two of this venturesome quartette--have often told of their
rapid disillusionment when they reached London, and saw these
despised Western barbarians at home. On their return to Japan
they at once became the apostles of a new doctrine, and their
effective preaching has had much to do with the pride of place
Dai Nippon now holds among the Great Powers of the world.

The two students who went to China in 608 A.D. "rendered even more
illustrious service to their country perhaps than Ito and Inouye have
done. For at the Revolution of 1868, the leaders of the movement harked
back to the 645-650 A.D. period for a good deal of their inspiration,
and the real men of political knowledge at that time were the two
National Doctors."

Politically, what was done in 645 A.D. and the period immediately
following was not unlike what was done in France by Louis XI and
Richelieu--curbing of the great nobles and an exaltation of the
sovereign, with a substitution of civil justice for military anarchy.
The movement was represented by its promoters as a Restoration, probably
with about the same amount of truth as in 1867. At the latter date,
there was restoration so far as the power of the Mikado was concerned,
but innovation as regards the introduction of Western ideas. Similarly,
in 645 A.D., what was done about the Mikado was a return to the past,
but what was done in the way of spreading Chinese civilization was just
the opposite. There must have been, in both cases, the same curious
mixture of antiquarian and reforming tendencies.

Throughout subsequent Japanese history, until the Restoration, one seems
to see two opposite forces struggling for mastery over people's minds,
namely the ideas of government, civilization and art derived from China
on the one hand, and the native tendency to feudalism, clan government,
and civil war on the other. The conflict is very analogous to that which
went on in mediaeval Europe between the Church, which represented ideas
derived from Rome, and the turbulent barons, who were struggling to
preserve the way of life of the ancient Teutons. Henry IV at Canossa,
Henry II doing penance for Becket, represent the triumph of civilization
over rude vigour; and something similar is to be seen at intervals in
Japan.

After 645, the Mikado's Government had real power for some centuries,
but gradually it fell more and more under the sway of the soldiers. So
long as it had wealth (which