The Prime Minister A. J. Balfour's main concern was to keep Britain out of war with Russia and her ally France. On the other hand, he wanted to honour Britain's signature to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in letter and in spirit. He managed to walk this tightrope without dragging Britain into war whilst retaining Japanese goodwill at the same time.

Since the late nineteenth century, Britain felt threatened by possible Russian expansion against the Ottoman Empire and India. Balfour was determined not to allow the Russian fleet out of the Black Sea and this he achieved. He also in private mused that Russia tied down in protecting a possible conquest in Korea would reduce the threat of Russian expansion elsewhere. Throughout Balfour did not consider that Japan could be crushed by Russia a serious possibility.

In a memorandum to the Cabinet on 29 December 1903, Balfour wrote:

I. Our moral obligations under the Anglo-Japanese Treaty do not exceed our legal obligations. The latter we are bound to fulfil at all costs, in the spirit as in the letter. Every demand made on us beyond this should be considered solely in the light of British interests, present and future. 2. It is most dangerous to admit any other view. The Japanese would assuredly refuse to consider themselves bound to support us in any controversy which might arise in connection with the Indian frontier or Constantinople. If war with Russia suited them at such a moment, they will doubtless make it. If not, not. So it must be with us.

The Dogger Bank incident, whereby Russia despatched her Baltic fleet instead and in the North Sea mistook some British fishermen for the Japanese and sunk them, nearly caused a war between Britain and Russia before Russia agreed to submit the incident to an inquiry.

When the Anglo-Japanese Alliance came up for renewal in 1905, the British granted Japan equality in the Far East and extended the alliance to cover new areas such as the Japanese border in Korea and Britain's border in India. This policy was decided upon by the British before the Battle of Tsushima.

The outcome of that naval battle led Admiral Fisher of the Royal Navy to conclude that more mobile, heavier gunned ships were needed. Hence the construction of the famous HMS Dreadnought in 1906.

Source: Blanche E. C. Dugdale, Arthur James Balfour, First Earl of Balfour, K.G., O.M., F.R.S., Etc. 1848-1905 (London: Hutchinson, 1939).