Show FROM THE ORIENT movements of the japanese american and british diplomacy plo macy japans confidence in england chinas views on the causes of the war london sept 17 A dispatch from shanghai dated september that news hag reached tien tain that a fleet of twelve japanese transports conveying tiodos beaded a few days ago from a japanese port it is sup poked it is the intention of the japanese commander to land hie forces at some point on the chinese coast the chinese fleet under the command of admiral ting has sailed bouth for the purpose of intercepting the japanese orders have been cent to all chinese ports to maintain a most careful watch for the approach of the enemy the correspondent says large reinforcements for cements 0 japanese troops have gone to corea wagers are being made in tokio that the japanese army will occupy pekin the capital of china or mukden the capital of the province of leao ton malcuria Man curia on november A later shanghai dispatch says ad vices ibave reached there from nagasaki showing that a number of japanese ships convoyed by mon of war have left hiroshima Her island of hondo bound for corea these probably are the vessels above mentioned as being bound with japanese forces for china doubtless exaggerated news ef the vessels were received in alon tain and it was taken for granted the destination of the army was china and its object the capture of some port which could be used as the base of operations for future movements it is now admitted the chinese were defeated with a loss of men in an engagement which took place on august A dispatch to the standard from berling bays prince izing head of the foreign office at peking has induced the emperor to issue a decree ordering that henceforth DO chinese viceroy shall meddle in foreign affairs the viceroys have been informed the foreign policy will be conducted in the future exclusively by the foreign office this it is added is the viceroys of nankin canton man and kashmar have all interfered more or less in such mattera the dispatch further says the emperor has received many letters from corean noblemen and generals assuring him of their dished fidelity despite the borean kings declaration of independence correspondence san francisco sept 17 tho steamer oceanic arrived here this morning from hongtong Hong kong and yokohama brining japanese advices to september and 2nd little or no intelligence was brought from china direct and the following notice which appears at the head of the editorial column ot the china gazette a newspaper published in shanghai beema to indicate the difficulty of obtaining reliable information from chines sources la the present position of affairs it is utterly useless to attempt to get any reliable information over the chinese wires or from chinee sourhea sour cea and we are compelled therefore to wait until the japanese official accounts of the progress of the war between china and japan are first published in the press of the latter country and then get them telegraph d here the chinese have by their disgraceful mendacity in the kow shing affair and their refusal to transmit any telegraph which does not glorify them and mislead the public as to their true condition cut themselves off from all chance of their reports being believed bali eved by people who want to got at the truth the oceanic brings the following correspondence yokohama r sept 2 copyrighted 1894 by the associated press the re viewed treaty between england and japan was ratified at tokio august for the first timo the united states has failed to lake advantage of japans desire to deal primarily with the great republic in important international transactions the opinion expressed in japan is that negotiations at washington might have been concluded long aeo if the state department biad been disposed to act upon japans proposals As it is great britain standa ahead in the enactment of the treaty which the asiatic empire has been earnestly striving for more than twenty beare to secure on one previous occasion the business was nearly brought to a conclusion by count okuma but at the last moment his plans were defeated by the violent pub he demonstrations in japan against his method of adjusting the vexed question of tho judiciary it was therefore thought expedient to beep these latter negotiations strictly secret and to allow none of the proposed conditions to become a subject of popular discussion until the affair was absolutely terminated the announcement first made by the emperor was a surprise to everyone though vague rumors of what was contemplated bad circulated during tho past few weeks the treaty confers no immediate advantage upon japan at least five years must elapse before it goes into operation and it te for japan to pay whether or not the interval shall be loneer but until 1899 everything must remain as it is now the purpose of this delay is that japan shall perfect her judicial eye tem to an extent warranting the abolition of courts the existence of foreign tribunals is chief grievances and ehte far as great britain is concerned will caaso at the appointed time the other ance interference with the tariff will not be done away with until 1910 when complete autonomy may be resumed by the simple process of terminating th treaty bat from 1899 or date the japanese