THE JAPANESE NATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 22, 18 May 1914, Page 7

THE JAPANESE NATION.

(T; Boyle.) The extreme wuiuuoi this subject, the vast amount that n.igii; be saiu uii each phase .-.lone, and the innumerablt! ways oi eonsid-jrJng tue v. note quesiioh preclude the possibility of an ekniuisuve consider uion, unci render it impossible for me to impirt uie thoroughness anil clearness such What has Japan ctane'to sastfuiu Her caim to greatness or even to moderate distinction ? i am not so ungenerous as to detract Loin the credit duo to a people who .emplpy the knowledge and aoility of tneir superiors to teaeh tliem bow to improve, nor do 1 despise a people wrrose national genius has not risen above the standard of common imitators, but in fairness to the great original nations wnose accomplishments, uiseoveries,. inventions and originations nave bestowed such inestimable blessings on mankind, i cio- affirm that the Japanese nave been assigned a place out of all proportion to their achievements. I have noted that travellers, authors and some men of distinction nave written and spoken in praise of uiese people as sailors, and I have seen where some men of standing nave ventured' to make compriso.is between them and the sailors who man tne navy that guards our Empire, but i nave never been able to iiiid the foundations on which claims and comparisons are established. What unknown seas have the J aphne'se explored ? What new lands have they discovered? What have they done to survey and chart the wide wide sea so that the commerce of the world might grow and expand? What new highways have they opened up to the advantage of the world?. Have ihey produced a single navigator or explorer worthy of the name? Where are their Frobishers, 'their Hawkins, tneir Drakes, their Raleigiis* tneir Howards, their Cooks and tneir Nelsoits?, They never had'and never will' have a single sailor worthy to be' classed with these. It is true they fitted out an expedition to emulate tiiat great B.it'ish Explorer, the loved' and lameiued Captain Scott, but when this expedition entered tne stormy forbidding Antarctic seas their nearts sank, and they stole back to exonerate themselves with siipid excuses. Measured by every recognised standard they are noi. sailors, and never will be. . What nave these over-estimated Asiatics done for science? Nothing. What secrets have' tneir thinkers wrung from nature and applied to increase the sum '-total of human knowledge and happiness? None. Ihey have not produced a single-ori-ginal 'philosopher wno-rose above tue stupid superstitions and meaningless mumblings of Shitrto'fsm and Bikklhism. When 'Old England was covered with forests and swamps, these people had a line of monarchy stretch-, itig back for a period of two thousand Jive hundred years, and yet, during ail that time, and the two thousand years that have lapsed since then they have been unable, to make any progress towards modern' civilisation; Just here pause and make a com-; parison between them and the nation to which we belong and you will iiiid that they will sustain about, the same relationship a stone-mason sustains to one of. tho great sculptors of ancient -Greece.

It is true that in medicine they claim credit for one or two discoveries, But when these discoveries are traced to their original .source we find that they have been the results of one or two of the brightest students following the paths indicated by the great medical schools of Europe. In fact, the most important of these discoveries, the finding of a certain serum, was chiefly due to a learned German, professor .who was teaching and guiding the student to whom the. honor has been given. Look at Japan to-day and contemplate her railways, her schools, her colleges, her dockyards, her army, her navy, her ansenals, all the system.*. she hag adopted and the useful knowledge she is imparting to her children, and then reflect that not live per cent, of all that is making for progress has been evolved, invented, discovered, and originated by these people; and then ask yourself how much of greatness ought to he attributed to these sous of the "Land of the Rising Sun." These people have had one war and one naval engagement worthy of note, and it is true that seventy-five per cent, of the successes' of these conflicts were due to the part played by Britain on behalf of Japan. Had it not been that Britain considered jt her duty to give certain assistance to Japan the Russians would have been in possession of the whole coastline ol Asia.north of Port Arthur. The Japanese are a nation of imitators: they have shown no originality so far: their position to-day is not the outgrowth ,of a long steady unfoldmenf. from wndnn. but entirely the result of- external agencies, and therefore to judge them by the ao-1 cepted standards, is to deny fchoni ; the rigid of classification with the! groat, white nations of the west.