The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

;TIMES.—For the people of the last generation I
the world still contained a wonder. In the remote
East, beyond even the unknown regions of China,
there existed an Empire enveloped in impenetrable
mystery. ft was an organised State of high antiquity,
vast wealth, and advanced civilisation. It was in-
habited by a numerous population more than
usually intelligent, and yet not a living soul from
any foreign country was allowed to set foot on its
shores. This immense community was absolutely
secluded from the rest of the world like a huge
monastery. Nobody could gain admission to it, or
escape with his life if accident threw him near its
people. The Dutch alone of all the nations in
the world were permitted to enjoy a species of indi-
rect and distant intercourse with it, and this inter-
course was so. strangely regulated as to leave the
mystery more .profound than before. Once in a
year two Dutch ships proceeded to a certain rendez-
vous, where they were met by two ships of this
marvellous Empire. The cargoes of the vessels
were then exchanged, and the squadrons returned
to their respective ports. This was all that could
be known of Japan, and yet such was the in-
genuity of its inhabitants that their manufac-
tures found their way to our firesides, and left
a mark on our household vocabularies. The two
great Empires of the East gave names to our
commonest chattels, and we spoke of our lackered
wares as " Japanned," while we called our crockery
" China." Curious writers used to speculate on the
possible institutions or customs of this wonderful
State, and those who believed that the world held
no regions yet to be discovered amused themselves
by remarking that there was still a country to be
unveiled. The veil has now been lifted, and to
very strange purpose indeed. We have found out
what kind of an empire Japan is, and we fear it is
almost a natural consequence that we are at war
with it. Japan is more like China than any other
country, and yet very different from China. In China
the polity is absolutely monarchical, and there pro-
bably never was a State in which the monopoly of
power was more complete. But in Japan this result
has not been yet attained. There feudalism is do-
minant, and the distribution of power resembles that
prevailing in European kingdoms four or five cen-
turies ago. The singularity, however, of the case
consists in this—that a succession of institutions
can be traced, one over another, still preserved.
There are two Sovereigns in Japan, just as in
Merovingian France there was a King, and under
him a Minister who was more King than his master.
There is also a very powerful aristocracy, and the
Princes of Japan are as rich and as formidable as
the old Dukes of Normandy or Burgundy. Bat
this aristocracy and this double monarchy all exist
together, so that to get anything like a parallel
from European history we should have to compound
the France of the Childeberts with the France of
Charles VII. At the very time that a British
Minister is bewildered in his negotiations by " the
anomalous state of political rule in Japan," our
Admiral finds a Japanese nobleman enthroned in
an opulent principality, with a strong seaport, a
fleet of steamers, fortifications mounting the most
approved modern ordnance, and a 'luxurious palace
about 50 miles inland. The whole case of the war
netween England and Japan turns upon the pre-
tensions of the class to which this nobleman belongs,
the " Mamie's," as they are called, or the great
feudal' nobles of Japan, claim, it is said, the privilege
of having even a public road to themselves when
they chdese to travel upon it. On the 14th of
September last year Mr. Richardson, an English
man who happened to be in Japan, was riding on
one of the hip roads in company with two or three
friends when they encountered a Daimio and his
retinue. The retainers of the Prince fell upon the
party immediately, and Mr. Richardson was killed.
It was for this murder that Prince Satsuma was
called to account in the recent operations of our
fleet, and the case lies iu an unusually small corn •
oass. Tne Japanese Government not only acknow-
ledged the justice of oar demands when redress was
claimed, but proceeded to satisfy them so far as it
could. The apology which we required was
given, and the fine which we asked was paid.
But when we came to deal with the offending
Daimio our claims were eluded. The Prince's
Ministers argued that, though the Supreme Go-
vernment of the Empire might have given us
by treaty certain rights of traveling on the high
roads, these rights ought to have been subordinated
to the inalienable privileges of the nobles of the land,
and that though the casualty in question might be
deplorable in itself, it was but a natural incident of
the mistake made by the English party in confront-
iug a Daimio on progress. This view of the case has
actually found acceptance among the English in
China, for we read in one of their journals a serious
lamentation over the folly or perverseness by which
so fatal a risk was incurred. It is not alleged that
Mr. Richardson and his friends were doing anything
but what they had a right to do by treaty, or
that they conducted themselves in any way pro-
vokingly or offensively, except by meeting a
nobleman on the road. The only prerogative
which they infringed was the Daimios' preroga-
tive of monopolising a highway to the exclu-
sion of all impertinent intruders. When a
Daimio rides abroad other people should stay at
home, just as the " Arabian Nights " tell us that all
the inhabitants of Bagdad were ordered to confine
themselves to their houses when the Sultan's daugh-
ter was going to the baths. That is the claim ad-
vanced on behalf of the Daimios. Mr. Richardson,
it is said, was unfortunate in paying the penalty
with his life, but his own ignorance or hardihood
led him into the danger. It might very well be a
question whether the recognition of such extrava-
gant privileges as these could consist with that right
of residence in Japan which British subjects have
now acquired, but to say the truth we do not believe
a word of the argument. We do not believe either
that the Daimios could establish their title to such
privileges, or that as a matter of fact Mr. Richardson
was killed for infringing them. The Japanese Govern-
ment itself pat in no such plea for its feudatory.
