THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1909. THE LATE PRINCE ITO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9636, 30 October 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1909. THE LATE PRINCE ITO.

The assassinatin of Prince Ito by a patriotic Korean brings to a close one pf the most remarkable lives of which modern history holds record. To few men can it ever be given to claim their country's record as their own.; yet of Ito it may be said, with literal truth and justice, that he was the maker of modern Japan. It was Ito who, forty six years ago, hearing of the wonders of Western civilisation, stole from his country, under peril of death, studied the laws, language, and institutions of foreigners, and then once again risking his life returned bearing to his countrymen the fruits ot his labours Though he wan then a young man, it was chiefly through lo's influence that the Mikado, having triumphed over the great feudal j barons, decided to revolutionise the ! Constiution of Japan, and to remodel the countr/ on European lines. Alter the Mikado had determined Vto establish representative government in Japan, it was Ito who lad the commission of publicists and staetsmen who left Japan in 1882 to study the legislative systems of the Western world. And from that time onward, though the Mikado could depend upan the courage and wisdom of many able patriots, it was always to Ito that the country and its rulers turned in moments of peril, as "the power behind the throne." It was Ito who negotiated with England the fi-st Anglo-Japanese alliance, and thus made it possible for Japan to enter upon her struggle wifh Kussia with some lvpt* of success; and it was Ito who, by his j farseeing statesmanship, prepared the way for the triumph by which Japan avenged on Russia the disappointment she endured at the close of the China-Japanese war—it self a monu merit to Ito's foresight and sagacity. The annals of the civilised world do not hold a more marvellous record than the tale of Japan's transformation from a feudal tryanny to a constitutional State, and her progress from the level at which she stood even twenty years ago to the front rank of the Great Powers; and in the fullest and truest sense of the word the history of Japan for the last, three decades has been the record of ito's policy, and her achievements have been the triumph of his life-work. "In private life," we are told, "he is bepond reproach. His life, his talents and his fortune moat freely have ' seen consecrate! to the State." It is rue that the chaige of plundering

Korea and enslaving its peolpe in , defiance of pledges and treaties must i lie always at Ito's door; and it is only j natural that in the end he shojld j fall a victim to Korean vengeance. But here, as always, he was, h his own estimation, only doing his country's work. "His attitude to- ; wards Korea," writes one of his j severest critics, "has bsen neither j open nor benevolent; but Ito is an Oriental, and much may be forgiven j a man who has carried his nation to ! the position of a firat-class Pov;*', and has always considered his country | before himself," When Douglas Siory J last saw Ito at Tokio he was sir-' rounded by a brilliant throng of marshals and admirals and gorgeously adornsd ambassadors; but the little biaek-clad figure, with the keen, inscrjtible eyea, was always the centre of the pxture. "To him every great man of his nation made obeisance, for esch of them had been but the agent of his brain in the great work which has randd a barbaric State into one of the Great Powers earth," He died as he had lived—pior, amid countless opportunities for enrichment—and even if we condemn the policy he has fol lowed in Korea, we may well admit that the has produced few men so truly patriotic and so truly great in modern times, and that civilisation is the poorer for his loss.