But
the war with Russia and the collapse of the Tsar's Manchurian
adventure not only drew her back into territory that she never
hoped to see again, but placed her in possession of a ready-made
railway system which carried her almost up to the Sungari river
and surrendered to her military control vast grasslands stretching
to the Khingan mountains. This Westernly march so greatly enlarged
the Japanese political horizon, and so entirely changed the
Japanese viewpoint, that the statesmen of Tokio in their
excitement threw off their ancient spectacles and found to their
astonishment that their eyes were every whit as good as European
eyes. Now seeing the world as others had long seen it, they
understood that just as with the individuals so with nations the
struggle for existence can most easily be conducted by adopting
that war-principle of Clausewitz--the restless offensive, and not
by writing meaningless dispatches. Prior to the Russian war they
had written to Russia a magnificent series of documents in which
they had pleaded with sincerity for an equitable settlement,--
only to find that all was in vain. Forced to battle, they had
found in combat not only success but a new principle.
The discovery necessitated a new policy. During the eighties, and
in a lesser degree in the nineties, Japan had apart from
everything else been content to act in a modest and retiring way,
because she wished at all costs to avoid testing too severely her
immature strength.
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