Evening star., 1936-03-22

most revered of the imperial line
Saionji. who is the last of those re-
sponsible for the marvellous progress
of Japan during the last three-Quar-
terS of a century All this they did,
or attempted. in the name of patriot
ism! 1t is no wonder that the West
ern mind is confused and stunned.
A substantial proportion of the peo-
pie of Japan, however. accepted the
act as patriotic. They might have
wondered whether the men concerned
we're misguided. but at the same time
they were thrilled with their courage
1t takes no courage. to be sure, to call
an old man out of bed at night and
shoot him: the courage comes in being
willing TO sacrifice oneself, punish
ment being certain, in pursuit of an
ideal. At this moment there was real
danger that what had happened would
play into the hands of the military
that a wave of superpatriotiSm would
promote the formation of a military
government fashioned on Fascist lines.
hctuscu 10 ODty Emperor.
And then-fortunately, I believe,
for Japan and for the World-the ac-
tors in the tragedy did not live up to
what was expected of them; they did
not exemplify the Samurai traditions
of loyalty and obedience They were
commanded by the Emperor to return
to their barracks. They refused, and
by their refusal they became rebels.
Because they failed to obey an i'm
perial command they were traitors and
should have committed hara-kiri
With one exception. they did not do t.
Thus they denoted themselves to the
status of adventures. Heroism de-
generated into futility. People began
to realize that the nation had lost
some of its greatest and most useful
men: and, also, that the so-called
patriotism of those in revolt against
the constituted authorities was not
strong enough to carry through to the
bitter end. The danger of successful
military coup d'etat was over.
There were some tense hours in
Toxic before the trouble fiattened
out. There was danger to civilians
since the rebels were intrenched in
the prime minister's residence, in the
heart of the city. The American Am
bassador was advised that it might be
wise to evacuate the embassy, but Mr..
Grew sensibly said that he was en-
tirely confident that the government
could ord vyOIt1I Yorot ant I,ir.,
There seemed to be some danger, if
force had proved necessary, that loyal
troops would refuse to fire on their
misguided brothers, since no one part
of the Emperor's army wants to at
tack any other part. There was re-
ported even to be danger that the
navy might attack the army, so in
censed were they that Admiral Okada
had been killed. His not altogether
dignified resurrection did away with
the danger of this conflict, at the same
time that it made the perpetrators of
the outrages look little foolish. But,
dangerous as these elements were, the
very fact that they were conflicting
elements should have made clear to
those who listened to the stories of
military dictatorship, of renewed at
tacks in China, of the imminence of
war with Soviet Russia, that these
scare stories were put out by some
propaganda factory.
Shanghai Sensation Factory.
1t is important, also, to remember
where these scare-heads originated. 1t
is well known that Vienna was the
fountainhead of all the amazing post
war rumors of Europe. If we read
that the bolsheviki have taken Paris
or that the King of Ruritania had
murdered his great-grandmother, We
took for granted that the tale was
dated from Vienna.
So today we ought to scrutinize
stories from the Far East, and should
ask, first of all, whether they .origi-
mated in Shanghai, the sensation fac
tory of the Orient. The Chinese are
good propagandists, and If they want
to create sympathy for themselves
abroad, one of the best methods is to
accuse the japanese Of preparing new
attacks in North China.
Almost equal as propaganda CEN
ter Is Moscow. 1t was from there that
the stories flowed out that Japan was
planning to attack the Soviet in the
Far East, that the murders in Toxic
had been conceived in Berlin. that
they indicated secret understand
ing between Germany and Japan, an
understanding aimed at Soviet Rus