More definiteness has been introduced this week into the negotiations
with China. On Wednesday a "Circular Note"
was published addressed by Count von Billow to the German Ambassadors. In this document, which may prove a land- mark in history, the German Foreign Minister proposes that "the surrender of the original and real instigators of the crimes against the law of nations committed at Pekin" should be demanded as a preliminary to any negotiations at all. "Their execution en masse would be against the conscience of the civilised world," but "the few whose guilt is notorious ought to be delivered over and punished." If this condition is complied with, the representatives of the Powers are to investigate the charges and fix the penalties. The Emperor hopes that all Powers will accept the proposal, "inasmuch as indifference to the idea of a righteous expiation would be equivalent to indifference to a repetition of the crimes." The name of the Empress-Regent is not mentioned in the Circular, but it appears to be understood in Pekin that her removal from power has been mentioned to the Chinese negotiators as a condition precedent of any agreement. Indeed, this seems inevitable, for if she remains Empress no treaty can have any validity. Evasion of a treaty is a trifle compared with an order to shell the Embassies of all Europe, and that order the Empress-Regent must have given.
