JAPAN AS AN EMPIRE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 263, 13 February 1873, Page 7

JAPAN AS AN EMPIRE.

[from the "Exeter ana Plymouth Gazette" ! An article on Japan in a recent number of " Blackwood," extensively quoted, deserves to be i-ead by- every one who is desirous of understanding the wondrous changes that have lately taken place in that wondrous country. . Japan, we are reminded, has a written history, which stretches in an uninterrupted tale over 2532 years ; its sovereigns have formed one unbroken dynasty since 660 8.C. ; its first ruler of the still reigning family was contemporary with Nebuchadnezzer and Tullus Hostilius ; its present Emperor is the 122 nd of his race, and its principles of action have remained virtually j unchanged for five and twenty centuries. The account given of the suppression of the Shiogun, in 1861, by the Mikado and the chief Daimis, and of the voluntary extinction of the feudal system by the feudal chiefs themselves, is an almost incredible piece of history. Pour of the Great Daimios of the West took it into their heads, in 1869, ! that it was their duty to offer their rights, their property, and their serfs to the Mikado, m order to strengthen and consolidate his newly acquired authority. The others followed this example of self-sacrificing patriotism ; the Daimios suppressed themselves for duty's sake, because it seemed the right thing to do. The Government did not advise them, it did not even say one word : thej acted on tbeir own account between themselves. Not one of them attempted to resist, (though some of the smaller ones did not altogether like it) ; one and all they abandoned to the Mikado not only their feudal privileges and dignities, \ but, what is more wonderful, the whole of their fortunes too— all for the greater glory of Japan ! The oldest aristocracy in the world, sitting in a special parliament at Yedo, had the courage to decide to voluntarily resign its ancient rights and its vast possessions with the single object of fortifying the Government of its country, and of aiding it to become one and strong. This really was a grand act ; history offers no parallel to it, at least on such a scale. Two hundred and seventy -eight military princes, possessing regal powers, vast wealth, and separate armies abdicated, from pure patriotic feeling, the station which their families had held for twenty centuries, one or two of them had revenues which reached the almost fabulous amount of £800,000 a-year, others had only a few hundred pounds of income; but large or small, their incomes and their property were given up ; they kept nothing for themselves. The Government returned to them one-tenth of their annual receipts, and that was all that they preserved of their previous splendors. It was, however, necessary to establish an honorary position for these dispossessed suzerains and their families ; and with that object the class of "flowery nobility," which had formerly existed in another shape, was re-established ; and the ex-Daimios and the privileged caste of " Courtiers of the Mikado " were merged together in it ; and all that now remains to the descendants of the feudal lords is a graceful title, and in most cases an utterly insufficient income. Neither Louis the Eleventh nor Richelieu could have done the work of decapitation more completely. The Government of Japan is now organised on a basis which is partly European and partly Japanese. The Mikado is theoretically an absolute sovereign, but the work of Government is done for him by the Great Council. An elective parliament has been proposed, and may in time be organised, the budget for 1872 shows total receipts to the amount of £12,229,531, and the expenditure leaves a surplus of £809, 146. How parties of young Japanese have been despatched to the chief countries of Europe, to acquiro the arts and civilisation of the West; how Japanese ambassadors have been, and are c travelling from kingdom to kingdom, inquiring into laws, customs, manufactures, and commerce ; and how the Mikado himself is reported to be contemplating a grand western tour, are matters which newspaper readers are hearing of daily. The exclusiveness in whioh the Japanese once wrapped themselves has utterly disappeared, and sovereign, aristocracy, and people bave rushed into the opposite extreme. Whether Japan will he the happier for the change who shall say ?

Fatal Accident from Keboskne. — A telegram in the •* Maryborough Advertiser " records a dreadful accident at Inglewood: — "Between five and six o'clock on a Saturday evening a woman named Olerhead was emptying some kerosene on a fire, when the blaae it caused communicated with the tin, which instantly exploded, enveloping the unfortunate woman in an immense Same of fire. She was frightfully burnt, and was completely denuded. It is feared she cannot recover. Mr. KB. Baenett, a Hebrew scholar, writing in the Jewish Chronicle, contends tbat the Prophet Jeremiah, with the remnant of the tribe of Judah, migrated to Ireland, and was no other than the celebrated Irish reformer and law-giver, Oliam Fola. The prophet brought with him the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, which was subsequently conveyed by an Irish Prince to Scotland, for coronation purposes, and, centuries afterwards, removed to Westminster Abbey by Edward the First.