As we have argued elsewhere, the Agreement places us, on
the face of it, so much at the mercy of Japan that we cannot help feeling that a statesman so prudent and so cautious as Lord Salisbury must have made some supplementary agree- ment in order to safeguard us from this very obvious danger. As we read the Agreement, if Japan considered that France and Russia were simultaneously injuring her interests in Korea so deeply that she must send an ultimatum to both Powers, we should become automatically involved in war. That is, we might, without having given any assent or approval to the policy which produced the war, be plunged into a life-and-death struggle. Remember Article 5 only stipulates for communication, not for consent. No doubt the case is very unlikely to arise, for Japan would, of course, wish to conciliate her ally, but still the possibility clearly exists on &be face. of the Treaty: Lord Lansdowne, however, in his covering despatch to Sir. Claude Macdonald describes the effect of the Alliance as far more restricted. Here are his words :—" It in no way threatens the present position or the legitimate interests of other Powers. On the contrary, that part of it which renders either of the High Contracting Parties liable to be called upon by the other for assistance can operate only when one of the allies has found himself obliged to go to war in defence of interests which are common to both, when the circumstances in which he has taken this step are such as to establish that the quarrel has not been of his own seeking, and when, being engaged in his own defence, he finds himself threatened, not by a single Power, but by, a hostile coalition." But Lord Lansdowne forgets to note that the belligerent ally is to be the judge of what are common interests, and of whether the quarrel was or was not of his own seeking. There is no veto by one ally on the doings of the other, and each appears to be his own inter_ preter of the common interests. Surely Lord Salisbury must have got some further and better assurances on this Point.
