7th Dec, GeneRaAL Mercier is, we believe, one of the anti-Dreyfusards, and his motion was, of course, only an attempt to play to the gallery, which will be as much condemned by all sensible Frenchmen, who really control the destinies of that great country, as by Englishmen, Nobody, probably, would be more surprised than himself to find himself appointed to command an expedition for the invasion of England. But that such a motion should made at all in the French Senate is most injurious to the interests of all of us, Frenchmen included, in China. It is impossible for the British Government not to recognise that there isa great deal of Anglophobia, which might possibly become active, on the Continent and hampered' as our Ministers are by the continued resistance of the Boers, they cannot but be anxious to see the trouble in China brought to a close as quickly as possible. This is, of course, the reason why our Foreign Office is consenting to the short-sighted policy of patching Chine They must be free from up a peace with the Government of anxieties at home if they would pursue a vigorous policy in China; it is true that a patched-up peace now means renewed trouble in the near future; but our true interests in China have to give way to preoccupations nearer home.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.