Great Britain and Japan I9I I-I 5

Great Britain and Japan 1911-15 A STUDY OF BRITISH

FAR EASTERN POLICY

Peter Lowe

Palgrave Macmillan

© Peter Lowe 1969Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1969

First puhlislzed 1969 hyMACMILLAN AND CO LTD

Little Essex Street London WC2and also at Bombay Calcutta and Madras

Macmillan Soutk Africa (Puhlislzers) Pty Ltd JohannesburgTke Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd Melbourne

Tke Macmillan Company of Canada Ltd TorontoSt Martin's Press Inc New York

Gill and Macmillan Ltd Dublin

Library of Congress catalog card no. 69-13688

ISBN 978-1-349-00346-4 ISBN 978-1-349-00344-0 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00344-0

TO MY FATHER

Contents

List of Illustrations 7 List of Maps 8 Prefoce 9 Acknowledgements 13 List of Abbreviations 15 Introduction 17

I The revision and renewal of the Anglo-Japanese alliance 33

II The Chinese revolution of 1911 58 III Great Britain, Japan and the Chinese republic 89 IV British policy and loans to China, 1911-14 120

v Great Britain, Japan and the Yangtze, 1913-14 147 VI The Anglo-Japanese alliance and the outbreak of

war 177 VII The Twenty-one Demands 220

VIII The British Empire and Japan, 1911-15 267 Conclusion 2.98 APPENDIXES

A. Permanent Officials and Diplomats of the British Foreign Office 313

B. Japanese Statesmen, Politicians, Bureaucrats, Diplomats and Adventurers 318

C. Japanese Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers, 1908-18 32.2.

Bibliography 323 Index 337

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List of Illustrations Betweenpages z68a.nd z69

1 Sir Edward Grey :z Sir John Jordan 3 Sir Conyngham Greene 4 Beilby Alston 5 Sir Walter Langley 6 Sir Eyre Crowe 7 J.D. Gregory 8 Kato Takaaki 9 Yamagata Aritomo

IO Inouye Kaoru 1 I Matsukata Masayoshi 12 Saionji Kimmochi 13 Katsura Taro 14 Uchida Yasuya 15 Yamamoto Gombei I6 Makino Nobuaki 17 Okuma Shigenobu 18 Inouye Katsunosuke 19 Ishii Kikujiro 20 Hara Takashi u SunY at-sen and Japanese adventurers 2.2 Uchida Ryohei and fellow adventurers on trial

The author and publishers thank the following for permission to reproduce the illustrations listed: Allen and Unwin (and Houghton Miffiin, Boston) for 9, u, 13 and 20, from East Asia: the Modem Transformation by Fairbank, Reis­chauer and Craig; Miss Sybil Crowe, 6; Harvard University Press, 2.1,

from The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen by Marius Berthus Jansen; International Society for Educational Information, Tokyo, 8, 10, n, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; Mr Desmond Langley, s; London Electrotype Agency, 2; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 7; Radio Times Hulton Picture Library, I, 3, 4, u. The cartoons are reproduced by permission of Punch.

7

CARTOONS

Sense and Sentiment- the significance of the new tarriff agreement as seen in Punch., I9 April I9II

Disarmageddon-Punch., .29 March I9II

Too Apt a Pupil-Punch., 3 January I9U

List of Maps

facing p . .2I

3.2

focing p. So

I. Chinese provinces and cities 6o

2. Japanese railway projects in China I 5 I

3· The German squadron in the Pacific, August to November 1914 .200

4· The German islands in the Pacific .203

8

Preface

THE subject of this study, the importance of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in the formulation of British Far Eastern policy between I9I I

and I 9 I 5, is of considerable interest, since it deals with the early stages of developments that are culminating at the present time in the final decline and probable termination of Great Britain's role as a power in the Far East. In retrospect the Anglo-Japanese alliance was highly significant as a recognition on Britain's part that she was starting to decline and was no longer capable of defending her world wide interests without the assistance of another power. It was also very significant that her ally should be an Asian country, a sign of the new importance which the Far East was to assume in the twentieth century. For Japan the alliance was a mark of European acceptance of her new status, an astonishing achievement coming only a generation after the abolition of feudalism and the beginning of the Meiji restoration which constituted the birth of modem Japan. Today Japan is one of the great economic powers of the world, possessing the potential of once again wielding wide political and military influence.

The work follows the development of the Anglo-Japanese alliance from a position of close cordiality to one of growing conflict. The basic theme between I911 and I9I4 was the Japanese desire for active and increasing cooperation. Essentially the growing disharmony arose from the relative decline of British power and the continued growth of Japanese power. Britain wished to defend her position. Japan wished to expand her position. The differences between the allies stemmed from this simple fact. The alliance was important to both parties, but was becoming steadily more important for Britain, faced as she was with the problems of spreading her resources over the world at a time when the situation in Europe was becoming increasingly dangerous. British policy in the Far East depended primarily on diplomatic skill and the accumulated prestige of the long British dominance of the region. It achieved considerable success, certainly more than the reality of British power justified. Sir Edward Grey had firm ideas on British policy and was consistent in applying them. Friendship with Japan and the preservation of the integrity of China comprised the bases of his

9

10 Preface policy but he recognised the limitations and refused to be drawn into intervention in China as the Japanese desired. In adopting this policy, he was consistent throughout. Grey emerges very creditably as a wise and skilful foreign secretary. He made only one serious blunder, in August 1914, and this was understandable given the complexity of the problems with which he was faced. Great Britain had a Far Eastern policy with clearly formulated objectives and these objectives were successfully pursued in the period examined here, even in 1915.

A brief word is perhaps necessary on the form of the work. The brief introduction sets the scene by discussing what people were think­ing of the Far East and especially of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 19ro-u. Chapters 1, u, III, v, VI and vu are concerned in detail with Anglo-Japanese relations, particularly with regard to the situation in China. These chapters comprise the hard core of the book. Chapter IV

discusses in outline British policy concerning loans to China between 191 r and 1914 and concentrates on explaining the aims and nature of British policy with special reference to Japanese membership of the intemationalloan consortium. It is no more than a succinct summary, for the subject of loans to China is one of such magnitude and com­plexity as to justify a study - or preferably several studies - in itself. Chapter VIII enters a similar category. The British Dominions were becoming increasingly interested in the Anglo-Japanese alliance after 1905, partly because of their own growing power and independence; partly because of the reduction of British naval strength in the Far East and Pacific. In 1911 the British government informed the Dominions of the impending renewal and extension of the alliance and in vi ted an expression of their views. Some discussion of Dominion attitudes seemed desirable, especially for the impact on thinking in London; since it seemed that a brief comparison between Dominion attitudes to the alliance at the Imperial Conferences of 19II and 1921

would be useful, a short appendix has been added to Chapter VIII

summarising the views expressed at the 1921 conference. To complete the study, the conclusion combines reflections on the

subjects examined with a glance ahead at the years between 1915 and the termination of the alliance in 1923. There are three appendixes to the work as a whole, apart from appendixes to chapters. Appendix A is a list of diplomats and officials of the British Foreign Office with a summary of details for the whole of their careers; this should assist

Preface II

in viewing a man in the light of his earlier or later career. Appendix A is, therefore, strictly factual. Appendix B comprises a list of Japanese mentioned in the work and here a brief appraisal of the person con­cerned has sometimes been added to the factual summary. Appendix C is a list of Japanese prime ministers and foreign ministers with the dates they held office between 1908 and 1918. The appendixes should facilitate swift reference should the reader desire more information on a particular person referred to in the text.

Acknowledgements

THIS study originated as a thesis in the University of Wales and I should like to acknowledge the wise advice and encouragement given by my supervisors, Mr E. W. Edwards of the Department of History, University College, Cardiff, and Dr J. R. Western of the Department of History, University of Manchester. While I worked in London, I attended the seminar in Far Eastern History operated by Professor W. G. Beasley at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and I benefited considerably from his generous encourage­ment. Dr I. H. Nish of the Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science, has discussed different aspects of the subject with me on numerous occasions and I am very grateful for his kind assistance. Mr G. R. Storry, Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, encouraged me from an early stage to think in terms of publication.

I wish to thank the following persons for allowing me access to, and permission to cite, the archives for which they are responsible: Mr Mark Bonham Carter for the Asquith papers in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the Trustees of the British Museum for the papers of Balfour and John Bums; Mr A. J.P. Taylor and the Trustees of the Beaver­brook Library, London, for the papers of Bonar Law and Lloyd George; the Librarian, University of Birmingham, for the papers of Austen Chamberlain; the Viscount Harcourt for the papers of the first Viscount; Mr G. F. Hudson for permitting me to use the library of the Far Eastern Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford; the Marquess of Lothian for the papers of the eleventh Marquess in the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh; the late Sir Harold Nicolson for the Nicolson papers in the Public Record Office, London; Sir Anthony Rumbold for the Rumbold papers; the Army Department Librarian and the Navy Department Librarian, Ministry of Defence; and the Foreign Office Librarian. Unpublished crown-copyright material in the Public Record Office, London, is reproduced by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. Unpublished crown-copyright material in the India Office Library or India Office records transcribed in this book appears by permission of the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.

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14 Acknowledgements

I should like to take this opportunity of thanking the staffs of these and other libraries where I have worked for their kind assistance.

I also wish to thank Mr Marrin Gilbert, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, for generously allowing me to use the Rumbold papers, then in his possession for his forthcoming biography, Sir Horace Rumhold, and Captain Malcolm D. Kennedy, who generously answered certain enquiries of mine and allowed me to reproduce some information which is to appear in his book, The Estrangement of Great Britain and Japan, 1917-1935, to be published by Manchester University Press in 1969.

I wish to thank the following publishers for permission to reproduce maps: Messrs Weidenfeld & Nicolson for kindly allowing me to reproduce Map 1 from Henry McAleavy, The Modem History of China (1967) and Messrs Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd for Map 3 from The Official History of the War: Naval Operations, I (1920) by Sir Julian Corbett, and to the Clarendon Press, Oxford, for Map 4 from Wm. Roger Louis, Great Britain and Germany's Lost Colonies, 1914-1919 (1967). I should like to express my deep gratitude to Mrs Margaret Gissop for so skilfully typing the work. Finally, I must state that I alone am responsible for any errors that remain.

Manchester May 1968

PETER LoWE

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List of Abbreviations

British Documents on the Origins of the War, z898-Z914,

ed. G. P. Gooch and H. W. V. Temperley. Documents on British Foreign Policy, Z9Z9-Z939, first series, ed. E. L. Woodward, R. Butler and J.P. T. Bury. Documents diplomatiques fra1Zfais. Die grosse Politik der europaischen Kahinette, ed. J. Lepsius, A. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and F. Thimme. Foreign Relations of the United States. Cabinet papers, Public Record Office, London. Colonial Office papers, Public Record Office, London. Foreign Office papers, Public Record Office, London. Parliamentary Dehates: Official Report, House of Commons, fifth series. Parliamentary Dehates: Official Report, House of Lords, fifth series. American Historical Review. English Historical Review. Journal of Asian Studies. Journal of Modem History. Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia. Pacific Historical Review.

The place of publication of works cited is given only when it is not London. Japanese names are arranged with surname first, then personal name, the order followed in most recent works.