102 HISTORY OF GREECE, ROME, AND ASIA 



China, frightened the Manchu monarch, who felt strongly in so 

 far as his weakened health and a superior will allowed the wish 

 to transform his country. It was but a flash of lightning in a dark- 

 ened horizon. In order to succeed, it would have been necessary for 

 Kwang-siu to have at his command, with his handful of bold but 

 busy-body reformers, a solid army, capable of preventing a reaction. 

 But this army was lacking to the Chinese Emperor, who made the 

 generous but abortive attempt to introduce reforms in which he 

 lost at once the power and the appearance of energy which he had 

 for a brief period displayed. 



On June 10, 1898, Kwang-siu began the series of reforms, the 

 ephemeral course of which was stopped on September 30 of the 

 same year by the Empress Dowager, the reactionary party, with 

 her, retaking the power. What followed, the rebellion of the 

 Boxers; the siege of the foreign Legations at Pe-king, in 1900, is 

 fresh in the memory of all. It is but just to note, as the Japanese 

 Prime Minister, Count Katsura, remarked quite recently, that during 

 all these events Japan has filled her duty as a civilized nation by 

 the side of the Western Powers. 



The causes of the present gigantic struggle appear forcibly to 

 every one's eyes, but to say the least, the place to discuss them is 

 not in a scientific congress; however, it is not forbidden to foresee 

 some of its results and the effects these may have on the general 

 politics of the universe. If Japan is in our days the only nation 

 capable of waging a war for the sake of heroism, a rare virtue in 

 our matter-of-fact societies, it is nevertheless true that in the pre- 

 sent struggle economic interests were the main motives; as we have 

 said already, Japan has neither the room nor the food with which to 

 supply the surplus of her population; she is compelled to look beyond 

 her own boundaries for the necessaries of common life. Internal 

 motives also dictate partly her conduct. 



The extension of nations is in nearly every case directed according 

 to natural though at times cruel law r s; often these are in contra- 

 diction to the laws of civilization; so we see, in spite of treaties, in 

 spite of associations for peace, in spite of leagues for promoting 

 fraternity between nations, in spite of arbitration committees or 

 tribunals, war breaks out suddenly, irresistibly, when vital economic 

 interests are at stake. Nations go back to the state of primitive 

 man, and the right of the stronger becomes the rule. 



It must not be forgotten that if Japan needs an extension of terri- 

 tory for her excess population, she has the need scarcely less im- 

 portant of keeping up her communication with the various nations 

 among which she desires to hold her rank. The construction of the 

 Siberian Railway, in shortening the time of the journey from Europe 

 to Asia, has also practically shortened the distances. Until the 



