The Express.
London, England, 1863-01-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3.

Is the present state of Japan considerable
interest attaches to the lecture on that country
delivered at Leeds this week by Sir RUTHERFORD
ALoocx, her Muserv's Minister to the Court of the
%moots. Few men living have had so much oppor-
tunity as Sir Rxrritearoan of becoming acquainted
with the Japanese, and though his opinion of
them is not to be received implicitly, and espe-
cially when there may appear grounds to chal-
lenge it, yet it must always be deserving o: high
consideration and respect. In reply to Mr. BAINES
and without giving any decided opinion as to how
far such a course was justifiable, he said that
Europeans " had forced themselves upon the
" Japanese : they had begun by force, and if
" they wished for commerce they must
" establish it by force. If they did not wish for
" commerce at that price, then they should be
" consistent, and withdraw from the Japanese
" Empire." Coming from such an authority this
is • very important statement, and not the less so
because in one particular its strict accuracy is owl
to question. However it may have been wids the
Russians, certainly neither the English, Dutch,
nor French treaties with Japan were obtained by
any open use, or even threat, of force, and it is
not likely that this country would have consented to
the employment of any such means. At the same
time, however—and this was doubtless Sir
RUTHERFORD'S meaning—there are indirect, irre-
sponsible ways of threatening resort to force :
and the attack made upon China just before Lord
Ewu demanded a treaty at Yedo, together with
the presence of a large naval force at Japan or
in its neighbourhood, might easily have been
understood by the advisers of the Taicoox as
amounting to more than a mere moral demon-
stration.

Even if this country had openly employed force
in opening up Japan, that would by no means
require it, in order to be consistent, to employ
further force for the make of creating commerce,
when it finds that commerce does not follow in
the natural coarse of events. The circumstances
of Japan were very peculiar, for foreigners were
so entirely excluded that it was difficult to say
what might happen were that outer barrier broken
down ; but the case is very different now that the
experiment has been tried, and the breach made
has disclosed only more serious barriers bel,,nd.
At this date we actually find ourselves further
off from intercourse with the Japanese than when
Lord &GL' landed at Yedo, and those who are
moat urgent for what is celled an " energetic "
policy confess that nothing will create commerce in
Japan except the destruction of the power of the
feudal chiefs—that is to say, of the whole existing
political and social organization of the country.
If everything seems to point to Sir Rtrrwaaroan
Atcoca's opinion, that commerce with Japan can
only be established byviolent means, it is well worth
our while to inquire what amount of effort will pro-
bably be required for that end. Setting aside at
present the serious political and moral questions
thus raised, it is obvious that we shall have to
deal with a brave people, more indifferent to
death than almost any other in the world, in a
state of very high organization, if not 0! civiliza-
tion, completely under the command of their
chiefs, fond of fighting, and well armed.
More than four years ago, Captain SHCILARD
°snow; said, in his "Cruise in Japanese Waters,"
" A Russian officer who was staying at Nagasaki,
" and who had seen much of Japan, spoke of the
" perfect military organization of the empire in
" the warmest terms. From his description, the
" entire population formed one complete army, of
" which every town, village, and hamlet might be
" said to be companies or section." Since that time,
we are told, the Japanese have been extreme'y active
in studying European drill and filling the country
with European arms. It is long since the retainers
of the principal Daimios have been furnished with
Sasses rifles, bayonets, and Cutr's revolve-s ;
and these weapons are even manufactured in the
country itself. Their missions to America and
Europe have been busily engaged in studying the
latest improvements in warfare, having been
allowed to do so on the supposition that
that would tend to frighten them. Their country
is as hilly and well wooded as Virginia, while it is
more mountainous. Almost every step made upon
it might be contested by very ordinary troops or
by guerillas, and no security for an invading army
could be obtained against men so reckless as the
Japanese are.

It is in these circumstances, aphid twenty
millions of s courageous, proud, and organized
nation, that some people talk of using force, as
they would of punishing a few Borneo pirates or
Papuan cannibals. The last China expedition
would be nothing compared with a Japanese war.
Instead of the rusty jingalls, bows and snows, and