Read Ebook: Japan and the Pacific and a Japanese View of the Eastern Question by Inagaki Manjiro

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England now holds complete sway both commercially and navally in the Pacific. Lord Salisbury's policy is worthy of all praise, together with Mr. Gladstone's original scheme. If the scheme had never been originated there would not have been so firm an Anglo-Chinese alliance as there now is.

England's power at the present time is three times as great as that of Russia in the Pacific; in fact Russia has always been overweighted in that respect. Therefore it is selfevident she could never be able to withstand the combined Anglo-Chinese fleets.

It seems to me that the only feasible plan for a Russian attack on Anglo-Chinese alliance would be from Mongolia and Manchooria by means of an alliance with the Mongolian Tartars. This would be preferable to coping with England face to face in the Pacific.

Chinese history plainly tells us that the Chinese could not withstand an attack of the brave Mongol Tartars from the north, and that they have proved a constant source of dread to them.

The Great Wall which stretches across the whole northern limit of the Chinese Empire from the sea to the farthest western corner of the Province of Kansal, was built only for the defence of China against the northern "daring" Tartars.

Ghenghis Khan , the rival of Attila, in the extent of his kingdom, who overran the greater part of China and subdued nearly the whole of N. Asia, who carried his arms into Persia and Delhi, drove the Indians on to the Ganges, and also destroyed Astrakhan and the power of the Ottoman, was a Mongolian Tartar.

In the thirteenth century Kokpitsuretsu invaded China from Mongolia and formed the Gen dynasty which ruled over the whole eastern part of Asia except Japan . The founder of the present Chinese dynasty was a Manchoorian. Both, however, were of Mongolian extraction, and well kept up the fame of the Tartars for boldness and general daring. Since their times the Tartars have fully maintained their title of being the most warlike tribe in Asia.

Therefore if Russia were allied with the Mongol Tartars she would be able at least to reach the Yellow Sea, even if she were not able to do China serious harm.

Russia, however, has worked in quite a different way, and is strengthening the defences at Vladivostock both in military and naval forces, and is acting towards the Corea in a gradually-increasing aggressive spirit, which had succeeded in Europe and Central Asia previously for more than one hundred and fifty years.

Lord Derby well described the Russian tactics in the following speech:--"It has never been preceded by storm, but by sap and mine. The first process has been invariably that of fomenting discontent and dissatisfaction amongst the subjects of subordinate states, then proffering mediation, then offering assistance to the weaker party, then declaring the independence of that party, then placing that independence under the protection of Russia, and finally, from protection proceeding to the incorporation, one by one, of those states into the gigantic body of the Russian Empire."

But Russia should remember that a Russian annexation of Corea--"the Turkey" in Asia--would necessitate an alliance of England, China, and Japan, who all possess common interests in the Pacific and Yellow Sea; also that it might cause a second Crimean war in the Pacific instead of on the Black Sea.

Japan was comparatively unknown until Commodore Perry, of the United States, introduced her to European society in 1854. Since that date a "wonderful metamorphosis" has taken place in every branch of civilization.

The total area of Japan is about 148,742 square miles, or nearly a quarter greater than that of the United Kingdom, while the population is about 38,000,000. The climate is very healthy, while the natural resources are many.

Japanese patriotism is very keen, and their love of country stands before everything; they are brave, honest, and open-minded. The following facts bear out the above statement: In 1281 the "Armada of Mongol Tartars" reached the Japanese shores, only to be easily repulsed in Kiushiu by the Japanese fleet. Hideyoshi in the sixteenth century conquered the Corea, and General Saigo defeated and subjugated eighteen of the resident chiefs with all their followers in Formosa .

One of the great traits in the Japanese character is that they never hesitate to adopt new systems and laws if they consider them beneficial for their country. Feudalism was abolished in 1871 without bloodshed. In 1879 city and prefectural assemblies were created, based on the principle of the election. The new Constitution was promulgated in 1889, and new Houses of Peers and Commons will be opened this year .

