THERE is one thing on which all the Powers are determined: that no one, when the time for settlement comes, shall receive any territorial compensation, while the word "partition" is not to be so much as whispered. There is to be no partition; the integrity of China and the open door are to be maintained. However, they may differ on other points, on this the Powers are all unanimous.
When then we see the most open indications of intended aggression, we must conclude that the Powers are doubtful of each other's rectitude, and are merely preparing to prevent each other from trying to break the self-denying compact. If we did not know this, we might think that the recent action of Japan at Amoy was only the preliminary to the annexation of the province of Fukien, which Japan has already claimed as her sphere of influence. A shanty in the native city at Amoy occupied by some Japanese Buddhist priests and dubbed a temple is burnt down by a mob. Nobody saw any mob, and the fire began inside the shanty, but that is a detail. The same invisible mob threatened to burn down the Japanese Consulate on Kulangsu, the island on which the foreign community reside, so a force is at once landed from the Japanese ashes of the temple, and the Japanese men-of-war in port to protect the
Consulate. The men are landed on the British Concession, without any leave being asked, as though it were already a conquered country. The result is a panic among the natives, forty thousand of whom are reported to lave fled from the port, and the stoppage of all business. Now we learn that Jupan has sent a battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery, and a company of engineers to Amoy, a port that is perfectly quiet, where the Taotai has prevented any trouble occurring in his jurisdiction. Of} course, the Japanese are not going to take Fukien themselves, and these preparations are only to discourage any one else from being tempted to break the compact of disinterestedness. The latest news, we are glad to say, is that these troops are being withdrawn.
In the same way the large fleet and army that Germany is hurrying to the scene are to prevent any earth-hungry Power from taking Shantung, and the troops that France is reported to be collecting on the south-west borders of China are to prevent an irruption into Yunnan by some less scrupulous Power.
As a fact, of all the Powers, in-} cluding Japan, who are largely interested in China, only two, Great Britain and the United States, are firmly determined not to burden themselves with an acre of Chinese territory, and not to allow their op-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.