—'I thought so,' continued the duchess; 'Japan is not a country compatible with the ideas and doctrines of Socialism: she does not want it.'
—'And yet, some points of her aspirations,' I said, 'deserve attention. It is the duty of an enlightened Government to anticipate the legitimate requirements of the lower classes, and to make the spread of dangerous doctrines useless.'
—'And Japan does so, I suppose,' said the duchess.
—'Well, we are doing our best,' I answered, 'more especially because the introduction of Western methods of progress tend to produce all sorts of evils, though, of course, the benefit derived therefrom is comparatively far greater in its way.'
—'The freer a country is, the less it is likely to be disturbed by socialistic or nihilistic movements, you mean, I suppose,' said the duchess.
—'It is not all, but something like it,' I said. 'England and America are free from those movements.'
—'France is a free country,' said the duchess, 'and yet she labours under an overpowering influence of Socialism.'
—'It seems true,' I said.
—'You might say because she is too free, perhaps,' said the duchess.
—'Or, rather,' I replied, 'she might be paying the penalty incurred during the ancient monarchy of the misuse of its power.'