ABSTRACT
ON AUGUST 4, 1914, the French ambassador in Tokyo called on the Foreign Office and formally proposed the conclusion of a FrancoJapanese alliance, while a Russo-Japanese alliance was proposed by the Russian government through Ambassador Motono in St. Petersburg, on August 10.1 The genro were strongly inclined to the proposal, particularly toward a Russo-Japanese alliance, and Prime Minister Okuma was also favorably disposed. However, Count Kato, a staunch supporter of the Anglo-Japanese alliance as the corner stone of Japanese foreign policy, successfully opposed these proposals on the ground that negotiations looking to the conclusion of such important political treaties of alliance should be postponed until after the close of the war. On January 9, 1915, the French and Russian ambassadors in London called on the British foreign secretary to urge upon him the conclusion of an all-inclusive four-power alliance and, as a second proposal, suggested Japanese adherence to the Declaration of London of September 4, 1914. By this declaration, which was the basis of the alliance against the central powers, Great Britain, France, and Russia engaged not to conclude separate peace but to reach an agreement with each other on all peace demands.2
