Tatui Baba

“ But I do not think any civilized government will place much confidence in a government which shows such a want of appreciation of these most important means for improving the mass of the people—the right of public assembly and free speech. ”

“ While young officials and their wives are dancing the modern waltz, utter disregard is shown to the rights and liberties of the people. Thus there are no consistent principles and no united action in the present Cabinet. Each department is acting independently of the other. The present Cabinet may be compared to a headless centipede whose numerous feet move in all sorts of ways.
Yet the Japanese government thinks to win the confidence of all the European governments by introducing superficial changes. ”

“ The Japanese Ministers think that the present prison discipline is so perfect that no one ought to be permitted to criticise it. But who are these Ministers or officials in the present Cabinet? Okubo and Saigo are dead. Those who have succeeded them have no knowledge of statesmanship, but are ignorant and unprincipled men. Count Ito, with his superficial knowledge of European civilization, may have the pretensions of a Prime Minister, but we know well that he is not aman of strong will—a quality essential to a successful statesman. He will never be able to control the Cabinet. ”

“ For every patriotic Japanese who desires to regenerate the nation must first aim to overthrow the present Japanese Cabinet, as it is scarcely possible to do one without doing the other. And I think every Japanese is justified in using every legitimate means to overthrow the government which utterly forfeits the confidence of the nation. Already the government is tottering under the influence of the voice of the people. Its days are numbered, and it will be overthrown by the popular party. A new Cabinet will be formed instead of the present despotic government. ”

“ It is easy to see the tendency of the ruinous course which the present government is taking, both in the matter of foreign intercourse and in that of internal government. The fate which is in store for Japan is no other than that of Egypt or Turkey. Every means of making Japan an independent and honorable nation will be arrested and suppressed. ”

“ If these young men advocate liberal principles, they will always be looked upon with suspicion. There would then be no hope of promotion even if they were not compelled to resign. They have to choose whether they will starve or change their principles. Considering the hard struggles it requires to maintain one principle throughout, I am not at all surprised that the young men do change. Therefore they have no healthy influence on the government. Only when they can receive sufficient salaries without favor from the government will they speak out their real sentiments. ”

“ Meanwhile the government goes on punishing the nominal editors of newspapers, sending them into cruel and unjust imprisonment. They stop all publications which they do not like, and every effort that is made to voice the thought and feelings of the patriotic citizen is suppressed in its incipiency. And besides all this, what, I ask, is the present condition of trade in Japan? Merchants are daily ruined by overtaxation. All Japanese manufacturers are ruined by the excess of imports from England which are brought in almost free of duty. ”

“ It may naturally be said that there are many young officials who were educated in Europe, and these must advise the government in a liberal direction and introduce reforms. But my experience for the last ten years convinces me that those young officials, who are very liberal in Europe, become very conservative when they return to their own country. Such young men have difficulties almost unknown to European youth. All the Japanese young men who come to Europe are the sons of Samurai, or swordsmen, who have nothing to live upon except the industry of their sons. ”

“ In 1878 he was assassinated by Simada Ichiro in Tokio. This threw the Japanese Cabinet in a state of chaos. While Okubo lived, he had unlimited sway over his colleagues; that is, there was a wide gulf between him and other Ministers both in personal authority and in strength of will. All the other Ministers were mere secretaries, or they might be better described as servants of his will. Now this absolute and central head was suddenly cut off. There was no leader who could give united action to the schemes of the government. ”

“ The regular business of the government is very slow. Even in such cases as the publication of a scientific work, it takes six months or one year before permission is granted to the author. If a prisoner waiting for his trial wants to send a letter to his friend, it takes one or two weeks to send it to a place a few yards outside of the prison. The reason is that the civil servants, who are selected by mere official influence, are not only incompetent, but are not obliged to attend to their business. ”

“ Looking at the measures carried out by the Japanese government for one year, or even a month, every inconsistency is found. Nobody can foretell what the government is going to do. Sometimes amost unexpected measure is carried out, disturbing every arrangement of personal and private property. No one is safe under the present government. Sometimes it appears to be actuated by extraordinary and radical principles, and sometimes by principles of despotic government. Sometimes two factions appear fighting against each other. ”

“ As to the liberty of person, there is no such thing as the habeas corpus act, so that people can be put into a prison as long as the official pleases, without any public trial. The secret police called Fuzoku Gakari, or the inspectors of public morality, can enter into any house without warrant; yet they are themselves the most lawless of men. While the people are reduced to fearful poverty, the Japanese Ministers have been doing everything to promote their selfish ends. ”

