In Korea with Marquis Ito

by George Trumbull Ladd

Will Japan prove equal to the management and the development of the internal resources, civil government, and foreign relations, of her weaker neighbor in such a way as to command the title to a righteous and genuine success? No one can answer this question with a perfect confidence. In many important respects the present is an exceedingly critical time for the Japanese Government and the Japanese nation in respect of the condition of its own internal affairs. The same thing is true of Japan’s relations to foreign nations. The army and navy deserved and won praise from all the civilized world for its bravery, skill, and moderation in the last war. And after the war terminated in a treaty of peace which, while it was at the time wisely made on the part of the real leaders of the nation, was exceedingly disappointing to the military and naval forces and to the people at large, the whole of Japan, with the exception of few and brief demonstrations of resentment, obeyed the wise counsels and injunctions of His Imperial Majesty, its Emperor. In obedience to these injunctions the nation turned quietly and diligently to the pursuits of peace. But in these pursuits Japan is by no means so far advanced, when judged by modern standards, as she was in the preparation for, and conduct of, war both by land and by sea. In manufactures and every form of industry, in trade and commerce, in the devising and management of the means of communication, in education, science, and literature—everywhere in these lines of peaceful national activity there is a great deficiency of trained and trustworthy helpers, even for the supply of her own immediate needs. In all these matters of national interest and import, the cry of her leaders is for the right sort of men. How, then, shall Japan at the present juncture supply in sufficient numbers the workmen to meet the needs of the hour in the reform and uplift of Korea?

Moreover, as the nation of Japan advances in these many lines, it is inevitable that it should meet the same difficulties, embarrassments, and dangers which in yet severer form are testing the leading nations of Europe and America. Trusts and labor unions—both likely to become the enemies of the Empire as they have so largely in the United States become the enemies of the Republic—are already growing apace. Even more, perhaps, than anywhere else outside of Russia and parts of Germany, insane theories of ethics, philosophy, and religion, are captivating the minds, and controlling the conduct, of not a few of her students and other young men. As in the United States, especially, but also in all the countries of Europe, the old-fashioned parental control and discipline of the home-life is being greatly relaxed. The over-estimate of so-called science and the conceit of modernity are working mischief in the character of not a few. And the life of the millions of the people is not yet lifted to the higher grades of morality and religion.

With regard to the right national policy toward Korea there has also been, as we have seen, a long-standing difference of opinion. This difference still exists, although it was for the time submerged by the tide of enthusiastic approval which welcomed the policy of Marquis Ito when, under the grant of liberty of action from His Imperial Majesty, with the consent of the Elder Statesmen, and the co-operation of Minister Hayashi, the Convention of July, 1907, was successfully concluded. Many of the military leaders, however, continue to favor a more punitive and war-like attitude toward any resistance on the part of the Koreans. The mailed fist, with its threats, rather than the open palm, with its promise of friendly assistance, seems to them better fitted to the situation. And it can never be expected that there will be a cessation of the desires and efforts of that crowd of Japanese adventurers, promoters, and unscrupulous traders, who are as ready to make game of the resources of Korea as are the smaller number of no less selfish foreigners residing in the peninsula but claiming the protection for their schemes of other nationalities. Of the two, the latter are in not a few cases much the more difficult to deal with in a manner satisfactory both to the honor of the Japanese Protectorate and also to the interests of the Korean people. All these schemers, as a matter of course, have scanty faith in the slow and patient methods of education, economic and judicial reform, which are deliberately chosen and persistently followed by the present Residency-General.

Such tendencies as those just mentioned undoubtedly make it more difficult to predict with confidence the success of Japan in the task of building up a strong and healthy national existence out of the so largely dead and decayed material furnished to its hand. But there are other tendencies, and other forms of influence, now existing and growing in vigor among the Japanese of to-day, which strongly encourage the hopeful view. The nation emerged from the war with Russia in much more sober and thoughtful frame of mind than that which followed upon the close of the Chino-Japan war. The enormous losses of life, and the heavy debt left upon them by the expenditure of treasure, tended to keep down the self-conceit and headiness which might have followed an easier victory. And in spite of the immediate disadvantages growing out of the fact that the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth fell so far below their expectations, and below what seemed to them at the time their just deserts, it was probably best in the preparation for their future enterprises and struggles to have the war end as it did. Of the sincere desire of Japan for peace with the whole world, no one who knows the nation can have the slightest honest doubt.

