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Japan, I say, to stand thus together in the Far East, that fact alone could not but be a great bulwark for the preservation of permanent peace and the furtherance of civilization, without in any way prejudicing the equitable rights and interests of other civilized nations.

I am told, and I also know, that the British are difficult to make friends with; but we also know that, when once they become friends, their friendship is constant and enduring. And so it is with the British nation at large. The present treaty of alliance is for five years, but I would fain it were made perpetual; nor is this merely for the interests of Japan. Suppose Japan were worsted in the war now waging, and Northern China fell into the hands of a certain other Power, what would be the result? British interests in the Far East would be gone. Either Japan should be crushed altogether, and another Power set up in her place in opposition to that other certain Power, or she should be taken care of and placed in a position to forward, side by side, the common interests of the civilized world, especially those of the Anglo-Saxon. There can be no half-way or vacillating measures, I am afraid. When this question is solved, the problem of the East will be solved for all practical purposes. Japan has now embarked on a great task. She thoroughly recognises its magnitude and gravity. She is, however, convinced that she is not fighting merely for personal political aims, but that she is fighting also in the interests of the whole civilized world; she is fighting for her own sake, of course, but at the same time she is carrying it on at the mandate of England and America, as it were, in the cause of civilization and humanity.