Railways are rapidly growing, over 1,000 miles already having been laid, and soon the whole country will be opened out by the "iron horse." All the principal towns are connected by telegraph with one another and with Europe. The postal system is carried out on English lines, while the police force is strong and very efficient. The standing army consists of about forty-three thousand men, which, however, could be quickly increased to two hundred thousand in case of war, all trained and equipped under the European system. The navy consists of thirty-two ships, including several protected cruisers, and in this or next year it will be reinforced by three more ironclads and five or six gunboats. The Japanese navy is organized chiefly upon the pattern of the English navy.

The geographical situation and condition of Japan are very favourable to her future prosperity, both commercially and from a manufacturing point of view. Look at a map of the world--the country lies between two of the largest commercial nations, viz., the United States and China, the former being England's great commercial rival of the present day, while the latter offers a large field for trade and commerce.

If, however, the Panama scheme failed from one cause or another there would be another sea route.

In 1887 the American Senate sanctioned the creation of a company for the construction of a maritime canal across Nicaragua, and the actual work was begun in October, 1889.

The President of the country, which has a surplus of 57,000,000 dollars, alluding to the commencement of the Nicaragua Canal said in his message to the Senate:--

"This Government is ready to promote every proper requirement for the adjustment of all questions presenting obstacles to its completion." It is therefore pretty sure, sooner or later, to be completed, and would take the place of the Panama Canal and give the same advantages with regard to the Pacific and Japan.

"In the school of Carl Ritter," said Professor Seeley, "much has been said of three stages of civilization determined by geographical conditions--the potamic, which clings to rivers; the thalassic, which grows up around inland seas; and lastly, the oceanic." He also traced the movements of the centre of commerce and intelligence in Europe, and at last found out why England had attained her present greatness.

Without doubt, since the discovery of a new world the whole world has become the oceanic.

But the discoveries of Watt and Stephenson, seem to me to have added another stage to general civilization, viz., the railway; and it seems also to me that we might call the present era "the railway-oceanic."

The Canadian Pacific Railway scheme was completed in 1887. It has a total length of at least 3,000 miles, starting from Quebec and finishing at Vancouver's Island on the Pacific. Its marvellous success will also considerably change the general tenor of the Pacific even more than the Panama or Nicaragua scheme will do. An express train can cross in five days, while the voyage from Vancouver to Yokohama in Japan, would only occupy twelve days steaming at the rate of fourteen or fifteen knots an hour. From England the whole journey to Shanghai and Hong Kong by this route would take only thirty-four or thirty-five days, and Australia now has direct communication with the mother country through a sister colony.

Last of all, Japan would have much better communication with the European markets generally than is possible at the present time, if the English proposed mail steamers should run, and it is said that the Canadian Pacific route would bring Japan within twenty-six or twenty-seven days' reach of England.

On the other hand, if the Russian Siberian Railway scheme should be carried out to the Pacific at Vladivostock, it would open a very large field of trade and commerce with inland Siberia to Japan. It would be still more so if the Chinese railways were extended so as to open the entire empire.

Japan has not only a splendid future before her with regard to commercial greatness, but has every chance of rising to the head of manufacturing nations. In the latter respect she has advantages over Vancouver's Island and New South Wales, her rivals on the Pacific. She is known to possess valuable mineral resources, having good coal mines at Kiushiu and Hokkukaido. The climate of Japan varies in different localities, but on the whole is exceedingly healthy. Consisting as the country does of numerous islands she has many good harbours and trading ports. Wages are low though they might rise if a corresponding increase of labour is required. The credit system is fairly well carried out and is growing day by day. There are about four hundred banks, including the Bank of Japan; and the medium of exchange has a regular standard. The principal exports are silk, tea, coal, and rice. Japan is not the producer of raw goods for manufacturing purposes, but simply works them up. Her area is not in comparison with the commercial greatness which she will attain in the future. She may import raw goods from America, Australia, and the Asiatic countries, in the same way that England does. Her position enables her also to obtain wool from Australia and California, also cotton from China, Manchooria, India, and Queensland. All these imports are worked up into different manufacturing goods. She has an advantage here over England, for she has not so far to send her manufactured goods, and does not need, like England, to send them all round the world.

