THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 569 him, he could cut him down. One of the features of the revolution has been the awakening of the people, and this awakening has received a strange impulse from the presence of General Grant. Since the revolution there have been cases of men of rank going into business, and of professional men, and others who had been in trade, taking high office. A member of the present cabinet was formerly a physician, which is as great a change in the social relations of Japan as it was in the United States for a negro to sit as a senator by the side of the man who once owned him as a slave. The people have taken a novel interest in General Grant. In some respects this is the feature of our visit most worthy of consideration. The future of Japan of course depends much more upon the freedom, the education, and the independence of the people than upon any other agency. And while the courtesy of princes and gentlemen is worthy of note, and has been marked with princely grace, the part taken by the people is memorable. Several reasons have contributed to this. Ever since the revolution the people have taken an interest in affairs. They have newspapers, and although the press is under a severe curb, still there is room for free thought and independent criticism. They send their sons to the best schools to Europe and America. They have debating clubs, where they assemble and discuss every kind of theme. They run to new and strange doctrines. "I am afraid," said one distinguished but conservative authority in Japan, “I am afraid of these new ideas. It is not a good sign, those young men rushing to debating clubs. They imbibe democratic and skeptical tendencies. There never was much religion in Japan, but everybody is now running to atheism. It is all Mill and Darwin and Spencer. The Japanese mind is not strong enough to take what is good and reject what is bad in that teaching." Professor Morse, of Harvard, one of those able and devoted young professors of science who have done so much in Japan, and who is now closing a period of brilliant service as a teacher of science, told me that there was no part of his work that was more interesting than his lectures to Japa nese students—to young men of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest on the doctrines of evolution. Then the Japanese, all classes of them, are a warlike and brave people, fond of the parade and circumstance of war, and loving a hero. The military side of General Grant's career has taken hold of their imagination, and the street literature of the day is devoted to the achievements of the General and the Northern armies. You find these written in pamphlets, in broadsides, in penny tracts. You find rude engravings of the General in the shop-windows. Sometimes these pictures are in a heroic stage of color, and although I am not familiar with the Japanese text, I am sure, from looking over the illustrations in the pictorial lives of the General, that he has achieved tremendous feats in war. Most of these engravings depict the General as a military athlete doing marvelous things with his sword. This, however, is how history becomes mythology; and in looking over these rude designs you see the operation of the doctrine of evolution, how fact is gradually blended into romance and poetry. Sometimes this takes an unfortunate turn, as was the case the other day in Yokohama. The cholera was prevailing, and the authorities were sending the people to the hospital. This measure was unpopular, for, somehow, all the world over, human nature has a prejudice against the hospital. The people became panic-stricken. If they went to the hospital they would surely die, and when they died their livers would be taken out and sold to General Grant, or Iwakura, or Sanjo, for a thousand dollars apiece, as talismans. This was one of the rumors that was in the air during our visit, and it shows the hold that General Grant had taken upon the imagination of the people, down to the lowest and most ignorant classes. There were several methods proposed of doing popular honor to the General. There was the play at the Shintomiga Theater, where the incidents of the life of the General were performed as a drama, and as having occurred in the earlier days of the history of Japan. There was the fête at Yokohama, as well as the reception at the Engineering College. These were brilliant incidents, but all was to be crowned by a POPULAR FÊTE TO THE GENERAL. 571 public festival in the park. The citizens took it up and managed it in their own way. The government had nothing to do with it. The people subscribed money to defray expenses. The money came in so freely that the subscriptions were closed, and I heard of folks complaining because they had not been allowed to pay money. It was arranged that the Emperor should attend, and that the event should be one of unusual splendor. The cholera came, and it was feared that the gathering of such a multitude, in a time of pestilence, would extend the epidemic, and so it was postponed. It was interesting to witness the preparations by the people for the fête. Beginning at the gates of Enriokwan, and continuing along the canal to the main street, and out along this street as far as the public park, it was one line of lanterns and flags. Special bamboo frames had been erected from which the lanterns could swing, and wherever the streets came to a crossing, or there were bridges, there were special trophies of flags and banners and lanterns. These lanterns were of various designs, some red, some blue, some white, some variegated, some with the flag of Japan-the majority with the flag of Japan on one side, and on the other the flag of the United States-the banner of the stars blended with the banner of the sun. The announcement that the cholera would interfere with the festival gave great uneasiness, and the papers showed the disappointment of the people. So, after many debates, and in the hope that the cholera would abate, it was resolved to postpone the popular fête until during the last days of the General's visit. The date was fixed for the 25th of August. It was a day of general festivity and rejoicing. Tokio fluttered with flags. People came in from the country, and as I strolled out in the morning, I noted curious groups, wandering about seeing the sights. All work was given up, and the city had that holiday look which you note at home in our own towns on a festival day. The Japanese love a festival. They rejoice in the sunshine, in the trees, in doing nothing. The pleasure-loving side of their character is what first attracts you. In this you are constantly reminded of the French. They are like the French in their gayety, good-humor, courtesy, and love of pleasure; like the French, too, as history shows, in their power of forming daring resolves, and doing terrible deeds. The day was very warm, but the people did not seem to mind. the weather, going about in the lightest clothing. In the matter of clothing, your impression as you look at a Japanese crowd is, that Japan is an empire of thirty-five millions of people, and fifty thousand pairs of pantaloons. Travel in the East soon deadens any emotions you may have on the question of clothes, and what you note in a Japanese crowd is the lightness and gayety of the people, the smiling faces, the fun-loving eyes. Moreover, you note the good order, the perfect order, the courtesy, the kind feeling. I have come to the conclusion that the mob is a product of our Western civilization. I have never seen a crowd, a multitude, until I came to China and Japan. But here I have not seen a mob. You look out upon such masses of human beings as our sparse countries could not show. You look upon what you could call without extravagance a sea POPULAR FÊTE TO THE GENERAL. 573 of faces. But it is the sea when the sun shines upon it, and the light plays over the waters, and the waves ebb and flow with genial, friendly welcome. The good-humor and the patience of the crowd seemed to have no end. General Grant and party left Enriokwan at two o'clock. The hour and the route and every step in the programme had been considered, and set down in a programme, and we found ourselves going through the day as though we were in a drama, and everything had been written down for us and for everybody else by a careful prompter. General As the fête Grant's party on the occasion was a large one. was partly in his honor, and all the people were out to see, and his progress was to be in state, it was thought that the presence of the naval officers would be a compliment to the |