The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-06-07
A REMARKABLE INCIDENT.

When King Kalakaua and his suite
were in Japan in 1881, they met Mar
quis Ito and Count Inouye many times.
On visit To the old city Of Kyoto,
Marquis Ito told them one evening the
story of his, and Count Inouye's, mis-
fortunes in reaching England, nearly
twenty years before, and before the
civil war which destroyed the old con-
dition of things in Japan. Both Of
them belonged to the former Satsuma
elan, and the head Of it determined to
find out the sources Of the British
power by visiting London. He select
ed these two men, and they were fur
nished with letters Of credit on Eng
lish bankers. They went to Nagasaki
and took passage from that port. In
the April number of the Windsor Mag
azine, Mr.. Frazer, who has recently
recently heard the story from Marquis
Ito, repeats it. The Marquis said:
''WeH, our chief decided that Inou-
we and myself should go to England
to learn navigation, so that on our re-
in ousting the foreigners from Japan
We two young fellows accordingly
went to Nagasaki for the purpose of
getting a passage to England. The
only word Of English we knew was
navigation We went into the office
of the company, and when the man in
charge asked what we wanted, all we
could say was navigation Every
thing seemed all right, and away on
board the vessel We went. But what
was our surprise on finding that in
stead OF being passengers we had been
shipped as common sailors. All
through the voyage we had to scrub
the decks and work just the same as
out we had money, and it was soon
Eambled away from us. Not all, for
we kept two dollars carefully slowed
away in an old stocking for emergen-
cies. Well, at last we got to London,
but nobody was there to meet u.s. The
ship was tied up, everybody cleared
off, and we were left alone We got
very hungry, but as we knew no Eng
lish we did not know what to do if
we went on shore. However, hunger
made us decide that one of us must
go and buy something somehow, so
we tossed up who it should be. The
lot fell on Inouye'
YES" said Count Inouye; Il 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. 1
had to be very careful SO as to know
my way back. l found bakers shop
SO in / went and pointed to a loaf of
bread. Of course I could not speak,
but 1 held out the dollar to show my
Willingness to pay, and do you know,
that Englishman kept the dollar and
gave me no change. Anyway | got
back to Ito all right, and we ate that
bread like wolves. Next day some of
our friends came to look for us and
away we went. We were in London
about year.
in that time?" / asked.
mo-" said Count Inouye, mot very
much; but we kept our eyes open, and
we came to the conclusion that it was
all nonsense for Japan to keep foreign
ers at arms length.
The Marquis, as well as Count In
ouye, stated. after relating the Incl
dent to the King and his suite that
their visit to London had a strong in
fiuencef On the course Of events in
japan. Had they remained at home
they would not have comprehended
the enormous commercial and militia
ry power of Great Britain AS they
looked at the great fleets of commerce
arriving at and departing from Lon
don, and they gradually realized the
stupendous financial power OF the Brit
ish people, they could come TO but one
conclusion. namely, that Japan must
east aside the old traditions, and take
on a new form of national life. 1t 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
Inouve is one of the ablest statesmen
in Japan. while Marquis Ito is the wis
est politician.
The singular and comprehensive
ability shown by the Japanese Govern
ment in reconstructing the political in
n
measure to the practical knowledge
obtained by these men, who were com
PEELED by a mistake to work their way
to London in the forecastle of a ship