ic harbours which menace her sea-communications, so did it now
become equally true of Japan that her dominant policy became not an
Eastern Monroe doctrine, as shallow men have supposed, but simply the
Doctrine of Maximum Pressure. To press with all her strength on China
was henceforth considered vital by every Japanese; and it is in this
spirit that every diplomatic pattern has been woven since the die was
cast in 1905. Until this signal fact has been grasped no useful analysis
can be made of the evolution of present conditions. Standing behind
this policy, and constantly reinforcing it, are the serried ranks of
the new democracy which education and the great increase in material
prosperity have been so rapidly creating. The soaring ambition which
springs from the sea lends to the attacks developed by such a people the
aspect of piracies; and it is but natural. In such circumstances that
for Chinese Japan should not only have the aspect of a sea-monster but
that their country should appear as hapless Andromeda bound to a rock,
always awaiting a Perseus who never comes....

The Revolution of 1911 had been entirely unexpected in Japan. Whilst
large outbreaks had been certainly counted on since the Chinese
Revolutionary party had for years used Japan as an asylum and a base of
operations, never had it been anticipated that the fall of an ancient
Dynasty could be so easily encompassed. Consequently, the abdication of
the Manchus as the result of intrigues rather than of warfare was looked
upon as little short of a catastrophe because it hopelessly complicated
the outlook, broke the pattern which had been so carefully woven for so
many years, and interjected harsh elements which could not be assigned
an orderly place. Not only was a well-articulated State-system suddenly
consigned to the flames, but the ruin threatened to be so general that
the balance of power throughout the Far East would be twisted out of
shape. Japanese statesmen had desired a weak China, a China which would
ultimately turn to them for assistance because they were a kindred race,
but not a China that looked to the French Revolution for its
inspiration. To a people as slow to adjust themselves to violent
surprises as are the Japanese, there was an air of desperation about the
whole business which greatly alarmed them, and made them determined at
the earliest possible moment to throw every ounce of their weight in the
direction which would best serve them b