The great difficulty facing a policy of conciliation is that
there is no stable Chinese government with which we can deal, and government in China means less than it does in other parts of the world. It is said that the Chinese feel a real national solidarity even though a civil war may be raging in their midst. While it is impossible to deal with China until a stable government is formed, it is also probable that no stable government can be formed until the Powers have revised their relations with China, induced her government to raise revenue honestly and effectively, and allowed her to satisfy nationalist sentiment. Mr. Garvin, in the Observer, suggests that two conferences are really necessary : the diplomatic, to settle the question of status, and a native conference for ending the civil war. But we doubt the possibility of foreigners of any kind helping towards the summoning of the latter. They would almost certainly prejudice it in the eyes of nationalist Chinese.
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