General Nogi enters Port Arthur } Breech of Japanese Siege Gun } 356 Japanese marching into Port Arthur } Snapshot of Madame Stoessel } 358 Horse-shoeing Extraordinary 368 MAPS Battle of Yalu 64 Liao-yang 214 Battle of Liao-yang 228 From the Yalu to Port Arthur Chapter I THE ORIGIN OF THE WAR. For the origin of the war between Russia and Japan we must glance back over three centuries. After the famous expedition of 1592–8, Korea was bound to Japan by the closest ties. It was an independent Kingdom in “political intercourse” with the Japanese as distinguished from countries like Holland and China, whose relations were purely commercial. For this reason the Government at Seoul was notified in 1869 of the overthrow of the Shagunate and the restoration of the Imperial Authority. Ignorant of events beyond her own borders, and animated by a spirit of aggressive conservatism, Korea refused to acknowledge the new Government and returned a defiant and insulting answer to the representations of the Mikado. Upon this issue the newly organised Government in Japan was divided. One party was for vindicating the national honour by appeal to arms; the other party was for peace at any price. The peace party prevailed and Field Marshal Saigo, who more than any other man was responsible for the new order of things and for the restoration of the Imperial power, withdrew from public life. Trusted and beloved by the people, he was followed into retirement by several hundred soldiers and civilians who held office under the new Government. When Saigo emerged from privacy it was as leader of the rebellion of 1877, which was quelled after a sanguinary struggle that lasted eight months. Meanwhile the Koreans were encouraged to acts of aggression, and a Japanese gunboat, taking soundings near Chemulpo, was fired upon. The fort was attacked and the garrison dispersed. Recognising the Chinese claim of suzerainty over Korea, the Japanese entered into negotiations in Pekin. But the Government of China declined to be responsible for the acts of this tributary kingdom, and declared that the Koreans had complete liberty to do whatever they liked in all matters of State, whether internal or external. Upon this repudiation of her suzerain power, the Japanese despatched a mission to Korea and a treaty was made between the two countries. The preamble to that document contains a precise declaration that Korea is “an independent country, equal to Japan.”