As Both Governments Wanted A Speedy Settlement Of The
Question, The Chinese, With The View Of Allaying The Rising Agitation
In
Tibet and getting rid of a troublesome question, and the English not less
anxious to have the claims of
China in Burmah defined in diplomatic
language, the convention which bears Mr. O'Conor's name was drawn up and
signed with quite remarkable dispatch. For the abandonment of the Macaulay
mission, and the recognition of their right to receive the tribute mission
from Burmah, the authorities at Pekin were quite, at the moment, willing
to forego material claims such as a port on the Irrawaddy. Diplomacy has
not yet said the last word on this matter, and the exact frontier between
Burmah and China has still to be delimited, but the fixing of a definite
date for the dispatch of the first mission from Mandalay to Pekin, which
is timed to set out in January, 1894, is in itself of hopeful augury for
the settlement of all difficulties. When this matter is composed there
will be no cloud in the sky of Anglo-Chinese relations, and that such an
auspicious result will be obtained is not open to serious doubt. The most
gratifying fact in the history of China during the last ten years is the
increasing sympathy and tacit understanding between the two great empires
of England and China in Asia, which must in time constitute an effective
alliance against any common danger in that continent, and the aggressive
policy of Russia.
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