Glimpses of World History

by Jawaharlal Nehru

  The new Emperor now came into his own. He was a boy of fourteen who had just succeeded to the throne as the Emperor Mutsihito. For forty-five years he reigned, from 1867 to 1912, and this period is known as the Meiji (or “enlightened rule”) era. It was during his reign that Japan forged ahead, and, copying Western nations, became their equal in many respects. This vast change brought about in a generation is remarkable and without parallel in history. Japan became a great industrial nation and, after the manner of the Western Powers, an imperialistic and predatory nation. She bore all the outward signs of progress. In industry she even advanced beyond her teachers. Her population increased rapidly. Her ships went round the globe. She became a great Power whose voice was heard with respect in international affairs. And yet all this mighty change did not go very deep down into the heart of the nation. It would be wrong to call the changes superficial, for they were far more than that. But the outlook of the rulers still remained feudal, and they sought to combine radical reform with this feudal shell. They seemed to succeed to a large extent.

  The people who were responsible for these great changes in Japan were a band of far-seeing men of the nobility—the “Elder Statesmen” they were called. When the anti-foreign riots in Japan were followed by bombardment by the foreign warships, the Japanese saw their helplessness and felt bitterly humiliated. Instead of cursing their fate and tearing their hair, they decided to learn a lesson from this defeat and degradation. The Elder Statesmen chalked out a programme of reform and they adhered to it.

  The old feudal Daimios were abolished. The capital of the Emperor was taken from Kyoto to Yedo, which was now renamed Tokyo. A new constitution was announced with two Houses of Parliament, of which the lower House was elected, the upper nominated. There were changes in education, law, industry, and in almost everything. Factories grew up, and a modern army and navy were formed. Experts were sent for from foreign countries, and Japanese students were sent to Europe and America, not to become barristers and the like, as Indians have done in the past, but to become scientists and technical experts.

  The Growth of Japan

  All this was done by the Elder Statesmen in the name of the Emperor, who in spite of the new Parliament and all else, remained in law the absolute ruler of the Japanese Empire. And at the same time as they pushed ahead these reforms, they spread the cult of emperor-worship. It was a strange combination: factories and modern industry and a semblance of parliamentary government on the one side, and a medieval worship of the divine Emperor on the other. It is difficult to understand how the two could go together even for a short while. Yet they did march together, and even today they have not separated. The Elder Statesmen utilized this great feeling of reverence for the Emperor in two ways. They forced the reforms on the conservative and feudal classes who would otherwise have resisted them but were cowed down by the prestige of the Emperor’s name; and they held back the more progressive elements who wanted to go faster and get rid of all feudalism.

  The contrast between China and Japan during this last half of the nineteenth century is remarkable. Japan rapidly westernized herself; China, as we have seen and shall see even more later on, got involved in the most extraordinary difficulties. Why did this happen? The very vastness of China, her great population and area, made change difficult. India also suffers from this seeming source of strength—huge area and population. China’s government also was not sufficiently centralized— that is to say, each part of the country had a great deal of self-government. It was thus not easy for the central government to interfere and bring about big changes as had been done in Japan. Then again, China’s great civilization had grown up in thousands of years and was too closely interwoven with her life to be easily discarded. Again we can compare India to China. Japan, on the other hand, had borrowed Chinese civilization and could more easily replace it. Another reason for China’s difficulties was the continual interference of European Powers. China was a great continental country. She could not shut herself up, as the islands of Japan had done. Russia touched her territories to the north and north-west; the British Empire in the south-west; France was creeping up in the south. These European Powers had managed to extort important privileges from China and had developed great commercial interests. These interests gave them plenty of excuses for interference.

  So Japan shot ahead, while China was still blindly struggling on and trying, with little success, to adapt herself to the new conditions. And yet there is another strange fact worth noticing. Japan took to Western machinery and industry and, with a modern army and navy, put on the garb of an advanced industrialized Power. But she did not take so readily to the new thought and ideas of Europe; to notions of individual and social freedom; to a scientific outlook on life and society. At heart she remained feudal and authoritarian and tied up to a strange emperor-worship which the rest of the world had long outgrown. The passionate and self-sacrificing patriotism of the Japanese was closely allied to this loyalty to the Emperor. Nationalism and the cult of the divine Emperor went side by side. China, on the other hand, did not take readily to big machinery and industry; but the Chinese, or at any rate modern China, welcomed Western thought and ideas and the scientific outlook. These were not so far removed from their own. Thus we see that although modern China entered more into the spirit of Western civilization, Japan outstripped her because she put on the armour of it, ignoring the spirit. And all Europe praised Japan because she was strong in this armour, and they made her one of their fellowship. But China was weak and unprovided with Maxim guns and the like. So they insulted her and preached to her and exploited her, caring little for her thought and ideas.

