“7. A large and increasing number of translation societies are being organized in Shanghai, the principal object of which is to get into circulation books on Western learning. The significant fact is that the large majority of them are translated from the Japanese rather than European languages, because, as they say, the Japanese have already selected the best, and they wish to profit by their experience. Books on Political Economy, General Science, Agriculture, Pedagogics, Ancient and Current History are now commonly on sale in Chinese bookstores, most of which are advertised as having been adapted from the Japanese.”
There is yet another country which is feeling the influence of Japan; and that is Siam. No doubt much of this increased interest in “things Japanese” may be attributed to the recent visit of the Siamese Crown Prince to Japan. He is having a Japanese building constructed for himself; and the king is to have a Japanese garden and house added to the grounds of his palace. The trade between Japan and Siam is not yet very extensive;[182] but it is capable of considerable expansion. Siamese boys and girls have begun to resort to Japan for educational advantages; so that, in more senses than one, Japan is coming to be the teacher and leader of Siam.
But there is another phase of the Far Eastern situation that demands close attention. The United States has definite and direct interests of several kinds in Japan, Korea, China, and Siam; and she must maintain these at all hazards. Through the possession of Hawaii, Guam, and particularly the Philippines, she has become a Pacific Power, more than ever concerned, and directly, in Oriental politics. The advent of the United States into that field was hailed with joy by the Japanese, who have the utmost confidence in our international policy.
In view of the fact, therefore, that the United States, by virtue of providential necessity, must be reckoned as a factor in Oriental politics, and cannot herself ignore such responsibilities, there is only one course open, only one policy to be pursued. It is most clearly our duty as a nation (passively, if possible, but actively, if necessary) to support the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in its efforts in behalf of the nations of Eastern Asia. The union of the greatest nations of Europe, America, and Asia in a complete Anglo-Japanese Alliance would make a “triple alliance” practically invincible.
There are two rival interests contending for mastery on the other shore of the Pacific Ocean,—Russia and Japan. Toward the former we must feel gratitude for her attitude toward us when our Union was in utmost peril; but that sentiment is overbalanced by other considerations. Toward the latter we have an imperative duty, as toward a protégé, because it was America who started Japan on her present career and must acknowledge the responsibility to assist her in every laudable purpose. And certainly her aims in the Far East coincide with ours and with the dictates of civilization. The supremacy of Japan in Eastern Asia means far more for America and American institutions than does the domination of Russia. Japan to-day enjoys rights unknown in Russia: social freedom, political privileges, representative institutions, local self-government, intellectual liberty, freedom of assembly and of the press, and religious liberty. Japan is already far in advance of Russia and, in many respects abreast of Germany, in civilization. And, as “Japan holds the key of the Far Eastern position,” she is our natural ally. Dai Nippon banzai—“Long live Great Japan.”
But let us now revert again to the Japanese writer quoted near the close of the first chapter. With a reminder of the ever westward course of empire, he pens a paragraph so bold and suggestive that it is worth transcribing:[183]—
“Two streams of civilization flowed in opposite directions when mankind descended from their primitive homes on the table-land of Iran or America. That towards the west passed through Babylon, Phœnicia, Greece, Rome, Germany, England, and culminated in America, while 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.”