In the House of Lords on Monday Lord Salisbury made
a statement as to the agreement with Russia. The general drift of the agreement, which would, he hoped, be laid on the table in a few days' time, was to define our fields of railway operation in China. "While England agrees neither to under- take nor to encourage any railway, by English persons or others, north of the Great Wall, Russia, on the other hand, has made exactly similar stipulations with respect to the basin of the Yangtse." There are also certain provisions with respect to the railway to be made to New-chwang, but here our interests are properly, protected. Lord Salisbury went on to say that, though he did not want to give any exaggerated im- portance to the particular stipulations of the agreement, he did attach "very great importance to • the agreement itself as a sign of good feeling between the Governments of Great Britain and Russia." This was good, but still better would be a friendly feeling between the two peoples. The agreement, ended Lord Salisbury, would, it was to be hoped, lead to agreement in other matters. Unquestionably, Lord Salisbury has achieved yet another international triumphed the first-class. We sincerely hope that the next diplomatic act between the two countries will be a commercial treaty on the lines we indicated last week.
