And just on the eve of the debate the bad impression created by the Blue Book has been intensified by the announcement of Herr Biilow in the Reichstag that England had given a spontaneous assurance that German rights in Shantung were to be unaffected by our occupation of Weihaiwei, and that rio railway would he constructed from our port. Last night Mr. Balfour was questioned on this subject by Mr. Provand, a Scotch ical, and it is not too much to say that his replies were received by the Liberals with derision and by the Conservatives with dumb dismay. The assurance given, Mr. Balfour declares, exist, nor adds anything to those which '*neithor recognises rights which do not do." But Herr Biilow's announcement makes it clear that Germany regards the assurance as conceding to her the whole province of Shantung as a sphere of influence in which she has a right to proclaim monopolies; and if the assurance does not mean this it is difficult to know what its value is. And Mr. Balfour's emphatic de jon that Weihaiwei island must remain absolutely valueless for commercial purposes was no less displeasing to the House.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.