  Japan not only followed Europe in industrial methods, but also in imperialistic aggression. She was more than a faithful pupil of the European Powers: she often improved on them. Her real difficulty was the discordance between the new industrialism and the old feudalism. In her attempts to carry on with both she could not establish economic equilibrium. Taxation was very heavy, and people grumbled. To prevent trouble at home she had recourse to an old device—distracting attention by war and imperialistic adventures abroad. Her new industries also forced her to look to other countries for raw materials and markets, just as the Industrial Revolution had forced England, and later other western European Powers, to look abroad and conquer. Production increased and there was a rapid growth of population. More and more food and raw materials were required. Where was she to get them? Her nearest neighbours were China and Korea. China offered opportunities for trade, but she was a thickly populated country. In Manchuria, however, which formed the north-eastern provinces of the Chinese Empire, there was plenty of elbow-room for development and colonization. So to Korea and Manchuria, Japan looked hungrily.

  Japan also saw with concern the Western Powers getting all manner of privileges from China, and even trying to get territory. She did not like this at all. If these Powers became well established on the mainland opposite to her, her safety might be imperilled and, at any rate, her growth on the continent would be checked.

  In less than twenty years after her opening to the outer world, Japan began to be aggressive towards China. A petty dispute about some fishermen, who had been shipwrecked and were murdered, gave Japan an opportunity to demand compensation from China. China refused at first, but then, threatened with war and occupied at the time with the French in Annam, she gave in to Japan. This was in 1874. Japan was elated by this triumph and immediately looked round for further conquests. Korea seemed inviting and, picking a quarrel with her for some petty reason, Japan invaded her and forced her to pay a sum of money and to open some ports for Japanese trade.

  Korea had long been a vassal State of China. She looked to China for support, but China was unable to help. The Chinese Government, fearing that Japan might acquire too much influence, advised Korea to give in for the moment and also to make treaties with the Western Powers to checkmate Japan. So Korea was thrown open to the world by 1882. But Japan was not going to
be satisfied with this. Taking advantage of China’s difficulties, she again raised the Korean question and made China agree to a joint protectorate over Korea—that is, poor Korea became a vassal State of both. This was obviously a most unsatisfactory state of affairs for all concerned. There was bound to be trouble. Japan, indeed, wanted trouble, and in 1894 she forced a war on China.

  The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 was a runaway affair for Japan. Her army and navy were up to date; the Chinese were still old-fashioned and inefficient. Japan won all along the line, and forced a treaty on China which put her on the same level as the Western treaty Powers. Korea was declared independent, but this was only a veil for Japanese control. China was also forced to give to Japan the Liaotung peninsula in Manchuria, with Port Arthur, as well as Formosa and some other islands.

  This crushing defeat of China by little Japan surprised the world. The Western Powers were by no means pleased at this rise of a powerful country in the Far East. Even during the Sino-Japanese War, when Japan was seen to be winning, she was warned by these Powers that they would not consent to Japan annexing any part of China’s mainland. In spite of this warning she took the Liaotung peninsula with an important port—Port Arthur. But she was not allowed to keep this. Three great Powers—Russia, Germany and France—insisted on her giving it up, and, much to her annoyance and anger, she had to do so. She was not strong enough to face these three.

  But Japan remembered this slight upon her. It rankled and made her prepare for a greater struggle. Nine years later this struggle came with Russia.

  Meanwhile Japan, by her victory over China, had established her position as the strongest nation of the Far East. China had appeared in all her weakness, and all fear of her vanished from the Western Powers. They swooped down on her like vultures on a dead or dying body, and tried to get as much as possible for themselves. France, Russia, England, and Germany—all scrambled for seaports on the China coast and for privileges. There was an unholy and a most unseemly battle for concessions. Every little thing was made an excuse for claiming additional privileges or concessions. Because two missionaries were killed, Germany seized by force Kiauchau in the Shantung peninsula in the east. Because Germany took this, the other Powers insisted on their share of the booty. Russia took Port Arthur, of which she had deprived Japan three years previously. England took Wei-hai-wei to set off Russia’s possession of Port Arthur. France took a port and territory in Annam. Russia also got permission to build a railway across North Manchuria, an extension of the Trans-Siberian railway.

  It was extraordinary—this shameless scramble. Of course China did not enjoy parting with territory or granting concessions. She was forced to agree on every occasion by displays of naval force and threats of bombardment. What shall we call this scandalous behaviour? Highway robbery? Brigandage? It is the way of imperialism. Sometimes it works in secret; sometimes it covers its evil deeds under a cloak of pious sentiment and hypocritical pretence of doing good to others. But in China in 1898 there was no cloak or covering. The naked thing stood out in all its ugliness.

  117

  Japan Defeats Russia

  December 29, 1932

  I have been writing to you about the Far East, and I shall continue this story today. You may wonder why I seek to burden your mind with the wars and disputes of the past. They are not savoury subjects, and they are over and done with. I do not want to lay stress on them. But much that is happening today in the Far East has its roots in these very troubles, and some knowledge of them therefore is necessary to the understanding of modern problems. China, like India, is one of the great world problems of today. And even as I write, a bitter dispute is going on regarding the Japanese conquest of Manchuria.

