She might, perhaps, have managed to contrive such a situation. We do not think that she could, for we know well how reasonable is the mood of the statesmen now directing Japan's affairs. Still, the effort was worth making, and it was in pursuit of such an object, as we imagined, that she deputed their excellencies Chang and Shao to come and talk peace at Hiroshima. But how could she hope for the smallest scintilla of success when she intrusted the unhappy envoys with credentials obviously farcical? To choose men of comparatively insignificant rank was an intelligible part of the play, but to invest them with the functions of mere telegraph clerks was to reduce the whole business to the level of light comedy. We can scarcely imagine that the Chinese Government aspires to be pitied for ignorance of the alphabet of international etiquette. But what is its ambition? We can not tell. The incident must be added to the catalogue of incomprehensible items constituting the history of the present war. Infinitely regrettable, however, is this new obstacle needlessly thrust into the path to peace. Count Ito and Viscount Mutsu acted wisely in assuring China, that despite the unpleasant necessity imposed on them by her conduct in connection with this embassy, Japan would always be ready to receive duly accredited envoys. But even that assurance will not appreciably lessen the greatly increased reluctance that China must feel to figure again as a suppliant. No. 100.] Mr. Dun to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Tokyo, Japan, February 5, 1895. (Received March 1.) SIR: As indicative of public sentiment in Japan in regard to the prosecution of the war with China, I have the honor to embody below a translation of a resolution which was unanimously adopted by the lower house of the Imperial Diet on the 1st instant. The translation reads as follows: Whereas, in the opinion of this house, the time is still distant when the objects on account of which war was proclaimed by His Majesty will be accomplished and the country's prestige established, therefore this house is prepared to grant whatever amount of appropriations may be necessary for the purposes of military expenditures, and adopts this resolution with the express intention of making known its sentiments on the subject. I have the honor, etc., EDWIN DUN. Mr. Dun to Mr. Gresham. No. 101.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Tokyo, Japan, February 15, 1895. (Received March 7.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith official translations, prepared at the Japanese foreign office, of the documents and communications which passed between the Japanese and Chinese plenipotentiaries at the late peace conference held at Hiroshima on the 1st and 2d days of the current month. These papers were laid before the Imperial Diet by the vice-minister for foreign affairs on the 6th instant. I have, etc., EDWIN DUN. [Inclosure in No. 101.-The Japan Daily Mail, February 8, 1895.] THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT HIROSHIMA. The following are official translations of the documents laid before the Imperial Diet by the vice-minister of state for foreign affairs on the 6th instant: [Translation.] Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu, Junii, first class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, His Imperial Majesty's minister of state for foreign affairs, has the honour to announce to their excellencies, the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of China that His Majesty the Emperor of Japan has appointed His Excellency Count Ito Hirobumi, Junii, grand cross of the Imperial Order of Paullownia, His Imperial Majesty's minister president of state, and the undersigned as his plenipotentiaries to conclude with the duly authorized plenipotentiaries of China preliminaries of peace, and has confided to them full powers for that purpose. [L. 8.] Viscount MUTSU MUNEMITSU, H. I. M.'s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. [Translation.] The undersigned, His Imperial Majesty's plenipotentiaries, have the honour to acquaint their excellencies the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of China that the meeting of the plenipotentiaries of the two powers is appointed to take place at the Hiroshima Kencho on the 1st day of the 2nd month of the 28th year of Meiji, at 11 o'clock a. m. The undersigned will on that occasion be prepared to make with the Chinese plenipotentiaries a reciprocal exchange of full powers. Count ITO HIROBUMI, Hiroshima, the 31st day of the 1st month of the 28th year of Meiji. [The 6th day of the 1st moon, the 21st year of Kwang-Su.] Their Excellencies Count Ito and Viscount Mutsu, Plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan: We have the honour to inform your excellencies that, in obedience to the command of His Majesty the Emperor of China, we proceeded to Japan with the imperial letter and arrived at Hiroshima on the 6th day of the 1st moon of the 21st year of Kwang-Su. We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your excellencies' note to the effect that you have been especially appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan to be plenipotentiaries for the purpose of concluding with us preliminaries of peace, and to express high appreciation of the fact that Japan has not forgotten her old friendship. We were about to request your excellencies to meet us by asking you to appoint the time of such meeting when we had again the honour to receive your note communicating to us that the meeting will be opened at the Hiroshima Kencho at 11 o'clock on the 1st day of the 2nd month. We beg in reply to say that we will, in compliance with your desire, attend the meeting at the appointed day and hour. We have the honour to convey to your excellencies the assurance of our highest consideration. CHANG IN HOON, Holding the Rank of President of a Board, Minister of the Tsung-li-Yamên, An Officer of the Button of the 1st Rank and Acting