レジナルド・ジョンストン
British merchants residing there in 1898 spoke of "the practical annexation of the country going on under their very eyes," and a leading British missionary "declared that both he himself and all his missions looked upon Manchuria as Russian in all but name." These are facts which should not be forgotten by those who seek to understand the background of the Manchurian problem as it exists today. The Chinese took no part whatever in the work of expelling the Russians from Manchurian territory; and there can be no reasonable doubt that if Japan had not fought and beaten Russia on Manchurian soil in the war of 1904-5, not only the Liaotung Penninsula but all Manchuria would have been in fact, perhaps also in name, a Russian province to-day.
Twilight in the Forbidden City - Reginald F. Johnston - Google ブックス（19-20ページ）
一八九八年当時、満洲に住んでいた英国の商人たちは、「まさに目の前で現実のものとなってゆくロシアの実質的な満洲併合」について語っている。
（中略）
もし日本が、一九〇四年から一九〇五年にかけての日露戦争で、ロシア軍と戦い、これを打ち破らなかったならば、遼東半島のみならず、満洲全土も、そしてその名前までも、今日のロシアの一部となっていたことは、まったく疑う余地のない事実である。
（渡辺昇一（監修）中山修 (翻訳) 『完訳 紫禁城の黄昏』上巻 p.45）
アレクシス・クラウス『衰退する支那』
The steps taken by Russia on the 23rd of March, 1898, were outwardly unimportant. Actually, they amounted to the informal annexation of Manchuria. While any statement to this effect would probably even now be met by the diplomatists of St. Petersburg with a suave denial, the fact remains that Manchuria is not only to all intents and purposes a Russian province, but is already invested by Russian troops, pending the arrival of the time when it shall be opened up and developed by Russian capital.
China in decay; the story of a disappearing... | Hathi Trust Digital Library（184ページ）
ロシアのとった行動は・・結局のところ、満洲を非公式に併合することである・・満洲は事実上ロシアの一州であるだけでなく、ロシアの資本で開墾、発展する時がくるのを待ちながら、すでにロシア軍によって包囲されている。
（渡辺昇一（監修）中山修 (翻訳) 『完訳 紫禁城の黄昏』上巻 p.456）
The country is undeveloped, but it is rich and fertile, possessing vast stores of coal and iron, copper and gold, while the mountain sides and the uplands of Kirin are richly furnished with timber, including oak, elm and walnut. The population of the neglected country, amounting to some fourteen millions, may be roughly divided into two broad classes, the agriculturists and the brigands.
China in decay; the story of a disappearing... | Hathi Trust Digital Library（189ページ）
