TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE JAPANESE ALLIANCE.
IT is time that the Home Government and the Prime Ministers of the sister nations of the Empire, now in conference, should judge of the advisability of our renewing the Alliance with Japan. But the ordinary citizen must also come to a decision, and, as far as it is within his power, make it known to the world. For ourselves, we have come to the conclusion that the renewal of the Alliance is becoming—if, indeed, it has not already become—what our friends on the other side of the Atlantic call " a pivotal matter "—a matter upon which great interests, perhaps the greatest in the world, are destined to turn.
Let us speak first for ourselves, not because we over- estimate the importance of our view, but because the best way of understanding the issue is to analyse and describe the motives and influences which lead up to the conclusion against renewal. We strongly opposed the Japanese Alliance when first formed. When it was last renewed we protested, like the vast majority of Englishmen, and protested successfully, against the Alliance being given either in form or in substance any appearance of being made against America, or being capable of ever being used against her in any shape or form. It was only after the Alliance had been absolutely devitalized as regards America that we acquiesced, if somewhat unwillingly, in the renewal of a Treaty. The arguments that swayed us then have be multiplied a hundredfold. They may be stated in a very few words.
The need of the hour is the creation of a complete and permanent understanding between the two branches of the English-speaking race—that is, between the British Empire and the United States of America. Roughly, two-thirds of those who speak the language of Shakespeare are citizens of the United States. One-third live under the British flag. If the English-speaking kin can, as a whole, be inspired by three resolves the world may become safe for civilization. The first resolve must be that they will never settle quarrels which may arise between them by the arbitrament of the sword, but always by peaceful methods. The second must be the determination to prevent, as far as they can, other nations, however they may indulge in civil tumult within their own boundaries, from preying upon each other. The third resolve must be to prevent the growth of armaments, and to discountenance the application of the sciences and arts to the destruction of human life and of the works of civilization. With these as our inspiration mankind will have obtained something of such practical value that even so useful an institution per se as the League of Nations will dwindle to nothing in comparison. Cromwell declared that he was a constable set to keep order in the parish. If the United States and the united Governments of the British Empire join forces they will be constables set to keep peace in the world, both by example and by precept. By such an under- standing the whole universe must be affected. Hardly any sacrifice except one of honour would be too great to secure an end so noble and fraught with a destiny so magnificent.
If the world were entirely composed of statesmen, trained diplomats, jurists, and philosophers, or even if the English-speaking world as a whole were as well instructed as, say, the ordinary members of both Houses of Congress, or both Houses of Parliament, it would no doubt be quite easy to prove that the Alliance with Japan was doing no harm and could do no harm to the good understanding between the English-speaking kin, but instead was a useful buttress to the peace of the world. But it must be ad- mitted that the mass of mankind in America and in the Dominions, and also in this country, are not capable of looking at the matter in this spirit of detachment and spiritual benevolence. They judge in a much rougher and simpler way. In America, and this is what concerns us most, the ordinary citizen argues something on these lines : " Right or wrong, the Japanese are not friendly to us. Some day they will want to fight us, if the people of California and the Pacific States generally refuse to let the Japanese come in on the terms allowed to other immigrants. that case we shall have to defend ourselves. Besides, they mean to rule the Pacific, and so do we, and neither will give way. On which side are the British going to be if this quarrel actually takes place ? We can teat that pretty well. They have been the allies of Japan for many years, and the time is soon coming in which the Alliance must be dropped or renewed. If the British renew it, it means they are going to be on the Japanese side and against us, or certainly not for us. As long as they are tied to the Japanese all talk about hands across the sea is just nothing. If they believe in it they will leave them- selves free to prove that blood is thicker than water."
By themselves the considerations just given form a very strong ground for not tying ourselves. But that argument is enormously increased in weight by the fact that the Irish, German, and other elements in America hostile to this country and opposed to a good understanding are always whispering in the ears of the voters that the Alliance, though it sounds mild enough on paper, has secret clauses directly intended to compass the destruction of America by a joint attack by Japan and Britain. Of course, all instructed Americans know that such talk is wild as well as wicked nonsense, and that there are no secret clauses, and that the British people, quite as much as those in the Dominions, are determined that they will not fight on the side of the Orientals, however civilized, agaast the white man, especially when the white man is their own flesh and blood. The whisper is not enough to make the Ameri- cans want to attack us, but it is quite enough to make them say : " As long as the Alliance continues, how can we have an understanding ? " Philosophers may talk as long as they like and say that all this is most unreasonable, but to do so is about as useful as for a young man to declare that his sweetheart is unreasonable because she asks him as a proof of his affection to give up wearing purple ties. The explanation that purple ties cannot hurt her, and that he wears them because of a promise made some years ago to a lady friend with whom his relations are now of the most conventional kind, are merely irritants. The lady in the case wants proof that he is willing to make a sacrifice for her, and especially a sacrifice not guided by reason but made merely because she asks for it. If the young gentleman does not yield on the purple tie, we may be sure that all her neighbours will gather round and say : "Did we not tell you that he did not really mean what he said, and that he was not taking the understanding between you seriously ? " A test is a test and cannot be got rid of by logic or merely by talking it down. But this cuts both ways. All those who, as we do, sincerely desire an understanding with America and believe that it is absolutely essential for the welfare of the world, should indeed be glad that fate has offered us so good an opportunity as the expiry of the Japanese Alliance to prove to the Americans that our foreign policy is now based upon a perfectly different set of principles. Owing to the changes in the configuration of the world we are as willing to carry out the test as they are to ask for it. We want, indeed, to put ourselves as near as we can upon an equality with America in the matter of alliances, and to be able to say that we, like themselves, are not " entangled " in the meshes of diplomatic contracts.
