The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-21
A JAPANESE HERO
Prof. Ladd Speaks Before His torical Society on Baron
 Ii Ramon. no .Kami.
OPENED UP THE EMPIRE
In the Face of Great Opposition II, Put Through tho Treaty of '5S
 With tIe United States.

Professor George Trumbull Ladd spoke last evening boforo tho New Haven Colony Historical society at its building on Grove street upon the subjects "fIllono, Il Kamon-no- -Kumi and the Opening of Japan"
 The lecture was an interesting ono and opened the eyes of his audience to the patriotism and the home lfe of the Japanese as only one who has beer all eye witness in the orient can do 1t. If any conclusions could be drawn from tho professors lecture ono certainly would be that any hos tllo feeling between the descendants of the Sho-Gun and the United States ! does not sem to be expected.
 i Il on--no-Kami, of the lecture subject proved to be Japanese feud- al baron, who in the flftles of the last century did more to open Japan to the civilization and trade of the Occi- ! dent than any other one man. unless l it were Townsend Harris. who was the envoy of the United States in the ne- gotlatlons,
 Hikone is the city where the Baron 1 Ii Kamon-no-K Kaml lived and where
 to-day his memory Is treasured and honored like that of Japanese Lin coin, as the man who emancIpate l Japan from her centuries of conserva-
 tive seclusion.
 Professor Ladd gave a history of
 the negotiations in which the baron
 and Mir. Harris figured and which end
 ed In the treaty between their two
 countries which was signed on July
 20, 1858. The baron had to take the
 the responsibility for the action very
 greatly upon his own shoulders. This
 was because action had to be taken
 quickly and because the Japanese gov.
 ernment at the time did not realizt
 as well as the baron lid what m i'm.
 portant thing it was for the country
 that it open its ports and enroll it- self among the greater nations of thI
 world.
 The baron paid with his lifc for wha he did. On March 25. 1860, he wal
 assassinated at the Cherry Gate a
 IIikone by party of some seventeen of lis fellow townsmen, who stabbed
 him in tho back, filled with the sens'
 that they were doing a truly patriotic thing for Japan in getting rid of ; , man who had done so much to chang its century-old tradition of seclusive ness.
 Professor Ladd told of his lectur' , at Hikone on February 2, 1907, whei . he was over at lIikone. He spoke Ii , one of the schools on Education am
 Morality" Everywhere, he said, wa . shown the trucst sort of apprecla a ton now of the worth and deeds O . Baron II Kamon-no-Kami.
 f "They have the virtue of true chiv airy in some of those older and nor secluded towns of Japan" said Pro Q I.add in closing. "Chivalry is .h |, spirit that has carried Japan along a these centuries and when row 1t
 mixed with spreading Christianity th o result Is seen in men and women ( !, noblest character. Ii is my fondc: . hope that lt may never been quencho in that island empire by the sordic e ness of commercialism. l could no . indeed hope better than that here , America we might develope some sue spirit of chvalry."
 I In putting to n vote motion thu , Professor Iadd be thanked for his le' ture hy the society Professor Willi ', ton Walker the president, said him: Tt Is not given to many me ,,, to become honorcd and trusted ci i, Zons of two countries as it has heef the rare privilege of our fdloy =, townsman, Professor Ladd. If Is gi :, on to fewer men to acquire such T true affection for both countries :, he has for the United States and f' '. ,Japan am sure lt Is the least V <. can do to thank him for what he h.
 said He has told us of a Japane hero Baron II whose deeds entitle hi ~ to a high place in the regard of ca,
 of us and of the every day life of the peoples that ono only can who h ' had the rare chance to be taken in =, 1t as has Professor Ladd,
 :" The vote of thanks was unanir
 ous After the lecture the membe
 of the society went downstairs who z refreshments had been prepared al ,i where pleasant social hour "