The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-02-08
ASC0RING FOR ENGLAND
Her Power on the Decline,
Claims Japanese Count.
PATRIOTISM SEEMS TO BEWANING

y
PATRIOTISM SEEMS TO BE WANINg
Field Marshal Yamagata's Former
Private Secretary Regards Recent
Anglo-Japanese Treaty as Evidence
Of English Decadence-'tAmertc1
sation Of the British" He Believes
Dangerous and Possibly Fatal.
1.-THE Anglo-Japanese alliance Is
mark Of England's decadence. The
suggestion that Japanese troops might
be required for the defense Of the Eng
Ish Indian frontier is suggestion that
could only come from a nation which
knows that its period Of decline has
begun"
This startling sentence is taken from
an article that has caused profound
sensation in England, says q London
dispatch to the New York American
and Journal It Is written not, as might
be suspected, by an irreconcilable foe
Of England, but by pronounced friend
of Great Britain, japanese, Count Z.
Hirosawa. he was educated in Eng
Land, took his law degree at Cambridge
with distinction and loves England as
his second home.
Count Hirosawa Is samurai. His
father was minister Of the interior, and
he was the private secretary Of Field
Marshal Yamagata, prime minister and
great general. His views are those Of
q close observer, and for once the west
erner is allowed to get peep at what
really Is going on in the back Of a Jap
anese head, and they have made the
Engl1shmen sit up and think over the
conditions Of his country as no article
appearing in a London publication for
years has done.
II notice." said the count after an alb
sence Of eleven years, "a distinct and
lamentable deterioration in the charac-
ter, habits and action Of the English
people. In the first place, there is
failure to appreciate the situation, the.
dangerous situation. Other countries
are not blind, and japan Is certainly
alive to the changes for the worse In
the administration and character Of
the English.
81 notice distinct decay In religion.
Religion and patriotism seem to be on
the wane in England. I do not speak
Of music hall patriotism, but Of self
surrender, such as we know It In ia
pan and as the Germans know 1t. l
think that this new worship Of mate
rial things is partly due to American
influence on English character. You
have become more excitable and mate
rialistc, and the intermarriage be-
tween many Of your peers and the
daughters Of rich Americans has help
ed to dethrone the old English spirit Of
simple faith in noble ideals.
"The Americanization Of the English
Is dangerous and may be fatal. Amer
leans may try all sorts Of experiments
without harm. There is plenty Of room
to expand. You In England have no
room to expand, and the conditions do
not exist here which would enable you
to try experiments Of socialistic and
visionary description.
II cannot speak much about the
navy, but l gather that there are sur
vivals from early days which will i'm
pede its powers on the day Of action.
But on the army can speak plainly.
Your Boer war and the failure to or
ganize an efficient military force ade-
quate to your needs have made q pain
full impression in Japan.
In your parliament there are far
too many men with axes to grind who
are bent on personal advantage. / al
lude to neither party in particular, but
generally there Is an Indifference to
the country which saddens me. What
will be the result In ten, twenty or
twenty-five years do not know. It
QepGQQS Ou 1eTuduS. 4AC hoASSA -
the only man in Europe who has ap-
preciated the real danger to the ma
tons Of the west Of the Japanese
renaissance.
1T is quite possible that in ten years
time Japan will be in q position to
build a Chinese feet, and that by the
time the anniversary Of Waterloo has
arrived we may be on the road to con-
sruct LOO battleships for ourselves and
China. You are ceasing to be a mari
time people, and as England Is forsak-
ing her maritime habits Germany Il
increasing and straining every nerve
to build up oversee trade and a strong
navy. Your public school spirit and
university spirit IS very good, but the
time has gone by when wars can be
won by pluck and spirit alone. ColH-
sion with a first class scientific power
will probably be disastrous to. Eng
land, far more 80 than your newspa-
x.N%o3ono ho1ioroO