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Show FAMOUS I PEACE TREATIES I i By II. IRVING KING (CojjyriKhi , IUI'.j, hy iiin M i:i .'1 11 iv v. s jj;t i-r Hyndicat e.j TREATY OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 1841 When the Present Egypt Was Evolved. The I'.ritish possession of Egypt Is Something into which England "Just naturally drilled.'- The force of circumstances cir-cumstances was stronger than treaties and diplomacy, and after the occupation occupa-tion of the country subsequent to the Arabl J!ey Incident in 1882, England found herself in the position of the man who held the bear by both paws around a tree it wns more dangerous to let go than to hold on. Yet up to the recent proclamation of a British protectorate over the land of the Nile and the setting up of a sultan In le-pendent le-pendent of Turkey following the siding sid-ing of the Khedive abbas with the Germans, Egypt remained a part of 1 lie Turkish empire, a vassal state paying an annual tribute of $3,000,000 nnd governed nominally by a hereditary heredi-tary vassal prince. It was governed under the treaty of 18-11, which the powers forced upon the sublime porte nnd lis victorious rebel governor of l':g.vpt, Mebemet All. By this treaty the western powers obtained their first foothold in the land of the Pharaohs. Meheniet All was a Turkish officer who first went to Egypt In 1790 as commander of (he forces. He did so well In restoring order there that in 1805 the sultan appointed him governor. gov-ernor. But All found his government constantly threatened by 1 lie famous Mamelukes, a cavalry corps of the Egyptian army consisting of the descendants de-scendants of those Mingrolian, Turkish Turk-ish and other slaves sold by Gcnhlz Khan to the Egyptian sultan In the thirteenth century who, uniting iu revolt re-volt In 1251, made themselves masters of the country. The Turkish government govern-ment overthrew the Mameluke government govern-ment in 1517 and Egypt became a Turkish province. But the military caste of the Mamelukes was continued as a portion of the Egyptian army until All's time. Massacre of the Mamelukes. In 1811, seeing that it was a question ques-tion of survival between the Mamelukes Mame-lukes and himself, AH settled the matter mat-ter by a massacre of the Mamelukes. Mame-lukes. The citadel of Cairo was the scene of the principal slaughter ; the Mamelukes were annihilated. Now absolute master of Egypt, Mehemet All threw off his Turkish allegiance nnd conquered Syria In 1S31-2. In 1839 he defeated the Turks In so many engagements that It seemed 'as If his banners were certain to wave in the mosque of St. Sophia. The powers took alarm. That old idea wliich for so many centuries has prevented the Turk from being driven out of Europe Eu-rope the idea that the status quo at Constantinople must not be disturbed, lest the Turk being out of Constantinople, Constanti-nople, a general war should ensue for r i t ( its possession caused them to join together for an armed intervention, and Ali was forced to give up Syria. On January SO, 18-11, a treaty was concluded at Constantinople by which, in leturn for the relinquishment of Syria and the renewal of his allegiance allegi-ance to the sultan, All and his descendants descend-ants were created hereditary rulers of Egypt. Egypt for Egyptians. In 1881 appeared an Egyptian colonel, col-onel, Arabl Bey, who started the cry of "Egypt for the Egyptians." He overthrew the ministry of that year j and massacres of Europeans took place in Cairo and Alexandria. He wns openly encouraged by the Turkish Turk-ish government which, even when Arabl had flouted the authority of the Khedive and, becoming minister of war, placed himself at the head of an armed revolt which swept the country, coun-try, refused to declare him a rebel. He withdrew the budgets from the French and British financial advisers and manning the old forts and constructing con-structing new ones at Alexandria, threatened the fleets of England, France and the United States. On July 10, 1882, the British admiral ad-miral demanded the cessation of hostile hos-tile preparations and the delivery of some of the forts into British hands within 24 hours, or he said he would open fire. Cablegrams flew back and forth between Alexandria and Europe, and the British invited the French to join with them in an intervention. The French refused and the French fleet steamed out of the harbor for Port Said. The American fleet with-drey. with-drey. At 7 a. m. the British fleet opened fire. The engagement lasted until noon by which time most of the forts had been silenced. Fort Pharos fired until four o'clock. The next morning Arabi asked for a truce which was granted, and under cover of which he escaped with his army from the city. Seymour landed a force to restore order or-der in the city, the American marines landing nlso. A British expedition under un-der Sir Garnet Wolseley, was rushed to Egypt, and Arabi was crushingly defeated at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, on September 13. Cairo surrendered the next day ; Arabi