explorers, and it was at once found necessary to despatch an expedition into that country for the ostensible purpose of suppressing disorders caused by bands of disorganized followers of the Tai-ping rebels. During the operations of the expeditionary force it came into collision with the Chinese troops by which some of the towns were partly garrisoned, and at the end of the war France found the circumstance to be worth $15,000,000, which she compelled China to pay, in addition to the cession of Tongking, which is now a French province. But in 1883, before the hostilities had begun, and while the French minister was at Peking negotiating a settlement of matters connected with Tongking, certain French warships quietly dropped anchor in the harbor of Foochow. Their coming had no appearance of menace, and the Chinese were without suspicion that the visit was otherwise than friendly. The fleet lay for several weeks, and its officers had exchanged the usual courtesies with the authorities of the port; but suddenly, without the slightest warning, the ships opened fire upon the imperial arsenal, sank the Chinese gunboats at their anchorage before they could be got under way, and continued the bombardment until the destruction was complete. The action was wholly unexpected, unprovoked by any act of hostility on the part of China, and though the relations of the two countries were strained, diplomatic intercourse had not been interrupted.
A more petty instance of outrage, but one quite as characteristic of the methods pursued by the nations, occurred in 1860, when the foreign legations were established at Peking. The Chinese government leased to the French minister for residence at a nominal rental the unoccupied palace of one of the princes. The gentleman moved in, payed his rent for two years, then claimed ownership and declined to make further remuneration.
The recent acquisition of territory by three great powers is a matter of familiar history. It was accomplished, on the part of Great Britain and Germany, by the use of a formula which has proved in the last forty years to be highly efficacious in extorting valuables from China in a civilized manner and with an appearance of respectability, and has been employed many times. The formula is simple in its nature; equally so in its application. A power demands a concession, usually of some desirable area of harbor frontage, and China, helpless to resist, has no sooner yielded than she has the diplomatic corps about her ears in a frenzy at the disturbance of the "balance of power." Each diplomat waves a claim for indemnity, and China, thoroughly cowed by long experience, must restore the balance by further cession of property, or by the payment of an equivalent in gold. Thus, at the end of the Chinese-Japanese war, the victor restrained by concert of Russia, France and Germany from holding Manchuria as the fruit of conquest, had hardly evacuated Port Arthur before the place was occupied by the