assign for the agreement to come in force until eleven years later when H may be cancelled bv either party n practically new tariff will bo adopted somewhat more favorable tc japan than that which now regulates lates her commerce but not strikingly so the import duties now collected average 5 per cent ad va lorem under the new british schedule the average is estimated it from 6 to 8 per cent only twentynine twenty nine articles some of which are so subdivided sub divided as to make alie total appear thirty nine are raised above the former rates of these silks and sole leather are fixed at 15 per cent the majority including par afline oil are fixed at 10 per cent the actual corn not be by a supplementary convention specific duties will be applied on the basis of average prices shown by the custodi returns for six months the dutiable value of imports will include freights insurance and commission items not hitherto reckoned As regards export duties it does not appear that any changes are proposed the position of englishmen in japan will be in most respects identical with that of native subjects only two privileges will bo withheld the right of coastwise trade and the right to own land buildings may be owned but the land ranst be held on leases it is evident that in negotiating this treaty japan has not consulted present gain eo much as security for the future the difficulties of the existing system have grown to be intolerable to her and she would algoet have consented to sacrifices for a time to bo assured of positive release at a designated period five years bence british extra territorial jurisdiction will bo abolished and japan expects that the other powers will likewise close their consular courts sixteen years hence she hopes similarly to be rid of all commercial restrictions the burdens of the internal are not felt to be too heavy a price to pay for ultimate freedom it is curious to observe that the best tariff japan can now get from england is far loss beneficial to her than that attached to the treaty of 1858 negotiated by townsend harris the first envoy from the united states harris might have imposed any terms that suited him but with a just regard for what he believed to be japans interests he arranged a schedule the average of which was about 20 per cent some articles being rated as high as 35 per cent the scale was forced down by representatives of other howera until within ten years the average became 5 per cent chinese and japanese fleets continue to play the game of hide and seek at the mouth of the gulf of Pe chili the ships of the middle kingdom conceal themselves so effectually that foreigners in the open ports cannot speculate as to their position the javanese Jao anese can accomplish com little more than to check the transportation of chinese troops to corea and in this they have so far succeeded that further reinforcements if undertaken at all will go by land but it appears to be doubted that china intends to strengthen her forces in the peninsula further most of the bodies now in motion are said to be making their way towards tien tain and ing tho defense to the approaches to the capital being considered of the first moment the whole country between the capital and the gulf is in great agitation correspondents from the interior write to the china gazette that intense terror pervades tho entire north of the empire the report is circulated that li hung chang though now 74 years old will be ordered to take personal command of tho armies on the continent notwithstanding the dissatisfaction of the court with alie result of bis management up to this time the humiliation inflicted upon him has gone no further than the withdrawal or suspension of of his decorations and the appointment of two to watch hie proceedings but if the navy or army should meet with serious disaster his position will be extremely dangerous failure that cannot be keat from exposure Is the one unpardonable crime in chinese statesmanship while the military activity is chiefly shown in the north considerable at petion is given to the strengthening of fortifications along the chinese coast have been sent to formosa to repair the works at Taiwan fu and takao owing to rumors that the japanese contemplate a descent on that island no ground for this suspicion can be discovered and japan has enough to occupy her in borea and the neighborhood the inactivity of the armies ia borea gives rise to various surmises particularly ticul arly in japan where apprehensions of a reverse are freely expressed in official circles great reticence ie shown bat suggestions are heard to the effect that the delay is part of a strategic plan for the discomfiture of the chinese forces the armies have undoubtedly been within a days march of one another lor some time trifling skirmishes are supposed to bo instigated by the japanese to occupy alie attention of the adversary while a strong body proceeds through alie eastern districts of the peninsula intending to strike the chinese in the rear and if possible compel their surrender before they have an opportunity to escape projects of a march across the frontier matwiju and an advance upon pekin by land are discussed though with much caution direct information ia very sparingly vouchsafed but not the slightest kympton of uneasiness can