that through the east travelled through India, Thibet, and China, culminating in the Manchoo Court of Peking. The moral world is also a magnet with its two opposite poles on the opposite banks of the Pacific, the democratic, aggressive, inductive America, and the imperial, conservative, and deductive China. There have been constant attempts for the union of these magnetic currents. Grander tasks await the young Japan, who has the best of Europe and the best of Asia at her command. At her touch the circuit is completed, and the healthy fluid shall overflow the earth!" In fact, it seems not improbable that the nation which, having from ancient times imbibed and assimilated the elements of Oriental civilization, has been swallowing and digesting Occidental civilization, may produce a new and strong tissue. It is, therefore, argued with no little force that "to reconcile the East with the West: to be the advocate of the East, and the harbinger of the West: this we believe to be the mission which Japan is called upon to fulfil.” To most persons, undoubtedly, this conception of the future of Japan appears to be teeming with national vanity. And, indeed, it cannot be denied that New Japan is extremely egotistic. She views with evident self-gratulation the astonishing progress she has made, and believes herself capable of even more wonderful transformations. And surely, when we contemplate the history of the past fifty years, and consider the remarkable facility with which Japan has metamorphosed herself, we need not wonder that she is confident or even boastful. To those conversant with this people, their capabilities, and possibilities, the above forecast of Japan's future seems to photograph, with some exaggerations, the natural and not altogether improper self-confidence and reliance of an able, growing, and independent nation, which has shown an inexplicable power of assimilating the various and diverse elements of civilization. Even a foreigner has so much confidence in the grand future of Japan that he expressed himself in the "Atlantic Monthly" (June, 1892) in the following strong language: "In bringing to pass the fusion of eastern and western types, which . . . shall create in both hemispheres a far more rounded civilization than either has ever known, Japan has the inestimable privilege of becoming our most alert pioneer. Through her temperament, her individuality, her deeper insight into the secrets of the East, her ready divining of the powers of the West, ... it may be decreed in the secret council chambers of destiny that on her shores shall be first created that new latter-day type of civilized man which shall prevail throughout the world for the next thousand years." But while we may not, perhaps, be fully warranted in such sanguine expectations, we cannot help being impressed with the fact that the prospects of Japan are unusually bright. She slept for 250 years while the Occident was moving rapidly onward in the path of civilization, and she must now hasten to catch up. But she can avoid the pitfalls into which the others, now and then, here and there, have fallen, and by which they have been delayed. She can profit by the mistakes, by the costly experiences, of those who preceded her along the rough road. She must move quickly to make up for lost time, but not too rapidly; she must "make haste slowly." She can never go back, except to ruin and death. She has stepped into the path of progress forever. She must discard all things, whether manners, customs, letters, political forms, superstitions, moulds of thought, or anything else which tends to retard her onward movements. But it is sincerely to be hoped that even the demands of modern progress will allow her to retain much of that grace and charm, of that quaint simplicity, of that light-hearted and merry nature, all of which characterize the Japanese. We believe in Japan. We are confident that she has powers, both patent and latent, which will enable her to achieve still greater successes than she has yet accomplished. We have had our "blue spells," when, for this or that reason, we felt discouraged over the apparent failure of some movement •for reform; but in most instances we have eventually seen success crown the effort. With reference to political affairs F. V. Dickins has well expressed it: "There is a silent strength underlying the sound and fury of Japanese politics which will enable the country to weather much worse storms than any that threaten it." 1 Therefore we reiterate that we have confidence in the future of Japan and the Japanese. We repeat that their achievements up to date are a 1 "Life of Sir Harry Parkes." guarantee of continued success in the future. We dare prophesy that they will yet display wonderful transformations in their development. We feel perfectly warranted in applying Vergil's line, Hos successus alit; possunt, quia posse videntur, which Conington translates into two verses, "These bring success their zeal to fán, THEY CAN BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY CAN." |