ABSTRACT
THE tension between Russia and Japan had existed ever since Russia’s interference in the conditions of the Peace of Shimonoseki between Japan and China. The Japanese had to look on while Russia appropriated the booty for which they had so bravely fought Japan had followed with great anxiety the expansion of the Russian power during the Boxer rebellion. It was to be feared that Korea, where already so much Japanese blood had been spilled and with which Japan was so closely bound through its history, would fall a prey to the Russian lust of conquest The question, in whose possession that district was to be in the future, was one of life and death to Japan. If Russia became lord of the Sea of Japan, then Japan must for ever abandon the hope of winning a position of equality among the great powers.