There has also been a great awakening of interest in moral problems since the Russo-Japanese war. This interest is not confined to any one class. In all the Government schools, of every description, especial attention is being given to ethics. This is the one study which is kept most constantly before the minds of the pupils, from the earliest stages of their training to the end of the graduate courses in the university. Aware of the unworthy reputation of its business men, in respect of business morality, the commercial schools, higher and lower, government and private, are placing emphasis upon the side of moral instruction and discipline in preparation for business life. The men, now past middle life, who were trained to the respect for honor and the feelings of devotion which characterized the Samurai (or Puritan knights) of the old régime, and who have been the inspirers and guides of all that has been best in the “New Japan,” are still, though they are growing old and fewer in number, controlling the destinies of the nation. They have the confidence of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, who steadily throws the great weight of his influence upon the side which favors combining these ancient virtues with a modern education. Among the men in middle life there still lingers, indeed, much of those influences and practices which have cost the New Japan so dearly, in loss of reputation and of failure to make good use of some of her choicest opportunities. But the new and better spirit is most conspicuous with the younger educated men; the boys and girls in the public schools are receiving a form of education and discipline which, considering Japan’s poverty and newness of resources, surpasses that of any other country in the civilized world. Moreover, the ear of the nation is open to religion as never before in its history. This increased feeling of need, and this higher estimate of the value of an improved morality and a more spiritual religion, together with the arousing and directing of the nation’s energies into the development of its material resources and its foreign trade, are the distinctive features of the national life of the Japanese at the present time.

There is another thing about the temperament of the Japanese which is often of most powerful influence, and yet most difficult for foreigners to appreciate. This is the force of sentimental considerations, which frequently triumph over those considerations that are regarded by other peoples as of more importance in practical affairs. Already, the sentiments of generosity, of pity, and of a sort of condescending kindness, have triumphed in the management of Korean affairs by the Japanese. The history of the relations of the two countries has amply illustrated this fact. These sentiments, which are certainly dominant to a large extent with the Residency-General, when reënforced by the growing respect for morality and religion, will—it seems fair to suppose—be even more powerful in the future.

Still further, Japan has successfully overcome many enormous difficulties, and has bravely and well met many most threatening emergencies, during the last fifty years. Over and over again during this period, her case has seemed almost desperate. But each time the nation has rallied and has climbed upward to a higher and better level in its national life. True, this has been due, to a large extent, to the wisdom and skill of the men who have thus far led the nation. And they are passing off the stage. That the younger spirits who are coming on will serve their day with equal courage, wisdom, and success, is our hope and our belief. Then there will be assured the third and most important class of the factors which, in their combination with the other two, will secure the new, redeemed Korea in friendly relations, in amity and unity, with Japan, her benefactor as well as her protector.

There is no essential reason why Japanese and Koreans should not become one nation in Korea. Whether this nation will be called Korea or Japan, time alone can tell. That it will be a happier, more prosperous, more moral and truly religious people than the present Korean people, there is sufficient reason to predict. Indeed, considering the brief time which has elapsed since the Convention of November 17, 1905, the improvement already accomplished under the control of the Japanese Residency-General, if not all that could be wished, has been all that could reasonably have been expected. The two peoples have learned to live peacefully and happily together, in certain places, both of Japan and of Korea, in past times. The conditions favoring their union, and indeed amalgamation, in Korea itself are to-day incomparably better than they ever were, in any large way, before. If Marquis Ito, and his sympathetic, effective supporters, at home and in the Residency-General, can be sustained for five years, and can be succeeded for a generation by those of like purpose and character, then the problem of the relations of Japan and Korea will have been solved. The present opportunity has cost both countries centuries of trouble, strife, and loss. That all the difficulties should be at once removed, and all the reforms at once efficiently be carried out, it is not reasonable to expect. But now that Japan has won this cherished opportunity, the civilized world requires, and the civilized world may expect, that the opportunity will be on the whole well improved. Such will undoubtedly be the issue if His Imperial Majesty of Japan, the Marquis Ito, and others of like mind, have their way.