Thus we see Japan has ample scope from a commercial point of view, and has plenty of friendly countries close at home for the production of her raw material, and has great advantages in sea routes to America and Australia.

The Japanese are born sailors, being islanders.

There are several large steamship companies whose ships are continually plying along her own shores and also to the mainland of China, and one company contemplates shortly opening communication with North and South America. It has often puzzled me why Japan does not hold closer relations with Australia, especially as Australia is becoming one of her most important neighbours in commerce. I can certainly predict that if this suggestion comes to pass, that together they will in the future hold the key of the Pacific trade.

Australia and her near colonies have already begun to play an important part in the affairs of the Pacific; and why should she not, considering their natural wealth and general progress? European Powers have begun to take great interest, both commercially and diplomatically, in these colonies. England, France, Spain, and Holland long ago saw the advantage of having secured coaling stations in the Pacific, and England and France have always taken great care in selecting posts in the immediate vicinity of the sea route between America and Australia; and since the working of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Panama Canal, they have begun to annex those islands which lie near the route from Panama to the Australian colonies, and from the latter to Vancouver. The French occupation of Tahiti and the Rapa in 1880 was with the distinct object of controlling the sea route from Panama to Sydney, Brisbane, and Auckland. England also began to fortify Jamaica in 1887, and she is now casting her eyes on Raratonga. The dispute regarding the New Hebrides and the Samoan Conference were simply for the protection of the Vancouvan-Australian-San-Franciscan sea-ways. England has lately annexed the Ellice Islands and undoubtedly will shortly occupy the Gilbert and Charlotte Islands.

Germany also has been considering the Asiatic-Australian routes, foreseeing that the whole Pacific question rests on that basis. In 1884 she annexed New Guinea, and the Bismarckian policy proved a severe blow to the British power in the North and West Pacific. There are three great sea routes from New South Wales to Hong Kong and other parts of the North Pacific; one travels eastward of the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia and the other two westward of the above-mentioned islands .

The German occupation of New Guinea actually resulted in her having the entire control of these three important sea routes. The English possession of the Treasury Islands, the dep?t made there, and of the Louisiade Archipelago is certainly not strong enough to protect these routes, though they are very important for the defence of the Australian colonies. Even the trade route from Vancouver's Island to Brisbane has to a certain extent been endangered. It would be policy on England's part to annex the Solomon Islands if she means to regain the prestige which she has lost owing to the Germanic policy of annexation in the Pacific.

In order to firmly establish her power in this quarter, Germany, in 1885, raised a quarrel with Spain concerning the sovereignty of the Caroline and Pelew Islands, but this quarrel was composed by the mediation of the Pope.

Frederick the Great "preferred regiments, as a ship cost as much as a regiment." Bismarck preferred "the Greater Germany," and his policy was "the German trade with the German flag" . This policy proved very successful, not only in the West Pacific, but also in the North Pacific and the eastern coast of Africa. Germany now is the chief colonizing rival of England.

In 1883 Mr. Chester annexed all the parts of New Guinea with the adjacent islands lying between 141 deg. and 155 deg. of E. long. Lord Derby; however, annulled this annexation, regarding it as an unfriendly act, and he also assured the Colonial Government that "Her Majesty's Government are confident that no foreign power contemplates interference in New Guinea." This occurred in May, 1884. But this prognostication did not prove true, for in November of the same year Germany occupied New Guinea.

This caused much public indignation in the English colonies against the Home Government, and the public of England recognized that the reasons and complaints of the Australian Colonies were right and just.

