AMERICA IN THE FAR EAST 13 The latest addition to the Powers possessing territory in the Far East is the United States of America, which obtained the group of islands known as the Philippines as part of the indemnity from Spain at the termination of the Cuban war of 1898. The archipelago in question extends north and south between Formosa and Borneo, and includes some two thousand islands of varying size and importance. The largest is Luzon, which contains an area of 40,024 square miles. The total area of the Philippines is 115,300 square miles, and the population is estimated at 8,000,000. The capital is Manila, with a population of 154,000. The inhabitants are mostly Malays. There is a European population of 25,000 persons and about 10,000 Chinese. The acquisition of the Philippines by the United States was resisted by the natives, who had previously risen in rebellion against Spain, and the country became plunged in civil war. Matters have quietened down since then, but the interior is still far from being pacified, though there are signs of improvement. The Philippines are fairly productive, and do a considerable trade with Europe, notably in sugar, hemp, and tobacco. The total revenue is rather under three millions. The possibilities of these islands are politically very great. The many fine harbours they contain afford exceptional facilities for naval and commercial purposes, and the geographical situation affords their possessors considerable influence in the affairs of the Far East. It is as yet too early to speak of the ultimate effect of the American occupation on Asiatic politics, but it cannot be other than considerable. Such are the locations of the various countries centred in the Far East: three of them, the outcome of centuries of evolution, sharing between them the wealth and the resources of outer Asia; four others, intruders, bent on the safeguarding of those interests they have acquired, and eager to add to their number and value as occasion serves. It is a fair example of the political struggle for existence, which, like that for life itself, must be fought, lest its possessors be struck with inanition and perish. No nation can stand still and retain its nationality. It can progress like Japan, until it enters the rivalry of its one-time greater powers. It can retrograde like China, and witness its despoilers quarrelling over the partition of its carcase, before it is yet dead; or it can be still-born like Korea, and feel its body being absorbed without even attracting the attention of possible objectors. The forces of national being in the Far East, as elsewhere, are always moving. In the case of those countries which move wisely, it is not difficult to forecast the attainment of their aims. But with the sluggards, the end, though far off, is certain, and the only problem is, not the result but the circumstance by which it is to be brought about. It is the study of this principle which supplies the crux of the Far Eastern question, a topic which is bound up in the fate of empires, and the dominion of that part of the earth whereon the sun does rise. CHAPTER II THE DAWN OF WESTERN INFLUENCE Early travellers in Asia-Marco Polo-Raphael Perestralo-Fernand 1 FOR upwards of four thousand years the destinies of China rested in the hands of the Chinese and their immediate neighbours. From the accession of the first Emperor Hwangti, who is said to have exerted his sway over the Celestial Empire about the year 2637 B.C., to the advent of the first ruler of the Mongol dynasty, Chitsou, better known as Kublai Khan, who was a contemporary of our own Edward I., no European had penetrated into the recesses of the farthest East. The Pacific shores of Asia 1 NOTE. The sources from which the present account of the early intercourse between Western civilisation and the Far East are derived are exceedingly numerous. They include the chronicles of such travellers as Marco Polo, Mendez Pinto, Perez D'Andrade, and Raphael Perestralo; the records of Will Adams and Hendrik Hamel, and the journals of Lord Amherst, Sir George Staunton, Sir Hope Grant, Sir John Davis, Lord Elgin, Commodore Perry, and other of the early navigators of the China Seas. I have relied for the details of Russia's elementary dealings with China on my own Russia in Asia, in which these events are fully discussed, and where the various authorities consulted are set forth. It is only necessary here to express my obligations to Ravenstein's Russians on the Amur, Fischer's Sibirische Geschichte, Middendorf's Nord und Ost Siberia, and the journals of Ysbrand Ides, Golovnin, and other early travellers, to which I am indebted for much that is of value and interest. |