Governor of Hunan, [Translation.] Mutsuhito, by the grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan and seated on the throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: With a view to the restoration of peace between our Empire and that of China in order to maintain the peace of the Orient: We, reposing special trust and confidence in Count Ito Hirobumi, Junii, grand cross of the Imperial Order of Paulownia, our minister president of state, and Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu, Junii, first class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treas ure, our minister of state for foreign affairs, and having full knowledge of their wisdom and ability, do hereby name them as our plenipotentiaries. We have given to our plenipotentiaries full powers to meet and treat, either separately or conjointly, with the plenipotentiaries of China, and to conclude and sign preliminaries of peace. We shall examine all stipulations which our said plenipotentiaries may agree upon and, finding such stipulations proper and in good and due form, we shall ratify them. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our signature and caused the great seal of the Empire to be affixed. Done at Hiroshima, this thirty-first day of the month of the twenty-eighth year of Meiji, corresponding to the two thousand five hundred and fifty-fifth year from the coronation of the Emperor Jimmu. (Seal of the Empire.) (Countersigned) (Sign Manual.) Count ITO HIROBUMI, Minister President of State. [Translation.] MEMORANDUM. His Imperial Majesty's plenipotentiaries have the honour to announce that the full powers which they have just communicated to the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of China, embody all the authority which His Majesty the Emperor of Japan has confided to them in connection with the negotiation and conclusion of peace. In order to avoid, as far as possible, any future misunderstanding the Japanese plenipotentiaries desire reciprocally to be categorically informed in writing whether the full powers which have been communicated to them by the Chinese plenipotentiaries, but which they have not as yet examined, embody all the authority confided by His Majesty the Emperor of China to the Chinese plenipotentiaries in connection with the negotiation and conclusion of peace. Hiroshima, the 1st day of the 2nd month of the 28th year of Meiji. [English translation accompanied by the Chinese original.] To the Plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan: We have the honour to state that you handed to us on the 7th day of the 1st moon of the 21st year of Kuang-su, your commission from your Imperial Majesty, and at the same time a memorandum in which you ask of us a written reply respecting our full powers. We beg to state in reply that our commissions, handed to you at the same time in exchange, embody full powers given by our Imperial Majesty for the negotiation and conclusion of peace, with authority to conclude articles to that end and to sign them. In order to insure the more prompt execution of the treaty we may agree upon, we shall wire the terms for Imperial sanction and fix the date for signature; after which the same shall be taken to China for examination by His Imperial Chinese Majesty, and, being found proper and in good and due form, will be ratified. 8th day of the 1st moon of the 21st year of Kuang-su. [As translated by the Japanese Government.] By decree we do appoint (Chang In Hoon, holding the rank of president of a board, minister of the Tsung-li-Yamên and junior vice-president of the board of revenue, and Shao Yu Lien, an officer of the button of the first rank, and acting governor of Hunan) as our plenipotentiaries to meet and negotiate the matter with the plenipotentiaries appointed by Japan. You will, however, telegraph to the Tsung-li-Yamên for the purpose of obtaining our commands by which you will abide. The members of your mission are placed under your control. You will carry out your mission in a faithful and diligent manner and will fulfil the trust we have reposed in you. Respect this! Seal of Imperial Command. (The date.) [Speech addressed by His Excellency Count Ito, to Their Excellencies Chang In Hoon and Shao Yu Lien, at the conference of the 2nd February, 1895.] The measure which my colleague and myself find it necessary at this moment to adopt, is the logical and inevitable result of a situation for which we are in no wise responsible. China has hitherto held herself almost entirely aloof from other powers, and while she has in some instances enjoyed the advantages accruing to her as a member of he family of nations, she has perhaps more frequently denied the responsibilities of that relation. She has pursued a policy of isolation and distrust, and consequently her external relations have not been characterized by that frankness and good faith which are essential to good neighborhood. Instances are not wanting in which Chinese commissioners, after having formally agreed to international compacts, have refused to affix their seals, and cases might be cited in which treaties solemnly concluded have been unceremoniously and without apparent reason, repudiated. Those unfortunate occurrences find a sufficient explanation in the fact that China was not on those occasions seriously in earnest, but beyond that it might be said with truth that the officials who were designated to carry on negotiations had not been clothed with the necessary authority for the purpose. It has from the first been the wish of Japan to avoid results which history teaches her are liable to be the outcome of negotiations with Chinese officials who are not clothed with full powers in the sense in which that term is usually understood. Consequently the Imperial Government made it a condition precedent to any peace negotiations that the Chinese plenipotentiaries should be furnished with full powers to conclude peace, and it was only upon receiving positive assurance from the