Nothing pleases the English more than to have their own way against the French. The English and the French have been natural enemies for generations. The feeling of the French toward the English is even more bitter than their hostility to the Germans. * * * * * The Chinese loan, about which we have heard so many different reports, has at last been definitely granted by a combination of English and German capital. The loan has been described as "semi-private," but this does not prevent it from being considered a distinct success for Lord Salisbury's negotiations, though regret is naturally felt in England that Germany should have a share in it. As a result of the loan, England has secured new concessions from China, which greatly strengthen her influence in Chinese territory and place her in a stronger position from which to insist upon her policy of open ports. The news comes by cable that China has agreed to allow the control of the imperial maritime customs to be placed in the hands of a British subject "so long as the British trade with China exceeds that of any other powers." As the British trade is now reported to be nearly ten times as great as that of any other power, there is no immediate prospect of a change. * * * * * The sentence of Zola to a year's imprisonment and to the payment of a fine of $600 has been only the beginning of extraordinary proceedings in France, resulting from his trial. Colonel Picquart, who has been a strong champion of ex-Captain Dreyfus, has been expelled from the French army without a pension, and he is also for three years to be constantly watched by the police. Furthermore, the papers and the public men who have been conspicuous in their defence of Zola and of Dreyfus have been warned to cease their agitation. Even some of the foreign correspondents have received hints from the governmental authorities that if they are not more careful in their statements with regard to the Dreyfus case, they will be obliged to leave the country. * * * * * It is hard to believe that such a state of affairs can exist in a civilized country. The position of the French Government has been so clearly defined, however, by the French Premier, Monsieur Meline, that it is plain the French republic has for a time become almost a despotism, ruled by a tyrant known as the French army, which is, of course, the cause of all the trouble. In the Chamber of Deputies the other day Monsieur Meline remarked: "After military justice civil justice has declared itself. It has proclaimed that the members of the court-martial were honest men, who obeyed their consciences. The Zola trial has ended the confusion made by those who presumed to put themselves above the laws of the country. Those who appeared in court were not there as subordinates of the Minister of War, but as individual witnesses under nobody's orders.