Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/84

 until a later period that the Emperor of Germany entertained profound apprehensions about an irruption of Oriental hordes into the Occident, and held it a sacred duty to prevent Japan from gaining a position which might enable her to construct an immense military machine out of the countless millions of the Chinese nation. When His Majesty's mood came to be understood, much of the resentment provoked by his unfriendliness in the Manchurian affair was softened by the mirth his chimera excited.

One of the results of this war was to suggest to the Japanese a new estimate of the attributes that win respect for a nation in the eyes of Europe and America. They saw that their country's peaceful progress and her successful efforts to qualify for equal intercourse with Western States had attracted little consideration compared with the victories of her arms. Probably that discovery had much to do with a large scheme of military and naval expansion that they undertook in the sequel of the war, raising the army to a fighting strength of over half a million men and more than doubling the navy.

But the main reason for this great development of belligerent force was the action of Russia, Germany, and France in robbing Japan of the fruits of her victory, and expelling her from the position she had won in Manchuria by force of arms. The bitterness of that deprivation could not fail to be accentuated by a doubt