Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-01

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| markable. He was polite and friendly with
| everybody In the towns and villages, sober,
| orderly, contehted and evidently loved his
| duty. Like the Turkish troops. those Of
| Japan live upon what would seem to US
rext to nothing. Cold boiled rice and
picked slices of the gigantic white radsh
called daikOn suffice them, at any rate I'M
| til they can get to a Dit of fried fish, and
| the delicate cup of weak tea-the universal
| beverage of the land-satisties their simple
| taste as completely as it does that of the
| rudest laborer of this strangely refined
| race.
| In Japan, unlike China, it is held noble
| to be soldier. and, indeed, a great num-
| Der of his majesty's marines are the sons
| of samurai-what we should call here
| ''esquireS." The police Of the capital and
| the imperial guard are in like manner
largely recruited from the upper classes
| of Japan, dispossessed of their feudal priv
| ileges by the revolution. In consequence,
these Japanese regiments are rot only
well recruited, but splendldly led by Off
GERS educated in warlike science; and the
| contrast is strong, indeed. between such
fearless heutenants, captains and colonies.
| who rejoice iE getting back to their old
| chivalric life, and the Chinese generals,
with spectacles and long silver finger nail
| guards. carried into the field in sedan
chairs with opium pipes In hand instead
| of swords.
AS for the Japanese navy. it has made
| its proofs III style which renders praise
superfluous. With her extensive coasts
| and universal habit of fish diet, Japan had
early come to be encircled with & hardy
breed Of fishermen and sailors, from whom
any government could pick superb per-
sonnet for warships. An old law used to
forbid the building of any boats or junks
beyond q certain tonnage, which was
meant to keep the people to themselves.
But all that exclusiveness became frankly
abandoned at the beginning of Meiji, and
when the present war commenced the en-
peror had a splendid, though unfinished,
navy at command, together with a whole
fleet n D.
anese companies, which he could put into
| reQuisition. In the society of my friend,
Capt. Ingles. who was chief adviser for
many years to the imperial Japanese navy,
saw and heard n my proof Of its effi-
cheney. There was a warshipI think it
was the Naniwa-came to mornings at
Kobe during the naval maneuvers there.
No sooner was she fast than an order was
conveyed to her to put to sea again imme-
diately. to take part in certain evolutions.
From the time when she took UP her berth
| until she cast off again and steamed sea-
ward the interval elapSfng was SO brief
and the smartness shown SO perfect that
my professional friend observed, I'VE
| could not beat that in the British navy!'
AS an example Of the thorough way IN
which Japan went to work to create this
feet-the dimensions of which she intends
| to double in the next ten yeorS-it may be
mentioned that, when commencing its es-
| adjustment. she engaged an entire Bntisn
| ships company, from the commander to
the cabin boys. in order to coach every
grade of her officers, cadets and companies
| in their respective duties Rank by rank,
| the Japanese thus nodded their own blue
| jackets upon our British type, while they
| so studied and mastered the arts of mus
kerry and gunnery that perhaps the best
| rifle carried by any troops is that invented
| by Col Murata for the army of his i'm
perial majesty, and the sanguinary record
| of the Yaloo river has amply proved that
| they know how to profit by the warlike
| productions Of ElSwick and of krupp.
China, 1t Is historically an old one and
twice at least before now, the hi no maru
the ''sun-f1ag' of Nippon. has been carried
| to victory over the hills of Chosen. The
Empress lingo Ko-go successfully invaded
| that peninsula about the date when our
SaXonS first landed in Britain; and Hide
yoshi the dwarfish, six-tingered but ia
| nous Taikun. subdued and would have an
nexed the land but for his sudden demise
In 1863 AID. after a first disastrous at
tempt, to plumber the Japan coasts, that
renowned warrior, Prince kublai Khan,
made q descent upon them with many hun
| dreds of ships and scores of thousands of
| fighting men.
The memorable event is the Armada
story of Japanese history-and the .aad
has never forgotten its perils or its glories
at that epoch. Aided by a mighty typhoon,
the islanders managed to Shatter and as
perse the argosy of the Chinese conqueror,
and cut off thousands of the invaders
heads, after the barbarous fashion toward
prisoners then prevailing, which China
would stin fellow, though Japan has long
ago adopted the Geneva cross, and aston
ishes her pig-tailed enemies by tenderness
and humanity toward the wounded and
captives. A nobleman of ancient lineage
brought to me, when in Japan during 1889,
very curious painting of kublai KhanS
invasion and defeat, which had been exc
cuted some two or three generations after
the battle. 1t was done with much skill
and spirit upon thin leather, and extended,
| when unrolled, to a length of many yards,
while attached to 1T was faded silk flag
of the Tartars, and a wiSp of horsetail
from a Tartar banner. might have bought
the relic, and, indeed, greatly wished to be
come its poSSeSsor, for nothing was more
interesting than thus to behold faithfully
depicted the soldiers Of ''Xanadu,' and the
battalions of the early Japanese emperors
in their manner as they lived But
perceived 1T was a veritable BayeuX tap
estry for Japan, and therefore sent the
owner with it to the palace, where 1 be-
lieve his imperial majesty was pleased TO
purchase the antique scroll for his own
archives at a very gracious price indeed.
1 have alluded, however, to HiGeyoShi,
Kublai Khan and the Empress lingo not
to go into the annals of Corea, but merely
to indicate that this International feud
between Japan and China is one of very
long standing, and that Corea has been
ofttimes before bone of contention. There
are ignorant observers OF the present en-
traordinary Asiatic episode who talk and
write as if Japan, in her Few strength,
had looked about for a likely enemy ind
quite by accident in the Chinese court and
the Corean question. The proclamation CT
the Chinese emperor at the outbreak Of the
war, when he called his enemies ''vermin"
Violin, and commanded, a little too lightly,
! their "extirpation," should teach a better
insight. 1t was an old and inevitable
quarrel.
War is terrible evil. and 1 myself am
lust as sorry for those who have suffered
on the ChinesS on the Japanese side. But
very little pity is due to the nandarins. the
officials and the worthless court Of the un-
wieldy middle kingdom. Statesmen nat
ural1y desire to see some sort of govern
ment survive at Picking, and reasonably
dread the chaos which may follow if the
Manchu dynasty should collapse, and three
hundred ard fifty millions of mankind be
temporarily without an authoritative head.
But the utter feebleness and failure which
China has eXhihited-the disgraceful in
competence of her officers and the coward
ice of her soldiers and sailors, is the con-
demnation written large of the miserable
central government first OF ALL and then of
a civil and social system which, if it does
disappear, did not deserve to survive. In
der the cruel, corrupt and barbarously oI-
portunist regime of Picking, founded as it
has been upon the immoral moralities of