for herself, on the whole, a considerable number of miscellaneous commercial
and political advantages from the facheuse situation arising out
of an attitude on the part of the Chinese so hostile to progress.''[42]


[42] ``China,'' pp. 95, 96.


France, as far back as 1787, obtained the Peninsula of
Tourane and the Island of Pulu Condore by ``treaty'' with
the King of Cochin-China. The French soon began to regard
Annam as within their sphere of influence. In 1858, they
seized Saigon and from it as a base extended French power
throughout Cochin-China and Cambodia, the treaty of 1862
giving an enforced legal sanction to these extensive claims.
Not content with this, France steadily pushed her conquests
northward, compelling one concession after another until in
1882, she coolly decided to annex Tong-king. The Chinese
objected, but the war ended in a treaty, signed June 9, 1885,
which gave France the coveted region. These vast regions,
which China had for centuries regarded as tributary provinces,
are now virtually French territory and are openly governed as
such.

The beginnings of Russia's designs upon China are lost in
the haze of mediaeval antiquity. Russian imperial guards are
frequently mentioned at the Mongol Court of Peking in the
thirteenth century.[43] In 1652, the Russians definitely began
their struggle with the Manchus for the Valley of the Amur, a
struggle which in spite of temporary defeats and innumerable