No definite news as to the interference of " Europe
" in the Treaty of Simonoseki, has reached London this week. The three Powers—Russia, Germany, and France—have remon- strated at Tokio, and have represented that Japan ought not to keep the Liau-tung Peninsula, because that position enables her to dominate Pekin and Corea. They have not, however, submitted a combined note, and the rumour that, if their remonstrance is ineffectual, they will declare a joint blockade of Japanese ports, rests upon no authority. The Japanese Government has as yet given no official reply, but it is pressing forward the ratifications. It repre- sents verbally that Japanese opinion will not allow it to yield, and it is getting the captured Chinese Fleet ready for sea with almost feverish energy. To yield would indeed be to give up all the main objects of the war, and it is probable that it will refuse, suggesting however as a compro- mise that its right to the Peninsula should be in the nature of a lease, terminable either at a given period, or on the occurrence of certain contingencies. This proposal, it is argued, will "save the face" of the Czar, yet leave the Treaty substantially as it was drawn by the plenipotentiaries.
