Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-04-07
LEARNED THAT RIGHT MADE
MIGHT.
Baron kaneko Of Japan Declares That
His Country Has Amazed the West and
Set New Standards for Beligerents.

His Country Has Amazed the West and
Set New Standards for Beligerents.
Baron Kentaro Kaneko Of Japan deliv-
cred an address Sunday before the Society
for Ethical Culture at Carnegie hall in
New York on the subject OF THE Effects
Of the Russo japanese War on the Rela-
tions of Eastern and Western Nations"
He said in part:
when we entered into this war II was
with a clear perception OF its vastness
and the knowledge that we would not be
fighting the Muscovites alone, but that
through their scandalous stories we would
have arrayed against us the sentiments
of race and religion No nation was ever
forced to such a heartrending conflict.
From the beginning we determined to
fight to the end as a civilized nation, that
the world might know that we were not,
the Russians said, a semi-civilized
people OF the East waging war against
civilization. l am happy to say that after
thirteen months of fighting we have not
broken a single international law.
we have followed closely the Red
Cross agreements of the Geneva Conven-
tion. We have stood for our rights, but
when our enemy has thrown down his
arms and come under our protection we
have treated him as considerably as
Christians could, and when he has been
wounded he has been nursed as kindly as
our own.
"'rhe underlying principle OF the Japa-
nese civilization is right, while that of
the West is might. In the struggle for
the survival of the fittest, when the West
and the East have met, might has
prevailed over right. The nations believ-
ing in the right have been crushed and
trampled on for fifty years, as in the
English opium war and when we had ac-
quired Port Arthur and the peninsula of
Liao-Tung I'm the war with China In
In xnffI TAaY- ara1
France. snatched away the spoils of
victory, and might made us yield without
a murmur.
we knew as long as ten years ago
that war was coming and prepared for 1t.
We had to become mighty to preserve the
right. We had in these national calami-
ties lost confidence in the Western
diplomacy. Five years ago we felt pretty
sure that We had acquired the needed
might but remembered the moral doc
trine OF our ancestors Beware not to
be arrogant, overbearing. imposing on
yourselves restraint and subduing your
emotions be polite and gentle, never pro-
volSing other nations. This was well
shown in the eight months preceding the
war in our diplomatic relations.
The proof of our civilization is that
we have been building up national char
| acter so that we are recognized as a gen.
| tlemanly nation. In 1890, when our school
| system. modelled after that of the United
States in many ways, was well developed,
an edict of the Emperor was read in every
school OF every grade. II is characters
tic of the Emperor and our civilization.
l will read from It.:
1T Is our desire that you. our subjects,
should be fiial to your parents and be
| kind to your brothers and sisters Let
| husband and wife live in harmony. Impose
on yourselves rectitude of behavior. Ex-
| tend philanthropy. Develop intellectual
| InaT ritx nd xrfrt ENnIf fha
with benevolent deeds. Stand by the Con-
stitution and respect the law. In case
of emergency enlist for public service and
show bravery.
This is the foundation of our national
character. The Emperor also issued the
following seven precepts for his soldiers
and sailors, They are read every morning
at roll call and at night with the going
| to bed. They are also attached to the
soldiers and sailors cots, that they may
read them on waking and before closing
| their eyes.
| "Ffrst-Be sincere and loyal and guard
! against untruthfuness.
Second-Respect superiors and keep
| true to comrades and guard against law
lessness and Incidence.
'Third-Obey the commands of your
superiors and never resist or disregard
| orders.
"Fourth-Prize bravery and courage
and guard against cowardice and timidi-
ty
"Fifth-Boast not of brute courage
neither quarrel with nor insult others.
"Sixth-Cultivate virtue and practice
| frugality and guard against extravaganza
and effeminacy.
"Seventh-Prize your honor and guard
against vulgarity and greed.
Il am happy to say that every soldier
and sailor has obeyed the imperial COM
| mand. Nations at war forget that they
are civilized-even Christian nations-and
Japanese soldier, even when fighting the
enemy, TO stand before the world a gem
tleman.
THE effect of this war on the japanese
is the confirmation OF the discovery that
to defend the right we must build up
might, and that there Is no use in send
ing diplomatic notes II they are not back
ed up with cannon and rifles.
THE effect of the war on the West
has been to rather disappoint certain
diplomats and certain states. Up to this
war the West has insisted that it was
the sole factor in civilizing the world
and has walked through Africa and Asia
as II it possessed the right carving out
territory. Japan has stood for Asia and
national independence. She has checked
the arrogance Of the Muscovite and the
Western nations begin to respect the
rights of the East.
"The effect on the Asiatics has been
really a shock. During the last fifty
years they have submitted to fate and to
the arrogance of the West, but now they
begin to see what Japan has done The
Anglo Saxon civilization, founded on per-
sonal liberty and freedom of religious be-
lief, will be welcomed in the Orient"