Telegrams are beginning to stream in from P ekin, the
drift of which is that the Dowager-Empress and one or two of her closest allies have been for some time arranging with the Japanese Court for an offensive and defensive alliance. They have at last come to terms, the only remaining ground of dispute being, it is said, the extent to which Japanese agents, while reorganising the Army and Navy and Civil Service, are to control the finances. The Mandarins, in fact, fear that their peculations will come to an end. If the Dowager-Empress and the Emperor hold together, and are supported by the Manchu Mandarins, their party will probably be the stronger, and if so certain consequences will follow, which we have tried to explain elsewhere, and which are not at all beneficial. The union of all Mongol resources in the Mikado's hand is a serious thing for Europe to con- template. The alliance is not yet complete, but it is so well advanced that its opponents think it necessary to excite the jealousy of foreign Powers, and so bring pressure to bear upon the Empress-Dowager. The Russians, in particular, are greatly excited over this new development, which, as they see clearly, may by reinvigorating China enable the Court of Pekin, which at heart loathes all foreigners, to resist any further Russian advance. It is therefore liked in London and Berlin, under a mistaken belief that a revived China would hate only St. Petersburg.
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