Hioki Eki

“ I am often led to reason, rightly or wrongly, that when an act of a man is founded on truth and kindness there is no need of the help of language to communicate it to others.
The conduct of the first American envoy to Japan, as well as those who followed him, was singularly marked with truth and kindness, and it is gratifying, indeed, to know that the annals of the five decades of international relations between Japan and the United States are clean records of friendliness and cordiality. ”

“ Let it suffice to say that the memory of Queen Victoria, that high personage, whose reign distinguishes itself in history not only in point of length, but in the fact that it is so peculiarly coincident with the wonderful tide of general advancement of civilization and material prosperity which has blessed Great Britain and the world in general, may perpetually be preserved in so fitting a manner as is done here tonight by the United British Societies in America. ”

“ The tasks attendant to the consummation of this grand revolution, which shook to the heart the political and social organizations of the country, taxed the wisdom, energy, forbearance, and self-sacrifice of the patriots of Japan in a manner almost unknown in the history of mankind. An anti-foreign, conservative, anarchistic, and destructive spirit pervaded all classes of the people. The Samurai of different Daimios severed their allegiance with their former lords in order to carry out their own conviction by the use of swords and violent means. ”

“ You cannot fail to have been impressed by the spirit of forbearance, patience, and absolute fairness displayed by His Majesty's government, and the desire, pushed almost to the extreme limit of generosity, to do everything possible to avoid war. But we should have been unworthy the respect of our friends in England as well as in America, we should have forfeited our own self-respect, if we had permitted our desire for peace to make us play the part of weaklings and surrender our rights and interests because we were not men enough to defend them. ”

“ Without the least taint of flattery it may be safely asserted that Japan is indebted to no other country so much as to the United States. This indebtedness began on her first trial of that international intercourse which she has kept up ever since, and will doubtlessly continue as long as the world shall last. It is an undeniable fact that the honor of having opened the hitherto secluded Empire of Japan to foreign intercourse, commercial and otherwise, rests with the United States. ”

“ NO Japanese need feel himself among strangers when he addresses a British or American audience, excepting for the language that he has to use, and in talking to a gathering of Englishmen living in America he doubly feels among friends. We of Japan realize how much we owe to the great Anglo-Saxon nations, how much they have taught us, and how much we have still to learn from them. ”

“ In China, Japan seeks no unfair advantage. She asks no favor from China that is not granted to England or the United States or to the entire world. With England and the United States she stands for the open door and, in the words of your great President, "square deal."
Under these conditions Japan is willing to take her chances in the rivalry of trade. We believe in the survival of the fittest in trade as well as in social development. If, in a fair field, we cannot hold our own position we shall be crowded out of the race, and it is right we should be. ”

“ We shall sell to America in increasing quantities products that America needs and does not produce — such as tea and silk — and take from her such articles as are more profitable to buy than to raise or produce in our own country. Instead of being rivals we shall be in the broadest sense partners — the one country will be a complement of the other. The United States will not be swamped by the products of the loom and the forge of Japan; Japan will not be stifled under an avalanche of factory-made goods of New England and the Pacific coast ”

“ It was an incidental consequence of one of the phases of human history. In Japan, as in other feudal countries, there had been an alternate tendency toward strong and weak central governments. In order to maintain peace and order and to preserve the nation as a compact unit against a strong tendency toward decentralization which was then prevailing, Yoritomo had fought a series of bloody battles with local chieftains and magnates, and finally succeeded in establishing a vigorously centralized military government over the whole Empire and by the side of that of Mikado. ”

“ Foreigners may take it as a mere form of oriental flattery; but to our mind there is nothing more truthful and sincere. In Japan loyalty and patriotism are interchangeable terms. Were it not for the devotion of men and officers to "Our Lord and country," no admiral or general, however great a military genius he may be, could ever achieve the glorious successes which crowned their efforts during the present war. ”

“ In a word, the whole Empire was in a state of chaos. To tame these unruly elements, to infuse order and harmony among them, and to graft on them an order and regime entirely for- eign to the soil, and to develop them to the condition in which they are now within the short space of the last 37 years is the grandest of the achievements that man has ever accomplished. ”

“ Japan is buying a large quantity of flour from the United States. She does not produce kerosene, timber, machinery, and railway materials. The only article in which there can be a possible competition is in cotton goods. In this, however, the competition is in theory rather than in fact. In the first place, Japan does not produce cotton, and therefore all raw material used in the cotton industry is imported from the United States, India, and China. Now, there are five competitors in this line of goods in the Chinese market — Great Britain, the United States, India, Japan, and China. ”

“ About the time when Commodore Perry entered the waters of Japan, in March, 1853, and his return there, in February, 1854, the rumors of trouble between the Chinese and European powers were being constantly received through the Dutch by the statesmen of Japan with the greatest concern. The incessant and increasing visits of the black ships and the persistent demands of the various powers to open the country to the intercourse of the world deeply occupied the minds of the thinking population of Japan. ”

“ It is quite evident a belief exists that the strength and power of Japan is both a political and commercial menace to the United States. It has been said that Japan dwells with covetous eye on the Philippines and longs for the Pacific Island possessions of the United States. I assure you no seriousminded person in Japan entertains any such thought. Japan has enough to do for many a year to come to develop her own resources, to assist in the regeneration of Korea, to improve the condition of Formosa, to profit by the commercial growth of Manchuria. ”

