ABSTRACT
On 9 January 1898 the British Cabinet met to discuss the new, and as people did not fail to mention, novel, unanticipated situation in northeast Asia. It was decided that Great Britain would not seek territorial expansion, unless it was forced to do so by circumstances. The prospect of occupying part of China did not appeal to the British government. It carried with it, Balfour would say in the House of Commons repeating the familiar argument, the ‘unmixed evil’ of ‘responsibility for populations not always very easy to deal with’. 1 What London did was to suggest, still in January, a clear delineation of the British and Russian spheres of influence in China and in the Ottoman Empire (Salisbury’s partition of preponderance) with the first right to important economic endeavours, such as the construction of railways and mining. Nicholas II would write to Wilhelm II that the British proposal, unique as it was, had been ‘tempting’ and ‘quite amazing’, adding that ‘never before had England made such offers to Russia’. 2 Nevertheless, Russia declined.
