Mr. Hay, on behalf of the American Government, has made
a most important proposition to the Powers interested in China. With a view to localising and limiting the area of hostilities, preventing disturbance among the Chinese, and minimising the loss to the commerce and peaceful intercourse of the world, Mr. Hay expresses the earnest desire of his Govern- ment that during the course of hostilities between Russia and Japan " the neutrality of China, and, in all practicable ways, her administrative entity, shall be respected by both parties:' France has signified her adhesion, and it is asserted that Russia will also approve the Note. Assurances from London and Berlin have not yet been received. The reasons for this delay are doubtless to be found in the lack of explicitness which characterises these otherwise most judicious proposals. Japan's Note to China, while endorsing the principle, indi- cates the point on which it may be difficult to secure unanimity, for while impressing on her the obligations of neutrality, it specificLlly excludes Manchuria from the neutral Chinese sphere. As the Viennese Frem,deablatt shrewdly observes, while to include Manchuria would be tantamount to a request to Russia to declare her occupation unjustified, to exclude it would enable a victorious belligerent to make out a strong case anerwaxds for considering it to be detached from the Chinese Empire.
