Page:The empire and the century.djvu/798

 concluded the Anglo-Japanese Agreement For if the existence of that agreement failed to restrain the ambitions of Russia within limits which she might have peacefully compassed, is it conceivable that they would have been more effectually restrained by the protests of Japan, had she continued to stand absolutely alone and unsupported? Is it not obvious, on the contrary, that Russia would have forced matters even more relentlessly to an issue? In that case Japan would either have been driven to recognise the paramount power of Russia in the Far East, or, as from what we know of the Japanese spirit is far more probable, she would have accepted the challenge, with the heavy odds of a possible and even probable revival of the old coalition of 1895 against her. For, failing such a public pledge as the Anglo-Japanese Agreement contained that Great Britain would keep the ring, France would hardly have been able to resist the solicitations of her ally, and Germany would assuredly not have missed the opportunity of placing her 'mailed fist' at the service of her Eastern neighbour in return for future favours. The Anglo-Japanese Agreement, by restoring even in this negative shape the balance of power in Asia, localized the war, and enabled Japan to concentrate all her energies upon its prosecution without fear of interference from other quarters, with the result that she has carried it to a successful conclusion, and that the aggressive tendencies of Russia in the Far East have received a severe check.

Long before the war itself had come to an end, both British and Japanese statesmen were naturally compelled to consider the question of the renewal of an alliance which had rendered such good service, not only to the interests of both the contracting parties, but to the peace of the whole world. The Russian armies had been repeatedly defeated, the Russian fleets annihilated;