The action of the Japanese Government in confiscating the issue
of the " Jiji" containing the first instalment of the diary of Count Hayashi, the ambassador who negotiated the first Anglo-Japanese alliance, appears to be explained. According to a summary of the article which has appeared in several foreign papers, Count Hayashi credits Mr. Chamberlain with having suggested the alliance as far back as 1898, and when,
in 1901, Germany proposed a triple alliance between England, Germany, and Japan, Lord Lansdowne gave Count Hayashi to understand that all the members of Lord Salisbury's Cabinet, including Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain, favoured the scheme. According to the same authority it was the objections of Japan that excluded Germany from the arrange- ment. It may be remembered that it was in November, 1899, that Mr. Chamberlain at Leicester spoke of "the natural alliance between ourselves and the great German Empire," and foreshadowed an agreement based on community of interests between America, Germany, and Great Britain.
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