The Royal Institute of International Affairs has done well to
secure from Sir Harold Parlett A Brief Account of Diplo- matic Events in Manchuria (H. Milford, 4s. 6d.), for he sets out authoritatively the facts about the great territory—as large as France and Germany combined—which is now attract- ing much attention. The rival efforts of Russia and Japan to gain a hold over Manchuria make a long and complicated story. But the future lies with the Chinese, who are migrating
wholesale from war-worn Shantung to a land where the Japanese insist that peace shall be maintained. The Chinese population has probably doubled in the past twenty years, and is now about 25,000,000, while the Japanese settlers do not exceed a quarter of a million. Consequently the Chinese authorities at Mukden have displayed more and more self- confidence in their dealings with Russia on the one hand and Japan on the other. Their seemingly high-handed treatment of the Russian railway officials is typical of their conduct in recent years. * * * *
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