Our correspondents in the interior of China frequently refer to the German campaign of falsehood which is being pursued in the re-
173 in the hope of id-juring British interests. Not much has yet been done to combat the evil by the dissemination of the truth about the war, and consequently the effort being made by Mr. Edward 8, Little, of Shanghai, to preseat the facts to the people of China warmly to be commended. Mr. Little understands the Chinese and his experience of them and an excellent knowledge of their language have been turtled to good account.
In order to place the facts before the Chines Mr. Little has translate ed the statement prepared by Manchester Chamber of Comitietee, "Why is Great Britain at War; the preliminary chapters of the jenny book published by the British Goverment, which narrate the history of the events leading up to the war; and a resume of all facts as disclosed by the various Government publications of oath of the belligerent nations by the sistant Attorney-General of the United States, who, of course, is a neutral. The pamphlet is couthed in tht mott moderate lafiguage ard does not in ary way abuse our enemies, but in courteous phrases narrates the actual facts, Mr. Little has sent the Chinese pamphlet to all the principal Chinese newspapers, to all the chief officials in China and to other influential men.
The memorandum prepared by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce points out that Great Britain is at war for three reasons (1) To vindicate the sanctity of treaty obligations and of what is properly called the public law of Europe; (2) To assert and to enforce the independence of Free States, reatively small and weak, against the encroachments and violence of the strong; (9) To withstand, as we believe in the best interests not only of our own Empire, but of civilization at large, the arrogant claim of a single Power to dominate the devel-lopment of the destinies of Europe.
These were the reasons given by to respect the neutrality of Belgium and that, to quote Col. Roosevelt, "every circumstance of national honour and interest forced England to act precisely as she did" once Belgium had been invaded. A brief summary is given of Sir Edward Grey's efforts for peace, the Treaty securing the neutrality of Belgium is explained and the statement of the German Chancellor Necessity knows no law" quoted. The "scrap of paper" incident is recorded, and the "Manchester Guardian" quoted to show that Germany wanted war. In conclusion three short paragraphs are devoted to showing the solidarity of the British Empire. No better statement could be devised and once again we would congratulate Mr. Little on the Practical. patriotism of his work,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.