of the letter is as follows:

"The dispute that rose in consequence of the disturbance at the border
of Annam and Kwangsi has been examined into by the Joint Committee
detailed by both parties concerned, and a conclusion has been reached to
the effect that all matters relating to the solution of the case would
be carried out in accordance with the request of Your Excellency.

"In order to demonstrate the especially good friendly relations existing
between the two countries, the Republican Government assures Your
Excellency that in case of a railway construction or a mining enterprise
being undertaken in Kwangsi Province in the future, for which foreign
capital is required, France would first be consulted for a loan of the
necessary capital. On such an occasion, the Governor of Kwangsi will
directly negotiate with a French syndicate and report to the
Government."

It is high time that the United States raises the whole question of the
open door in China again, and refuses to tolerate any longer the old
disruptive and dog-in-the-manger policy of the Powers. America is now
happily in a position to inaugurate a new era in the Far East as in the
Far West and to stop exploitation.

CHAPTER XVI

CHINA AND THE WAR

The question of Chinese sentiments on the subject of the war, as well as
the precise relations between the Chinese Government and the two groups
of belligerents, are matters which have been totally misunderstood. To
those who have grasped the significance of the exhaustive preceding
account of the Republic in travail, this statement should not cause
surprise; for China has been in no condition to play anything but an
insignificant and unsatisfactory role in world-politics.

When the world-war broke out China was still in the throes of her
domestic troubles and without any money at all in her Central Treasury;
and although Yuan Shih-kai, on being suddenly confronted with an
unparalleled international situation, did initiate certain negotiations
with the German Legation with a view to securing a cancellation of the
Kiaochow lease, the ultimatum which Japan dispatched to Germany on the
15th August, 1914, completely nullified his tentative proposals. Yuan
Shih-kai had, indeed, not been in the slightest degree prepared for such
a sensational development as war between Japan and Germany over the
question of a cruiser-base established on territory leased from China;
and although he considered the possibilit