Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/63

 take of their newly acquired power, were baseless. Foreigners residing in Japan now enjoy immunity of domicile, personal and religious liberty, freedom from official interference, and security of life and property as fully as though they were living in their respective fatherlands.

From the point of view of Japan's position among the nations, her war with China in 1894-1895 perhaps even more important than her recovery of judicial and tariff economy, and by a singular coincidence the former event happened at sach a time as materially to reinforce the influence of the latter.

Friction between the two empires commenced in 1873, when, the crew of a Riukiuan junk having been barbarously treated by the inhabitants of northern Formosa, Japan applied to China for redress, and, failing to obtain it, took the law into her own hands. Double offence was thus given to the Middle Kingdom, for its rulers held not only that their territory had been invaded when Japan's forces landed in Formosa, but also that her assumption of protective responsibilities with regard to the Riukiu Islands was a direct infringement of Chinese sovereignty, the inhabitants of Riukiu being Chinese subjects. The latter point, however, was not raised by the statesmen in Peking. They confined their remonstrances to the invasion of Formosa, and they finally agreed to recoup Japan's expenses provided that she withdrew her troops from that