Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/55

 and undertook the chastisement of the Formosan savages; but his decision was almost immediately reversed by the Peking Government, which declared that the tribes in question acknowledged no overlord. Japan then dispatched an expedition of 3,000 troops—which caused the Chinese Government once again to change its policy, and claim the sole right to intervene in Formosan affairs. Chinese troops were likewise sent to Formosa and the two countries seemed to be drifting into war; the intervention of the British envoy in Peking effected a settlement by means of an indemnity. The language of the settlement recorded in Peking on the 31st October, 1874, is important because it was signed by the great Japanese statesman Okubo, who had long specialized in his country's foreign relations. The preamble says:

. . . Certain Japanese subjects having been wantonly murdered by the unreclaimed savages of Formosa, the Government of Japan regarding these savages as responsible dispatched a force against them to exact satisfaction. An understanding has now been come to with the Government of China that this force shall be withdrawn and certain steps taken; all of which is set forth in the three Articles following.