for
greatly alarming Parliament which saw in this procedure a new attempt
to undermine its power and control the country by extra-legal means.
Furthermore, publication in the Metropolitan press of what the Japanese
were doing behind the scenes created a fear that extraordinary intrigues
were being indulged in with the object of securing by means of secret
diplomacy certain guarantees of a personal nature. Apart from being
associated with the semi-official negotiations of the Entente Powers in
Peking, Japan was carrying on a second set of negotiations partly by
means of a confidential agent named Kameio Nishihara dispatched from
Tokio specially for that purpose by Count Terauchi, the Japanese
Premier, a procedure which led to the circulation of highly sensational
stories regarding China's future commitments. When the Premier, General
Tuan Chi-jui, had made his statement to Parliament on the 10th March,
regarding the necessity of an immediate rupture with Germany, he had
implied that China had already received assurances from the Allies that
there would be a postponement of the Boxer Indemnities for a term of
years, an immediate increase in the Customs Tariff, and a modification
of the Peace Protocol of 1901 regarding the presence of Chinese troops
near Tientsin. Suddenly all these points were declared to be in doubt.
Round the question of the length of time the Indemnities might be
postponed, and the actual amount of the increase in the Customs Tariff,
there appeared to be an inexplicable muddle largely owing to the
intervention of so many agents and to the fact that the exchange of
views had been almost entirely verbal, unofficial, and secret. It would
be wearisome to analyse a dispute which belongs to the peculiar
atmosphere of Peking diplomacy; but the vast difficulties of making even
a simple decision in China were glaringly illustrated by this matter.
With a large section of the Metropolitan press daily insisting that the
future of democracy in China would be again imperilled should the
Military Party have its own way, small wonder if the question of a
formal declaration of war on Germany (and Austria) now assumed an
entirely different complexion.

On the 1st May, in spite of all these trials and tribulations, being
pressed by the Premier to do so, the Cabinet unanimously decided that a
declaration of war was imperative; and on the 7th May, after an
agreement with the President had been reached, Parliament received