Mr. Foorp knew how to estimate at their proper value the persistent rumours of peace which were current when the April number of bi+ journal was published, and in his first note he very aptly remarks that the rumours lack the proper point of origin. " When the announcement comes frum Tokio of the terms of peace that Japan is disposed to offer, sine guess may be hazarded as to the probable duration of the war." The Japanese are in puss-sion "f Manchuria, and "all the rest is detail, with a not important relation to the possession of Vladivostock, the establishment of a new line of communication by way of Ninguta and Kirin, and the rendering untenable of any further occupation of Harbin by the Russian fore's, But the men who have title prepared to admit tha' all ided Russia to her rn'n are as
this is within c.myaratively easy Giscern the portentous consequences rasp of the Japanese, as they are to
of the Sangari and the Amur becoming an open highway for the military use of Japan. This, and much more, must be mide plain even to the dense intelligence of the ruling cl: ques in St. Petersburg before the penalty which ought to be exacted by the victors will be id." Mr, Foord has looked rather r ahead, and he attaches no importance whatever to the Bu'tic Fleet, on which, rather than on the Manchurian army, the hopes of Russia now finally depend.
The second note, by an amusing extract from an article which was pinned quite serian-ly only twelve months before, illustrates the wonderful way in which the war has opened up to the knowledge of the world, the hitherto almost mysteriously unknown regions of Manchuria. Fullowing comes a more important paragraph, in which one of the slipshod and mischievous statements that are constantly being made, in respect of the commercial danger to the United States from Japanese victory in the war, is answered with a little touch of impatience that men who stand up to speak on public matters should be so crudely informed. "Japan will little able after the war as before it to control, in @ commercial sense, the development of the new order of things in the Far Eust. She will have gained, by enormous sacrifices, that equality of commercial opportunity which Great Britain and the United States deemed equally desirable, but for which neither of them would have gnc to war. To that extent both are her debtors."
The journal contains the full text of the letters read, and the speeches delivered at the luncheon given by the Association to Mr. W. W. Rockhill, the newly-appointed Minister to Peking. There will be entire concurrence on this side of the Pacific in Mr. Foord's de-cription of the appointment as "an ideal one." It is significant that "the tribute of the Japanese Minist -r to Mr. Rockhill. wax even more emphatic than thet pail by the President of the Association, and the Chinese Minis er testified without reserve to the confidence of the Chinese officials which Mr. Rockhill had already won by the wonderful tact and strict fairness which he displayed in carrying out the policy of the Government in the negotiations fuilowing the Boxer troubles."
The astonishing increase in the value of the cotton cloths exported from the United S ates, mostly to China, is commented on in the last note. Last year the figures were $9,865,434 gold for the twelve months; for two-third's only of the current fiscal year they amount to $23,966,430, and it is remarked that "but for this growth tens of thousands of spindles in southern mulls would have been either standing still or engaged in turning out a product enlculxted to, increase the destructive competition for the possession of the home market." The following is the usual comparative table of the value in gold dollars the exports of the principal staples from the United States to China and Hongkong daring the first eight months ending: respectively in 1904 and 1905 respectively.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.