was taken prisoner pris-oner and exiled to Ceylon. The authority au-thority of the Khedive was restored. Upon advice of the British, he abolished abol-ished the Dual Control and appointed a British financial adviser. Abbas succeeded Tewfik and an Englishman was appointed head of the Egyptian army. The treaty of 1841 was still observed until Abbas declared for Germany and fled to Austria, when a British protectorate was declared. M i " TREATY OF SHIMONOSEKI, 1895 '" ; A New Power Arises in the East When Japan Declares War on China. The western nations woke up to the j fact that a great power had appeared In the East when in 1894 Japan declared de-clared war on the vast empire of China and speedily brought it to its knees. The realization that a naval and military power of the first class had come into being on the western shores of the Pacific was not a pleasant pleas-ant one. and caused a great fluttering ainoiii' the "chancelleries" of Europe nnd was not viewed without concern iu the United States. It was because of her war with China and her subsequent war with Russia that Japan occupies the position posi-tion she does today among the nations. The treaty of Shimonosekl and the treaty of Portsmouth placed her among the leading nations of the world. The war between China and Japan arose over the affairs of Korea. In the olden days Korea had paid tribute to Japan and after the abolition aboli-tion of the Shogunate in 18G8 and the coming of the Mikado into his own, repeated demands were made upon the Koreans for a continuation of this tribute. Chinese and Japanese Intrigued In-trigued at the Korean court for the predominating Influence in the land of the morning calm nnd transformed it into a land which knew no calm. Japan Alleged Infraction. In June of 1S94 a Chinese army was sent into Korea for the ostensible purpose pur-pose of putting down a rebellion which threatened the Korean king. Japan declared this to be an infraction of the treaty between herself and China made in 1SS5, and dispatched a Japanese Japan-ese army which occupied the Korean capital and its port of Chemulpo, and fortified the route connecting the two cities. Somehow the rebellion disappeared, disap-peared, but the kini; of Korea found a Chinese army and a Japanese facing fac-ing each other in hostile guise upon his territory and asked them to withdraw with-draw which they refused to do. The king appealed to the United States. Mr. Gresham, secretary of state, asked ask-ed China and Japan please to get out of Korea. China said she was perfectly per-fectly willing to get out if Japan would. Japan said she would not get out until Korea had reformed her internal in-ternal affairs. It wns evident that Japan meant war, nnd on July 8, 1894, England proposed that the United States Join with her in an Intervention to prevent the war. The United Stntes refused to interfere except as a "friendly neutral," neu-tral," and would join no other nation, even in that interference. On July 31 Japan declared war upon the Celestial empire. The military and naval supremacy of Japan at once became startlingly apparent. A Japanese Jap-anese army swept through Korea, and advancing down the Liaotung peninsula, penin-sula, took Port Arthur. The Chinese were driven out of southern Manchuria. Man-churia. The Japanese fleet destroyed the Chinese fleet and captured Wei-hai-wei. At the beginning of the war the Chinese emperor had commanded his generals: "Go drive me these pigmies pig-mies into the sea," but now a Japanese Jap-anese army was ready to advance on Peking. Everywhere China was utterly utter-ly defeated. Negotiated Four Weeks. China thereupon authorized the American minister nt Pekln to transmit trans-mit direct to Japan a proposal for peace. Japan agreed to receive Li Hung Chang as peace commissioner. He landed at Shimonoseki on March 19, 1S95, where he was met by the Marquis Ito, and after four weeks of negotiation the treaty wns signed on April 17. The complete independence of Korea was recognized ; the Liaotung Liao-tung peninsula, Formosa and the Pescadores Pes-cadores islands were ceded to Japan, and China agreed to pay a war indemnity in-demnity of two hundred million tnels. open four new ports and grant special spe-cial trade privilege to the victors. Korea had been occupied and organized organ-ized by Japan during the war and. though its complete independence had been guaranteed by the treaty. Japanese Jap-anese influence was now supreme there. England was disturbed, Germany displeased and Russia angry and alarmed at the treaty of Shimonoseki. A great power had suddenly appeared to threaten Russian possessions nnd block her aspiration on the Pacific coast. The czar threateningly demanded de-manded the retrocession to China of the Liaotung peninsula. Germany and France hacked up the demand of Russia. Had Russia been alone to be considered. Japan might have thrown down the gauntlet then as she did later. But In the face of threats from three powers, she dared not refuse, re-fuse, and gave up the best fruits of the war which Russia stepped in and grabbed for herself. |