The Review of Reviews. 



June I, tSOti. 



FRANCE AS BANKER TO JAPAN : 



A Proposed Franco-Japanese Alliance. 



In February " A P'riend of the Franco-Russian 

 Alliance " contributed to La Keviie an article in 

 which he contended that France ought not to lend 

 Russia any more mone)-, at ajiy rate not till Russia 

 is free. 



Another anonymous, but equally able, writer con- 

 tributes to La Revue of March 15th a plea for a 

 Franco-Japanese Alliance, chiefly in order that 

 France may be<:ome banker to Japan ! He compli- 

 menis La Revue on what it has already accomplished 

 in the matter of international initiatives, and then 

 prepares the ground for a Franco-Japanese Alliance, 

 urging that it would be profitable to France, to 

 Japan, and to the peace of the world. 



ATTITUDE OP RUSSIA. 



The only opposition in France to a Franco- 

 Japan_se Alliance, he says, could come from those 

 who pretend that such an arrangement is incom- 

 patible with the dignity of France owing to her 

 intimate relations with Russia. 



Russia, however, will do nothing to hinder it. On 

 the contrary, she recognises that it is her duty to re- 

 establish, from the economic point of view, correct 

 relations with Japan. Both nations, in fact, reckon 

 on friendly economic relations, the surest guarantee 

 for good political relations. Russia will further the 

 idea of a Franco-Japanese Alliance, because the 

 immediate con.sequence of such a diplomatic com- 

 pact would promote a Russo-Japanese rapprochement 

 which both nations desire, but dare not say so 

 openly, and for Russia it would signify a lasting 

 fjeace in the Far East. 



JAPAXOPHOBIA. 



In certain circles some uneasiness of another 

 nature is felt with reference to Japan. The 

 Japanophobes consider the Russo-Japanese War as 

 an insolent provocation of the white race by the 

 yellow world, but they are really confusing Japanese 

 activity with affairs of conquest. Under the mystico- 

 Christian inspiration of the Kaiser have arisen 

 apostles of a new religion of hatred and oppression, 

 demanding a union of whites against the yellow- 

 races, with the object of preventing the natural 

 development of the latter by keeping them in per- 

 petual vassalage. These people are quite con- 

 vinced of the aggressive character of Japanese 

 expansion. They know that in the event of a 

 conflict in Indo-China, France would be materially 

 and morally unable to defend her colonies against 

 such a formidable military foe, drunk with en 

 thusiasm for conquest, as they represent the contem- 

 porary Japanese to be. Perhaps this is one of the 

 reasons of their Japanophobia. But if Japan be- 

 came the ally of France, all this fear and suspicion 

 of Japan would disappear, and France would be 

 able to save a few millions out of the cost of 

 organisation of colonial armaments. 



FINANCIAL GALN. 



The advantages of an alliance belong, however, 

 to the economic order. Japan has everything to 

 make her successful in her enterprises — except capi- 

 tal, and therefore she must borrow. Now, the best 

 and easiest way to prevent the yellow races from 

 becoming an independent isolated economic Power 

 Ls to join them, and at present Europeans are in- 

 vited to do so. If Europeans neglect the oppor- 

 tunity now, the yellow races will have no need of 

 them twenty years hence, and we shall see, not the 

 grotesque in\'asion of savage hordes imagined by 

 the Kaiser, but the inevitable decline of the econo- 

 mic supremacy of the West. 



Those who are sceptical of Franco-Japanese ci - 

 operation will not understand why Japan, with .l 

 very wealthy ally in Eng!;md, and a still wealthier 

 and more discreet friend in America, would prefer, 

 or only admit, France in this powerful syndicate. 

 But the reasons are not far to seek. 



MUTUAL AUIIIRATIO.V. 



Japan has always been much attracted to France. 

 Japar.ese jurisprudence is French. The great 

 Liberal movement in Japan was born inder French 

 influence. Before the unfortunate Treaty of 

 Simonseki the French were the people most beloved 

 by Japan, and to-day, again, we have Japanese 

 sympathies. 



M. Motono, when at Paris, assured the writer that 

 the Japanese admired the chivalrous instincts of the 

 French people and the French Government desirous 

 of reconciling their dutit-s of friendship towards 

 Russia and loyalty towards Japan. Another lapa- 

 nese scholar described the French race as probably 

 the only one which showed no race-prejudice. 



France, in turn, does not conceal her affection for 

 Japan. She believes the Japanese capable of the 

 most brilliant intellectual, social, polirical, and mili- 

 tan- development. 



PRANCE TO THK RESCUE! 



To come to the main point, there is no more 

 realistic nation than the Japanese. The only 

 economic rivals Japan has discovered are Germany, 

 England, and America, and as she does not wish to 

 appeal to the hvo latter, her political friends, and 

 themselves commercial arid industrial nations, for 

 financial support, she must look elsewhere for a 

 banker. The .Anglo-Japauv-se Alliance ought tc) 

 guarantee peace, but not the common prosperity of 

 the contracting parties. 



The banker which Japan needs is France. France 

 is not a competitor of Japan's. It would be much 

 easier for France to invite Japan, and assure her in 

 advance of a welcome ret-eption, than it would be 

 for Japan to come and knock at the door of France. 

 Before France can become banker to Japan there 

 must be an official rapprochement to establish poli- 

 tical confidence between the two Governments and 

 mutual confidence between the two nations. 



