| Show FOILED PLOT TO PARTITION CHINA emperor william and secretary hay nipped in the bud well la d scheme of france THE SECRET HAS LEAKED OUT old world powers had planned a division of eastern asia but their schemes came to naught washington an interesting cipio matic secret explaining certain events of the past and having an am bearing upon the future lela alons of the powers may now be dis closed the information comee at an opportune moment tor just now the diplomatic world Is eagerly discuss ing the alleged violation of neutral ity by france in permitting rodest fleet to make use of kam ranh bay as a base there are well defined rumors of the formation of a closer alliance between great britain and japan an alliance which it afef may send the english fleets to japans assistance in case the rus blans win a victory over togo s ships ani in foreign chancel lories and in embassies both here and abroad much speculation Is rite asto whether the victorious japanese ever will get out of manchuria or whether on one pre text or another they will remain there indefinitely and virtually add that rich empire of 60 of people to their territorial possessions the disclosure involves the united states and all the leading powers of europe it will be remembered that a few days after the outbreak of hos between russia and japan fourteen months ago secretary ha sent out to the powers h s now fa note asserting the principle of the maintenance of the adminis tra alve entity of china and inviting ad berance thereto at the time it was generally supposed mr hay had done this in pursuance of his well defined pol cy of throwing about china a in all the protection which the moral influence of the united states could sway this was true but it was soon discovered that the initiative of this action really came from the german emperor who suggested the step through his able ambassador to washington baron von recently the state department per bitted the publication of a brief chap ter ot the diplomatic correspondence of the united states which afforded ample proof that the move in ques alon was made at the instance of the kaiser emperor william s motive in this action has never been explained the explanation is now given upon anim peaceable pea chable authority in december 1903 and january and february 1904 the kaiser dis covered indisputable evidence that foreign minister Del casse of france was working upon a project of enor importance and tar reaching sig Del casse was casting about for means of averting the war the plan was nothing less than the formation of a new alliance or an ar ran gement which would have had all the force oi an alliance concerning the tar eastern question first france and great britain were to reach an understanding as to their alms in china and in eastern asia generally then each was to use its influence to bring its ally into the combination upon well defined terms in other words france was to bring in russia and great britain was to bring in japan details as to the form of the proposed agreement are lacking it la quite likely they were not formulated beyond general terms it Is known however that they contemplated a division of eastern asia into spheres of influence in which each of the par ties to the agreement was to exercise paramount rights this Is the great scheme that was foiled by the action of secretary hay and the german emperor |
