perhaps we may be following the bad example of the Chinese, who,
fancying themselves alone great and worthy of respect, and despising
foreigners as little better than beasts, have come to suffer defeats
at their hands and to have it lorded over themselves by those
foreigners.

"It appears to us, therefore, after mature reflection, that the
most important duty we have at present is for high and low to unite
harmoniously in understanding the condition of the age, in effecting
a national reformation and commencing a great work, and that for this
reason it is of the greatest necessity that we determine upon the
attitude to be observed towards this question.

"Hitherto the empire has held itself aloof from other countries and is
ignorant of the affairs of the world; the only object sought has been
to give ourselves the least trouble, and by daily retrogression we are
in danger of falling under foreign rule.

"By travelling to foreign countries and observing what good there
is in them, by comparing their daily progress, the universality of
enlightened government, of a sufficiency of military defences, and of
abundant food for the people among them, with our present condition,
the causes of prosperity and degeneracy may be plainly traced....

"Of late years the question of expelling the barbarians has been
constantly agitated, and one or two Daimios have tried to expel them,
but it is unnecessary to prove that this was more than the strength of
a single clan could accomplish....

"How ever, in order to restore the fallen fortunes of the empire and