The Ministers of Prince Satsuma do not venture to
advance it so nakedly as it has been advanced for
them. They merely remark that the Daimio found
his path impeded, and that his retainers accidentally
killed a person in clearing the way somewhat rudely
of the intruders, This defence would liken the affair
to an affray between Leslies and Seytons in the
High-street of Edinburgh or a faction fight in Ire-
land brought on by a fortuitous eollision, Lis need-
less, however, to observe that no such account. can
hold good of an onslaught made by a retinue ot 200
ruffians on three gentlemen and a lady. We have
no doubt that a Daimio expects people to getout of
his way; but the true offence of this unfortunate
party was that they were foreigners. That spirit
which for two centuries kept all the world out of
Japan still survives, as it would naturally survive
longest, in the aristocracy of the Empire. The fear
or hatred or jealousy of strangers which is found in
every barbarous race lives in the breast of the Japa-
nese Princes, and the detested. spectacle of a party
of foreigners induced the Damns and his retainers
to seize what they thought a colourable opportu-
nity o. f committing murder. They did simply what
the villagers of every Chinese hamlet used to do to
every foreigner they caught, what the tribes of
Central Africa do to all travellers, what the savages
of Hawaii did to Captain Cook. They set upon
the objects of their abomination to kill them, and
then, when they found themselves called to ac-
count, they invented the best excuses they could.
The Japanese Government is probably innocent.
The guilt was that of a noble far exalted above the
Sovereign's displeasure. We have reached this
Prince through the accident of his residence on the
sea, and we have punished him as far as we could.
It is to be hoped that the example will deter others
from offending, but the obligation resting upon us
is none other than that which follows us to every
settlement made in a barbarous country. We exact
treaty concessions from the Government, but the
Government cannot control the people, and offences
are given which leave us with the alternative of
quitting the place altogether or fighting for our
safety.
POST.—As the crew of a ship that is sinkin. g withi
sight of land watch the lights on shore, so id Polandwe
1: ow looking towards Paris. The
.Poles
hhiacvhe'can-
fear, been led to entertain expecta.tiontshow
hope that
not be immediately realised, and,.
they are waiting for the words. il
theirlir doom. They
is always strongest when despai;viistlioths aolrteerntoatiavne.,
nounce their salvation or sign
have, in fact, assigned to the Empen" o, the
tiae Frenchve Ir fr,ead:
a mission he is not called to
ect to treaties, it is
the three great Powers o
Russia has forgotten the resp
to
enforce the law of
not for one of those Pow undertake
r o
duer .
alive°
Powers
the
fr
treaties for t h
which u r-
same time, if the
nations at its own cost. A
pose of compelling
Emperor had deter he
eneodb s te
or
v iannt ce er foe
t e
he is, perhaps, of all the Sovereigns of Europe, h
least concerned in upholding, no other Power would
have been entitled to throw any impediment in his
way, As the Polish question now stands, France,
we takeit, is free to act upon her own inspirations.
_But, desirous as the Emperor may be, and no doubt
is, to carry out the enlightened policy he developed
in the liberation
Into
Italy, he could not fail to recog-
nise, and to take his most serious consideration,
the magnitude and
the difficulty of the problem that
has to be resolved in Poland. For our own part we
cannot help thinking that many of the difUcultics
which now beset this question might have been got
rid of by a more earnest representation of the prin-
ciples on which the three Powers based their protest.
We cannot accept the rule which has been laid down,
that, unless a Power is prepared to enforce its pro-
test by a declaration of w r, it ought to bate its
breath and. moderat€• or suppress ifs honest indigna-
tion, On the contrary, we have a!vrp understood