The negotiations between Japan and Russia last long. We fancy
that the Czar will not say his last word until he has seen Admiral Alexeieff, and that the statesmen around the Mikado still resist the strong popular pressure towards war. The Guildhall speech of the Premier will, however, stiffen the Japanese by showing them that their " allies " expect them to display " firmness" ? and on the 10th inst. Count Katsura, the Japanese Premier, speaking to an Anti-Russian League, adjured all his countrymen to maintain a solidarity " in face of the existing situation," which he declared to be "most critical." That is menacing ; but in the Far East menacing situations often resolve themselves very rapidly. It is a curious proof of the secrecy which both St. Petersburg and Tokio contrive to maintain that the precise point at which the two Empires clash still remains unknown. We do not believe that Japan cares about the Russian occupation of Manchuria, or that Russia would submit to an order of expulsion from that province. The real quarrel must be about Korea.