Would it not be considered a hostile act for us to refuse to renew the Alliance Would not the Japanese people take it as a proof that we had unfriendly intentions ? And if they did so take it, would not this mean an injury to the interests of peace ? In fact, might we not be sowing dragons' teeth ? We possess the sympathy of comprehen- sion with this line of argument, but surely it is based upon a mistake. There is nothing hostile to Japan in putting an end to the Alliance. It was precisely to prevent any thought of hostility if we did give up the Alliance that we only renewed it for a term of years, with the distinct understanding that a non-renewal would merely mean the peaceful determination of the obligations of the Treaty and could be no proof of enmity. To refuse to renew the Treaty without reasons would be neither insulting nor even non-friendly to the Japanese. As it is, however, we have the best of reasons to give the Japanese for our action, or rather, our quiescence. The Japanese Alliance was based upon our fear lest Japan might be overwhelmed by a Russian attack supported by Germany and possibly other Powers. Now that Russia has ceased to be a menace either to China or to Japan, the foundations upon which the Alliance with Japan was made have ceased to exist. Japan is not in the slightest danger in the Pacific, nor is it conceivable that she can be attacked by any other Power in her own waters, which, remember, was the cans foederis of the Alliance.
Another positive argument in favour of letting the Alliance lapse is the result its renewal might have upon China. China is in a condition, internally and externally, of unstable equilibrium. It is to the interests of the whole world that she should get through the period of revolution in her internal affairs without interference from outside. But China, rightly or wrongly, very greatly dreads inter- ference from Japan, or rather, to be fair, dreads lest the wise and statesmanlike principles of action which have hitherto guided the Japanese policy may be thrown over by a Jingo party either getting hold of the reins at Tokio or forcing the Japanese moderates to adopt a vigorous foreign policy. An interesting statement of the way in which reasonable and neighbourly relations between China and Japan are at present prevented from arising, owing to the Alliance, and the great amount of importance attached to it in the Far East is given in a letter in to-day's issue by Mr. Lenox Simpson, who claims to speak as an official representative of Chinese opinion. The general conclusion of his letter, as far as we can see a sound one, is that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance does not make for peace, but for trouble and confusion in the Far East and the Pacific.
A fourth argument against the renewal of the Alliance is that the people of the Dominions are unquestionably against the Alliance in spirit, if not in fact. Their feeling towards the Japanese is very much like that of the American people as a whole. The statesmen at the top who know the Japanese statesmen are perfectly content to treat them on terms of friendship. The mass of the population, rightly er wrongly, does not want to treat them like the rest of the world—not, we are sure, because of any racial contempt, but because they dread the Japanese for two reasons :—(1) as having a lower standard of living, though this does not necessarily mean a lower standard of civilization ; (2) as not being capable of being assimilated in the racial melting-pot.
No doubt our Imperial statesmen, who have shown an immense willingness not to embarrass the Central Govern- ment, will, if we make a strong effort, assent to the renewal of the Alliance. But the net result, when interpreted in the Dominions' constituencies, may be that the Affiance will appear as a burden, or an act of self-sacrifice which was obtained under the pressure of the Mother Country. Surely that is not a result which any of us would like to see attributed to the Imperial Government. To put it quite plainly, is the Alliance, which admittedly is only maintained as a piece of international courtesy, worth keeping if it is to lose us the real and whole-hearted sym- pathy of America and to be regarded in the Dominions as a weighty obligation which they have been compelled to assume out of love and respect for the Mother Country I Finally, though such an argument is really unnecessary as coming after so many other more powerful arguments, has not the time gone by for offensive and defensive alliances with individual foreign nations ? The Japanese Alliance is the pre-war type of alliance. But it will be said : Is this not going too far ? Does it not preclude an under- standing with America ? It does preclude a formal offensive and defensive alliance, but not that understanding which we desire. The suggested understanding is not one which could be made with a foreign country. America, though it is a separate country, and though it will always remain a separate country, is not, and never can be, a foreign country to us. We can have relations with America far closer than those we could have or would wish to have with any foreign nation. Even if we are to abandon the League of Nations, or to alter it into that general Association of Nations governed by international law which President Harding favours, and which has always been favoured by the Spectator, there will still be room inside it for a special and family understanding between the two branches of the English-speaking race. But this understanding will preclude Alliances of the old type such as that which we should have if we were to renew our Alliance with Japan. Our obligations to France in regard to an attack from Germany are quite another matter. That is merely a contractual remanet of the war and not a matter of future policy.
Previous page
