British Empire. There were many signs that such a revolt had been carefully fomented and prepared for by agents in both the Old and the New World. Yet nowhere more signally than in India were such hopes falsified. The immediate rally of princes and people — including many who had hitherto ranked themselves as extremists to the cause of the Empire was wonderful testimony to the deep loyalty which, in spite of all disappointments, survived in the heart of India. "Now that England," said the Advocate of Lucknow, "is at war with a foreign enemy, she may absolutely depend upon the loyalty of the people of this country. They may have their grievances, they may have their differences with the Government, but they are firmly attached to British rule; they are fully prepared at this crisis to place their resources at the disposal of the authorities in defense of their country." So it came to pass that India was almost denuded of the British troops, the flower of the army. These were sent to the West, while the native troops, by tens of thousands, were sent, first to take their place by the side of their white brothers in the Western trenches, and later to carry through to a successful termination the arduous campaign in the valley of the Euphrates. Lord Hardinge, in retiring from the viceroyalty in April 1916, was able to say that "the internal situation of India could hardly be more favorable." He could express also, with evident sincerity, his desire for "the early realization of the just and legitimate aspirations of India." How far this desire was to be fulfilled and what disappointments were still to come to both rulers and ruled, we shall be able to consider in another chapter. 1 See India and the War, p. 58. CHAPTER XVII POLITICAL STIRRINGS IN EASTERN ASIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY HAVING brought the story of India down to the outbreak of the Great War, it must now be our task to do the same for the rest of Asia. In attempting this we can but be aware of the existence of a general trend from one end of the continent to the other. The one necessary qualification to this statement is in connection with Japan. There political movements were certainly all in the direction of more liberal forms of government, but there was in them little or nothing of the revolutionary. The most regrettable feature of Japanese history at this time is to be found in the widening gulf of misunderstanding between Japan and the United States. As we have seen, this was in part due to disappointments involved in the Treaty of Portsmouth and in the subsequent American efforts to secure the neutralization of the Manchurian railways, construed as attempts on the part of foreign finance to rob the victors of their hard-won gains. In a larger degree it was due to unfortunate controversies which arose about this time on the matter of Japanese immigration. Though the immigration of laborers from Japan to the United States was not legalized till 1885, a few drifted in by various channels as early as 1841. Between 1861 and 1870, 218 Japanese came, and in the decade 1901-10 the number rose to 54,834. These figures do not include the Hawaiian Islands. In 1910 the Japanese residing in the country had become 72,000, of whom 57,000 were on the Pacific Coast. The first expression of the cry, "The Japs must go!" was in 1887, when there were only 400 in all California. Yoshio Markino,1 the artist, describes his first impression on landing in San Francisco, July 1893: "I went to Golden Gate Park with another Japanese. Whenever we passed before the crowds, they shouted 'Jap' and 'Sukebei' (the latter word is too rude to translate). Then some of them even spat on us. When we came out to the corner of Geary Street, pebbles were showered upon us. The appearance of bubonic plague in San Francisco in 1899 led to a strengthening of the agitation, though there was no reason for connecting the coming of the plague with the Japanese. In 1901 the exclusion of the Japanese was demanded. with yet greater vehemence, and the Asiatic Exclusion League, formed in 1905, exercised pressure upon public bodies, hence, in May 1905, the passing by the Board of Education of the order for separate schools a policy delayed by the great fire till the next year. It is interesting to note that at the time the separate schools were created there were only 93 pupils, 60 of them under 16 years of age, scattered in 23 different buildings. Further immigration of Japanese was disallowed by Congress in 1907, and President Roosevelt, by proclamation, forbade them coming from Hawaii, Mexico, and Canada. While resenting the slur cast upon her subjects, Japan, by a so-called "gentleman's agreement," consented to prevent the further entrance of Japanese laborers into the United States. It is generally accepted as a fact that the agreement was scrupulously observed. Yet the anti-Japanese campaign continued, and in California successive sessions of the Legislature were flooded with exclusion bills. These culminated in the Alien Landowners Bill, which, after some rebuffs, was passed and signed by the Governor May 19, 1913. It should here be said that few, either at that time or since, have desired a policy of unrestricted immigration. The real crux was to find a method of restriction which should abolish 1 See Yoshio Markino, Recollections and Reflections of a Japanese Artist. unjust discrimination between peoples and races.1 Beyond the question of the admission of Japanese lay the further one as to the propriety of granting citizenship to those already lawfully resident. After an exhaustive investigation of the whole problem, Professor Millis says: "My own opinion is that the naturalization law should be changed so as to make the aliens of all races eligible to citizenship. Such a law would be based upon good principle, and would do much to foster good feeling on the part of Asiatics toward the United States — an end to be desired." In Japan the most important event of 1912 was the death of the Emperor on July 30. During the last brief illness there were many tokens of the love and loyalty of the people. None is more touching than the story of the little girl who cut off her hair to present at a shrine with her prayers for the Emperor's recovery. Mutsuhito, henceforth to be known as Meiji Tennō, was a liberal sovereign in the best sense of the word, and the passionate loyalty to the Throne exhibited during the forty-four years of startling change since the Restoration was due as much to his personal character as to the popular belief in his divine ancestry. He lived a life of Spartan simplicity, was devoted to the arts, an accomplished poet,3 and distinguished for his charity and humanity on all occasions of public calamity. In close connection with the funeral rites, performed on September 13, we have the startling episode of the suicide of General Nogi, the hero of Port Arthur, and his wife, in accordance with the old custom of junshi, or "following in death." The grim soldier, who had borne with the courage of the samurai the death of his two sons before Port Arthur, was missed from the funeral cortège of the monarch he had served so well. There were those who asserted that in the form of a pale-blue flame the warrior's soul was seen hovering above the Imperial hearse. The house of the dead general is still a shrine 1 See Gulick, The American Japanese Problem. 2 See Millis, The Japanese in the United States. to which many pilgrims come. They pause reverently before "the bloodstain of the last moment," so paying their respects to the finest flower of Japanese military tradition, a knight sans peur et sans reproche. The new Emperor was Yoshihito, to whom two of the three sacred treasures of Japan, the sword and the seal, were committed immediately after his father's death. The third, the sacred mirror, remained, as was customary, in the great shrine at Ise. The new era was inaugurated as Taisho, "Great Righteousness," a title of happy omen. But the Emperor's health eventually proved inadequate for the responsibilities of government, and after some years the Crown Prince Hirohito (born April 29, 1901) was declared Regent. The venerable Queen-Mother-Mutsuhito's consort, but not the present Emperor's mother — passed away in the spring of 1914. Once again the quaint procession of ox-wagons, with their creaking wheels, expressed "the woe of the inarticulate," as the dead lady was carried to her last repose in Kyoto. In August 1914 came the Great War, and Japan was called upon to make her decision. It was soon evident that, both in the spirit and in the letter, Japan was ready to observe the obligation imposed upon her through the alliance with Great Britain. Of the general aid given by Japan to her allies we shall speak later, but a few words may here be devoted to tell of the taking of the territory in Shantung which had been leased from China by Germany. Japan's ultimatum to Germany on August 15 was ironically modeled upon the demands which. nearly twenty years previously Germany had made upon Japan for the retrocession of Port Arthur. It is said that negotiations were already proceeding between Germany and China for the abandonment of Kiaochow. If this be true, Japan seized the initiative and followed up the demand after a week with a vigorous siege. In coöperation with a small British force, the Japanese brought about the fall of Tsingtao on November 7. This success was for Japan the beginning of many troubles which must be described in their proper sequence, |