of China, instead of barbarians, who must prostrate themselves in humble obeisance to one far mightier and greater than they.

The secretary of the International Banking Corporation on January 8, 1902, received from the secretary of state at Washington the official designation as the United States fiscal agent to receive at Shanghai the payment of the Chinese indemnity. This corporation was granted its charter by the Connecticut legislature on the previous June, with provisions of the most liberal character.

The interest of the civilized nations was centered upon the immense northern territory known as Manchuria. Russia, in the face of protests by the Powers and disavowals on her own part, slowly but surely tightened her grasp upon the country. This would have been of no special moment to us, but for the fact that the United States and Great Britain have enormous trade interests with Manchuria, and lately ours have taken precedence of all others. As has been intimated, Japan was more deeply concerned than any other nation, for not only would the acquirement of Manchuria by Russia threaten her trade, but would imperil her very existence.

When the text of Russia's proposed treaty with China became known, it contained nothing specially objectionable, but there was brought to light an agreement between the "Russo-Chinese Bank" and China which secured to Russia exclusive mining, banking, railway and industrial privileges. Great Britain, the United States and Japan vigorously opposed this as a clear violation of the open door policy, to which all the interfering Powers had pledged themselves months before. Germany manifested no interest in the question, for reasons which may be suspected but are not as yet fully known.

You will understand how gravely our interests were threatened by the course of Russia, and naturally our government exerted its influence against the signing of the treaty either by China or Russia. The two nations were warned that our country was firmly resolved to retain all the trade advantages that had been acquired in Manchuria. Two identical notes were sent on February 1, by Secretary Hay, respectively to Russia and China, declaring that any agreement by which China gave any corporation or company the exclusive privilege of opening mines, establishing railway lines, or in any other way industrially developing Manchuria, would be viewed with the gravest concern by the United States; and that such action was a monopoly, which was a distinct breach of the stipulations of the treaties concluded between China and the foreign Powers, and which would seriously affect the rights of American citizens.

This note bore the best kind of fruit. Russia assured the United States in the most positive language that Manchuria would never be closed to the trade, navigation and commerce of the United States. One cannot help suspecting that the announcement of the alliance between Great Britain and Japan, made within two days of the date of Secretary Hay's note, had something to do with this assurance on the part of Russia.

The official reports of the Chinese government for the years 1899 and 1900 showed that the trade of the United States suffered to a greater extent than that of any other country. The United Kingdom had an increase of more than 10 per cent., Russia 25 per cent., the Asiatic countries 40 per cent., while that of the United States decreased about You will be interested in learning that cotton goods and kerosene are the

largest imports into China from the United States, and the importance of our trade with that country is shown by the fact that after the decrease named our export of cotton drills was ten times as great as that of the nearest neighbor, that of cotton sheetings being about four times as large as the nearest competitor,

The best informed persons look upon the future of China with misgiving, and many

of those best qualified to judge declare that the Boxer troubles are by no means ended. As has been shown, the wholesale punishment of offenders has only a slight deterrent effect and sometimes no effect at all in China. No reliance can be placed upon the pledges of the Dowager Empress, and the leading Chinese officials. They are truthful when it is to their interest to be so, and when it is to their interest to deceive, they are past masters

of the art. Despite all the promises of the Chinese government to suppress disorder (and perhaps they made an honest but spasmodic effort to do so) dangerous uprisings took place in the extreme south and soon gained such proportions that Minister Conger demanded of the Chinese government information concerning the outbreak, for it was known that three American missionary families were in the disturbed region. The imperial troops sent to quell the revolt were defeated, and many of them joined the rebels, the main inducement being the prospect of gaining much loot. The simmerings of rebellion were never silent, and the end is not yet.

To show the distrust among the foreign Powers, it may be said that repeated charges have been made that the French encouraged the outbreak in the south, where two of the three provinces border on French territory; but the charge sounds unreasonable, since France had nothing that she could possibly gain by the outbreak, which might have been made profitable to her before the United States took her inflexible stand for the open door in China.

The partition of China among the Powers has been one of the most important questions before the civilized world down to the Boxer outbreak. The general belief was that when that great division took place it would be something like this:

England would obtain Central China, including the fertile and populous valley of the stupendous river Yangtse, which is navigable for more than a thousand miles; Germany would gain the territory of Kiachau on the shore of the Shantung province already seized as her indemnity for the murder of two German missionaries, and would absorb other extensive inland provinces; Russia would have Manchuria, upon which her heart has long been set; while France would appropriate the three immense southern provinces.

But all this has been changed by the entrance of the United States among the Western Powers. Trade interests compel a reckoning with her in such partition, against which, as has been shown, she is unalterably opposed. To these complicated conditions. must be added the indubitable fact that there has been organizing for years throughout China a powerful society bent on reforming the hitherto immovable empire by overthrowing the present dynasty, and establishing a government on the model of the United States. This society has millions of adherents, many of them scattered over every part of the civilized world, who contribute money freely, and are only awaiting the right moment to sound the bell of revolution.

