THE POSITION OF JAPAN.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIE,—On the 31st ult. a letter, dated " Tokio, July lith," appeared in the Times from a correspondent signing himself "F. B." The writer complained at some length that the atti- tude taken by Mr. A. B. Freeman Mitford and the Spectator with regard to Japan was both unfriendly and unjust. Mr. Mitford, who has keener foresight than the majority of critics on Eastern affairs, has already answered the accusation in the issue of the Times for September 4th. He says :—" My admiration for the progress made by the Japanese is as warm as that of 'F. B.' If they had stood still, there would have been no cause to fear the part which they may ultimately play in Asia." Every one will agree with Mr. Mitford in his admiration for Japanese progress, but few, it is to be feared, can yet see the truism contained in the latter part of this extract. No European State, least of all England, can afford to view with equanimity the expansion of Japan into a great naval and military Power. It is said that Japan is our ally, that Japan is friendly to England. Granted that it be so, what guarantee have we that in a hundred years she may not be our deadliest enemy ? The ally of to-clay is the foe of to-morrow ; history has repeatedly proved the truth of this statement. The identity of interests will not always compel Japan and England to act together. Similarity of position is no security for eternal friendship ; it will tend to make Japan our rival rather than our ally. She is already a factor to be reckoned with in the commerce of the East. Rivalry in the mercantile marine is only too often the prelude to hostilities between battleships. The long struggle between England and Holland was essen- tially a commercial war. But a graver menace than com- mercial rivalry lurks in the difference of race. A nation can no more change its race than a leopard can its spots. The Norman Conquest has left England an Anglo-Saxon nation. Japan may strive to imitate and emulate the great white races, but she will always remain a yellow nation. It is idle to contend that the civilisation of Japan will be the safeguard of Europe ; if civilisation could alter national character, duelling would have disappeared in Ger- many Let us remember, however friendly we may be with Japan at present, that blood is thicker than water, and that as the branches of the Anglo-Saxon race are being more closely knit together—as much by force of circumstances as inclination—into one mighty confederacy, so, in some future time, there must be an irresistible tendency on the part of the yellow races to weld themselves into one vast Empire. The most potent reason why Japan has not been allowed a free hand in dealing with the Eastern crisis is because the states- men of Europe realise more fully than the "man in the street" the fearful menace to the peace of the Western world, were the Japanese allowed to establish a protectorate over China, and thereafter to maintain a native army of countless numbers, officered by Japan after the model of our Indian troops or the Egyptian Army. True statecraft looks ahead not only ten, but hundreds of years, to the time when we see "the white man and the yellow man in their death grip, contending for the earth." Prevention is better than cure; it is easier now for Europe to set bounds to the ambition of Japan than it will be in a hundred years' time. It is for Europe and America to combat the impending danger by sinking their mutual rivalry and jealousy when dealing with Eastern affairs.
Previous page
