The Portland daily press., 1899-07-06
TWO JAPANESE ABROAD.

fpaciiio Commerolai Adver,,s.- !,


When King kalakaua and his suite
were In Japan In 1851 they met MARQUIS
Ito and Count Inouye many times. On a
visit to the old city Of Kioto, MARQUIS TITO
told them one evening the, story of his
and Count IRouye's misfortunes i'm reach.
Ing England, nearly twenty years before
and before the Civil war which destroyed d
the old condition Of things In Japan.
Ruth Of them te.ongei to tie former
Satsuma clan. AMI the head Of Il detr-
mined to find out the sourcss OF the Brit.
isa power by visiting Loadon. He select
ed these two men, and they we're fur-
nished with letters OF credit on English
bankers. They went to NagasakI and
took passage from that port In the
April number Of the Windsor Magazine.
MIR. Frazer, who has recently heard the
story from Marquis Ito, repeats 1t. The
Marquis said:
We'll our chief decided that Inouye
and myself should go to England to learn
navigation, 50 that Ton Jour return our
knowledge would be useful in oustinv the
foreigners from Japan. We two Young
fellows accordingly went to Nsgasaki for
the purpose of getting passage sto Enn-
land. The only word Of English we
knew was navigation We went intostne
office OF the company, and when the ma n
In charge asked what we wanted, all we
could say was navigation Everything
seemed all right, and away on board the
vesselswe went. But what was -four sur-
prise on finding chat instead Of Being pas
sengers We had been shipped as common
sailors. All through the.voyare we had
TO scrub the decks and work Just the same
as the others. The English sailors found
out we had money, and it was soon gam
pled away from us. Not all, for we kept
two dollars carefully slowed away in an
old stocking for emergencies. Well. at
last we got to London, but nobody was
there to meet us. The ship was tied up,
every body cleared of, and we were left
alone We got very hungry, but as we
Knew no English we did not know what
to do II We went on shore. However.
nuuker made US decide TINT one Of us
must go ana buy something somehow, go
We tossed up who IL should be. The lot
fell on Inouye.''
"Yes," snid Count Inouye; ssI was
never more frightened in my life than on
that wet night when set foot in London
and started off with one of the dollars in
my hand to buy food. | mad to be yery
ka IL
iound bakers shop, so In went and
pointed TO leaf Of bread. OF 90 urse, l
could not speak, but held out the dollar
TO show my willingness to pay, and do
you know. that Englishmau kept the dol
lar and gave me no change. Anyway.
gos pack to Ito all right, and we ate that
bread ike wolves. Next day some of our
friends came to lock for us and away we
went We were in London about a year. -
ana did you learn much navigation in
that time" asked.
No, said Count Inouye, "not very
much; but We kept our eyes open, and we
came TO the conclusion that 1t was all
arms length.
The Marquis. as well as Count In ouye.
stated, after relating the incident to the
King and his suite, that their visit TO
London had strong influences on the
course OF events in Japan. Had they re-
manned at home they would not have
comprehended the enormous commercial
and military power of Great Britain.
AS they lo> ked at the great fleets OF COM
merce arriving at and departing from
London, and they gradually realized the
ssupendous financial power of the British
people. they could come to but one con-
clusion, namely, that Japan must cast
aside the old traditions and take on new
form OF national life. II was not the
mobiles of Japan, but the men Of the clans
who reconstructed Japan. Marquis
Ito and Count Inouye were representative
men Of the clans. Count Inouye is one of
the ablest statesmen in Japan, while
Marquis Ito is the wisest politician.
The singular aud comprehensive ability
shown by the Japanese government in
the tpolitical institutions
Of Japan is due in largo measure to the
knowledge obtained by these
men, who were compelled by mistake to
work their way to London in the forecas.
tie Of ship.