on the islands of Tsushima. They operated on a large scale. The people of the great wealthy cities along the coast of the Yellow and Eastern Seas lived in constant fear of them. Curiously one of these pirate bands met a disastrous defeat at a point not more than twenty miles east of the present Port of Dairen. It was in the summer of 1419. The Chinese commander in charge of the section of the country had been warned of the approach of the Japanese pirates. The warning came from Peking. Nothing shows more clearly how very seriously the movements of the Japanese pirates of those days engaged the attention of the great continental power. The Chinese forces waited the approach of the pirates in ambush, and, falling upon them from the rear, practically annihilated them. More than 700 were beheaded and IIO taken alive.

The next time the Japanese came in direct touch with Manchuria was nearly two centuries after that. In 1592 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warrior statesman who had achieved the unification of feudal Japan toward the close of the fifteenth century, addressed himself to the modest task of conquering China. It was no idle jest with him. Certainly it was no joke to Chosen people when, to their amazement, they found that he really meant what he had told them and his army fought its way through Chosen. It was a joke with the Ming Court at Peking at first. It sent 5,000 Chinese braves to roll back the Japanese invasion, which had driven the whole Chosen forces through the entire length of the peninsula to the boundary line of Manchuria. But the Celestials did not enjoy their little joke long: 3,000 of the 5,000 were killed and the rest ran a sort of irregular foot race over the Yalu back to its Manchurian side at the very first shock of contact. On the northward march through Chosen, the Second Army under the famous General Kato Kiyomasa took the northeastern route.

It crossed the Tumen River from Kainei to Manchuria and marched into the eastern section of what to-day is known as Chientao. But it turned back almost as quickly as it entered, for the whole expedition was tricked out of its advantage by a Chinese peace envoy called Chen Weiching, who asked for an armistice. The Japanese fell into the trap and gave the Peking Government time to mobilize a great force.

SINO-JAPANESE WAR

The first real acquaintance the Japanese made with Manchuria was at the time of the Chinese War. In February, 1876, Japan concluded with Chosen a treaty recognizing her as an independent state "enjoying the same sovereign rights as Japan." America, England, and other great powers followed Japan's example, and no effective protest came from China, though she kept on treating Chosen as her dependency. She stationed her resident in Chosen, and he meddled with the Chosen politics with his armed force time and again. China's actions tried Japanese patience beyond words more than once. The Tientsin Treaty of April, 1885, signed by Ito representing Japan and by Li Hungchang on behalf of China, made the status of Japan and China precisely equal in Chosen. The Convention bound the contracting parties to give, "each to the other, previous notice in writing of their intention" if a grave disturbance in Chosen compelled either of the two to send troops there. That was not exactly an open admission by China of the independence of Chosen, but it was something very close to it. In March, 1894, an insurrection shook Chosen, led by a reactionary political party called Tonghak. Both China and Japan sent their armed forces into Chosen, notifying each other. In the Chinese communication notifying Japan of the despatch of an army into

Chosen, she spoke of Chosen as her "tributary State." For eighteen years, since the treaty of 1876, Japan had treated Chosen as an independent state. America and the European states had done the same. The independence of Chosen was vital to her national safety, as Japan saw it. It was out of the question, therefore, to admit the Chinese contention that Chosen was her dependency. Japan protested vigorously. Right there was the seed of Sino-Japanese War. The Tonghak uprising died down before the Chinese army landed; but China declined to withdraw her force. Japan, on her side, also refused to withdraw until the independent status of Chosen was cleared or without "some understanding that would guarantee the future peace, order, and good government of Korea." Japan thought it about time to settle the thing once for all. She notified China that the despatch of re-enforcements by China would be construed as a hostile act. China's answer was a sneer: she sent re-enforcements overland across the Yalu. She also sent by sea. Three Chinese warships convoying the transport "Kowshing" flying a British flag met two Japanese cruisers off the Chosen coast. The Chinese opened fire on the Japanese, and the war was on.

The First Japanese Army crossed the Yalu and fought toward Mukden by way of Fenghuang and over the Changpai range. The Second Army crossed the Yalu also, but it went westward by a southern route and reached Newchwang via Haicheng. The Third Army landed on Liaotung Peninsula and made south for Port Arthur. The Fourth Army went up the Liaotung Peninsula, took Kaiping, and turned south to join the Second Army at Newchwang. More than 120,000 men of the Japanese expeditionary forces measured Manchuria's soil with their own tread and got first-hand knowledge of the country. Thousands of Japanese traders and travelers followed the army into Manchuria also.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki of the 17th of April, 1895 (Appendix 1), ended the war. Article II of the treaty reads:

"China cedes to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty the following territories, together with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property thereon:

"(a) The southern portion of the province of Fengtien, within the following boundaries:

"The line of demarcation begins at the mouth of the River Yalu and ascends that stream to the mouth of the River Anping; thence the line runs to Fenghuang; thence to Haicheng; thence to Yinkow [the port of Newchwang], forming a line which describes the southern portion of the territory. The places above named are included in the ceded territory. When the line reaches the River Liao at Yinkow, it follows the course of that stream to its mouth, where it terminates. The midchannel of the River Liao shall be taken as the line of demarcation.

"This cession also includes all the islands appertaining or belonging to the province of Fengtien, situated in the eastern portion of the Bay of Liaotung and in the northern part of the Yellow Sea."

Right there, Russia, France, and Germany stepped in, presented Japan a little friendly advice, and committed a highway robbery in the noble name of the permanent peace of the Orient. Two days after the ratification of the Treaty of Shimonoseki at Chefoo on May 8th, 1895, an Imperial rescript was published commanding the return of the above-mentioned territory to China.

While the Japanese armies were in Manchuria, they met something much more serious than the Chinese forces -something which in the end conquered not only the Japanese army but the Japanese market and the Japanese rice-fields—namely Manchurian beans and bean cakes. Before the Sino-Japanese war, the export market for