coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and
clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British
soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of
the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific."

The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been
very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world;
she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of
her people and her customs.

Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of
splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English
seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying
bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed
with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most
powerful nations.

Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native
Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army
of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant
fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called.
Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels
were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have
become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and
Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and
policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands.

When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great
nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply
came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern