Rickard Hudson TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT THE BRITISH EMPIRE IS, UNDER PROVIDENCE, THE GREATEST INSTRUMENT FOR GOOD THAT THE WORLD HAS SEEN AND WHO HOLD, WITH THE WRITER, THAT ITS WORK IN THE FAR EAST IS NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED PREFACE TO NEW AND REVISED EDITION THE first edition of this work appeared in August 1894, within a few weeks of the firing of the first shot in the Far Eastern War. Of the three nations who had furnished its subject matter, two were the protagonists, and the third was the victim in that eventful struggle. There was good fortune, therefore, in the moment of publication. But if this coincidence was undesigned, it was attended by a more than proportionate risk. For the book itself was less a history, or a narrative, or a criticism, than it was a forecast, entered into with only so much confidence as was born of a patient examination of facts upon the spot, but in ignorance of how soon it would be subjected to the rough test of experience. The fact that I am able to issue a fourth edition of the book -after the conclusion of a war that was seismic both in its character and consequences-in substantially the same guise as it originally wore, with alterations and additions that, while required to bring it up to date, only confirm my former argument, is to me a consolatory vindication of my venture then, and may, I hope, be regarded by others as a sufficient ground for republication now. For the causes that, during the intervening year, have brought about the collapse of China, the sufferings vii 200 of Korea, and the victory of Japan, are the facts which this volume originally endeavoured to set forth, and which, so far from being rendered obsolete by the war, have been endowed thereby with a fresh vitality. The Far Eastern Question has not been closed, but, on the contrary, has been reopened by its termination; and so much of my former prophecy as remains unfulfilled I am encouraged once more to submit, though with less trembling, to the hidden touchstone of the future. The central theme of these pages, when first published, was the utter rottenness of Chinese administration, and the certainty of military disaster in the case of conflict with a well-equipped foe; the confident ambitions and swelling power of Young Japan; the corrupt though picturesque imbecility of Korea; and the onerous responsibilities likely to be entailed upon Great Britain in the inevitable readjustment of Eastern Asia. So little were these conditions appreciated at the time that the most thoughtful of English newspapers thus criticised my argument: "Though Mr. Curzon is a diligent collector of facts, and deserves every credit for his praiseworthy attempts to understand the problems with which he is confronted, he does not show any very strong grasp either of the great issues at stake in the Far East, or as to the relative power and capacity of the two nations which are now confronting each other. As Mr. Curzon's conclusions are necessarily prophetic in their nature, it is not, of course, possible as yet to prove him mistaken; but it cannot be said that he shows that instinctive appreciation of international affairs which is requisite for those who undertake to diagnose the conditions of three such kingdoms as Japan, Korea, and China. . . . In spite of Mr. Curzon, we believe that the weight of opinion is on the side of those who hold, as we do, that China could, if hard put to it, organise a most formidable fighting force. Does Mr. Curzon remember what ... Lord Wolseley has said on the subject? He has expressed his opinion that the one danger of the Anglo-Saxon race was meeting the Chinese in war, and this is no abstract opinion, for Lord Wolseley helped to beat the Chinese under the walls of Peking. "They possess every military virtue," said Lord Wolseley of the Chinese. Mr. Curzon infers that the Chinese are a very unwarlike people. The world will, we think, prefer the verdict of a soldier who has met the Chinese in battle, to that of a civilian who has done little but sniff the evil odours of Peking, and, as he would doubtless be the first to admit, has nothing that can be called firsthand knowledge of China.' Somehow or other the evil odours of Peking seem, after all, to have left a correct impression upon my civilian nostrils; and so fair-minded a critic as the Spectator will not, I am sure, grudge to a writer who has dared to prophesy the rare satisfaction of success. In this New Edition, which has been carefully revised throughout, I have corrected a few mistakes that had crept into the first, and have introduced a good deal of additional matter, supplied or suggested by the events of the past year. The Revision Treaty between Great Britain and Japan, and the Treaty of Peace between Japan and China, are printed as appendices; and in a fresh chapter I have endeavoured to sum up the main issues of the recent conflict, and to forecast its bearing upon the Asiatic situation. I should add that the greater part of this chapter was written before the late change of Government in England, and that it has been composed in entire independence of official information or authority. The Far East, which a year ago was an uncommon, has since become a familiar phrase in the terminology of International Politics. Its problems, which suggested to |