“ Such is the memory that the Japanese of today cherish. Indeed, the more we study the magnitude of the transformation that Japan has undergone since the advent of Perry, the higher becomes our appreciation of his work and the part played by the United States in regard to Japan. If the country had been forced open by any means but peaceful, nobody knows where that little Empire would stand today. Were it not for the policy the United States patiently and firmly pursued toward the upbuild- ing of new Japan, it is impossible to realize what progress she would have made. ”

“ There never has been, is not now, or ever will be a strong commercial rivalry between Japan and the United States. Japan sells to China principally seaweeds, salt fish, beche-de-mer and other marine products, mushrooms, ginseng, copper, coal, matches, cotton yarns and fabrics. The United States sells to China flour, kerosene oil, timber, machinery, railway materials, and cotton goods. Where do Japan and the United States come into conflict? Each is supplying China with articles which admit of no competition. ”

“ It is impossible to say whether those people who advocated the policy of exclusion really believed in its practica- bility or not, but it was a policy which had been followed during several centuries, and they cherished the quiet peace of seclusion. ”

“ Heavy as they felt the foreign pressure on one hand, the Tokugawa government could not ratify the American treaty on account of the strong internal opposition. There appeared a martyr in the person of Ii Kamon-no-Kami, who assumed the portfolio of the premier of the Tokugawa government at this critical moment, and who, in defiance of the Imperial order and the public opinion, ratified that American treaty. He was a real martyr, because soon after he fell by the hands of assassins, being regarded by the opposition as a traitor to the country. ”

“ The British and American interests lie principally in cotton fabrics and yarns of the finer quality, and between these two countries there exists competition. The interests of Japan and India lie principally in cotton yarns and fabrics of a coarser kind, while the Chinese interests are similar to those of Japan and India, and there exists competition between these three countries. ”

“ No annals of mankind record an inci- dent which appears more inconsistent with the course that human experience would have predicted. Many expla- nations have been attempted. The weakened condition of the Tokugawa government, selfish motives of some ambitious southern Daimios, personal motives of various kinds, the inability of appreciating the real consequences of the change on the part of the Daimios and Samurai, are mentioned among the causes. I do not hesitate to say, how- ever, that such a grand achievement in human history cannot be caused by such petty and selfish motives. ”

“ History shows that the ro- mantic element occupies a prominent place in Japanese character, and that the educated classes can always be led into feverish pursuit of an idea which appeals to their sense of moral nobility. The atmosphere was full of loyalty and patriotism in 1869. The mood of the nation was exalted. Any one hesitat- ing for plainly selfish reasons to follow a course apparently essential to the new order of things, and sanctioned by the example of the great southern clans, would have seemed to forfeit the right of calling himself a Samurai. ”

“ We have done what Americans, Frenchmen, Ger- mans, and even Zulus would have done. Our national existence was at stake. To die in its defense was more honorable than to live and lose all that we hold most precious. ”

“ During the last thirty-seven years of his most marked and enlightened reign he has given the nation the enjoyment of all the best fruits of the civilization of the West, and, above all, has raised the country, in the face of the immense ob- stacles, from the position of an insignifi- cant oriental state to that of a formidable unit in the comity of nations. Much need not be said about his public acts. Facts are too abundant and conspicuous to make explanation necessary. ”

“ We have not as yet progressed so far on the road to Yankeedom as to be able to sell you gentlemen of Boston wooden nutmegs, but we are still young in the ways of modern civilization. Give us time and there is hope we may even teach Connecticut a thing or two. ”

“ The restoration of the Imperial power meant the unification of the govern- mental powers, and the unification of the governmental powers meant the sur- render of the powers, rights, privileges, properties, and what-not possessed by the feudatories and Samurai, because, without a complete abdication by the feudal lords and vassals of their prerog- atives, a real unification of the govern- mental powers and the restoration of the Imperial authority was impossible. ”

“ I think no further evidence is needed to prove that the alliance was not con- cluded with the hope that it would lead to war ; I think, on the contrary, every fair-minded man must be convinced that both Great Britain and Japan were ani- mated solely and sincerely by the single purpose to preserve peace and give com- mercial development full sway. ”

“ The Emperor, on his accession to the throne, proclaimed the following articles of oath, thus solemnly laying the foun- dation for the grand policy of new Japan :
"1. A broadly based deliberative as- sembly should be convened for the pur- pose of conducting state affairs in con- formity with public opinion.
"2. High and low should unite their minds and vigorously carry out the grand affairs of the state.
"3. Civilians and military, as well as common people, should be allowed to freely carry out their minds' aspirations, and their spirit of progress should not be suffered to be hampered. ”

“ He is a person above the ordinary Japanese height, with large, wide- set eyes and broad forehead. He is robust in health, studious in habit, kind and sympathetic in sentiment, and strong and loyal in character. ”

“ The men who conceived and achieved this unique revolution were chiefly Samurai of inferior grade, without offi- cial rank or social standing. The most prominent of them do not exceed 55 in number, and among them only 13 are aristocrats ”