request, which veiled, of course, a threat, that she should waive that part of the Shimonoseki Treaty which provided for the cession of Port Arthur and the Liau-tung peninsula. Japan would doubtless have repelled the demand, had she been assured of Great Britain’s support. But no assurance to that effect was forthcoming from Lord Rosebery, then British Prime Minister, and, accordingly, the Mikado consented to resign his claim to the Liau-tung peninsula for the additional indemnity of $30,000,000. The final installment of the indemnity was paid in May, 1898, whereupon Wei-hai-Wei was evacuated by the Japanese, and, soon afterward, was ceded by the Pekin government to Great Britain. Since the compulsory revision of the Shimonoseki Treaty, the attitude of the Tokio Foreign Office has been marked by much reserve and dignity. Japan has employed the years that have since elapsed, and the money received from China, in prosecuting extensive military and naval reforms. Nor is the time distant when, with the warships built at home or purchased in foreign shipyards, she will have a navy only second to that possessed by Great Britain in the Far East, and will be able to place half a million thoroughly trained and equipped soldiers on the mainland of Asia. In Corea, she has obtained increased freedom of action, Russia having practically waived her claims to ascendency in that country; Japan has turned the opportunity to account by building a railway from Chemulpo to Seoul, which should materially help her to maintain control of the Hermit Kingdom. Whatever may be the Mikado’s ultimate intention, he has, as yet, given no conclusive proof of a wish to participate in the game of partition now being played in China. No protest came from him when, toward the close of 1897, Germany seized the harbor of Kiao Chou, or when, on March 27, 1898, a convention signed at Pekin gave the Russians the usufruct of Port Arthur and Talien-wan. In September, however, the Marquis (formerly Count) Ito was dispatched as a special embassador to the Chinese capital, for the purpose, as it is believed, but not positively known, of arranging an alliance between the Japanese and Chinese empires, which should put an effectual stop to further encroachments on the part of Russia. Then occurred the palace revolution at Pekin, whereby the young Emperor Kwangsu was virtually dethroned, and the supreme authority usurped by the Empress Dowager, Tsi An. There being, thenceforward, no hope of effecting the desired arrangement, the Marquis Ito returned to Japan, soon after which--namely, on October 31--the homogeneous Ministry which had taken office in June of this year--the first Ministry of the kind, by the way, since the establishment of the Constitution in 1889--was compelled to resign, and was succeeded by an eclectic cabinet even more thoroughly representative of the Japanese desire to play a great rôle in the Far East. On November 6, an envoy deputed by the Mikado to