It is a striking fact that the real founder of the famous "Hing-Ching Wooy," or Chinese Progressive Society, is a graduate of Harvard College, and was afterward a student of medicine in London. If reports of his doings are true, he and his associates are certain to prove most potent factors in the regeneration of the Celestial Empire, whose most interesting history must await the future to be written.

CHAPTER VII.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF MCKINLEY, 1897-1901-CONTINUED THE GALVESTON

CALAMITY.

T sometimes seems as if the powers of nature, with the purpose of teaching man his utter helplessness, strike blows that terrify the world. More than eighteen centuries ago Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried under the ashes and pumice of Vesuvius. A century and a half ago Lisbon went down into the depths of the sea, and in May, 1902, St. Vincent was destroyed by one of the most awful volcanic outbursts recorded in history.

It is when these visitations come to our own land that we are most profoundly stirred. You have learned of the calamity which Charleston suffered in the summer and early autumn of 1886, when an earthquake toppled a large part of the city in ruins, caused the death of many people and destroyed millions of dollars' worth of property.

The city of Galveston, Texas, ranked among the richest cities in the Union, the per capita wealth not being exceeded by more than one or two others. This metropolis of the largest State was so located that it invited the very calamity that finally overwhelmed it. It was another illustration of the fact that thousands live for years at the base of a volcano, and become so accustomed to the ever-impending peril, that they fail even to note the warnings of an approaching outburst and feel no alarm until their doom comes racing down upon them. Galveston stands at the eastern end of a low, flat island thirty miles long and six in width, with hardly a third of that extent at the place where the city is built. If you will note its location on the map, you will see that it is the natural outlet of the enormous and rapidly growing state, whose cotton crop is one-third of that of the whole country. Texas during the War for the Union supplied most of the beeves and cattle for the Southern Confederacy, and its production of lumber, grain, live stock, hides, petroleum and many other commodities has not only reached vast proportions, but is certain to become immensely greater in the near future.

It is remarkable that Galveston, with its many warnings of danger, failed to take proper precautions against the doom which, it may be said, always threatened her. Away back in 1857, when it was only a small town, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Galveston rose to such a height that only the roofs of the houses that were not swept away showed above the surface. But when they subsided, the inhabitants repaired their old homes or built new ones, and went on with their daily work and pursuits as if the inundation was of only trifling importance. Shortly after the close of the civil war, the waters again descended upon the town, but did less devastation than before. Had you been on Mechanic Street, the main business thoroughfare, you would have had to swim or be paddled about in a boat. The storm of that year was a tremendous one, but

only its skirts touched Galveston. In the summer and autumn of 1871, and three times. afterward, with intervals of two years, the city was inundated.

And yet, with these repeated warnings, Galveston calmly went about its business, just as we all do, knowing that sooner or later the hand of death will lay us low. There were many residents in Galveston who declared that one of the certainties of the future was the utter wiping out of the city by water and tempest. Yet they remained, because they had business interests there, and were quite content to take their chances with their neighbors.

The southern coast of the United States was swept by a tropical hurricane on September 6-9, 1901, and its climax of fury struck Galveston a few minutes before two o'clock on the morning of the 9th. It was known twenty-four hours before that a storm of unusual severity was gathering. It tore its way through New Orleans, gathering power as it advanced, so that at noon it was almost a hurricane, and before night it was an unmistakable one.

Now you will note the peculiar conditions which joined to annihilate the city that had dared to defy the elements so long. The pressure of the wind upon the waters of the Gulf was so prodigious and was continued so long that the waves on the north coast were lifted many feet above the usual high-tide level, and for a short time the whole city was submerged. The work of the wind alone would have caused great loss of life and property, but a resistless tidal wave united with the tempest and completed the terrifying work. Born in the depths of the Gulf and full grown at birth, it came rushing forth with a roar of triumph that drowned every other sound. It headed straight for Galveston, over which it rolled like a colossal car of Juggernaut.

Here are some official statistics which tell their own story: The tide at Galveston ordinarily rises from two to two and a half feet, but on Saturday, September 8, it registered a maximum of from twelve and a half to fourteen feet above mean low tide. Since the city is from six to ten feet above mean low tide, some idea of the mass of water which inundated it is given by this tide register. Bear in mind that this shows the height of the water at a level,—that is, if the surface was perfectly calm. But it was pounded into enormous waves, those from the Gulf being piled high in some parts of the city. On top of the raging sea galloped the storm wave, and spurred by the hurricane, formed an avalanche which nothing in the world could resist.

Directly after the Charleston earthquake, it was impossible to obtain a syllable through the telegraph lines stretching from that city, and it was believed by many that the city had been blotted out like Lisbon in 1755. So it was that when the telegraph wires centering at Galveston called in vain for reply, it was feared that the rich, bustling city had passed out of existence as suddenly as if smitten by a bolt from heaven. So, as you remember, it was believed respecting St. Pierre, but such calamities are very rare. Nature leaves a number to take her lesson to heart, though not often do they profit therefrom.

Steamers and incoming vessels, while far out of sight of land, came upon the bodies of men, women and children drifting about with the weeds and débris. As they drew nearer, the numbers increased, and there could linger no doubt in