The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-06-09
A REMARKABLE Incident.

When King Kalakaua and his suit,
were In Japan in 1881. they met Mar
auis Ito aud Count lnuuye many times
On a visit 10 the old city OF Kyoto,
Marquis Ito told them one evening the
story of his, and Count Inouyes, 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 Satsuml
clan. 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
llsh 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:
well, our chief decided that Inou-
ye and myself should go to England
to learn navigation, so that on our re-
turn our knowledge would be useful
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
Inf hn
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
the others. The English sailors found
out we had money. and it was soon
gambled away from US. Not all, for
We kept two dollars carefully slowed
away in an old stocking for emergen-
ties. WAL ~ IaSt W SUI W i''h''h'
but nobody was there to meet us. 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
tn N
We tossed up who it should be. The
lot fell on lnouye.
YES" said Count lnOuye; Il was
never more frightened in my life than
on that wet night when set foot in
London and started of with one of
the dollars in my hand to buy food. |
had to be very careful so as to know
my way back. found bakers shop.
SO In ! went and pointed to loaf OF
bread. or course ! could not speak,
but 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
bread like wolves. Next day some OF
our friends came to look for us and
away we went. We were in London
about a year"
"And did you learn much navigation
in that time?" | asked
mo" said Count Inouye, mot very
we came to the conclusion that 1t 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 wish 10 London had a strong in
fuence 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
HtUDtHuDNS IHdl'lil pbN'l VI Ni' "a
ish people they could come 10 but one
conclusion. namely. that Japan must
cast aside the old traditions, and TAX"
on a new form of national life. It was
not the mobiles Of Japan, but the men
Of the clans who reconstructed Japan.
Marquis Ito and Count lnnuye were
representative, men Of the clans. Count
Inouye 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 demonstrating the political in
stitutions of Japan Is due in larg"
measure to the practical knowlcdg"
obtained by these men, who were com
PEELED by a mistake to work their way
10 London In the forccastlC Of ship