St. Paul daily globe., 1895-06-02
JAPANESE Discomfort.


A condition of excited unrest pre-
walls in that island empire Of which we
have recently heard SO much, and of
| which we actually know so little. The
japanese people as mass are intensely
excited over the peace negotiations
| with China If these are to stand, it
is probable that the cost Of maintain
ing them will be the fall Of the Jap
anese ministry. The people are in
dead earnest about this thing, nor can
we wonder at them. In the face of a
| world of scoffers they have achieved
the impossible. There was not one
critic of weighty judgment who dared
| to assume for a moment at the outset
of the recent war that China would
be conquered by Japan. The greater
| knoWledged. 1t was also well known
that Japan has made far greater prog,
| ress in the arts of modern civilization
than her ancient enemy. But the dis
parity of numbers was too great. Net
in modern times, where the long-range
! rifle goes so far to eliminate courage
and to make victory a mere question
of numbers, has anybody seen a tri-
umph won where the odds were nearly
one to ten. Everybody believed that
the enormous reserve power of China
would ultimately crush the life out of
Japan if the latter did not limit her
self to such advantage as could be
wrested from quick and successful
onset.
The war has been fought out on
terms of equality. Japan has met
China in a prolonged contest, lasting
through the most unfavorable season
of the year, and has vanquished her
completely on land and sea- No ma
ton could win such a victory without
being stirred to it's depths. None
could be expected to relinquish the
fruits of it voluntarily and cheerfully.
We know nothing in this country of
the tremendous forces that were born
! out of this conflict in Japan, and that
are now shaking the entire nation
| with vision of glorious destiny. The
spirit of Japan today is the spirit Of
Elizabethan England. 1t feels that
the world belongs to it, and sees itself
in the future the mistress and leader
of the Orient. To have its pride hu-
inflated and it's success dashed to the
ground in the croWning moment, ap-
parently without reason or necessity,
is more than the patience Of any ma
ton would quietly endure.
Imagine what would have been the
feelings of the people of the North, if
they had learned just after the sur
render of Lee at Appomattox that the
government at Washington, in re-
sponse to friendly remonstrances of
Great Britain and other nations, had
concluded to acknowledge the indie
| pendent sovereignty Of a certain por-
ton of the South! Not all their rev.
erential admiration for 1e great presi-
dent and the great general who had
conquered a peace would have re-
strained them from shattering to
atoms, by revolution if necessary, an
arrangement so hostile to their rights,
ttheir interest and their honor. The
comparison does not eXaggerate the
feelings Of the Japanese nation. 1t is
true that what they have given up,
or what their rulers have given up
for them, was a barren advantage,
and probably a source Of weakness and
of danger. Those who have watched
jsthe rise and fall of nations, and under
bstand that the preservation of strong
national feeling in every corner of an
fiempire is immensely more important
| to it than the extension of its bound
aries, believe that for Japan to as
sumo sovereignty over any portion of
Manchuria would have been a mistake.
They see in it diffusion and a weak
ening of the fine fervor of nationality
that has done, and is yet to do, such
great things for Japan.
But it is not the surrender of this
original condition Of the peace, but the
manner of yielding 1t, that incenses
the minds and hurts the pride of the
japanese people. 1t was done by di-
reetion of Russia, Germany and
France. 1t was done on their demand,
by their order 1t was done without
resistance Hurriedly, feebly and
readily, the nation which had con-
quered for itself the proudest place in
the East knelt submissively at word
of command from Europe. Nothing
more CALLING to national pride could
be imagined; and the pride of Japan