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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-"TIMES.—For the people of the last generation '
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. It was anorgenieed State or 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 absoltirely
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. But
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
ebout 50 miles inland. The whole cast of the war
between England and Japan turns upon the pre-
tensions of the class to which this nobleman belongs,
The " Daimios," 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 choose 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 high 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 in an unusually small com-
pass. The Japanese Government not only acknow-
ledged the justice of oar demands when redress was
claimed, bat 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 travelling 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 lite, 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, bat 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 put 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 as affray between Leslies and Seytons in the
High-street of Edinburgh or a faction fight in Ire-
L.,nd brought on by a fortuitous collision- his need-
Less, however, to observe that no such account can
hold good of an onslaught made by a retinue of 200
' ruffians on three gentlemen and a lady. We have
no doubt that a Daimio expects people to get out 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 Daimio and his retainers
to seize what they thought a colourable opportu-
nity of 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 sot 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 wild.
The Japanese Government is probably innocent.
'The guilt was that of a noble far exalted above tiae
Sovereign's displeasure. We have reached this
Pritece through the accident of his residence on the
sea, as d we have punished him as far as we could.
It is to be hoped that the example will deter others
from offer: ding, 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 piece altogether or fighting for our
safety.
POST.—As the conv of a ship that is sinking within
eight of land watch
now looking towards Paris. The Poles have, we
he lights on shore, so it; Poland
fear, been led to entertain that
can-
not be immediately realise d• and, Nv"tts
expectations whhiche
alternative,oP
is always strongest when ci.gs eh are to an-
they are waiting for the woe'
(18hweir doom. They
nounce their salvation or sign
pair ishir
have, in fact, assigned to the E k 9 alone. If, as
uiet,or of the French
a mission he is not called to ttndeprta
due to treaties, it is
the three great Powers of Europe have averred,
Russia has forgotten the respect
the law of
not for one of those Powers to enforce
A
nations at its own cost. At the same time, if the
he observance f "
o treaties which
Emperor had determined to interfere for the
in upholding, no other Power would
pose of compelling
all
_
the Sovereigns of Europe, the
he is, perhaps, of a
concerneditted to throw any impediment in his
Polish question now stands, France,
leastha e beAs
as ethnet
way-
h ande
developed n o doubt
we take it, is free to act upon her own inspirations.
But,y
t 0 desirous
carry
out as
thethe
enlightened Emperor may
olbice,
in the liberation of Italy, he could
nise, and to take into his m
serious consideration,
the magnitude and the difficulty of theproblem that
has to be resolved in Poland.
For our own part we
cannot help thinking that many of the difficulties
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 war, it ought to bate its
breath and moderate or supprees its honest indigna-
tion. On the contrary, we have always understood

that it was the office of diplomacy to exhaust the refr
sources of remonstrance before war was resorted to ;
and, in the present instance, if the conduct of Russia
called for reprobation at all, it invited the sternest
and most uncompromising animadversion. The
wrong complained of was no common wrong; the '
breach of faith was flagrant and audacious; the lavr
of humanity and the law of nations were alike de:
fiantly violated. Such crimes were not to be washed
out with rose-water. Their enormity demanded the
application of language which could leave no doubt
of the disgust their perpetration had inspired. VII:
happily, however, truth and vigour were sacrificed
to procure an identity of expression, and the si7t
points were put with all the formality, but With
none of the force, of au ultimatum. Earl Russell
and Count Rechberg stood in the position of sure-
ties to Russia that the Conqueror of Solferino
should not break the peace of Europe, and their
identical action was rather a source of embarrass'
ment than an element of strength. If, indeed, the
three Powers had resolved to enforce their roper'"
strance, the combination would have been fortnie-
able ; but, as a friendly intervention, it failed t°
convey to Russia in plain terms what—as we cars
only answer for ourselves—the English Govera:
ment, interpreting the public opinion of Englalle:
thought of her treatment of Poland. The nationw
indignation was watered down into courteous ex:
pressions of regret; what was written in Paris Wel'
rewritten in London, and revised at Vienna; 1,0 u;
as was inevitable in such a process, the truth grer,
fine by degrees and wretchedly less. Of course 1"
was proper to observe the forms of diplomatic CO
respondence ; and when Lord Palmerston wag
.e`
the Foreign-office he found it possible, in writill
on this same question, to express the sentiments
the country he represented with force and sit);
quence, without deviating from the established
rules of official politeness. But, except for the W
itl3.:
ing the failure embalms for the benefit of poster
tr
this citicism comes too late. France and Englatta!,
we make sure, have had enough of these politic,'
partnerships with limited liability for some time politic,',
come. It is far more important now to look the re'
sults fairly and boldly in the face. The three Power°
have met with an exceedingly disagreeable check
Poland, hoping against hope, will in a few 1110/
hours learn that, for all save the moral support which
cannot help her in her actual strait, she has only t°
trust in the God of battles and to her own despair'
ing courage. As regards the repulse, or the insult!
or whatever else it can be called, all we have :
say is, that, as far as it affects England,
must bear it as well and as patiently as we el
able. It is, let us try to suppose, one of the 01
voidable accidents which happen every now led
then. But the less that is said about it the betteit
To talk of our good intentions is only rubbing st,
upon our sores. As respects Poland, however,
must own to a feeling in which shame parts"B
largely of indignation. We will not go so far as ,
affirm that the intervention of the three FoWere
has, oy protracting the insurrection, aggravated th
sufferings of the Poles and exasperated their cps
pressors; for though Russia is now defying t a.
opinion of the civilised world, she cannot for 10°,,0°
be indifferent to its distinctly-pronounced scoter;
Nor can we take it upon ourselves to advise the iri
surgents to lay down their arms and appeal to the
mercy of their conqueror. Far rather would t
remind them of that inheritance which no deer,'
can confiscate, that honour which is the soul A%
spirit of patriotism. While they guard that, Wad,
they may be defeated, they can never be destrcleit
The winter that has set in will no doubt test o,e:it
endurance, and try their heroism to the quick, v;,,
as tar as we can see they have to choose betsceo'a
cold and snow and the dungeon or the gallows/A-Oa
in such a position brave men do not hesitate. IV efj
forbid that we say one word to encourage a use'eatfy
and therefore a wasteful, resistance; but 11°°,,,
e
has, by the wanton barbarities she is practisTe.
made submission to her power a species of stli°l4o
Besides, is it for us to say that the Poles are net "to
best judges of their own situation ? Is it for e and
deny that to the eye of faith even the dark 00
that overspreads their devoted land may had to
silver lining ; or, when the winter is past, an her
grass is again growing green upon the graves of Peo
martyrs, Poland, if she can hold her ark togetherito
long, may not send her eagle once more WestW
with another result ?