When the peace negotiations between the Japanese and Chinese plenipotentiaries were in progress at Shimonoseki, Russia and France had been preparing themselves to intervene, and Germany had for diplomatic reasons consented to aid the Russian overtures, while Great Britain, which had once before made a fruitless effort to bring about a concerted mediation by the powers, declared that she had no objections to Japan's claims. The plan of intervention having been matured, the Russian, French, and German representatives at Tōkyō called at the foreign office on April 23, 1895, and on their separate cordial reception, presented notes from their governments in which the latter counseled Japan to return to China the Liao-tung peninsula of South Manchuria, for its retention by Japan would, in their opinion, not only endanger the position of the Chinese capital, but also render the independence of Korea illusory, and permanently threaten the general peace of the Far East. While the notes were couched in polite terms, the Eastern squadrons of the three powers manifested such an activity as to demonstrate the determination of the intervening states to enforce their demand, if necessary, by a concerted appeal to arms. At this grave crisis the Japanese authorities agreed among themselves that after the exhausting war of the last eight months it would be impossible for Japan to fight single-handed with the three European powers. May 10, 1895, found the Japanese nation eagerly perusing the imperial decree which reiterated the unalterable devotion of the emperor to the cause of peace, for the sake of which the three friendly powers had advised, and his own sense of magnanimity also counseled, the retrocession to China of the entire peninsula of Liao-tung. The feeling excited among all ranks of the people by this memorable incident was intense. It seemed plain to everyone that the conduct of the powers in thus depriving Japan of what appeared to be a just fruit of her costly war could not have been animated by a genuine respect for the integrity of the Chinese empire. None wished the independence of Korea and the progress of China more deeply than did the Japanese, while, on the other hand, Russia, the central figure in the intervention, probably had a design upon Port Arthur and the whole of Manchuria. The fall of this vast territory into Russia's hands would eventually threaten the independence of Korea, and, consequently, the safety of Japan herself. The Japanese nation naturally awoke to the conviction that, in order to secure the peace of the East and the repose of Japan, the latter must strengthen and enrich herself, so that the humiliation of 1895 should never recur. The conviction was based, it should be clearly noted, not so much upon a desire for revenge as upon the determination to safeguard the common vital interests of Japan and the general Far East by means of progress and civilization.