ANOTHER VIEW OF JAPAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

ANOTHER VIEW OF JAPAN.

Mr F. A. McKenzie's latest book on Japan, as it appeared to him since the war, will come as a shock to the partisans of the Anglo-Japanese' alliance (says the London Daily Mail). We have taken it ter granted that the support of Japan is invaluable to us m the East. We have congratulated ourselves, perhaps too easily, on th c achievement of our statesmen. 4nd.it ig w<3ll to loo j. the other, side of the shield, which Mr Mcitenzie turns to us. dim and --burnished. JNor may the book be passed over iit silence because it contains unpalatable statements. Mr McKenzie speaks witli authority and not as the scribes. He is a trained observer who cannot be suspected of indulging his own prejudices. He has spent some years m the East. He has hvea upon terms of sympathetic friendship with the Japanese. And he bas come to the conclusion tliat it would b e reckless to establish our hopes ifor the future upon the basis of our favorite al-

THE OPEN DOOR— FOR JAPAN. . He applauds the many virtues of Japan m no grudging spirit. He bears eloquent testimony, to her,courage, her energy and' her permtence. .He does not forget the valor, the ,| discipline, and the. self-sacri-fice which brought the war with Russia to a successful termination. But he recognises the boundless ambition bf the Japanese, their inherited dislike of foreigners, and. their not too scrupulous observance of their word. Briefly, he sug. gests that, .their triumph m the field' his neither mitigated their Eastern cunning nor brouglnVthem nearer to an unde£ standing of Western diplomacy. i % J j^ n i i? P led^ d to anything, she is pledsred to tlie policy o£ thi Open Door! ti T tl. ma t beiieve . her word » she. has tought, m. Ko-ea and Manchuria for. the H™ l nghts of all nations to buy and sell, How.has she redeemed her pledge? How has she^kept her word? If we may beJieye Mr McKenzie, she is following everywhere; a policy of seclusion. . The dependence of Korea, which she guaranteed, oelongs to the past. oZ^^J^ 8^ 6 '" W Mr McKenzie, tne trade, of Korea was open to every man. To-day the independent administrator of the Customs has gone his place being taken by a Japanese; concessions and contracts have been showered upon Japanese speculators by Japanese officials; • and, foreign employes have been reduced m number to: make ro om for Japanese agente. The Japanese have tho nower, and_the great foreign nations are mdifferebt-.^ What has happened^ in Korea has happened m. Manchuria, and will happen at all ports, m all places, controlled by Japan. -

-^ PROPHECY FULFILLED. , lhat which has come to pass was prophesied twelve years ago by Lafcadio Hearn, who knew more of Japan than any other man of his race. A passage m one.of his letters ominously supports Mr McKenzie. fit strikes me," wrote Hearn m 1895, "that m another twenty yeans, or perhaps thirty, after a brief artificial expansion, all the ports will shrink: The foreign commerce will be all reduced to agencies. A system of small persecutions wiU be inaugurated and maintained! to drive away all the foreigners who can be (kiven away; After the war there will be a strong anti-foreign reaction—outrages—police repressions— temporary Btillneas 'and peace: then a new crusade." This prophecy, with the aid of the English alliance, may be fulfilled m a yet briefer time!! Uian Lafcadio Hearn contemplated. .■:■; ■'. -.i' .

i j*_ l *'" s w€r » aB.- many excuses could be found for Japan. She is poor, and her population is increasing. She is confronted by. a situation absolutely fresh to the experience of the East. She is called upon to arm. herself with the costly arms of modern . warfare. Have we a right, then, to blame her if she take efery advantage that is m her power? Even if she forget a pledge-too nastily'given shall we charge her too gravely with; a breach of faith? These questions might perhaps receive a sympathetic answer if Japan had done no more than slam an open jdoor. But Mr McKenzie brings a far heavier accusation against her. She is atju tacking, he tells us, not merely the markets, but the Empire of the East ; she aspires to be the leader of a revived Asia. And if thisrbe so, Mr McKenzie errs on tlie side 'of moderationv when he declares that >'tli_.. methods of expansion adopted by Japan must, if not modified, bring disturbance to the world's peace." ANTI-BRITISH-INFLUENCE TN V INDIA.

W4iat. Japan has done m Korea is cruel enough. But it is familiar to all, and haa been condoned by the silence of Europe. What she id dbing m India, if we accept Mr McKenjzie's account, is tfar , woree, and should at bnce claim ■ the attention oi our 'Government. Mr McKenzie's charge against tlie Japanese' is so serious that I quote bis own words : "Various Japanese publicists," says he, "visited India; Some 'were lecturing "upon the accomplishments of New Japan j others met Indian leaders m conference and asked them why other Asiatic people could not emulate Japan's example. . . '. The speeches of 'some of these Japanese visitors were frankly ; anti-British: They urged on the Hindus, publicly and privately, to re-create their nationality and to obtain their independence. Thus Mr Harada Tasuku, a well-known religious leader, wrote lo a number of educated Indians with whom he had come m contact during his Indian visit: "We cannot but deeply sympatluse with you, said he, In the trying political. situation m which you are now placed. It is my constant hope that th*> day will come when India will .occupy a prominent place m the East u-n world as an independent and self-govern-ing country,' " If suck things are permitted by the Japanese Government, our alliance is of little worth to us, and we cannot but hope that such acts of treachery are sec ret and isolated. * In any case, they point to a grave peril. It is almost impossible for the East and West to meet on equal terms. Tliey speak different languages. They respect different codes of nbnor. And to-day the peril is graver than ever it has been.; A new Japan is taking tho place ol the old, and little as we know of the old, of the. new we know still I'lmb."

Nor is Japan the darkest mystery of the East. Tlie future lies m tne hands of China inscrutable and austere. That she will be drilled into an. instrument of Japan, whose respect- she does not return, is incredible. Will she, with v the help of such patriots at Yuan, the! Viceroy, win back her ancient eminence? The wealth is hers; the men are hers; can she command 1 the energy? If she can, _ the future of Japan will be less propitious than it seem s to-day. Meanwhile, m the midst of our exultation, let us remember the warning of Sir Henry Maine, who, as Mr McKenzie reminds us, "held* that any European Power which allied itself m arms with the yellow races against another European nation would play triator to the welfare of the whole human race."