on,
self-contained and self-satisfied, that some persons, like the young
naval officer from whom I have quoted, gravely affirm to have been
steeped in barbarism until it came under Western influences and went
in for frock-coats and silk hats for the men, Paris costumes for the
women, and an Army and Navy on European lines. If these be the factors
which constitute civilisation I admit that Japan has only recently
been civilised. Being of opinion, however, that civilisation does not
consist in costumery, but is a refining and educating influence, I
prefer to regard Japan as a country of more ancient civilisation than
Great Britain, which has of recent years determined to tack on to that
civilisation some Western manners and customs and facilities. Many of
Japan's greatest thinkers, a few Western philosophers who can look
beyond a costume, the telegraph or the telephone, are strongly of
opinion that in the process of modern development Japan has not
improved either morally or materially, and that, regarded through the
dry light of philosophy, her pretensions to be considered a highly
civilised nation were greater half a century back than they are at the
present moment. Upon that matter my readers must form their own
opinion. It is a question, the answer to which largely depends upon
the point of view from which it is regarded and the factors taken into
or left out of account.

In the first year of the Meiji (1868) the Emperor, in an edict, laid
down clearly and concisely the lines on which he and his advisers had
determined that Japan should for the future be governed. "The old
uncivilised way shall be replaced by the eternal principles of the
universe." "The best knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so
as to promote the imperial welfare." "The eternal principles of the
universe" is a resonant phrase needing interpretation. The rulers of
Japan to-day, if they were interrogated on the subject, would probably
reply that the record of Japan for over thirty-eight years past is the
practical interpretation of the Emperor's cryptic utterance. Be that
as it may, the ink was hardly dry on the Imperial edict before Japan
laid herself out with earnestness, not to say enthusiasm, to carry
into effect the principles enunciated in the edict. The whole country
was quickly in a positive ferment of energy. The brightest intellects
among its youth were despatched to foreign lands to acquire knowledge
and wisdom to be applied at