Something not quite intelligible is going on in the far
East of Asia. The Government of St. Petersburg have announcedthat tint Japanese, on the 8th inst., declared war on the King of Corea, the great peninsula between Japan and China, opposite Pekin. The British Government was, however, as Mr. Bourke assured' Sir C. Dilke on Tuesday, informed by a telegram from Japan of the same date that the two Powers had come to an agreement, and that China would not interfere. The incident is curious, for two reasons,—first, because if Japan intended seriously to attack China, she would previously establish a footing in Cores; and secondly, because Japan might surrender Corea, if she got it, to the Russians, as she did the Kurile Islands. Any civilised Power holding Corea would hold Pekin very much at its mercy, or at all events, compel the Chinese Government to keep a large army constantly around the capital.
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