Whilst it would be an exaggeration to say that open panic followed the filing of this document, there was certainly very acute alarm,—­so much so that it is to-day known in Peking that the Japanese Legation cabled urgently to Tokio that even better terms could be obtained if the matter was left to the discretion of the men on the spot.  But the Japanese Government had by now passed through a sufficiently anxious time itself, being in possession of certain unmistakable warnings regarding what was likely to happen after a world-peace had come,—­if matters were pressed too far.  Consequently nothing more was done, and on the following day China signified her acceptance of the Ultimatum in the following terms.

    Reply of the Chinese Government to the Ultimatum of the Japanese
    Government, delivered to the Japanese Minister by the Minister of
    Foreign Affairs on the 8th of May, 1915.

On the 7th of this month, at three o’clock P.M. the Chinese Government received an Ultimatum from the Japanese Government together with an Explanatory Note of seven articles.  The Ultimatum concluded with the hope that the Chinese Government by six o’clock P.M. on the 9th of May will give a satisfactory reply, and it is hereby declared that if no satisfactory reply is received before or at the specified time, the Japanese Government will take steps she may deem necessary.

The Chinese Government with a view to preserving the peace of the Far East hereby accepts, with the exception of those five articles of Group V postponed for later negotiation, all the articles of Group I, II, III, and IV and the exchange of notes in connection with Fukien Province in Group V as contained in the revised proposals presented on the 26th of April, and in accordance with the Explanatory Note of seven articles accompanying the Ultimatum of the Japanese Government with the hope that thereby all the outstanding questions are settled, so that the cordial relationship between the two countries may be further consolidated.  The Japanese Minister is hereby requested to appoint a day to call at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make the literary improvement of the text and sign the Agreement as soon as possible.

Thus ended one of the most extraordinary diplomatic negotiations ever undertaken in Peking.

FOOTNOTES: 

[13] Refers to preaching Buddhism.

[14] The reader will observe, that the expression “Hanyehping enterprises” is compounded by linking together characters denoting the triple industry.

[15] Six articles found in Japan’s Revised Demands are omitted here as they had already been initialled by the Chinese Foreign Minister and the Japanese Minister.

CHAPTER VII

THE ORIGIN OF THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS

The key to this remarkable business was supplied by a cover sent anonymously to the writer during the course of these negotiations with no indication as to its origin.  The documents which this envelope contained are so interesting that they merit attention at the hands of all students of history, explaining as they do the psychology of the Demands as well as throwing much light on the manner in which the world-war has been viewed in Japan.