Show PROGRESS OF JAPAN OF ALL the dusky hued races the japanese are undoubtedly the roost most susceptible to modern influences and most disposed to make themselves homogeneous with the cultivated peoples of the earth of late years and particularly during the present generation this has been most noticeable so rapid has been the advancement made that it seems now as if japan were as nearly abreast of the times in which we live as she can b be with the primitive and oriental basis upon which every elery thing rests of course none of the languages with which it is possible to achieve intellectual greatness english french german italian and spanish are spoken by the japanese and perhaps never will be but they make the most of their comparatively meagre vocabulary and come as near to the customs of the caucasian in all ah things as circumstances cum stances will permit the greatest as well as most recent stride taken by the mikado in behalf of his subjects is the promulgation of a new and modern constitution there is something to think of in this more than appears at the bare mention of it it should be remembered that japan has all along been an absolute despotism the people have been born bom and bred into the doctrine that their ruler has no earthly equal in any sense and to respect his lightest word as the most ponderous wisdom and most sacred law jaw all their education has been circumscribed within a narrow sphere and who would suppose that systems which are the outgrowth of such food could ablat all at once receive and digest a national bill of rights a charter of liberty hitherto the especial prerogative of enlightened races enjoying complete or a large measure of independent freedom of course the japanese constitution to is the handiwork of imported talent but that matters not it is theirs although made to order and henceforth japan must be classed among the constitutional monarchies of the earth A greater stride than this all at once was waa never witnessed at least profane history fails to record any such napoleon III overthrew a republic in a day and clambered over its ruins to one of the most luxurious thrones that ever existed but this was a change of form the japanese case is different because it involves a change of heart a change of purpose in this egress almost at a bound from the eaves caves of i darkness into the broad light of the day of civilization it invests the change with all the more importance when we reflect that russia which makes greater pretensions to being among the sisterhood of great and growing nations whose people are white skinned intelligent and christian Is ia still fettered by the will of a despot who stubbornly refuses to give his people a definite code and who whose method of rule is to adapt circumstances to cases as they arise he being the judge in every instance of what is proper attempted and accomplished complis hed assassinations and other crimes of high and low degree without number have taken place as the result of this stated determination to prevent political conditions from becoming classified and yet unless the feeling which has been growing and ripening during the present century becomes strong enough to set the authority of the czar aside there is no more promise of a popular constitution for russia now than there was in the days of vladimir the japanese constitution was formally promulgated on the of february last by its terms the emperor to is shorn of absolute pa power while retaining his sovereignty and the perpetuity of the throne A legislative body consisting of tw two 0 branches called the diet is cr created this is patterned somewhat after the british parliament the upper house being only partly hereditary the other parts being nominative and elective all of the low lower er house members are elective instead of laws originating in the I 1 legislative la ti ve in most other countries they are formulated by the sovereign as before and pawed passed to the diet for approval without which they fail truly japan is coming to the front its population which has all along been a vague conjecture even by the best beat informed cannot much longer be concealed and under the new order of things there will not long be wanting the impetus of foreign investments among the immense resources of the interior so that what is presently a locked and unfruitful enclosure I 1 is likely to become a glowing chapter in the history of the worlds progress |