Page:The empire and the century.djvu/802

 and develop the forces which make for the peaceful consolidation of our influence and the expansion of our trade, alike in Mesopotamia and Southern Persia, in the Valley of the Menam and in the busy markets of China. Above all in China. For it is in China that we must chiefly look to reap the economic advantages of the new position created by the Russo-Japanese war and the Anglo-Japanese alliance. But to reap them effectively we shall have to display greater individual energy and more sustained diplomatic activity than our people have shown of late years in China. Moreover, we must remember that in this field our allies will be our rivals, and very formidable rivals, unless we can extend to the domain of commerce and industry the same mutually beneficial cooperation which is now assured in the domain of politics. Neither in China nor in Persia, nor anywhere else in Asia, do we need or seek territorial aggrandisement, but in both the Nearer and the Further East we must look to it that the doors we have opened shall not be closed against us, that the claims we have pegged out shall not be 'jumped' by others; and that not only the treaty rights of this country, but the interests created by the enterprise and industry of our fellow-countrymen shall not be injured or curtailed. Videant Consules ne quid detrimenti res publica capiat.

Our Asiatic Empire firmly planted in India has struck deep and far-spreading roots, and thrown up vigorous off-shoots which cannot be allowed to perish and decay without grave and even fatal damage to its vitality.