of the exercise of the international police. A great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil."

These words, in addition to expressing the American policy, also voice accurately the Japanese policy. That the people of the United States recognize that this is so, is shown by the very remarkable cablegram sent to the Emperor of Japan at a banquet to Prince Fushimi in America, at which the Assistant-Secretary of State, Mr. Loomis, assisted. The message ran :—

"The health of the Emperor has just been drunk amid great enthusiasm. The sentiment was warmly applauded that the character and ability of the Emperor would prove as potent in the regeneration of Asia as it had been in the regeneration of his own country."

Japan is convinced of the value of arbitration in international affairs, and is probably to be the leader in matters of arbitral reference. Writing on the arbitration treaty with America, a leading Tokyo newspaper said: "The weft and woof of international relationship growing more and more intricate with the progress of world-wide intercourse, the increase of occasions for differences of views on treaty matters may not be unavoidable, and nothing is better advised than to have beforehand an instrument wherewith to amicably adjudge such disputes when they arise.'

"To be a power in the world," says Count Okuma, “is to have a right to discuss any international question along with other Powers. Without this right, no nation could be called a Power in the proper sense of the word."

With reference to the present war and its results, the same eminent statesman says: "Whether we come out victorious or not in the present war, one thing is quite certain. We shall no longer stand aloof from the current of international politics. Territorial expansion forms no part of our ambition, We simply contend that Western civilization is not the monopoly of European nations. We

have accepted its entire programme, and we should be untrue to that civilization, which has bestowed upon us so much of its beneficent influence, if we were not to realize our duty in the great position to which we have attained." When all the nations of the world have come to realize more clearly their duty as members of an international whole, and act less for national ambition instead of international amity, as if they were not an entity apart, the sooner the day of real internationalism will have arrived.

CHAPTER XX

QUO VADIS?

STEP by step the national development has led the Japanese nation to a point where it is quite justifiable for them to look with pride upon the progress their practical patriotism has enabled them to accomplish. Not only has Japan become one of the eight great Powers of the world, but she has successfully demonstrated that she is the one great Power which dominates Eastern Asia. The wonderful force lying in Japan's hands is not even yet properly realized, and there are unknown potentialities of which the other nations have not even a suspicion. But before long this nation, which is able to think out problems as thoroughly as any Oriental, and act upon the result of the thought as energetically as any Western race, will receive its full recognition in every branch of national life. The force which is possessed by a people, efficient in every department of national life and possessing the unique impulse of a sentient practical patriotism and an undivided public opinion, is so unknown, so enormous as to defy its measurement by any standards possessed by the Western world. A new national standard has been evolved, and the necessity of national efficiency has received enormous momentum. The recognition of Japan's right to a high place among the nations of the world has also brought about a complete refutation of the formerly universal opinion as to the national superiority of those peoples living in the artificial geographical division called Europe.

Japan's emergency has changed this, and in the future there is no more Asia, no more Europe, no hard-and-fast colour and race distinctions. The blood spilt on the glacis of the Port Arthur forts has for ever wiped out the colourline in national achievement. The world has become again a community of nations, not a series of unequal, water-tight compartments. The race is now to the fittest, and who will deny that the victors of Port Arthur do not stand a chance of being placed in the front of the world's nations? If efficiency and fitness are to be the tests of national greatness Japan will stand first, not last.

"Civilization," says Mr. Shimada, the well-known Japanese politician, “is not a thing exclusively possessed by any one race of human beings; it is a possession common to all. Any race or tribe that will exert itself to the utmost to promote its own prosperity ought to have a right to enjoy freely the natural effects of its exertions; on no account should it be interfered with by others, so long as its doings do not injuriously affect their interests. It is to be greatly regretted that such a simple and plain reason is frequently overlooked by the white or Caucasian race, who, accustomed as it is, for ages past, to enjoy all the advantages of a superior race, has at last begun to regard itself as the only civilized race of the world. The peoples belonging to this race consider themselves seriously wronged whenever they see others trying to gain ground as a strong and wealthy nation. They do not hesitate to declare that the world is expressly destined for their exclusive possession, and that the others have no right whatever to do with the world and its civilization. But it goes without saying that such presumptuous views are nothing short of a scandal to humanity and human rights. No nation or individual can be excluded from the right of enjoying the fruit of his own labour. This ought to hold good in all places and at all times. And, moreover, a majority of the white men profess that they are

followers of Christ, that is to say, that they believe in the only true God as their heavenly Father, and in the universal brotherhood of man. Is not, then, their belief incompatible with the distinction they so sharply make between them and the other races of man?”

It is no exaggeration to say, as did the New York Sun, after the fall of Port Arthur, that "the peace of a hemisphere is in the hands of the Japanese." What are the intentions, the aspirations of this new power which is permanent in Asia, and which will soon possess an important voice in the settlement of all international questions? This is the question which is agitating the chancellories of the other seven great Powers of the world. Although these Powers now admit that there is this first-class nation arisen in their midst, they are full of suspicion and full of fear as to what may happen as a result of Japan's coming to her full strength. They watch her very much as Jason watched the sprouting of the warriors from the dragon's teeth, and fear the worst, knowing so little of this new force that they have been instrumental in bringing into being. The very fact that it is by her military and naval exploits that Japan has forced recognition from the world, makes the nations fear that they have to do with a warlike and aggressive Power, instead of realizing the right interpretation of her position. The readiness of the acceptance of this belief is a sad commentary upon the sentiments and beliefs of the nations of the world, as is also the fact that it was necessary for Japan to win battles before she was at all recognized as a serious Power. By the present war Japan, whether she obtains the full terms of peace she may demand or not, has convinced even the most reluctant to admit her great qualities as a belligerent. Now is the time to ask the question, what are the aspirations of the new Power, and have we to look for peace or for war from the victorious Japanese, who hold in their hands the domination of the Far East? This is the question that all those nations who