No indisputable news as to the war has arrived from
the Far East. The idea that the Japanese will strain every effort to seize Pekin this year, spreads fast in Shanghai, and there is evidently a desperate struggle for power going on in the Imperial Palace, amidst which the well-known figure of Prince Kung once more emerges into the light. He has been made Premier, to use the English phrase, and is said to be peace- fully inclined; but all the personages of that Palace are, to Europeans, more or less shadows. What seems certain is that the Chinese Army is in terrible disorder, that the Japanese are threatening Chefoo, which means an attack on the Chinese Portsmouth, Wei-hai-wei, and that the drain of trained men is being felt in Japan. The Times' correspondent at Yokohama states that one hundred thousand Japanese troops are now in Corea or afloat, that the last regular reserves are being called out to refill the garrisons, and that the conscripts are not enthusiastic for the service. The weak point of Japan probably lies there, for no precautions will prevent an invading army from slowly wasting away, even if there is no fighting, The Japanese are, however, confident, and the Chinese confused, if not cowed ; and in such circum- stances a small army dare move with audacity and even rashness. The distances, however, are so great that Europe must wait for intelligence with calmness. From the Yaloo to Pekin, for instance, by land is more than six hundred miles.
