sarism as an international
military factor, Japan had been almost willing to resign herself to a
subordinate role in the Far East. Having eaten bitter bread as the
result of her premature attempt in 1895 (after the Korean war) to become
a continental power--an attempt which had resulted in the forced
retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula--she had been placed on her good
behaviour, an attitude which was admirably reflected in 1900 when her
Peking Expeditionary Force proved itself so well-behaved and so gallant
as to arouse the world's admiration. But the war with Russia and the
collapse of the Tsar's Manchurian adventure not only drew her back into
territory that she never hoped to see again, but placed her in
possession of a ready-made railway system which carried her almost up to
the Sungari river and surrendered to her military control vast
grasslands stretching to the Khingan mountains. This Westernly march so
greatly enlarged the Japanese political horizon, and so entirely changed
the Japanese viewpoint, that the statesmen of Tokio in their excitement
threw off their ancient spectacles and found to their astonishment that
their eyes were every whit as good as European eyes. Now seeing the
world as others had long seen it, they understood that just as with the
individuals so with nations the struggle for existence can most easily
be conducted by adopting that war-principle of Clausewitz--the restless
offensive, and not by writing meaningless dispatches. Prior to the
Russian war they had written to Russia a magnificent series of documents
in which they had pleaded with sincerity for an equitable
settlement,--only to find that all was in vain. Forced to battle, they
had found in combat not only success but a new principle.

The discovery necessitated a new policy. During the eighties, and in a
lesser degree in the nineties, Japan had apart from everything else been
content to act in a modest and retiring way, because she wished at all
costs to avoid testing too severely her immature strength. But owing to
the successive collapses of her rivals, she now found herself not only
forced to attack as the safest course of action, but driven to the view
that the Power that exerts the maximum pressure constantly and
unremittedly is inevitably the most successful. This conclusion had
great importance. For just as the first article of faith for England in
Asia has been the doctrine that no Power can be permitted to seize
strateg