May 18.
Tne speech delivered by Dr. Wellington Koo at the luncheon given by the British Chamber of Commerce yesterday will not easily be forgotten by those who heard it. As an example only of faultless use of a language foreign to the speaker it would command admiration. But far more than this, more even than the personal charm with which the speech was infused, was the quiet earnestness and evident sincerity of Dr. Wellington Koo's words. He spoke of the relationships of China and Great Britain in a manner which left no doubt in his hearers that he recognized and intensely desired the friendship of the Western nation for the Eastern. And while. they felt that he meant every word he said, there can be no doubt that his speech was an echo of their own feelings and desires. The impatience which Britons resident in China sometimes, perhaps too frankly, express at her political tribulations, is not wholly selfish. It is not only due to annoyance at impediments caused to trade by the disputing of Tuchuns. But it has its roots in the genuine affection which every one of us feels for the land of our temporary adoption, in regret at the disorganization which affiots her, in desire that she should conquer her troubles and take her rightful place among the nations.
We emphasize these facts the more that the relationships of British and Chinese have been
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.