The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-17
THE NEW JAPANESE PREMIER.

HE NEW JAHAINESE PREM ER,
 Marquis Saionji belongs to an illus trious family in Japan, which may be compared with the House of Westmin- ster in England. In the past his family produced premiers or other important ministers of state, and had even mar riage connections with the imperial family. Consequently, his family Is re- garded in Japan as distinguished one. The present marquis himself has an honorable history. A lad of eigh- teen, he met the revolution of forty years ago, and gathered volunteers for | fighting in the cause of the Emperor, and even led troops for the suppression of the Shogunate army in Northern Japan. In those days the anti-foreign spirit was still rife in Japan, foreigners being regarded as barbarians; yet the young marquis, an extraordinary man fro his age, was already a devotee of European civilization, and fully &C., knowledged that the only way to promote Japan's safety and progress was to learn and adopt it. Thus at the age of eighteen he became a student in the Quartier Latin in Paris. He was one of the anxious spectators of the Commune disturbances there. He was a beloved pupil of the eminent French savant Acolas, and frequented the sa- Ions of the statesmen of the Revue des Deux Mondes" age. Yet his interest was not confined to politics. A little drama written by him in conjunction with certain Parsenne during his sojourn in France still remains as a proof of his literary talent, Thus, hav- ing lived in the French capital from his eighteenth until his thirty-third year, he returned to Japan a pure Parisian. To his great surprise, how ever his country was then in a most awkward situation. During his absence the clan government formed by the
 politicians belonging to the Satsuma and Nagato clans, which were espe-
 cially Instrumental in bringing about
 the revolution, was steadily establish
 ing itself. He saw @ revival, only in a
 different form, of the old Shogunate government, which was altogether foreign to his expectations. Indeed, he was greatly surprised, like Rip Van
 Wrinkle. A young man, fresh from Eu- rope and full of aspiration and en-
 thusiasm, he could not bear for q mo- ment to be a mere onlooker at such a
 situation He at once started a daily paper in Tokio, and proclaimed a liz
 beralism of European type in the midst of clan politicians. His attacks upon the government of that time were for midable and exerted a beneficial iu- fiuence upon the general public. Such
 procedure was, in fact, an extraordi- nary event in those days. Journalistic
 work was then regarded in Japan as of a very low kind, and those who en- gagged in it were mostly political ad-
 venturers who had no respectable posi- tion In society So the fact that noble
 man whose ancestors had married into
 the imperial family should become a journalist naturally evoked a trem-
 endous surprise. The imperial family soon noticed it, and an imperial com-
 mand made Marquis Saionji give up his new profession. Later on he became a
 member of the Imperial Commission for the Preparation of the Japanese lConstitution, and afterward was ac- creded as Japanese Minister, first to Austria and then to Germany. On his return to Japane he Joined the first Ito Cabinet as Minister of Education, and
 toward the close of the Chino-Japanese War became Minister of Foreign Af-
 fairs.-J. Takegashi M. F., in The
 Contemporary Review.