Expenditures of the Russo-Japanese war / by Gotaro Ogawa.

12 EXPENDITURES OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

pour down to the south and a new contingent was dispatched
from home. This seemed to indicate that the Russian authorities at Petrograd had agreed by this time on a permanent
occupation of Manchuria. Although the new demands were
rejected through the protest of Japan, Great Britain and
America, Russia skilfully maneuvered out of the opposition of
the powers and expedited the progress of her Manchurian
occupation. General Kuropatkin, the War Minister of Russia,
whosevisit to Japan about this timewas rumored to have been
for military inspection, stopped at Port Arthur on his way back
and held an important conference of the civil and military
officials stationed there. As results of this conference, the
Russian forces in South Manchuria were further strengthened
and new barracks were built at Port Arthur. It was also reported that Russia notified the Chinese Government of the
impossibility of the withdrawal of troops and forced it to ratify
the secret treaty that had long been in abeyance. In August,
the Russian Government General for the Far East was established at Port Arthur, and the militarist leader, Admiral
Alexieff, was appointed Viceroy, vested with full powers for
administrative, military and diplomatic affairs. The warlike
preparations on land and sea were thus brought to speedy
completion, the Pacific fleet of Russia being largely augmented;
forts were hurriedly built at Vladivostok, Port Arthur and
other strategic points in South Manchuria, and the transportation of arms and ammunition became brisker day by day.
In October Mukdenwas reoccupied, and the Chinese Governor
General of Mukden was taken into custody.
Besides opening in July a direct negotiation with Russia
on the Korea-Manchuria question, Japan demanded of the
Chinese Government the opening of Manchuria to foreign
trade as a measure for checking the exclusive occupation
of the country by one power. This move resulted in the
opening in October of Mukden and Taitungkou, while the
United States at the same time succeeded in inducing China
to open Mukden and Antunghsien.
Simultaneously with the increasing of the Russian forces