China’s Partition and American Rights
Concerning the Chinese imbroglio the New York Tribune has this to say: “Whatever may be the purposes of the European powers will not matter. This country is not to be drawn into their schemes. If after the restoration of peace it shall be found possible to leave the government of China in Chinese hands, either with or without a protectorate, well and good. The United States would hail such an arrangement with satisfaction. But if the powers, or any of them, shall proceed to a partitioning of the empire among them, the United States is not likely either to join in that work or to oppose it, but is likely rather to insist upon the maintenance in the partitioned empire of the commercial and industrial rights it has enjoyed in the integral empire. That is all it wants, and less than that no friendly power could expect it to accept.” But already Europe has “served notice,” through certain influential papers, that unless the United States shares the burdens of restoring peace, or in other words, unless the United States becomes a party to the agreement to be entered into by the powers, she can expect none of the benefits.