Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/157

 doubtful whether any further development of European or American influence or industrial enterprise would have been possible. There is also little doubt that in such circumstances the Manchu dynasty would never have fallen as it did in 1912, but would have been converted very peacefully into a constitutional monarchy. Humiliation in foreign affairs was the last straw to break the camel's back; and in this humiliation Japan played the largest part. The short-sightedness of Japanese policy, therefore, has been the ally of republicanism in the Far East; the sponsor of Western influence; and the enemy of the peace and dignity of the Japanese Imperial House, which is to-day swaying ominously under the high winds of democratic revolt, and may yet encounter a terrible end.

The treaty which Japan signed with China December, 1905, actually consisted of the two following clauses only; that it should have been so brief shows the spirit in which Japan negotiated. The clauses read:—

The Imperial Chinese Government consent to all the transfers and assignments made by Russia to