The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-12

fleet along 10 gain a respectful hear
ing. The shotgun, who was the virtual
ruler, looked upon the fleet, saw the
force of the argument and gave his
assent. There the immediate transac-
ton ended. Yet to the very large num-
her of small slant eyes that gazed upon
the spectacle the Yankee squadron was
like a revelation from another world.
They remembered; the memory grew
into an ambition, and the ambition into
an accomplishment.
The Japan Jnau- Perry saw was the
Japan that had existed for centuries.
The brown little people We're wearing
basket shoes and wide flowing kiminos,
IS their reVered ancestors had done for
no one but the antiquarians knew how
long. The samurai were fighting for
their petty lords with the same bows
and arrows and peculiarly shaped
swords that their fathers had used be-
fore them. The queer tubs of boats
darted out from the high and indented
coasts as similar tubs had darted since
the beginning of the Christian era.
The geisha girls in the odd little tea
houses courtesied and 1irted and sang
as other geisha girls had done from
time immemOrial Two hundred and
fifty noblemen, called daimios, having
at their head one whom they had elect
"
the titular mikado, like the Chinese
emperor of the present day, was a
prisoner who was only allowed to
speak to his fellow men from behind a
painted screen. There was little edu-
cation except among the chief men,
and their researches went into a sys-
tenn of learning so ancient that it's skin
cracked like the yellow parchments
that they studied. These Japs of a
half century ago were the most exclu-
sive of the exclusive. Except for an
occasional overrunning of Korea or a
fight with the Chinese, they knew next
to nothing of the outside world, nor did
they desire to know. Why should
they? Did they not inhabit the Land
of the Sunrise, the most beautiful
country on earth? Did they not live
in harmony with the traditions of
long and glorious past? Were not
their women fond and willing slaves
Were not their people comfortably
housed and clothed, and had they not
an abundance of rice and tea? Why
should they think of change?
All this however, was before the
visit of the strange American ships
The subjects of the daimios, in their
childlike wonder, did not know that
this thing marked the beginning of a
new era in the history of their island
empire. They had been touched by the
unreSttul spirit called progress, and
nevermore could they be content to
follow in the ways of their fathers
The American fleet went as it had
come, but the wonderful glimpse the
Japanese people had caught of a lar
ger world would not go. AS the smoke
of the departing men-of-war had van
ished over the horizon, so the old ia
pan was to vanish, and. compared to
the long ages of its past, almost as
swiftly.
Other vessels came, messengers of
peace this time, merchantmen carrying
strange wares. But the articles of
trade were not the only cargoes. Every
ship brought the tales of another civil
lization. The Jap mind proved fertile
soil for this new seed. Almost imme-
diately it took root, and in a few years
the land was overrun by new ideas.
Perry's visit was in 1853, and in 1868
came the revolution that placed the
present mikado on the throne in fact
as well as in name. All nations were
now admitted to the Japanese ports,
and the emperor at once began to lib
eralize his policy by calling around him
men who were advocates of the new
order. Most prominent among these
were Marquis Ito and Count Inouye.
From a warning theater of The retain
ers of petty lords Japan suddenly be-
came a united nation. Out of the idea
of nationality grew the conception of
q well defined national mission--that
Of being the leader of the orient in the