(Fnom ovn Toxto Conresrovest.)
In view of the loyalty with which Japan juluiled ber engagements as one of the Vowers concerned in tue march on Peking 190¥, it would be unfair and unjust to suggest that she is now paving the way for anything like an alliance with China, vUut a number of circumstances seed LO Ludicate that, if she is not exactly doing that she is at any rate cultivating with singular assiduity and success the friendship of the coming men of that Empire.
Yuan Shu-kai, the successor of Li Hung-chang, is now, for example, ~oing to engage Japanese officers to drill his troops, the best troops by far in the Celestial Em-ire.
Furthermore, this Yuan Shih-kai, the coming man in China, according to the Japanese, is going to visit Japan this spring in order, as the "Japan Times," the semi-official organ of the Mikado's Government, says, to study the condition of ovr polities, finance, education, military organisation, commerce, agriculture, ete.
lo will stay about forty days in Japan and will travel in considerable state accompanied by a train of about twenty orsons. Needless to say, he will concern unself about much more important: matters than even those which the above quotation speaks of.
Then Mr. Y. Inada of the Tokio Police Force left Tokio on December 27th last for Pexing in order to take the position of head instructor in the Chinese Police School there.
This is a small matter but, taken in conjunction with other things, it shows the feelings of respect that the Chinese are beginning to entertain for these once-despised island neighbours. Among these other things is the fact that the Chinese Legation here recently opened a department exclusively for the translation of Japanese text books. A number of Chinese translators were engaged in Hupeh, but as they were found to be unable to get on without a Japanese, a Japanese collabora-for is to be found. At the same moment we hear of a Mr. Kobayashi—Japanese, of course—who is shortly to cross over to China to work at a translation office under Viceroy Chang Chih-tung.
The number of Chinese students coming to Japan is constantly on the increase and, significantly enough, most of them are military students.
Many foreigners thoughtlessly reproach the Japanese for clinging to the cumbrous Chinese characters instead of adopting the Roman alphabet and thus at once throw-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.