Tae appointment of Mr. Lucius H. Foote as United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Seoul will probably not be very acceptable to the Chinese Government. The ratification of the Shufeldt Treaty took many here by surprise, it being thought carious that 80 decided a step should have beau taken in the face of Clina's persistent, if nob consistent, asseverations of Coren's vassalship; but the still more unequivocal measure now adopted shows what the policy of the United States Government really is, It has been decided to treat with Corea upon the basis of her absolute independence and political integrity; to ignore, as so much Oriental bavardage, the recent Chinese claims to suzerainty; and to permit no interference whatever, on the part of China, in the diplomatic affairs of Corea, All this is fully implied in the appointment to Seoul of a representa. tive actually higher in rank than many accredited by Congress to European courts; and it amounts toa very unmistakeable hint to China that by one Power, at any rate, she will be oxpected to remodel her ideas of foreign relations to suit those of the present day.
It is, we should think, unlikely that the advisers of the Emperor will go so far as to protest against the step which has been now taken. Such, of course, would be the only policy consistent with logic, in face of the pretensions of China; but the Chinese are sometimes wise in their generation, and will no doubt see the desirability of sacrificing consistency to *peace. The appointment of an Envoy to Corea with fall powers will, on the other band, afford much satisfaction to the Japanese, and greatly strengthen their position, The repudiation by the United States of China's claims to suzerainty over Curea should, by cutting the Gordian knot of Chinese self-contradictions, very considerably lighten the task of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and open the way for bringing about that plan of friendly ce-operation with China for the protection of Corea which the Japanese are so desirous of accom: pushing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.