Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1893-12-22
JAPANESE POLICEMEN.


There is no human being quite so
polite as the japanese policeman.
Not TO his fellow -countrymen, be it
understood; by no means. He regards
the bulk of them, probably, with a
good -natured contempt, for, in the
language of Mr. Chevalier, "he is a
gentleman by birth and education"
When, IN the pursuit of Western civ
ilization. says Pail Mall Budget, Japan
cast of feudaIism and put on frock
coat and a silk hat, thousands OF sa-
mural, or two-sworded retainers of
the old mobiles, found their occupa
tion gone. No more eXhilerating
little expeditions into the territories
of the neighboring princes were possi-
BILE and chopping foreigners into little
bits soon became a game hardly
worth the candle. The swords rusted
in their scabbards and finally were,
by imperial decree, discarded alto
gether, and helped few years later
to decorate the drawing rooms Of Bel
gravia. What was to be done with
these swashbucklers, trained to
militarism quite impossible in the
modern army mode ed on the French
pattern? The Government wanted
police. The samurai knew nothing
about the status of the British
"oobbyn or of the French gen
d'armes, so they enrolled in large
numbers, happy in being able to wear,
at any rate, one sword, and that
two handed one.
Thus it happens that the japanese
| police are the most aristocratic force
Of constabulary in the world. They
are a finely disciplined body small in
stature, but well drilled and expert
in the use of the steel-scabbarded
| weapon VIII ch bangles at their heels.
1t is to he foreigner-whether he
be the veriest outcast Of no-nation-
ality sailor from a kerosene ship, or
a sleek, moneyed globe-trotter- that
the essential politenesS of the Japa-
nese policeman is shown in all its ma
tive richness With the former class
the police of the foreign ports in
Yokohama, Kobe and Ma
! gasaki-have much intercourse, not
of the gentlest kind. Yet the scrim-
mage invariably has but one termi-
nation. The truculent son Of Nep-
tune is sooner or later handed over to
the consular authorities of his coun-
try-if he owns One-and lodged in
the foreign Jail, Perhaps two police
men will be engaged in the opera
| tion, perhaps twentY--that is a mere
detail What is important is the
| fact that once japanese policeman
makes up his mind to arrest any one
who is in his hands, he sticks to him
with bulldog tenacity- loses
his temper or his holland conducts
his victim to the lookup, if he be a
foreigner with the greatest urbanity
and much polite ceremony
There is naturally more room for
the latter quality when a respectable
| foreigner who breaks the law through
! ignorance . in question, but the
firmness and pertinacity are always
present. You are travelling in the
interior, let US say, and hear OF an
| interesting town or village which you
had not intended to visit. So, serene
in the possession Of a bulky passport,
you 20 Your first duty when YOU
arrive at the teahouse where YOU in
tend to pass the night is to hand your
| pass port to the landlord, who i'm
mediately takes it to the local police
0 Ger for inspection. You have just
COntrived a more or less comfortable
arrangement of the futon and en-
tered the stage of pleasant drowsi.
mes; which leads to slumber, wrn
the shoji is slid aside and your land.
lord, bowling low. introduces an
equally obsequious policeman, who,
hat in hand, blandlY explains that
you are outside the area covered bl
your pass ort, and thaJ he must
trouble yon to depart instanter for
the nearest place included in its hier
oglyphics Clothed in the might
ness which the Englishman com
monty wears abroad, you may ex-
postulate with the little man and
protest against the indignity and
hardship of being awakened in the
middle Of the night-may even
threaten to lay the matter before
your Minister. All is quite useless,
the little man has his orders, and he
will carry them out, by force if neces-
sarY; and the sooner you give up the
contest and set off in the 'rcksha
which the o1cer has thoughufully
provided for the Journey the better
are your chances OF getting to sleep
at ali.