[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
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AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[45076]
No. 1.
340
[December 11.]
SECTION 2.
Sir C. MacDonald to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received December 11.)
(No. 32. Confidential.) Sir,
Tokyo, November 14, 1909. FIELD-MARSHAL LORD KITCHENER arrived in Tokyo on the 2nd instant, and from the 5th to the 11th instant attended the autumn manœuvres as the repre- sentative of His Majesty the King and the British army.
Lord Kitchener is still in Tokyo staying at the Shiba Palace, a guest of the Japanese Emperor and nation; a full report of the various functions and entertain- ments in which the Field-Marshal has taken part will be sent by the next Siberian mail.
By the Foreign Office bag leaving to-day, it may be useful to state briefly Lord Kitchener's impressions as detailed in conversations with me.
In the first place, as a result of observation at the manœuvres, Lord Kitchener stated that the Japanese infantry are the finest in the world, the cavalry cannot be called cavalry, and the artillery in the matter of horsing and equipment leave much to be desired.
Lord Kitchener mentioned to me confidentially that the Emperor seemed to take much greater interest in everything, and to be much more a factor to be reckoned with than he had imagined. His Majesty was personally most courteous, sent for him at the commencement of the manoeuvres, and said that he was to go anywhere he liked and see anything he liked. From what have heard from other sources, some of them Japanese, Lord Kitchener certainly took His Majesty at his word, and being exceedingly well mounted was ubiquitous, so that even his own staff were unable to keep pace with him.
Lord Kitchener and his staff are loud in the praise of the friendly and courteous treatment they received at all times, more particularly at the manoeuvres, on which occasion even the English officers attached to regiments were placed before the foreign military attachés.
In Sir John Jordan's despatch No. 386 of the 23rd October to you, repeated to me, Sir John states that Lord Kitchener "thinks that it impossible that a comparatively poor but highly efficient Power like Japan can long resist the temptation which the spectacle of her rich but unwarlike neighbour" (China) "presents."
I have had some conversation with Lord Kitchener on the point, and I think his Lordship has since changed his opinion considerably; he admits very readily the efficiency of Japan, but also admits now that ho has been in this country that he sees no indication whatsoever of such a feeling either in the Government or people, and agrees with me in thinking that, even had Japan any intentions such as are indicated above, the public opinion of the other nations of the world, their own financial position, and the terms of the Anglo-Japanese alliance itself will prevent them from attacking their rich and unwarlike neighbour, at any rate for many years to come.
I have, &c.
CLAUDE M. MACDONALD,
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