Show SHifTS fROM J CHINA TO COREA Curtain Rings Up In a New Theatre of War POSITION OF NATIONS MERE GUESS WORK Groping About Not Knowing Which Foot They Stand On Britain Is More Interested In the Corean Question Than Either German i Ger-man Occupation of SicaChau Or Russian Possession of Port Arthur I Ar-thur Japan May Form an Alli anco With China Germany Anxious Anx-ious For British Cooperation London Jan 1Copyrighted 1898 by the Associated PressThe ingenuity displayed in manufacturing news from I the far east is remarkable Fivesixths of the statements can be safely labeled la-beled guesswork The British and Rus 1 sian foreign offices are as dumb as oysters and the German stream of con flic ting communications in the semiofficial semi-official press shows they do not know which foot they are standing on France is apparently in the dark while the mikado has dissolved the Japanese dIet in order that opinions should not I be expressed Under the circumstances it is not strange that accurate information informa-tion is difficult to secure The known facts wholly corroborate the statements cabled to the Associated Press on Saturday last that Great Britain is carefully watching the situation sit-uation biding her time and will certainly cer-tainly not fail to act promptly and vigorously at the proper moment PREMATURE SCARE I was pointed out in that dispatch that in well informed circles the scare I in the newspapers in regard to the east vas at least premature and that the i i members of the government were evI1 de ntly sincere in disclaiming the least I alarm This view of the case was practically reiterated by the Daily Graphic on Friday which asserted that there was every reason to believe the Russians would adhere to their pledge to evacuate Port Arthur at the end of I Tn x TT4ritoT ViYir that therefore there v as no grounds for complaint on the part of Great Britain The Daily Graphic further pointed out that the Bntlrh government did not regard the occupation of KiaoCJmu bay by the Germans a calling for action because British interests were not threatened Loth the foreign office and the admiralty admi-ralty aecording to the Daily Graphic were agreed on this point COREAN QUESTION Evidrtly apart from the question of the Chinese loan the Corean question is more interesting for Great Britain at the present moment than the questions of Port Arthur and KlaoChau principally prin-cipally because the Marquis of Salisbury Salis-bury sees in the attempt to oust J MacLeavy Brown the British superintendent superin-tendent of Corean customs a more serious ser-ious scheme to overturn Sir Robert Hart the British director of the Chi Hat nest imperial maritime customs which has apparently been nipped in the bud U The cabinets existence would be short if it permitted Russia to coerce the Tsung Li Yamen Chinese foreign office inU dismissing the British head of the Chinese customs I is not known yet whether the British Brit-ish government will approve of the ar raisrements arrived at according to a cable dispatch from Pakin by which 3klr McL tfy Brown flfd M vb the Russian agent in Corea will work thrt Corean customs togeuier The British ministers appear to be s < rpewhat distrustful so the warships of Great Britain which are at present at Chemulpo the port of Seoul in order I U give moral support to Mr Brown ill remain there for the present i RUSSIAN OFFER OF LOAN At present th = re is keen interest in I circles the outcome of cciHOieria e ir S over I i the cfioiLS of Russia to secure a Chin I tA Chi-n se loa on tbe onerous terms at mpied by the P kin correspondent of the Times who paid the Chinese government gov-ernment refused iu place the bUn internal in-ternal venus under foreign control r t security for the < loan proposed by the li > rr Kong aid Shanghai bank ando i and-o tited that unless the loan was pro cu aMe without this condition a de j ji jnd win forthwith be made for ai I Kuspian guaranteed 4 per cent loan of jl 1 < tt OO tats to be issued at 93 net i 1 lt security for this loan would be the P I d tax which would remain under I Chinese administration and China in return would give Russia the monopoly I OL the railroads and lines north of the great wall cr > en u port a a terminus of the Siberian railway and would a ree that a Russian should succeed I Sir Robert Hart as director of the Chinese Chi-nese imperial maritime customs BRITISH PREVENTION A diDomat talking over the alleged desire of Germany to arrive at an un standing with Great Britain qn the fa eastern qutstion explains that the change might b due to Germanys dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction with her allies Her faith in fie Italian army has been shaken 1 by the defeats in Erytherea and the 1 collapse of the constitutional government govern-ment of Austria has made the efficiency effici-ency of that empire in case of war doubtful In the meanwhile the diplomat dip-lomat continued Russia and France are allied and Emperor William is anxious to secure new friends Therefore There-fore foreseeing the probability of an understanding between Great Britain and Japan Emperor William is determined deter-mined to array himself on their side Hence his seizure of a port already hypothecated to Russia thereby pro climias rivalry with Russia and friendshiP with Great Britain I is by no means clear that British interests are seriously threatened at the present moment and she can probably wel afford to await spring when unless un-less the normal conditions are resumed Great Britain will undoubtedly take the steps necessary to protect her interests and reestablish the balance of power JAPANS POLICY The Spectator publishes an Interest angarticle on Japans policy in which the writer regards the Marquis Itos return to power and Japans offer to assist the officers at Pekiu in drilling the Chinese army and her proposal to I consent to a postponement of the payment pay-ment of the war indemnity a possibly foreshadownig a ChinaJapan alliance The financial barometer does not i I show any trepidation copsols even improving I im-proving There is not the slightest sign of the selling which always marks real I I improvement in the political horizon I and there are signs of reaction in the longcontinued depreciation in land I The improvement is attributed partly to the rise in the price of wheat and I partly to the cheapness of money Capitalists Cap-italists are clad even of the beggarly interest yielded by land investments I |