THE SITUATION IN CHINA.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 115, 12 November 1900, Page 4

THE SITUATION IN CHINA.

Some days ago we were informed that international differences Jiad arisen at Shan-hai-kwan and that Count yon Waldersee had been obliged as Commander-in-Ohief to intervene. On Saturday we received a cable message giving, on the authority of the Daily Express, a somewhat sensational version, of the affair. It is quite possible that a lpcal dispute was unduly magnified into a matter of international importance, but even if our London contemporary's story were substantially accurate it would not follow that' there was any danger of a rupture between Great Britain and Russia. The disputants at Shan-haj-kwan were only subordinate officers, and in a composite army, such as Count yon Waldersee now has under his. command, quarrels must be expected from time to time ; and in any event the Shan-hai-kwan episode seems to have ended in "smoke." The alleged Russian seizure of territory at Tientsin is' n6w understood' to be merely a temporary arrangement, and Sir Ernest iSatow, the new British Minister, does not consider it necessary to raise a formal protest. The newspaper correspondent naturally seizes upon isolated incidents of a striking character, but 'his readers should be careful not to lose their sense of proportion, and give to such incidents more prominence than they deserve. The poiicy of Russia must not be judged by the mistaken zeal of a few junior officers. '.It is better to be understood by the transfer of the TakuPekin railway to Mr. Kinder, through Count yon Waldersee, than by the Shan-hai-kwan dispute. If Lord Salisbury's speech at the Guildhall means any thing,, the Poweivs are now practicably unanimous- in their adhesion to the Anglo-Ger-man agreement, and local differences will not bo allowed to alter the. joint international understanding. That the Powers intend to exact full reparation seems certain since the Ministers at Pekin have returned Li Hung-chang's protest against the action taken at Paoting-fu. Russia hns apparently made a separate arrangement with regard to Manchuria, but that should not interfere witn the proceedings of the concert of the Powers. A foreign occupation, of northern China to last over the winter is now inevitable, and if the Imperial Court flees to Chengtu in the far interior it may be long before the final settlement ia ( arrived at, in spite of the pressure brought to bear on the Imperial Family by the occupation of the troops of the dynasty.

The Under-Secretary for Public Works (Mr. Blow) is at present on the West Coast, and will represent the Government at the opening of the Otira section of the Midland Railway to-morrow.