No European really knows what policy is predominant at Pekin,
but there are signs abroad which suggest that the Empress is not altogether disinclined to take a band in the great game now going forward. China at present is entirely neutral, but it is reported that Li Hung Chang before his death strongly advised the Court, in the event of Japanese victory, to'form an alliance with Tokio, and it seems certain that Yuan Shih Kai, who is now the predominant adviser, is bring- ing up large bodies of troops to strengthen General Ma, whose army will shortly include more than a hundred thousand men. They may be intended only to prevent a Russian retreat over the Chinese border, but they also may be intended to garrison Manchuria if the Russians are driven out of the province. What is certain is that the power of China is considered more formidable in St. Petersburg than it is in London, and that its movements are attentively watched,—it may be with the hope that a Chinese intervention would enable Russia to call on her allies. It is often asserted, especially by Russians, that Russia is too proud for this, but in the last Turkish war the Czar did call upon Roumania for assistance.
