There is another hitch in China, caused this time, it
is said, by a difference between Great Britain and Russia over the indemnity. The grand wish of the Chinese statesmen is to throw the whole burden on foreign trade, so that it may remain imperceptible to the masses of the people, and Great Britain resists this as hampering to commerce. Russia does not much care, but in her role of next friend approves all Chinese proposals which do not closely touch herself. If we had only a modus vivendi with her, how easy everything in the Far East would be, but it seems as far off as ever. The two peoples still suspect each other, and as for the diplo- matists, and the diplomatically minded men, who form an entire caste, they would feel as wretched as lawyers whose clients have interviewed each other to discuss a compromise. The gains are not the question; it is the intellectual excite- ment of the game.
