The news from China this week is not important. At
least we ourselves attach little importance to the stories of proposals to pay the Allies 240,000,000, to allow them to have guards in Pekin, to surrender the right to import arms, and all the rest of the details telegraphed to Europe. These things merely represent the talk going on in the Legations, which, as the Chinese are playing for time, is endless. What seems solid is that the Empress has despatched a great officer to the Yangtse Valley with orders to get all the revenue he can, to remit food as well as money to Sian—Pekin was fed by a tribute of rice like ancient Rome—and to raise Volunteers upon the " Boxer " model. That exactly confirms Sir Robert Hart's account. The stories of executions and suicides among the great officers of the Court are of course merely feelers, the men executed or " suicided " only changing their names. We see no evidence that we are even approaching a solid treaty, and much that tbe Court is determined not to yield while it can help it. Very large bodies of troops and Volunteers are gathering towards Sian for its defence, and reports are frequent that all who arrive are drilled and instructed by officers who learned of the "foreign "—that is, Japanese— mercenaries. The Empress has not, however, as yet obtained any cavalry from Mongolia, though that ought to be one of her reserve resources.
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