ABSTRACT
ONE OF THE FIRST PROBLEMS BEFORE THE NEW CABINET WAS TO SECURE agreement on the policy to be followed at the London Naval Conference which was to meet in January, 1930. This Conference has been dealt with in a preceding chapter, and it is only necessary to say here that the country as a whole favoured a continuation of the policy of avoiding competition in naval armaments, going indeed further and demanding considerable reductions in relative naval strengths as a means of securing world economies in expenditure on armaments. At first the proceedings
of this Conference represented for the Hamaguchi Cabinet merely "a cloud the size of a man's hand." But the Naval Staff and the Naval Representatives in London maintained so uncompromising an attitude that it soon became clear that the Conference would be wrecked unless the Cabinet, with the support of the Emperor, were to overrule the Navy. This is precisely what Hamaguchi proceeded to arrange-an unprecedented step in the sphere in which the High Command claimed the right to have the last word. Extremist elements in the Navy and the country were furious. The Chief of the Naval Staff, the powerful Admiral Kato, resigned in protest, and the Naval Delegates, returning to Tokyo, were treated by the Jingoes almost as traitors. Hamaguchi was accused of having violated the Constitution and a frothy campaign started in the extremist Press. The chance of undermining the Minseito was too good for the Seiyukai to miss, and there was much criticism in the Diet. But Hamaguchi, well supported by Shidehara, proceeded calmly on his way, and overcame all obstacles. The Treaty, concluded in April, 1931, was, after a Homeric fight, approved by the Diet and the Privy Council in the following October.
