ealise
the disadvantage under which he labours. He thinks himself as free as
his opponent.

Thus does it come about that the neo-Japanese myths concerning dates,
and Emperors, and heroes, and astonishing national virtues already begin
to find their way into popular English text-books, current literature,
and even grave books of reference. The Japanese governing class has
willed it so, and in such matters the Japanese governing class can
enforce its will abroad as well as at home. The statement may sound
paradoxical. Study the question carefully, and you will find that it is
simply true.

*****

What is happening in Japan to-day is evidently exceptional. Normal
religious and political change does not proceed in that manner; it
proceeds by imperceptible degrees. But exceptions to general rules
occur from time to time in every field of activity. Are they really
exceptions, using that term in its current sense--to denote something
arbitrary, and therefore unaccountable? Surely these so-called
exceptions are but examples of rules of rarer application.

The classic instance of the invention of a new national religion is
furnished by the Jews of the post-exilic period. The piecing together,
then, of a brand-new system under an ancient name is now so well
understood, and has produced consequences of such world-wide importance,
that the briefest reference to it may suffice. Works which every critic
can now see to be relatively modern were ascribed to Moses, David,
or Daniel; intricate laws and ordinances that had never been
practised--could never be practised--were represented as ancient
institutions; a whole new way of thinking and acting was set in motion
on the assumption that it was old. Yet, so far as is known, no one in
or out of Palestine ever saw through the illusion for over two thousand
years. It was reserved for nineteenth-century scholars to draw aside the
veil hiding the real facts of the case.

Modern times supply another instance, less important than the first,
but remarkable enough. Rousseau came in the middle of the eighteenth
century, and preached a doctrine that took the world by storm, and soon
precipitated that world in ruins. How did he discover his gospel? He
tells us quite naively:--

All the rest of the day, buried in the forest, I
sought, I found there the image of primitive ages,
whose history I boldly traced. I made havoc of men's
petty lies; I dared to unveil and