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350 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
to complain of, but he was deeply distressed over the mis-
fortunes which had come over France. He wept as he spoke
of it, but comforted himself with the thought that the pendulum
would soon swing the other way. Germany could not in the
long run keep her end up against the combined armies and
navies of France, Britain, Russia and Japan, no, not even
with the assistance she got from Austria-Hungary, but I could
tell that his hopes were not very deeply rooted, for tears welled
up in his eyes as he spoke. Poor French captain ! Think how
he must feel, first to be taken prisoner on the field of battle,
and then to sit as a prisoner in his own native town, with
his wife and family close by. But he admitted that the
Germans had treated him kindly.
It is really horrible and distressing to see two of the world’s
leading cultured nations endeavouring with every conceivable
bait to lure the Japanese into sending their armies to the
European battlefields to destroy Germanic culture. What
would the result have been had this plot against the white
race been successful ? The whole thing is unthinkable. One
obvious effect would have been the weakening of the white
races in favour of the yellow. What would the future have
had to say to a diplomacy which thus administered its charge ?
Happily the Land of the Rising Sun has wiser and more far-
sighted statesmen than the Western powers. The Japanese
realise that if the Europeans continue to destroy one another,
those areas in the Far East which mean so much to them, will
drop like ripe fruit into their hands without a single Japanese
soldier having to spill his blood in the land of the white races.
And, besides, has not Japan herself immense problems to solve
on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean and among its islands ?
Is it not in Japan’s interest that the war should leave Ger-
many’s enemies as weak as possible ? The more feeble they
are after the war, the greater are Japan’s prospects of figuring
as their heir and successor in the Far East. But even for the
solution of these problems, which belong to the near future,
Japan requires a considerable display of force. In her own
obvious interests she must conserve her forces during this
world struggle, and patiently bide her time. Then, far beyond
the European battlefields, she has another political problem
looming up on the horizon—America.
Whilst I was talking politics with the French captain the
Duke stood chatting with the English soldiers. I saw him
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