The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-01-22
is IT A BACK DOW N?
[Bx cable 10 rhe Associated presg.l

LONDON, Jan. %, 139S-The Cabinet
met today with full attendance and dis
cussed the Far Eastern situation.
Regarding the seni-official communica-
ton. made public in st. Petersburg to-
day. the following semi-oficial note will
be published in London this evening"
"The British vessels which recently Wis
tied Port Arthur merely touched there in
the course of their ordinary cruises, and
would naturally leave after a short stay
The question of calling and departure is
one at the discretion of the British Ada
miral on the station"
In spite of the statement of the For
eign Office there is reason to believe
that the withdrawal of the British war
ships from Port Arthur is due to the
great irritation in Russia at their pres
ence and to the strongest representations
of the Russian Government on the sub
ject.
Next week there will be combined coal
ing operations at Portsmouth, with the
view of testing the facilities for coal
ing a fleet in case of an emergency.
A special despatch from Berlin says
that in view of the despatch of a Japan
ese fleet to Chinese waters, the Neuste
Nachrichten demands that Germany
Immediately send two torpedo divisions
to Kiao Chou Bay.
There was a quick and general endorse,
ment in all parts of the country, of the
firm declaration made by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer Sir Michael Hicks
Beach, at Swansea, on Monday last, set
ting forth that the British Government
was determined "even at the cost of war =
that the door of Chinese commerce should
not be shut to Great Britain. The wave
of patriotism now sweeping over the land
finds an echo in every public assemblage
where any allusion to Great Britain atti-
tude is enthusiastically applauded while
patriotic songs at the music halls set the
audiences wild with warlike fervor.
In the manwhile the party leaders are
outdoing each other in following the lead
of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. From the
tone which has characterized the oratory
of the past few days one would imagine
that Great Britain was about to take up
arms against the world.
The Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, followed the
Chancellor of the Exchequer with the vfr-
tual announcement that Great Britain
was resolved to act in the near East in
dependtly of the concert of the Powers.
Mr.. Herbert Henry Asquith (the former
Home Secretary, as spokesman of the
Opposition, made it clear that the Lib
erals cordially endorsed the Govern
ment's position, and the speech of the
Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Lord
Wolseley (at the banquet in London on
Thursday, when he asserted that if
Great Britain declared war tomorrow she
could have two of the finest and most
fully equipped Army Corps in readiness
at any British port before ships could
be prepared to embark them), has also
had reassuring effect, while the decided
Improvement in the outlook of the In
to the Government.
The newspapers of London and the
British Provinces are practically unani-
nous in approving the policy of the Gov
ernment in their editorial comments. The
ssTimes'' points out apropos of the report
ed opposition of Russia to the proposed
British loan to China that the attitude of
Great Britain in way depends upon
whether her offer OF loan is or is not ac-
cepted, as in any case Great Britain will
.sstand on treaty rights and take great
care to preserve to our commerce all the
adyant4ages 4 which it can M, justly, claim
it denied to us, either by the establish
ment of customs or regulations favorable
to foreign nations hostile to ourselves.
This right we mean to vindicate.
The Manchester Guardian" says that
private letters from st. Petersburg, re-
ceived by a high official in London, say
the Russian Government is much con-
cerned at the number Of Chinese aoclzing
into Siberia from the Northwest of China
and that the Ministers have decided to
take measures to check this inroad, "as
it is commercially and politically embar-
raSSing''