The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-01

cations have been opened between Berber
and Suakim; aB1 the whole stretch
Of the Nile between Berber and omdur.
man has been cleared of the Mahdists
by an uprising OF the river tribes, who,
since the fall Of Khartoum, have been
fearfully oppressed. On the whole, there
Is good reason to believe that within the
twelvemonth that begins to-day the de-
struction Of the Anglo Egyptian ARM un.
der HICKS Pasha, and the death Of GORDON,
will be thoroughly avenged. II is equally
certain that, after their experience Of the
dreadful rule Of the Khalifa, the natives of
the Eastern Soudan, Of Kordofan and Of
Darfour will welcome the restoration of
the Khedive's authority.
1t is, however, eastern Asia upon which
the eyes of Europe and America are likely
to be most intently fixed during the
twelvemonth which has now opened. What
we are now beholding on the coast Of China
might have been predicted when three
European powers, Russia. France, and
Germany, interposed between China and
Japan and dictated a revision of the
treaty of Shimonoseki. 1t was certain
that the Middle Kingdom would have to
pay for the interposition, and the only
point left doubtful was the date of the de-
mandf for payment. No doubt Russia would
have preferred to wait for the completion
of the Siberian Railway before disclosing
the breadth of her designs, but her hand
was forced when Germany seized Kiao
Chou Bay, and this, accordingly, was fol.
lowed by the despatch of Russian warships
to Port Arthur, q move which seems to
have been concerted with France. for 1t
has been said that tn. island of Hai-Nan
was taken possession of by the French
on the same day. Hai-Nan, with the
western section Of the province Of
kwang-Tung, which, also, France will I'M
doubtedly demand, will give that power
absolute control Of the Gulf of Tonquin and
place the province of Kwan.Se within her
sphere of influence. With regard to Yum.
Nan, and Sze-Chuen which lies directly to
the north of 1t, there Is a treaty between
France and England whereby they agree to
share the commercial and railway privi-
leges that may be granted in those prov.
inces. 1t should not be impracticable, how.
ever, to adjust the respective claims Of
these two powers. The chief difficulty at
tending any general scheme of partition
will arise when the share a%ssignable to
Japan Is discussed. The Mikado must
needs be consulted, for his fleet, next to the
English, Is the strongest in the Pacific,
and he alone is able to place quickly a large
army on Chinese soil. What he wants, of
course, is the very territory of which he
was deprived by the revision of the Shl-
monoseki Treaty, to wit, Corea, the Liau-
Tung Peninsula and the intervening strip of
Manchuria. Corea, especially, he desires,
because it is the part of the Asiatic main
land nearest to his island empire, and be-
cause he has historical claims to it. Russia,
on the other hand, is determined to have an
i~ce-free seaport at all hazards, and she does
not want the Japanese as neighbors on the
Asiatic mainland so that, ill-prepared for
the moment as she is, she will probably
fight soone than permit the reassertion of
the Shimonosek Treaty in its original form.
A war, however, can be averted in one way,
namely, by such a partition of the seacoast
of the Middle Kingdom as shall satisfy
all the maritime powers concerned, includ-
Ing, Of course. Japan. That is why 1898
seems likely to bring with 1t an event so
momentous and so memorable as the disso-
luton of an empire, which had been long
civilized and prosperous, when RAMEsEs
Ii. was ruling over Egypt; and which had
existed for some twenty centuries when
the founder of Rome was born.