THERE appears to be a general impression that Sir Ernest Satow, the British Minister at Peking, is shortly going home, and that he will not return to China, What foundation there is for these two propositions we do not know; it seems to us that Sir Ernest has so many serious questions before him ab the moment, that he would be very urwilliug to leave them unfinished unless the state of his health demands it. Peking at the present time is to a diplomatist one of the most interesting capitaly in the world; there is a great upheaval going on in China whose results no-one can foresee, and it is for the diplomatists to use all their skill to -|direct as far a3 possibi the forces that are at work. El has such 'a melancholy lack of statesmen thas she is sure to fall an easy prey to the wiles of any plausible intriguer, but for the advice and assistance of the more disinterested representatives of the Wesvern Powers, To be engngod in such a contest of wits now constantly in progress at Peking is worth for.
Presuming, however, that Sir Ernest is going bhome—and we sincerely trust he is not going,—that he does not contemplate returning to China, where are we to look for his successor? It has been suggested that now that we have at last a democratic government at home, it might be a good thing if the British subjects in Shanghai were to hold a ballot, and telegraph the result to the Foreign Office. The candidate at the head of the poll would undoubtedly be Sir Pelham Warren, not because we want to lose him from Shanghai, but because we should feel as rectly safe if he were in the gation at Peking, as we are with Sir Ernest himself. Sir Pelham has been in the Consular service knowledge of the Chinese and their for very nearly forty years, and his
character is ex ensive and peculiar, He was many years in Formosa, going thence to Hankow, and from Hankow to Shanghai, where be has enshrined himself in the hearts of all, so that if the Foreign Office did decide to make him Minister to Chinn, we should receive the news with very mixed feelings.
Perhups the name that has been most frequently suggested for the succession to Sir Ernest is that of Sir John Newell Jordan, ex-Minister to Corea, Sir John has only been thirly years in the Consular service. The greater part of his career in China has been passed at Peking as Chinese Seretary, and he is therefore thoroughly acquainted with the conditions and people at the capital, There is no doubt that be would have the full confidence of his fellow-countrymen as Minister, and the Foreign Office could place fall reliance on him, and considering the importaues of the fast at the present time, it should certuinly be filled by a hardworking man familiar with China, nob by Secretary of Legation from a European capital, who would be some months learning the strings that make the Peking puppets dance, and who would regard the t merely a8 a step to something titer.
One other member of the Consular service has been sug-ted for the post of Minister, Everard D. H. Fraser, Consul-General at Hankow. Mr Fraser has been twenty-six yenrs in the service, and was stationed at many ports, bub wherever he has been, he has earned golden opinions from foreigners and from the Chinese. His field of operations has been practically the whole Empire; he has been "s far south Man'on, as far west as Chungking, and as far east as Chemulpo, There is no question about his knowledge of the Chinese, their mental processes, and their language; while personally he is almost og popular as Sir Pelham Warren.
Of men in the Diplomatic service who might be sent to succeed Sir Ernest, the name most often mentioned is that of Mr. Walter B, Townley, who was Secretary of Legation under Sir Claude Mac-Donald at Peking, and a very pleasant account of whose ex-Fas been written by his wife, Lidy periences there, including the siege,
Suan Townley. Mr. Townley joined the Diplomatic service s an Attache in 1885, began his career in Paris, and has seen service in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.