The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-07

marquis, and no stronger man could be
desired in the negotiations which are
| pending in China.
1t was Ito who framed the constitu-
] ton which has created new power in
the east; it was he who concluded peace
with Ii Hung Chang at the close of the
war.
Twenty years have passed since the
I Marquis Ito was wandering about the
! streets of East London in search of a
| bite of bread. He had come to Eng
! land with Count Inouye, now his right
| hand man, to study navigation. Even
J as youth the marquis was convinced
that western civilization was the only
possible salvation for China, and while
Still in their teens these two Japs came
| to London.
Not a word of English could either
speak, and when the ship reached the
docks nobody was there to meet them.
1t was raining heavily, and they were
hungry and alone in a strange city.
BY tossing a dollar in the air they
decided that Count Inouye should go
and seek food. Entering a bakers
shop, he pointed to a loaf of bread and
threw a dollar on the counter-for
which he got no change. Then, rushing
back to Ito, the hungry Japs ate up
the loaf like wolves, and kept them
selves alive until the next day, when
friends appeared upon the scene.
They learned little of navigation dur
ing their stay in England, but they
went back convinced that, in the words
of the count, ut was all nonsense for
Japan to keep foreigners at arms
length"
To-day the hungry Jap who slept all
night on an empty ship in a London
dock is the first man in Japan. Already
he has been prime minister-he was
head of the government during the Chi
nese war Resisting the attempt to in
troduce the party system as long as
he could, the Marquis was at length
converted by obstruction, which
brought about his fall, and he urged
the emperor to accept party govern
ment and invite the liberal and pro-
gressive leaders to form a coalition
government.
Count Okuma, the progressive leader
and Count Itagalki, the leader of the
liberals, united for the first time to es-
tabllsh the first japanese government
on English lines, and Count Okuma be-
came premier
Count Okuma is the only possible ri
val of Marquis Ito for the premiership,
and the rivalry may not exist at all.
Party lines in Japan are scarcely yet
defined and the only party govern
ment Japan has known was a failure.
But the count Is one of the strong men
of japanese politics-the Gladstone of
Japan, he has been called
The "westernizing" of the Mikado's
empire has not been accomplished with
out much suffering and tribulation, and
Count Okuma carries a stick which re-
minds his friends of bomb which
shattered his leg in 1889, thrown by an
anti-reforming Jap. He is a fascina-
ting man, whose brilliant conversa-
tional powers, according to an English
M. p, recall Mr. Gladstone, and he Is
said to have an intelligent grasp Of al
most every question of interest under
the sun
Like the Marquis Ito, Count Okuma
is warm friend of England, and he
believes strongly that the force of cir
cumstances viii bring England and ia
pan into alliance. He would favor q
reorganization of the army by Anglo
japanese officers, as the only check
upon Russia's advance on China. The
same warm appreciation of England
distinguishes the resigning premier; it
is, in fact, a characteristic of all the
great statesman of Japan--Ito, Yama-
gaia, Okuma Itagaki, Matsukata and
Viscount Aoki. the foreign minister of
the Yamagata ministry. The goal to-
wards which they aim is consistent
with the goal of British craftsmanship,
and there Is no reason why England
and Japan should not walk hand in
Express.