Tus text of the agreement between China and Japan has now been officially placed before the public, and British subjects are congratulated by H M.'s Minister on the termination of a controversy, "from the farther prolong gation of which," to use Mr, Wade' own words, "it was scarcely possible to anticipate anything but injury to the best interests of both the nations directly engaged in it." This may be all very true; but, query—how are the interests of nations, who weren't directly concerned, affected by the consummation, and, to bring the matter closer home to the particular nation whom Mr. Wade represents—how are British interests likely to be furthered by the amicable solution which Mr, Wade's mediation has brought about? Regarding the question from a peace-ut-any-price point of view, there can be no doubt that Mr, Wade is to be congratulated upon his success in averting the horrors of a savage struggle between two semicivilized nations, but it is a question whether there are many commercial men amongst our community, who would be prepared to join Mr. Wade in his pean of exultation upon the result of the interference. On the contrary, if we are not mistaken, the opinion is very general that H. M/s Minister would have done better to have left the disputants alone, and allowed his countrymen to reap any advantages which might, perchance, have accrued to them in the course of time out of the peculiar conjuncture of affairs. What the precise nature of those advantages would have been, few if any persons, it may be assumed, were prepared to describe. But a great many seemed to think that more benefit was likely to redound to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.