We hold these truths to be self-evident, that $18] was probably for the spiritual good of the British people that they had wrested from them one of their proudest possessions, and though the development of the British empire into a Commonwealth of nations has been but a comparatively recent development, who is to say that the bitter seeds then sown have not brought forth this more pleasant fruit? It is a matter for heartfelt gratitude that in the United States there is a growing sympathy with the position of the British people in world polities, and not only that, but a deeper understanding. The time may never come when the two great nations will be bound by any closer bonds than those which prevail at present. If may be undesirable that it ever should come, for formal bonds may prove more irksome thai a mere common uñ- derstanding. There jis still something of the Kinship of race, much of the kinship of political ideals to keep the two nations in sympathy. They shoüld be fostered, for the day may come When only a united democracy will be able to save the. world from the chaos which threatens it. It is with such ideas in mind that this year again, as in many years past, this journal has the privilege of extend-Ing to Americans in Shanghai and Ching the heartiest congratulations and the assüranee that in their rejoicings they will be joined in sympathy by the British and other come munities.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.