“ But who are these police? They are men of very imperfect education, receiving a salary of eight or ten dollars a month. They can scarcely understand the duty they are called upon to discharge. The result is a ridiculous one: they put their own interpretation on the subject and try to prevent any public speech at all. ”

“ There have been several cases in which men were dismissed from government employment owing to their private friendship with men of the liberal party. Thus, foreigners can seldom, if ever, gain a correct insight into the character and sentiment of the Japanese people as regards politics. Foreigners must seek the intelligent and educated Japanese whose interests are entirely united with the people of Japan. I submit that the European nations ought to seek intercourse with the people of Japan, rather than with their government ”

“ Intelligent members of the party, seeing it impossible to reorganize, separated themselves and formed an independent party. Since that time other political parties were formed, so that now three political parties oppose the Japanese government and are fighting very successfully for the cause of the Japanese people. There is every prospect that the younger men will carry on this popular movement and accomplish the work so necessary for the welfare of the Japanese people. ”

“ As to the newspapers, the regulations are still more strict and applied without any regard to circumstances. Certain officials are appointed in each department to read all the newspapers published in Japan. Whenever they find anything about the government, they try to find some reason to bring criminal action against the paper. They look through all the accounts, leading articles, and even advertisements. The editors incur severe penalties even if they allude to criticisms of the Japanese government or of one of its departments. ”

“ While this kind of thing is done by the Japanese government let us look at the Japanese prisons, where many patriotic Japanese are dying.
Within these prisons there is no suitable place for the prisoners to sleep. They try to sleep, heaped up one over the other. Many become ill, and the most of them die. Their food consists of a mixture of rice and oats, about a quarter of a pound, served sometimes with three pieces of pickle, or with boiled vegetables. Although they are given a meal three times a day, the quantity is so small that the prisoners become as thin as skeletons. ”

“ Petty Count Ito and powerful Prince Bismarck belong to altogether different species, and it is utterly impossible that Count Ito should develop himself into a great man. Whatever Count Ito has been able thus far to do simply shows the ape imitating the man. ”

“ The present Japanese Ministers have not the confidence of the people. Whenever they go out of their own houses, they are obliged to employ four or five policemen with two-handed swords and pistols to protect their persons. Such a government as this, has no right to enter into a treaty, doing away with the most important rights of an independent nation, with European powers. ”

“ A young man has to maintain ten or twenty persons. Where can these young men obtain employment? The government monopolizes nearly everything and interferes in every business and profession which is not under the control of officials. Thus these young men are, to a certain extent, obliged to seek employment under the government. But if they want to become officials, they must change their principles, because the majority of the Japanese officials, especially those in influential positions, are very conservative. ”

“ Whenever a prisoner is taken out of prison he is put in irons and bound with a strong rope. No exception is made, even in case of a feeble old man or a mere boy. Neither work nor writing material is allowed in the cages. ”

“ The ordinary food is scanty, but when it is reduced so much it is simply starvation. A prisoner is kept in this condition for one or two weeks. It is necessary to give ordinary food a day in a week, as it is utterly impossible to continue this punishment a week, without starving a prisoner to death. ”

“ As to exercise, each prisoner is sometimes allowed to walk in a small yard for ten or fifteen minutes, but even this is very seldom permitted. All the prisoners are treated alike, whether they are political prisoners or not. ”

“ By this means, the proprietor is financially ruined and the newspaper finally brought to an end. This indirect mode is more frequently resorted to, and appears to be looked upon with greater favor in the Japanese official circle as a slow but sure method of suppressing the newspapers. But at present all the Japanese newspapers put on the paper the names of some poor men as the editors and proprietors. Whenever they are punished, the real editors and proprietors are always safe. The Japanese government is satisfied with sending some poor struggling student to prison as the editor of the paper. ”

“ If any prisoner is found with a piece of a pencil or doing anything with a piece of paper, he is punished. The punishment is what is called Shokubatsu, or the punishment of food. That is, the food is reduced one-third. ”

“ With these civil servants, knowledge of their duties, and doing their work for the benefit of people, are not at all important. They obtained their positions by flattering their superiors, so they must keep their positions by the same means. ”

“ As soon as the students come back to their country they have to support their families. Sometimes they have to support not only their parents and sisters, but also the families of their brothers and sisters. ”

“ They think the foreign representatives are foolish enough to make important concessions in revising treaties, if they are continually invited to the Japanese public receptions and allowed to dance with Japanese women. ”

“ Meanwhile Saigo had been educating his pupils. The time at last came that the two leaders had to measure their strength against each other. Saigo collected nearly thirty thousand men, consisting mostly of Satuma people, and suddenly marched toward the capital. ”