Chinese Government that that condition precedent had been complied with and that the Chinese plenipotentiaries were on their way to Japan that His Majesty the Emperor of Japan conferred upon my colleague and myself full powers to conclude and sign preliminaries of peace with the plenipotentiaries of China. That your excellencies' powers are, notwithstanding that assurance, fatally defective is to me a sure indication that the Government of China is not yet really solicitous for peace. Criticism is nearly exhausted by a simple comparison of the two instruments which were reciprocally exchanged at this board yesterday, but it is not out of place to point out that one fulfils the definition which is usually given among civilized States to the term full powers, while the other is destitute of nearly all those qualities which are regarded as essential to such powers; it even fails to indicate the subject upon which your excellencies are to negotiate; it does not authorize your excellencies to conclude or sign anything; it is silent on the subject of the subsequent imperial ratification of your excellencies' acts. In short, it would seem that the authority which has been conferred upon your excellencies would be completely fulfilled by your reporting to your Government what my colleague and myself might have to say. In this situation it would be impossible for us to continue negotiations. It may be urged that usage has not been entirely ignored in this instance. I can not admit the sufficiency of such an explanation. I disclaim any right to interfere with the purely domestic customs of China, but I deem it not only my right but my duty to insist that in international concerns affecting my own country the peculiar methods of China shall yield to the superior rules of international intercourse. The restoration of peace is a matter of the greatest importance. To bring about a reestablishment of amicable relations it is not only necessary that treaties with that object in view should be signed, but it is imperative that the engagements should be fulfilled in good faith. While Japan has found no reason to approach China on the subject of peace, she nevertheless feels bound, in deference to that civilization which she represents, to listen to any bona fide overtures which China may advance, but she will decline to take part in the future in any fruitless negotiations or to become a party to a paper peace. The terms which Japan agrees to will be scrupulously observed by her, and she will at the same time insist upon a like observance of the terms by China. Whenever, therefore, China finds herself seriously and sincerely desirous of peace and will confide actual full powers to Chinese officials whose names and positions will serve as an assurance that the terms which they may agree to will be confirmed and carried out in good faith, Japan will be prepared to enter upon new negotiations. [Translation.] MEMORANDUM. The Imperial Government repeatedly declared, through the United States representatives at Tokyo and Peking, that the appointment of plenipotentiaries with full powers to conclude peace was an indispensable prerequisite to negotiations on the subject of peace. His Imperial Majesty's plenipotentiaries, however, find that the authorization which their excellencies, the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of China, communicated to them on the 1st instant, is wholly inadequate for the purpose for which it is claimed it was issued. It lacks nearly all the essential attributes of full powers as usually understood. The Imperial Government have not receded from the position which they announced to the representatives of the United States that they had taken on the subject of full powers, and the imperial Japanese plenipotentiaries, having been intrusted by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan with actual, proper, and complete full powers, can not consent to treat with plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of China who are only authorized to discuss matters, to report to the Tsung-li-Yamên, and to obtain subsequent commands of the Throne by which they are to be guided. Under these circumstances it only remains for the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan to declare the present negotiation at an end. Hiroshima, the 2nd day of the 2nd month of the 28th year Meiji. No. 102.] Mr. Denby to Mr. Gresham. [Telegram.] PEKING, February 19, 1895. I sent yesterday a telegram to Japan stating that Li Hung-chang had been named plenipotentiary. His honors were restored to-day. He will hand over his duties as viceroy. He will be here the 21st instant. Japan was asked to name a place of meeting of plenipotentiaries. His credentials will be full powers to conclude and to sign peace treaty. Mr. Dun to Mr. Gresham. No. 103.] Tokyo, Japan, February 27, 1895. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, (Received March 21.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith translation reading of a telegram in Japanese received from Lieut. M. J. O'Brien, military attaché of this legation, in which he reports the surrender of the Chinese naval and military forces at Wei-hai Wei. I have, etc., EDWIN DUN. [Inclosure in No. 103.-Translation from Japanese.] Reading of a telegram received from Lieut. M. J. O'Brien, military attaché of the United States legation, Tokyo. PORT ARTHUR, February 19, 1895-10.50 a. m. AMERICAN MINISTER, Tokyo: The Chinese army has surrendered the forts on Liu-kung tao (island), together with the remainder of the fleet. The Japanese torpedo boats have sunk the Ping-Yuen and several armored cruisers besides. Two of the Japanese torpedo boats also received injuries. Another Chinese cruiser was sunk by shells. On the night of the 6th 13 Chinese torpedo boats attempted to escape, but before reaching Chefoo were either sunk or captured. According to the Chinese reports Admiral Ting and sev eral officers have committed suicide. The number of surrendered Chi |