The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-23
JAPAN IN EARNEST.

Wonderful Exhibition of Spontaneous
 and Universal Patriotism = Fully
 Prepared for War.
 But it is not with the foreign atti-
 tude in general. or Russian naval in-
 efficiency in particular. that I would
 deal in this letter. It is with the
 Japanese themselves. Since the night
 of February 3, when the government
 made the official announcement of the
 breaking off of negotiations with Rus | sia, the whole attitude of the nation
 seemed to undergo a complete change.
 For the people it brought an end, to
 period of suspense, which, if not as
 definitely displayed as it would have
 been in the west, was as acutely felt.
 To the politicians and the better in formed it was the culminating point of
 policy in which they had led public feeling for the past seven years-a policy which had nerved the hand that signed the treaty of Shimonoscki, and | a policy which had been the main-
 spring of Japanese statemancraft and the central idea of every Japanese
 mind since the fatal day when she
 realized that she was not strong to as-
 sert her right to the spells of conquest
 against a western concert. I am not living i'll a Tokio hotel. My present temporary residence is one of those
 desprised paper and-matchwood houses
 right in the heart of the native resident ial portion of the capital. My meals come from a Japanese auberge close by
 and every evening the proprietor att tends with a bill which in length of tis- sue would almost paper a screen, but
 which in total would not pay an hours
 hire to a London messenger boy. This man represents the average intellect of the Japanese town-dwellers, and when
 on the momentous Sunday I questioned him upon the situation, his first re- joinder was: Well, have we not all
 been preparing for this for seven
 years?" This is the sentiment of the nation. The concentrated desire of the
 whole people is accomplished.
 Japan is fighting for what she con-
 siders rights of conquest forclbly de- nied her. No end but has been sacri- feed, no difficulty but has been over- come to accomplish the present sit uation with a reasonable probability of success. I do not belive there is a single home. shaded though it be with the proverbial cherry tree, constructed
 as it may be of tissue and tinder, but has made it's monetary sacrifice, over and above the forfeit of it's manhood, to the national war chest. Such spon- taneous and universal patriotism is extraordinary; up to the present the immediate requirements to supply the
 sinews Of modern warfare have been found within the cluster of islands
 which in the east are topographically analogous to our own little cluster in the west Yet there have been people more, there have been nations-that have been foolish enough to believe that these people should not be taken
 seriously; that Japan is but one stu pendous dolls house-a people to be
 toyed with, humored when they are peevish, stbdued by threats when they are disobedient. Little has Japa- nese patriotism been understood. You have only to enter a Japanese kinder garden to appreciate what the love of country means to this nation. You open the first primer of the little child ren in lowered kimonas and you find on the first page. intermixed with the elementary dots and pothooks, the Japanese flag and insignia emblematic of those services which imprint upon
 the youthful mind traditions, to live up to which the present generation has girded up its loins.
 ir ooSy fbarafora 10 i,,oa yino fba intense excitement with which a nation with so much at stake, and self pitted against so powerful and overwhelming 0 foe. must have waited for the first de- velopment after the rupture. That it waited with some anxiety those who had access to the responsible states men know. Imagine. then, the relief when. within forty eight hours of the announcement that war had been deter minded upon, came the. news that Admiral Togo had in one swift blow changed the balance of naval strength of the belligerents in eastern waters. But. although one would have excused burst of enthusiasm which might have rivaled London's South African celebrations, yet there was no such outburst. Tokio took the news of it's initial success with dignity worthy of the spirit in which it had undertaken the arbitrament of war. There were certain demonstrations and congratula- tory displays. But viewed as a whole the nation. as represented by its press and the people of it's capital, rather gave evidence of relief from a painful uncertainty than a boisterous demon stration of delight. Later, as more de- tails came to hand, that attitude be- came more confident But throughout there has been evident a feeling of re- serve has moved all onlookers to ad- miration. It has not been the rejoicing of a child over a new sensation, but the grim satisfaction of the man of the world, who has reaped the raward of a calculation which has cost him labor anxiety and expense.-Tokio Cor. Lon don Times.