Were it not that so much breath is being exhausted at this time of writing in executing strategic' moves to dodge the columns of marching in through every I would be tempted to quote in eztenso stale proverbs about the cup that slips, or the best laid plans of mice and men which aft gang the way they are not wanted to gang, to illustrate the state of affairs with regard to the Shantung railway and the Japanese seizure thereof. As last} week died, congratulations were the order of the day upon what) was described officially in a certain quarter as the successful arrival modus vivendi for the temporary control of the railway,—and now! Well now, it is all off.
'The picture of Japan and China hugging each other in good fellowship while the trains on the Shantung railway roar gaily on their journeys is not to be drawn. China is not, again to employ the colloquial, "taking any." Yet the' trains will (run all the same, though China stands back ing and ceptance of @ friendly temporary' arrangement for the working of the line was contingent upon the Japanese not vending troops to occupy it; but the Japanese sent! the troops. A few days ago, the 6th—7th to be precise, body of soldiers arrived at Tsinanfu, but immediately it was known, some days prior to that, that they had set out westwards from Weihsien, the Chinese determined not to have anything to do with friendly overtures, but to protest as vigorously and as often as was possible.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.