be detected in any of tho government officials general count is about to take command of the entire japanese forces in and about core both military and naval he ia one 0 tho oldest officers now in the service und began hie career in tho war of imperial restoration st 1668 he held the poet 0 minister of war many years nd haa for a brief term been prime minister of the government lieutenant general remains at the head of the troops and admiral kabayama in control of the navy branch up to the present time no american or european correspondents have been permitted to fol lowthe japanese troops in the field abo objection being that it would be impossible to prevent them from circulating information be useful to the enemy representatives of the japanese newspapers are allowed to go in all and may send telegrams free of charge over the government wires but these 1 t are limited by a rigid censorship censor snip which forbids the publication of all news that bag not passed under official supervision enterprise is of little avail on more than one occasion intelligence hae been received by tokio journals como time in advance of its arrival nt the war or navy departments and though en J favorable to the japanese side its appearance in print has been prohibited until after fuu details had reached the government from its own agents the necessity for due caution is recognized a by the press but the rule requiring act ive newspapers to suppress their niter J mation to suppress the flow ministerial g progress is loudly complained of A sensation hae been caused in boklo 9 by the action of a correspond ent who on july undertook to j send a telegram astatine that japan had 3 declared war As this was untrue and as the premature announcement have seriously prejudiced capana interests the telegraphic authora w ties declined to transmit his message whereupon he crossed to shanghai and telegraphed thence that no reliance could be placed upon news proceeding Js from japan as all communications were submitted to a rigorous censorship As matter of fact no foreigner bending 9 genuine intelligence has been interfered with and dispatches over abo wires have gone freely to american and euro papers eight of the national banks of tobio have subscribed for bonds of tho war 3 loan to the amount collectively of twenty million and ten thousand yen the largest subscription is that of the fifteenth national bank seven million yen frequent accusation appear in japan newspapers of unwarranted acts of partiality committed by british officials in chinas favor admiral freemantle is charged with having interfered with one of japans naval operations by ordering salute to a japanese admiral at an inopportune moment and thus giving warning to the enemy the story lacks confirmatory evidence but it is 4 certain that in spite of the british pro cla mation of neutrality english merchant ships carrying carr ving munitions of war to chinese naval stations have sailed from shanghai without obstruction by the consul business in corea is much disordered owning to the scarcity of silver and a sudden lack of confidence in japanese paper money which has hitherto cir virtually at par the 3 of the japanese national banks havo s tried every means to arrest the decline ot paper which now stands at 40 per cent discount but thus far their efforts have been in vain the depreciation began the wholesale departure of the chinese merchants who exchanged large quantities of notes for silver which they carried home with them the comeans Co reans having little knowledge of financial matters and putting threat faith in chinas f shrewdness fear that the notes have be come worthless and generally refuse to accept them it is expected that early in september the customs service at the open ports of corea will be taken over by the jabines Ja pines the corean being at present incompetent to administer it the new arrangement is officially auctioned by the government at seoul yet there is a possibility that a show of opposition will be made by the present collectors a chiefly europeans appointed by chinese authority but their will w receive no attention corean officials travel with the jap 1 I anese troops in that country to explain i s that for alt provisions required commie 1 I lariat receipts will be duly given and payments made at fixed times and places per contra the chinese army has no commissariat and lives as it can L by plundering the products of the dis tracts through which it passes all foreign captains and engineers em aloyed by the china merchant steam navigation company threw up their en gage ments on publication of the neu proclamations of the respective countries by order of viceroy LI hung chang placards have been posted throughout warning the chinese not to u talk about the war and to treat all for 5 eigners with respect as they aro friends of china the plague which desolated has made its appearance at amoy some fifty cases having been detected it ia supposed to have been brought by vie tinas who traveled from over 4 land ti escape medical scrutinizes w A circular notice has been bent by tha y chinese foreign office to members of the diplomatic corps in pekin with a re quest that it be transmitted to their re 1 spec tive governments it recites anew at considerable length the story of the borean |