Page:Korea (1904).djvu/253

Rh of this compact, is that it was a bargain made with China, and not with us. There is another, and still more extraordinary feature in connection with this affair, which Li Hung Chang confided to a diplomatic representative of a foreign Power, at Pekin, some years ago. The Chinese statesman admitted that the contract between China and Russia contained a private stipulation that it should be good for ten years only. In other words, Great Britain was led to withdraw from Port Hamilton on the pretence that Russia would never trespass on Korean soil, although there was a secret understanding between China and Russia at the time, that this arrangement should only be in force for one decade.

Although the position of affairs in regard to the action of Russia at Yong-an-po is of recent prominence, the question goes back in reality to the autumn of 1896, when a Russian merchant in Vladivostock, M. Brünner by name, obtained from the Korean Government the right of felling lumber and planting trees on the banks of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers, as well as on the island of Ul-lyang, for twenty years. The concession was to be forfeited unless work was begun in five years. As the close of the period drew near, the Russian agent in Seoul applied for an extension of three years. At the moment it was reported in Seoul that this request of M. Pavloff had been refused, but it transpired subsequently that an agreement had been drawn up to the following effect between the superintendent, appointed by the Korean Government to oversee the matters, and the inspector in charge of the interests of of [sic] the company in Yong-an-po:

1. The said district in Yong-an-po shall be rented to the Russian company.