Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/613

The problem of the East is wide and far-reaching, but its focus, it appears to me, is centred in the war now being waged between Japan and her mighty Northern neighbour. It also seems to be expedient to me to approach the subject with the Anglo-Japanese relations as the keynote of my theme. Japan is now in alliance with Great Britain; she may not perhaps be worthy of that alliance, but one may be assured she is doing and will always do her best to deserve it. Some people might think that that alliance was an outcome of mushroom growths, but, on the contrary, it was the climax of long evolution, the fruit of a tree with deep-rooted trunk. For a long time English policy in the Far East, though subject to the tidal wave of diplomacy, has had a trend in that direction, and what Great Britain has done in the Far East has inevitably resulted to the benefit of Japan.

It was in the year 1854, just fifty years ago, that Japan opened herself to America, and soon after to England, Russia, France, and other Occidental nations. It was in that year that England, together with France, fought against Russia in the Black Sea. As one consequence the combined fleets of England and France chased in the Far East the Russian fleet, and attacked the fortified port of Petropavlovsk on the coast of Kamtchatka. The British fleet lost its Commodore, and also met with a heavy repulse, sustaining a loss of 200 men. At last with reinforcements it captured and demolished the fort, but, taking advantage of fog, the Russian fleet had escaped a month before. The Russian fleet which thus escaped met with shipwreck; the survivors sought the helping hand of Japan. We did not know what was passing between England and Russia, neither were we concerned in the matter, so out of sheer philanthropy we received these survivors well. We gave them shelter at a secluded place called Heta, in the province