ABSTRACT
The Russian demand for Port Arthur and Talienwan demonstrated over again that Russia had other than commercial ambitions in China. The strength of the Russian fleet in the Pacific at the time and Japan's unpreparedness for a large conflict deterred the Japanese Government from any warlike action. Port Arthur was to be a military port open only to Russian and Chinese vessels, and closed to the merchant ships and warships of other States. The Russian Government, by means of its diplomacy, as pointed out in the preceding pages, without the expenditure either of men—or of money except in the form of baksheesh—and without in any way compensating effete China, had obtained these very valuable concessions. They involved territorial acquisition to the disadvantage of China. Undeterred by the declaration that Britain would regard the acquisition of Port Arthur as a disturbance of the balance of power at Peking, necessitating an adjustment by Britain, the Russian Government proceeded with its plans.
