The Peking correspondent of the Times announces in Tuesday's paper
that Japan has refused to accept the Chinese proposal that the outstanding questions between the two countries in Manchuria should be submitted to the Hague Tribunal. He says that the proposal is generally approved by the Chinese, and that unless China were convinced of the justice of her cause, she would not offer to resort to arbitration for the first time in her history. On the other hand, the Tokio correspondent of the Times declares that diplomacy, so far from being exhausted, has scarcely been employed yet, and that all the numerous questions are
capable of settlement if only China will seriously undertake direct negotiations with goodwill. This contradiction in the evidence makes it impossible for us to form an opinion on the subject at present, bit it is reasonable as a rule to assume that a Power which is anxious to accept arbitration is not conscious of any deliberate perversity in her policy.
