Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-08
WORCESTER
FRIDAY. MARCH $. 1879.


of the government and people of Japan to estat
lish intercourse with this country, thoughtful
people can see the future casting its shadow
before" The history of the foremost activide
and influences of the world in the coming cen
turtles, will be very different from thatof the cen
tures in whieh Western Europe has been s.
prominent. The United States filed with PEG
pie from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Pacif
0cean, Japan and some of the countries of East
ern Asia will take precedence of Europe ant
the Atlantic, in new and higher phase of civ
ilization, as well as in commerce. The Japanes
are convincna us Of both their capacity and dis
position to play foremost part and the wor
may see that country become as important il
Eastern Asia as England has been in Wester
Europe, while England may decline and becom
inferior in importance TO nations that will arts
from her colonies in Australia and Polynesia.
In the fifteenth century, America and the Pa
ci6c Ocean were wholly unknown to Europe
and Japan had been heard of only in vague
report of Marco Polo, who did not see that coun
try, and whose aecouat of China seemed labu
lJus to European intelligence, which could no
easily accept such additions 10 its knowledge o
the globe. In the sixteenth century, the Pa
cifc Ocean was known chiefly TO English ant
French buccaneers who waged piratical war
1aie against the Spaniards and their settlement.
in South America and Mexico. In those DAYS
it was a mysterious world of waters and islands
beyond the pale Of knowledge, but full of won
ders for the Imagination. Towards the close OF
the eighteenth century, the world found Capt.
Cooks narratives of his voyages vastly interest
fwr re. =.
knowledge of tn: PJcifc Ocean; but it was still
mostly a mysterious portion Of the globe even
when the first missionaries went to the Sandwich
Islands; and, until within few years, it seemed
that our whalemeu went about as far as possible
from home and civilization, when they sailed
"found the Horn" to spend one or two years on
the Pacific.
All this has changed, The Pacific Ocean is
becoming familiar highway of commerce
Steamers run across it between Asia and the
United States. We have opened intercourse
with Japan, which becomes constantly more and
more cordial and intimate. Japanese embassies
visit our country to gain knowledge of every
thing peculiar 10 our civization young Japan.
ese a,e in our schools and colleges among tho
brightest and most promising students; and the
people of Japan, 1t is noticed, are prompt and
skilllul in adopting from us whatever seems to
them useful to promote development and en-
hghtenment in their own country. Japan can
hardly fail to become one OF the best known and
most important countries of the world, before
the middle Of the next century. Our commune
cation with Eastern Asia will grow and extend
Its influence, until it becomes more important
than that with Europe We shall learn TO recol.
nize in the civilization of China and japan
something very different from ''outside barbar.
ism, and on both sides, the old notions on this
point viii undergo important changes. We may
become persuaded that our superiority to the
Asatic civilization Is not so great as we have
supposed; that the difference is not all superior
ity on our side; that we have something 10 re-
ceive as well as give.
The civilization Of Japan, at present, is not
inferior to that of England, excepting in what re-
lates 10 the application OF science to the indus
trial arts and TO the methods of commerce; and
in western Europe, this superiority is compar-
atively modern. On the other hand, the gen
eral condition OF The japanese is in many re.
spects superior to that of the people of Great
are more generally educated. They have ari
and literature which we can study with profit
for it will be an important gain TO us to get rio
OF the notion that they are an inferior people
not lfar removed from barbarism. There is
enough in Commodore Pcrry's account OF his
expedition to Japan, to remove this notion: and
II will hardly be allowed TO lineer in the mind
oil any person who shall actually reflect on what
is told in those great Volumes by pen and pen
Gil. But the japanese are now coming to u.s.
and we can see for ourselves what they are.
Doubtless we shall soon acquire sufficient respect
Tor them to translate and study their books;
and we may be sure beforehand that their his
toncal literature will add something important
10 our knowledge of Eastern Asia, for their re-
corded history goes back to the sixth century
previous to the Christian era
There will be a time when those who come
after US viii hardly be able to understand that
the old mutually scoTnful relations between the
unlike civilizations Of Eastern Asia and Western
Europe, ever existed; aud when the commercial
supremacy of Western Europe win be simply a
matter OF history, and will seem as strange and
distant TO those who read history as the former
supremacy Of the Phelicians around the Medi.
terranean now seems to us. The great change is
coming more rapidly than is realized by those
most concerned. 1t is now manifest that Japan
~~Wili become as active in promoting the change
and inauguraiing the new era, as any other ma
tlon, and share as largely as any other in the
great development and prosperity by which ii
will be distinguished.