One may as well be quite candid and admit that there are few people in this country who do not now think that we have made serious mistakes in China over the Shanghai trouble, and have now to get out of them as best we can. Nine people out of ten believe that the Muni Counc could nave settled al toa trouble long since, if they had been allowed to do 40, and there ought never to have been any' need for the Judieal Inquiry.
Even this Inquiry has been hopelessly mismanaged. The Foreign Ofice came to the conclusion in June that such an inquiry was needed.
'The Foreign Office never asked the 'Chinese Government until the lend of the first week in August to take part in the inquiry at all, and they can hardly therefore feel' sur-in view. although Britain may not say so openly, we do not think that a Judicial Inquiry is necessary.
It is now suggested that the delay. in making an official announcement is due to the Chinese refused to attach a Judge to the Tribunal, "It is, of course, nothing of the kind, trouble is in trying to get the various Powers into line. It was originally intended that there should Protection of British in the East The Foreign Office is taking a very cautious line. Tt has been asked to send white British regiments to the Far East, but has declined to do so, because we have none to spare. It is understood, however, that two or three Indian Gom- Regiments can be despatched for purely defensive purposes if di though we have no troops in suf cent numbers, such a Iways assumed that minimum of 15,000 would be required, 'As regards Naval steps, the A miralty is most anxious to avoid moving more ships, on the ground that this might be interpreted as an act of war, though the proceedings of the Canton Government, whose full scope we now know, do' present possibility of very serious complications. At the same time we know that the Canton Government is, so entirely Russian that it is not under the Control of the Peking Government which cannot, even if it desired, accept any responsibility for its actions, yet it is curious that while the Peking Government can accept no responsibility for what Canton does, it does adopt rather an apologetic attitude for its Proceedings.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.