20 OCTOBER 1894, Page 1

Nothing whatever is accurately known of what is occurring in

the Japanese war with China. There may be means of reconciling the telegrams, but judging only from internal evidence, we should say that they are drawn or inspired by Japanese and Chinese, and that they are deliberately in- tended to conceal facts. Nobody knows where the Japanese Fleet is, and as to Count Yamagata, he is represented by one bulletin-maker as preparing for a great battle north of the Yaloo, and by another as having just captured the Chinese arsenal at Port Arthur. The only thing certain is that the Chinese are bringing up great numbers of soldiers to defend Pekin; that there is a war party and a peace party in the Palace ; and that the peace party, which is headed by Prince Kling, has been allowed to make some overture to Japan, which was contemptuously rejected. No great event, it is clear, has occurred ; and of course all delay tends to the advantage of the Chinese, who are repairing their fortifica- tions and collecting men, while the Japanese invaders lose soldiers every day. There has been no disorder in Pekin ; and all accounts describe the young Emperor, who is, by the way, twenty-three, as trying hard to obtain information. He wants to know whom to trust.