BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2594, 16 October 1915, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Japanese diplomacy from behind THE SCENES. Tho practical advantage to Great Britain of her Allianco with Japan was oarly mndo evident in the war, as every New Zealander well knows, and wo have all heard, if with far less detail than we might havo desired," of what invaluable scrvice to Russia, and therefor© indirectly to all the Allies of the Entente, is the regular supply of Japanese manufactured munitions. "What, changos in the Pacific may result) after tho present war, from Japan's Alliance with Great Britain and her friendly entente with Russia, it is premature, and would be profitless to even surmise. But the fact that an Anglo-Japanese Allianco exists is oho upon which every Englishman, musti surely congratulate himself. 'A special interest, therefore, must attach to the story of that Alliance, and .of certain curious operations in Japanese diplomacy which are recounted in a work of some considerable historical importance which has recently teen published by Mr. Eveleigh Nash,, who teems to specialise in books dealing'with tho more intimato side of Court life and la hauto politique. . v • ■

: The title of the work is ' The Secret 'Memoirs of Count Tadasa .Hayashi,", edited by Mri A. M. Pooley, late Exhibitioner of - Clare College, Cambridge. Count Hayashi, who died a couple of years ago, was, in his day, a leading Japanese statesman and .'diplomatist, one who, for many years, was specially employed in conducting difficult and delicate negotiations between his country and various Western Powers. Born in 1850, he was educated in Yokohama by an American missionary, acquiring at an early age an excellent ' knowledge of English. In 1866 he was chosen as one of fourteen Japanese youths who, upon the recommendation of the then British •Minister at Tokyo, Sir •Harry Parkes, were sent, at the cost of the Japanese Government, to study Western politics and institutions in London. Upon his return to Japan, young Hayashi took part in tho civil war between the Shogunates • and the Tokugawa party, was captured, thrown into prison, and' quite expected to be exeouted. . The victorious Imperialists, however, treated their vanquished foes' with leniency, and once the Emperor was. safely installed on the throne, young Hayashi was liberated, his knowledge of English eventually, securing for him the position, of interpreter to the mission sent' abroad to announco the establishment of the new, regime. Later, on, he became a civil servant, rising to the rank of Provincial Governor, and finally, in 1891, becoming a personage of much greater importance, as .Vice-Min-ister or Foreign Affairs.

In this capacity he had not a little to • do with the revision of the Japanese treaties with foreign countries in tho nineties of the last century. . He proved, himself,-.so it is: clear from, the v interesting biographical sketch , with which Mr. Pooley prefaces the "Memoirs,"-.a - subtly olever- and fikil- ; ful diplomatist, especially in the nego-. -tiations which followed- the Chinese- , Japanese War. of 1894, and was shrewd .jenoii'gh to perpeiyo. the.value .of officially. :^inspiring ,and "controlling the, vernacular ■ ' .press. ■ By his intimate -relations with tho "Jiji.'Shimpo," a loading 'Tokio newspaper, and .other journals,- "he laid, 1 . , says Mr. Pooley," the foundations of -that* extraordinary systom of press : control which, has since been one of the features- of , the Japanese bureaucracy. Appointed Ambassador at Peking, he ■was soon' transferred to St. Petersburg, and in; 1900 became Japanese Ambassador to .Great;. Britain, remaining in ' England' until 1906,' when he was recalled to'Tokio to'fill'the post of Minister of : Foreign, Alfairs.

•In .this position hei had the handling of the difficult situation in Manchuria, after the Russo-Japanese War, and also of the American immigration question, which even then .was beginning to constitute a source of anxioty both at Tokio and Washington. The end of Hayashi's political and official career rams in 1912, when, on the fall of tho Saionji Ministry, he retired into private life. A poor man, despite many official opportunities to amass wealth, ho lived simply, on his small pension, until his death in the • following year. Such is a brief outline of the life of the man whoso "Secret Memoirs" aro now made public—the major portion for tho first time. The "Memoirs" now' published were written between the years 1002-1908. Some parts of them wero published in tho "Jiji Slcimpo" newspaper of Tokio, in a series of articles bearing the general 'title, "A History of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance." Tho Japanese Government, however, soon stopped the publication of tho articles, tho remainder of tho manuscript being handed to Mr. Pooloy by a Japanese who had received it from Count Hayashi, _ with a letter authorising its publication on some more suitable occasion.

,' To describe and discuss in detail the | Memoirs" would 'make too severe an jnroad upon available space, but suffice it to say that they undoubtedly cast many curious and interesting sido-lights upon the foreign policy of Japan, "and upon the relations which existed, previous to the signing .of the AngloJapanoso. Treaty,not only between Japan and Great Britain, but' betwgen Japan and Russia atoi Germany. 6110 passage, for instance, explains in..some degree the animosity which' Japan lias had against Germany, a feeling which accounts, in part at least, ' for the readiness with which the Japanese Government esnoused . tho the cause of the Entente Allies. Japan,, it Appears, has always , held that it was the part played hy Germany in the negotiations which followed the ChineseJapanese war which dep-ived Japan of the full fruits of her victory ovor China. For Germany, on'that occasion, joined hands with Russia in intervention on behalf, nominally, at least, of tho Chinese. Count Hayashi'says on-this subject: "As for Germany, she had no season whatsoever for being at enmity with Japan, and she had no obligation whatsoever in Europe to • oblige her to support Russia, as was tho case with I 1 ranee. On the occasion of tho signature of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which concluded tho war between China and Japan, the German Minister, at Tokio was tho first to dispatch a telegram of congratulation to tiio Foreign Minister. Consequently, it was a great surprise to tlio Japanese"-when Germany suddenly changed her attitudo and agreed to take common action with Franco and Russia to obtain the surrender of Port Arthur by BIS."

' As to the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, Jount Hayashi indicates very clearly that the German .Charge d' Affaires in London desired a Triple Alliance in tho Far East, his own country to bo included therein, with Great Britain and Japan. He expresses, when writing years after tho event, great surprise nt this, and says: "I am still doubtful of the true object. Baron yon Eckhard-

stein had in view in'making the proposal to mo. Did ho 6peak to me suggesting such an alliance because ho had been so .instructed by his own Government, or had he some other reason?" Baron Hayashi's to the treaty ' and tho negotiations which preceded it' form historical "memoires pour 6ervir" of a special and considerable importance. Apparently, Count Hayashi thinks that contributing reasons to Germany's exclusion from tho alliance wero that while the treaty was actually being' drafted' British-German relations became severely strained owing to an attack made upon the lato Mr. Joseph Chamberlain by the German Imperial Vice-Chancellor (Prince von Bulow) in tho Reichstag, aud also by tho_ bitter attacks made upon Great Britain's South African policy in the German, terni-official Preßs. Bo all this as it may, it is certainly a very curious fact that Germany, which, according to the "Memoirs" came so near to being a partner in the alliance, should to-day be tho one Power against which the Anglo-Japanese Treaty has first effectually operated.

• The volume . contains photogravure portraits of Count Hayashi, the lato L'rinco Ito, General Katsura, and Count, Komura, all of whom have played important parts, directly or indirectly, m Japan's foreign policy.. The book find' a place in every public library. (New Zealand price, 12s. 6d.)