The statement issued by the Nanking Foreign Office on Tuestay night, relative to China's failure to obtain re-election to a non-permanent seat fon the Council of the League of Notions, will be welcomed as a strong indication of the statesmanlike line the Chinese Government are adopt ing in the matter. It is natural. tha! regret should be expressed, and the reasons for disappointment frankly set forth. It is indeed difficult to counter the arguments that are_thus put forward. It is a fact that China has been one of the most ardent supporters of the League, equally true that the Far Esst is no longer presented on the League, and that Far Eastern affairs are now of the utmost importance. Contentions based on those facts that China should be given a seat on the Council are well nigh irrefutable, The determination which is expressed to fight for a permanent seat, is a happy aujury of the Chinese government's Intention to accept. the reverse with the graciousness It was confidently expected it would. A. dignified ae: quiescence in the decision of the League, brought about as it was by considerations to which full weight had to be given, is the best possible method of meeting the situa tic which has been created. There are very good grounds for supporting China's claim to a permanent seat, the nation's population, the source of its riches, and the religious tendent The size of the arts of the world make it desirable that there should be adequate representation at Geneva, within the terms of the League's expressed policy. That the attainment of the larger ambition will not be secured easily goes without saying, for there are other countries able to put forward a strong, if not so strong a claim to. similar treatment, but if it ever becomes wu fait accompli it would at Toast prevent the future occurrence of such unfortunate mishaps as that which occurred on Monday.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.