Tue Washington Conference closed on a note very pleasant to the British community in China. Tu a telegram from London dated February 6 we read Acting on instructions from Peking the Chinese Charge d'Affaires called at the Foreign Office to-day to-convey the Chinese Government's most cordial thanks for the British Government's "great friendliness in agreeing at the Washington Conference to return Weihaiwei and also ior the valuable assistance the British Delegation rendered to the Chinese Delegation in the Shantung settlement."
We leave Weihaiwei for another occasion with this general observation, which we believe most people will endorse, that the possible advantages of retaining the Territory are certainly inferior to those of restoring it to China, assuming, Ss Wwe may, in view of the friendly relations that always prevailed between authorities and Chinese Is round about Weihaiwei. that the legitimate interests concerned are fairly—protected. But the public recognition thus accorded by China of Great Britain's share in the Shantung settlement is as graceful and eloquent as we may "be allowed to think it is deserved._ And on both events British and, we are convinced, many many Chinese readers will dwell with pleasure.
From the Chinese standpoint the settlement of the Shantung controversy is not ideal, in the sense that it is not a bag-and-baggage restitution. But every fair-minded man will admit, we think. that a dispute of this nature cannot be disposed of quite on the cut-and-dried lines of a private debt between two individuals. and even among those who would naturally be disposed to take the most rigorous view of the Shantung issue, there, appears a tendency to agree that it is not only the best settlement that could have been arrived at in view of circumstances, but far better than was, perhaps, expected; furthermore, that althouglr Japan retains a part. temporary control over the railway, there
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.