Japanese supported it.  They have continuously supported either or both sides in Chinese dissensions, as they judged most useful for prolonging civil war and weakening China politically.  Before the revolution of 1911, Sun Yat Sen was several times in Japan, and there is evidence that as early as 1900 he was obtaining financial support from some Japanese.[61] When the revolution actually broke out, Japan endeavoured to support the Manchus, but was prevented from doing so effectively by the other Legations.  It seems that the policy of Japan at that time, as later, was to prevent the union of North and South, and to confine the revolution to the South.  Moreover, reverence for monarchy made Japan unwilling to see the Emperor of China dispossessed and his whole country turned into a Republic, though it would have been agreeable to see him weakened by the loss of some southern provinces.  Mr. Pooley gives a good account of the actions of Japan during the Chinese Revolution, of which the following quotation gives the gist[62]:—­

It [the Genro] commenced with a statement from Prince Katsura on December 18th [1911], that the time for intervention had arrived, with the usual rider “for the sake of the peace of the Far East.”  This was followed by a private instruction to M. Ijuin, Japanese Minister in Peking, whereunder the latter on December 23rd categorically informed Yuan-shi-kai that under no circumstances would Japan recognize a republican form of government in China....  In connection with the peace conference held at Shanghai, Mr. Matsui (now Japanese Ambassador to France), a trusted Councillor of the Foreign Office, was dispatched to Peking to back M. Ijuin in the negotiations to uphold the dynasty.  Simultaneously, Mr. Denison, Legal Adviser to the Japanese Foreign Office, was sent to Shanghai to negotiate with the rebel leaders.  Mr. Matsui’s mission was to bargain for Japanese support of the Manchus against the rebels, Manchuria against the throne; Mr. Denison’s mission was to bargain for Japanese support of the rebels against the throne, recognition by Peking of the Southern Republic against virtually a Japanese protectorate of that Republic and exclusive railway and mining concessions within its borders.  The rebels absolutely refused Mr. Denison’s offer, and sent the proposed terms to the Russian Minister at Peking, through whom they eventually saw the light of day.  Needless to say the Japanese authorities strenuously denied their authenticity.

The British Legation, however, supported Yuan Shi-k’ai, against both the Manchus and Sun Yat Sen; and it was the British policy which won the day.  Yuan Shi-k’ai became President, and remained so until 1915.  He was strongly anti-Japanese, and had, on that ground, been opposed as strongly as Japan dared.  His success was therefore a blow to the influence of Japan in China.  If the Western Powers had remained free to make themselves felt in the Far East, the course of events would doubtless have been much less favourable to the Japanese; but the war came, and the Japanese saw their chance.  How they used it must be told in a separate chapter.