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 reached Hiroshima, Japan, the place designated for the conference, in January, 1895. After meeting with the Japanese commissioners it was decided by the latter that the Chinese credentials were not in proper form, the conferences were closed, and the Chinese commissioners sent out of the country. The objection to the credentials was purely technical, and the Chinese commissioners offered to have the defect corrected by telegraph to suit the views of the Japanese, but the offer was rejected. The true cause for the failure of these negotiations is most probably found in the fact that a formidable expedition was then ready to sail for the reduction of the fortress of Wei-hai-wei and the capture of the Chinese navy, and the Japanese did not choose to settle upon the terms of peace till this important expedition had accomplished its purpose.

After the capture of Wei-hai-wei, Japan let it be understood through the American legation that it would receive Li Hung Chang, who had been nominated peace commissioner, and on March 19 he landed at Shimonoseki, Japan, with a numerous suite. He was here met by Marquis Ito, prime minister, and Count Mutsu, minister of foreign affairs, and after negotiations continuing through four weeks, terms of peace were agreed upon and a treaty signed. Its leading features were the recognition of the complete independence of Korea and the abandonment of all tribute and vassal ceremonies to China, the cession of the Liao-tung Peninsula, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands to Japan, the payment of a war indemnity of two hundred million taels, the opening of four new ports