  I told you in my last letter of the scramble for concessions in China in 1898, backed by the warships of the Western Powers. They seized all the good ports, and in the province lying behind the port they secured all manner of rights—to open mines, build railroads, etc. And still the demand continued for further concessions. The foreign governments began to talk of “spheres of influence” in China. This is a gentle way which modern imperialistic governments have of partitioning a country. There are various degrees of possession and control. Annexation is, of course, complete possession; a protectorate is something with slightly less control; “spheres of influence” is less still. But they all point to the same thing; one step leads to another. Indeed, as we shall perhaps have the chance of discussing later, annexation is an old and almost discarded method which brings nationalistic trouble in its train. It is far easier to have economic control of a country and not worry about the rest.

  So the partition of China seemed imminent and Japan was thoroughly alarmed. The fruits of her victory over China seemed to have gone to the Western Powers, and she gazed in helpless anger at this splitting up of China. Above all, she was wroth with Russia for preventing her from taking possession of Port Arthur and then seizing it herself.

  There was one great Power, however, which had so far taken no part in this scramble for concessions in China or the plans for partition. This was the United States of America. They had kept away not because they were more virtuous than the others, but because they were busy developing their vast country. As they spread westwards to the Pacific Ocean fresh areas required development, and all their energies and wealth were poured into this. Indeed, a great deal of European capital was also invested in America for this purpose. But by the end of the century Americans began to look abroad for investments. They looked to China, and saw with disapproval that the European Powers were on the point of dividing it up into “spheres of influence”, with a view perhaps to eventual annexation. America was being left out. So America pressed for what is called the “open-door” policy in China. This meant that equal facilities should be given to all for trade and business in China. The other Powers agreed to this.

  This continual aggression thoroughly frightened the Chinese Government, and convinced them that they must reform and reorganize. They tried to do so, but they had little chance to succeed on account of the continuous demands for fresh concessions. The Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi had been living in retirement for some years. The Chinese people began to look to her as a possible saviour. The Emperor at the time, suspecting some intrigue, wanted to put her in prison. But the old lady retaliated by removing him from power and taking control herself. She took no steps for radical reform, as Japan had done, but she concentrated on building up a modern army. She encouraged the formation of local bands of militia for defence. These bodies of local militia called themselves “I Ho Tuan”—Bands of Righteous Harmony. Sometimes they were also called “Fists of Righteous Harmony”—I Ho Chuan. This latter name reached some Europeans in the port towns, and they translated it into “Boxers”, a crude translation of a graceful phrase.

  These “Boxers” were a patriotic reaction against foreign aggression and the innumerable insults which had been offered to China and the Chinese by foreigners. It is not surprising that they did not love the foreigner, who seemed to them the embodiment of evil. In particular they disliked missionaries, who had misbehaved greatly, and, as for the Chinese Christians, they considered them traitors to their country. They represented old China making a last effort to protect herself from the new order. The attempt was not likely to succeed in this way.

  There was bound to be friction between these patriotic, anti-foreign, anti-missionary, conservative people and the Westerners. Conflicts occurred; an English missionary was murdered; many Europeans and a large number of Chinese Christians were killed. Foreign governments demanded the suppression of the patriotic Boxer movement. The Chinese Government punished those who were guilty of killing, but how could it suppress its own child in this way? Meanwhile the Boxer movement spread rapidly. The foreign ministers, alarmed by it, summoned troops from their warships, and this again made the Chinese think that the foreign invasion had begun. Soon there was conflict. The German Minister was killed, and there was a siege of the foreign le
gations in Peking.

  A great part of China was up in arms in sympathy with the patriotic Boxer movement. But the viceroys of some provinces remained neutral and helped the foreign Powers in this way. The Dowager Empress undoubtedly sympathized with the Boxers, but she was not openly associated with them. Foreigners tried to make out that the Boxers were just brigands. But as a matter of fact the rebellion of 1900 was a patriotic effort to free China from foreign interference. A high English officer in China, Sir Robert Hart, who was Inspector-General of the customs there at the time, went through the siege of the legations. He tells us that the foreigners, and especially the missionaries, were to blame for outraging Chinese feelings, and that the rebellion “was patriotic in its origin, and that it was justifiable in much that it aimed at cannot be questioned, and cannot be too much insisted on”.

  This sudden turning of the worm irritated the Western Powers greatly. They hurried troops, as they were justified in doing, to save and protect their own people who were besieged in Peking. An international force under a German commander marched to relieve the legations. The Kaiser of Germany asked his troops in China to behave like Huns, and probably it is from this order that the English took to calling all Germans Huns during the World War.

  The Kaiser’s advice was followed not only by his own troops, but by all the foreign armies. As these forces marched to Peking, the treatment they gave to the people was such that large numbers preferred suicide to falling into their hands. Chinese women in those days dwarfed their feet and could not easily run away. So many of them killed themselves. In this way the allied armies marched on, leaving a trail of death and suicide and burning villages. An English war correspondent, who accompanied the allied forces, says:

  There are things that I must not write, and may not be printed in England, which would seem to show that this Western civilization of ours is merely a veneer over savagery. The actual truth has never been written about any war, and this will be no exception.