through the personal reception accorded by the Emperor of China to Prince
Henry of Prussia on May 15, 1898, the audience question was finally
settled in favor of the right of foreign potentates to rank on an equality
with the so-called Son of Heaven.
We come now to the most memorable event in the modern history of China
since the Taeping Rebellion; to wit, the war with Japan. In order to
comprehend, however, the causes of this contest between the two chief
races of the Far East, it is necessary to review the development of the
Corean question which gave rise to it. There seems to be no doubt that
Japan derived its first civilizing settlers, and most of its arts and
industries, from the Corean peninsula. It is certain that, for centuries,
the intercourse between the two countries was very close, and that more
than one attempt was made by Japanese rulers to subjugate Corea. The
latest and most strenuous endeavor to that end was made near the end of
the sixteenth century, and, although it resulted in a temporary occupation
of the peninsula, the Japanese troops were eventually withdrawn, and Corea
resumed its former status of a kingdom tributary to the Celestial Empire.
Thenceforth, for almost three centuries, Corea and Tonquin bore, in
theory, precisely the same relation to the Middle Kingdom. In each
instance, the practical question was whether China was strong enough to
make good her nominal rights. The outcome of her resistance to French
aggression in Tonquin had shown that there, at least, she had no such
power. But, in the subsequent ten years, efforts had been made to organize
an efficient army and navy, and the belief was entertained at Pekin that
China was at all events strong enough to uphold her claims in Corea, which
was, geographically and strategically, of far more importance to the
Middle Kingdom than was Tonquin. Yet, while it was evident that Corea
would not be renounced without a struggle, the Pekin authorities, for some
years, met the Japanese encroachments with a weak and vacillating policy.
As early as 1876, the Mikado's advisers entered on a course which
obviously aimed at the attainment of commercial, if not, also, political,
ascendency in the Hermit Kingdom.
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