The movement of Imperial Federation sprang up in England, the chief object of which was "a closer association between the Colonies and Great Britain and Ireland for common national purposes such as colonial and foreign policy, defence and trade." The result of this was the Colonial Conference in 1887; and Lord Salisbury, offering a hearty welcome to the Colonial delegates, said: "I do not recommend you to indulge in schemes of Constitution making;" but also said: "It will be the parent of a long progeniture, and distant councils of the empire may, in some far-off time, look back to the meeting in this room as the root from which their greatness and beneficence sprang."

The following subjects were submitted for discussion: The local defence of ports other than Imperial coaling stations; the naval defence of the Australian Colonies; measures of precaution in relation to the defences of colonial ports; various questions in connection with the military aspects of telegraph cables, their necessity for purpose of war, and their protection; questions relating to the employment and training of local or native troops to serve as garrisons of works of defence; and, lastly , the promotion of commercial and social relations by the development of our postal and telegraphic communication.

One more question remains to be ventilated, viz., whether England is able to secure absolute power in the North Pacific with the naval and military forces she has at her command there, using Hong Kong as the centre of war preparations.

I answer in the negative. It could be maintained only by an occupier of the Island of Formosa, the "Malta" of the North Pacific, which lies between the North China Sea and the South China Sea. Its area is estimated at 14,978 square miles. It has a healthy climate, tempered by the influence of the sea and its mountains. Coal is to be found in considerable quantities, although not of the best quality. Its natural products are plentiful, such as sugar, tea, and rice. It possesses several good harbours, one of which, Tam-sui, or Howei, is surrounded by hills upwards of 2,000 feet high, and has a depth of 3 1/2 fathoms with a bar of 7 1/2 feet.

From this island, with a good navy, any power almost might be exerted over the North and South China Seas, and over the Pacific highways from Hong Kong to Australia, Panama, Nicaragua, San Francisco, Vancouver, Japan, Shanghai. All these are in fairly close proximity to Formosa, and the Shanghai route to Hong Kong actually runs between the island and the China mainland.

There remain still two or three more facts which must not be neglected in order to obtain a fair view of this important question.

It is a fine post for any offensive attack upon China, and also a stronghold for an attack upon the British power in the Pacific. If fortified and defended by a navy from any other power, Formosa would prove a great rival to Hong Kong, which would lose at least half of its importance, commercially and strategically, and which has already been somewhat weakened by the French occupation of Cochin China, in 1882.

If China herself occupied Formosa thoroughly, and allied with Japan who occupies the Loo Choo Islands, they would be impregnable in the sea above 20? of N. lat.

Again, if the occupier of the Loo Choo Islands also occupied Formosa on a military basis, she again would have nearly absolute control of the North Pacific. England would be supreme if she held both Hong Kong and Formosa; Germany if the holder would not only complete the Bismarckian policy in New Guinea, but would start a new Germanic policy in the North Pacific.

Thus we see that Japan, China, England, and Germany, might become important actors in the China Sea, while Russia and China would be actors behind the scenes in Manchooria and Mongolia.

England, on the other hand, has added to her fame by establishing the following naval and coaling stations along the great highways of trade:--

Heligoland in the North Sea, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Perim, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong and Labuan; the Accession Islands, St. Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope, in Africa; the Bermuda Islands, Halifax, the West Indies, especially Jamaica, and the Falkland Islands in America, besides many important islands in the South and West Pacific.

With such great rivals, we can surely predict that at some future time Russia will work her way into Manchooria and Mongolia to the Yellow Sea and attack the North Pacific. "Everything is obtained by pains," said Peter the Great, in 1722; "even India was not easily found after the long journey round the Cape of Good Hope." To this Soimonf, who afterwards devoted himself for seventeen years to the exploration of Siberia, and was its governor, said that "Russia had a much nearer road to India, and explained the water system of Siberia, how easily and with how little land carriage goods could be sent from Russia to the Pacific and then by ships to India." Peter replied, "It is a long distance and of no use yet awhile." But in the present days of telegraphy and railroads it is not a great distance at all.

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