NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Russian diplomatists have triumphed at last. On July 6th the representatives of six French and four Russian banks, and the plenipotentiaries of the Chinese Government, signed the agreement for issuing a 4 per cent. gold loan for £16,000,000. The terms are that the loan shall be unconverted for thirty-six years, that China shall issue no fresh loan till January 15th, 1896, and that the loan is guaranteed on the Maritime Customs, the deposit of the receipt of which is provided for. In the event of China making default at the stipulated periods, Russia takes over the responsibility of meeting the obligations. The ukase sanctioning the guarantee of the loan, is explained by the Financial Gazette (a Russian paper) to mean that Russia remains true to her civilising mission in the East, and " by her present moral and practical co-operation in extracting her great Eastern neighbour from financial difficulty, she consciously and disinterestedly fulfils the historical task set before her." This, of course, means that some large con- cession to Russia has been secretly promised, but no one has as yet made even a guess as to its exact form. No doubt Russia has for the time made a great coup ; but is it worth the bitter enmity of Japan ? In two years Japan may be in a position to command the sea in the Far East. If she is, it is certain that she will not forget the part played by Russia this summer.
