Another element which would not make for success in any negotiations. which Comrade Joffe might carry on with the Japanese Government is the Joffe conception of diplomacy. If insolence and abuse lost him ground with every element in Po. king and if it is impossible for him to change his tone, he will be.given short shift in Japan. Tact is not in Peking. When he arrived here, as-we all know, both the Chinese intellectuals. and the Chinese Government were kindly disposed.. The field in this quarter was fertile and well prepared. It is not so generally known that the' Legations were not averse to dealing with him and were prepared in several cases to discuss outstanding questions with him. It is probably still less known that the administration of the Chlor ese Eastern Railway and the Russo-Asiatic Bank were fully prepared to negotiate with him and to offer him compromises. This tendency to good will Jofie has scorned and rebuffed in every quarter. He has abused the Chinese and tried' to bully them until his Government is regarded as a greater imperialist ie menace to the peace and integrity of China than the Japanese. He aas abused. the Legations until no diplomat with any sense of self respect could possibly receive him To the administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway he has said that he had only one message for "them: "Get out." The Reds -in Siberia and Manchuria, fully inform, ed of the favourable auspices under which he arrived in China, have been puzzled (according to very reliable information) to know why he did not make more headway, and they are beginning to understand. If ho goes to Japan it seems more than likely that he will give them better reason to understand: Tf he goes to Japan. to negotiate in the matter of the fisheries, his record in China, not to mention his record in Gernany, would almost warrant us in banking upon complete failure; and in the event of failure it is hard to see how a con-flag ration in the northeast can be readily avoided. This brings us back to Manchuria,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.