In What Form The
Payment For Russia's Services Should Be Made Was, For Some Time, The
Subject Of Debate, But, Before Li Hung Chang Left China In The Spring Of
1896, As A Special Embassador To Attend The Coronation Of Nicholas II.
At
Moscow, the heads of a convention had been drawn up, and, on Li's arrival
in Russia, he signed an agreement which embodied the concessions to be
made to the Czar in return for his services.
This secret treaty gave
Russia the control of the Liau-Tung Peninsula, which she had ostensibly
saved, at the cost to China of $30,000,000, and the St. Petersburg
government was also to be allowed to build a branch of the Trans-Siberian
Railway through Manchuria to Talienwan and Port Arthur. A period of
eighteen months elapsed before the details of this momentous agreement
became known. On the return of Li Hung Chang to Pekin, he not only failed
to recover the viceroyship of Chihli, but he found his relations with the
Emperor Kwangsu quite as unsatisfactory as they had been after his return
from Shimonoseki. He was restored, indeed, to a seat on the Tsungli Yamen,
or Board of Foreign Affairs, but, for twelve months, it seemed as if,
despite the support of the Empress-dowager Tsi An, his influence would
never revive.
The two years that followed the Shimonoseki Treaty gave a breathing spell
to China, and should have been devoted to energetic reforms in the
military and naval administration.
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