According to the latest intelligence, which is in part con-
firmed by Lord Rosebery's action, the peace party in Pekin is in the ascendant. The proposals have been rejected as above, but it is hinted that negotiations may still continue. No trustworthy statement of offers has been published, but there are intimations that Corea would be declared independent and an indemnity paid to the Japanese. The Mikado's councillors think these concessions insuffieient, and it is understood that they want Formosa, an island of fourteen thousand square miles, inhabited chiefly by Malayan Negritos—people like the Hovas—with an upper crust of Chinese. The island is about a hundred miles from the mainland, and is full of minerals, coal, and valleys of exceptional fertility. It is improbable that this cession will be made until the Chinese have been defeated again ; and probable that Japan may also demand the suzerainty of Corea. She is not quite so mach
