THE LATE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL YAMAJI Commander of the first division during the war with China

COUNT ITAGAKI

The organizer and leader of the Juyu-Ta or Liberal Party"

years to come. In Russia she recognizes the Power who is more likely than all the others to put obstacles in her path, and, from the Japanese point of view, it is Russia whose action should be thwarted. Those nations, therefore, whose interests are at the greatest degree of divergence from those of Russia are consequently, for the time being, Japan's greatest friends.

I have not endeavored to enumerate in detail here all the effects that the war with China has had on Japan, as many of these become self-evident in the subjects dealt with in other chapters. To sum the matter up, however, the grand result of it has been that the official seal of approval has been placed by the nations of the world on the fact that Japan was to be reckoned with as a Power who, within measurable time, would have a right to be considered as one of the civilized nations of the world.

After the victory over the Chinese by force of arms, Japan scored a diplomatic victory over the civilized world by successfully applying for a revi sion of her treaties with foreign Powers; and Great Britain may congratulate herself as having been the first of these to accede to Japan's request. If, on the one hand, we may congratulate ourselves on having done so, we have every reason, on the other, to blame ourselves for the slipshod manner in which we did it. For, as explained in the chapter on "Our Prospects Under the Revised Treaties," the interests of our fellow-countrymen in Japan were not properly studied in the contract we made with Japan, as

signed by Lord Kimberley. In fact, we have to thank other countries, who subsequently effected treaties with Japan, for such redeeming features as the last of them contained in favor of the foreigner. And we can safely say that had some country other than Great Britain taken the initiative with regard to treaty revision, the position of the foreigner in Japan would be better than it is to-day; for we should have realized the weak points in the treaties of the other Powers, and should have taken some trouble to insist on certain modifications when our turn came.

CHAPTER XII

POLITICS IN THE PAST AND PRESENT

JAPANESE internal politics in their present form are so kaleidoscopic that I shall not endeavor to do more than sketch a general outline of the manner in which the country is governed at the present time under the Constitutional régime. Were I to particularize in detail the different political cliques, with their varying shades of opinion, or were I to name a great number of the statesmen beyond those who stand out in a striking manner, the reader would be hopelessly confused; and, what is worse, any remarks I might make would very soon be out of date.

The ephemeral nature of Japanese political news was impressed on me most vividly when I had occasion to send articles from Tokio on that subject to a London paper. Writing under such conditions, the foreign correspondent in that part of the world does not see his handiwork in print for at least three months after it has been written and despatched to London; and on more than one occasion, in perusing my political articles after a lapse of twelve or fourteen weeks, I experienced the unpleasant sensation of finding that what I was reading had been deprived of its point by later events.