The peace footer which emanated from the Provisional Government in Peiping last week is probably only one of many such moves, some of which have become public, while others have not, and though nothing may follow this one, atime will come when such a feeler will be productive of results. In any hostilities there are continual subter~ ranean inquiries concerning the possibility of peace, a kind of feeling out the market as it were, and during the past eleven months every such sounding out has met with the same result—failure, That of the Peiping Government was doomed from the com~ mencement. It came from what is, in. the eyes of the established Government of China, nothing more than a rebel organization, pos~ sessing no authority of its own, and having 2 mandate which can run no further than the range of Japanese guns. Tt was consequently only to be expected that the Government at Hankow would ignore the whole business, and thereby thwart any attempt to bring it to parley with what, after all, would have been but an emissary of the Power which has definitely refused to have anything to do with Generalissimo Chiang Kal-shek's government. When that declara~ tion was made it was a matter for some speculation as to how the Chinese and Japanese Governments could have been brought together when the time came for the discussion of peace terms. It is now quite clear that the Government in Peiping will be used as the Japanese stalking horse thereby saving Japanese "face" by requiring that all negotiations should be with its Pei~ ping creation. The position is more than a Hire absurd, for the appeal by the Peiping Government amounted to a demand for Hankow surrender to itself, submission to an organization which has a'name, and form, but no substance or real authority. If any other Power is asked to mediate, it can only mediate between the Chinese and Japanese Governments, for no Power has, with the possible exception of Japan, recognized the provisional government in Peiping, and there are at the present moment no formal means of communication with it, tis clear from the statements made by the Generalissimo and Dr. Wang Chung-hui, to a German journalist, in'an interview published these pages yesterday, and from the im= pressions formed by the journalist during the course of a lengthy stay in Hankow, that the Chinese government is in no mind at present {o table peace, except on its own terms, not the least of which would be the withdrawal of the Japanese from China, and the restoration to that country of its complete integrity, Short of that the Generalissimo has announced his termination to fight either on the open field or by means of guerilla warfare for years, necessary, until that end is obtained. Di Wang Chung-hui's statements in the interview were of the same tenour, and, general reports indicating that there has been no demoralization of the Chinese nations as a whole, it must be assumed—even allowing for the fact that both men were talking for publication—that these two men mean actly what they say. Dr. Wang emphasized the usefulness of mediation by a third party because, he said, both nations desired to terminate hostilities, but neither was willing to take the initiative for reasons of prestige. If the Peiping bahan dossal means anything all it must surely show that the demands of both China and Japan are at the present s0 far apart that talk of mediation "at the moment is decidedly premature. Japan, through Peiping, requires the unconditional surrender of the' Chinese Government, not to itself but the strange creation it has made in the north. Hankow demands just as com= plete a surrender as would be dictated by the acknowledgement of defeat, that the Japanese armies should be withdrawn from China and that all the territory at present under Japanese control should be restored to the Generalissimo's government, Militarily Japan has suffered no defeat which could possibly induce her to adopt such a Jine, while the reverses which China has sustained were fully expected and quite within the anti= cipated scheme of things. It is, therefore, not easy to see how they can be brought together at this juncture, and just as dificult to attempt to forecast. when it may. be possible, 'Thus, in announcing that the British Government would gladly take any steps in its power, alone, or with other Powers, which would' be likely to bring about a cessation of hostilities, Mr. R. A, Butler, Under-Secretary of State, answering a question in the House of Commons, made an addition which is significant, "He declared that the British Government had no information which would lead it to suppose that any proposal involving the withdrawal of Japanese forces. from na would be likely 10 be accepted as a basis of mediation, There is nothing to show that, even if Hankow is redyeed, the Chinese are at all likely to modify. their present altitude, There are indications that. the defence of that city will be a stem one, bul nothing to show that the Chinese Government is prepared to stake the whole of its fortunes on that particular phase of the struggle. Chiang Kai-shek definitely contemplates carrying on, even if only afler the fashion of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.