Show Written for tor this tAil p Paper Paper- per per-I TALK TALK WITH COUNT ITO Copyrighted by Frank G Carpenter 1894 V tR HE new Japanese S iP J parliament is now now 1 z sitting at J Hiro- Hiro Hiroshima f iro- iro J shima shims and Count Count o Ito t the e Japanese Japanese premier premier a again gal g a i n has things all his I I Iown to own way A year year I w y yago ago the members of both houses were I more or less against the government and the emperor had to peremptorily I dissolve the parliament last sprin spring The whole country was in an unsettled state Riots had broken out in many of the election precincts and had it not been for the fact that the constitution of Japan provides that when a parliament is dis dis- dissolved dissolved solved the budget of appropriations for forthe forthe forthe the year before shall be continued in forte force without the act ot of parliament the emperor would not have had the means to run run his governments This was the D C condition when the war was declared This solidified the people and today they are to a man in in favor of almost everything that the administration pro pro- proposes proposes proposes poses All this was largely brought about by Count Ito who is perhaps man in the whole Japanese emp r and whose master r nd is dit the war ag against China He is 1 th the Li Ii Hung Chang of Japan and he IS th f r behind the throne which pas pa's ise a upon measures measures ot of stat state policy I Ia a it is whispered is to a large eit nt the cause ot of the present War Still Stin the world knows but little about hi bite He He is modest and retiring by na- na nature turf na-turf tur ture d Mpr he prefers fers to do r rather than to bluster or talk It is by rid n means easy for a foreigner to get access to him and during my stay in Tokyo when the war clouds were gathering over Asia the doors to his pala palace e were closed eve more tightly than usual S Still U my letters k from the cabinet ministers at Washing Washing- Washington Washington tO ton and acid a d a special introduction from tl e Japanese minister at our na national nal capi capi- capital capital capital tal tal gave lave me an appointment and I had hada a chance e to see something of him and toc to chat at with him about the condition of the Japanese people COUNT ITO'S ITa'S ROMANTIC CAREER But first first let me tell teU you s something ething about Count Ito His history reads like a romance romance and it is closely associated with that of Count who has just gone to Corea to preside over the in iQ introduction of western civilization into that land and The most of f the of 0 Count Ito's life I got from 1 himself lf other parts were told me by an English o r connected with the Un Japanese gOV D Jent as s we s sat at t together one night in the tho Roku M CIO in Tokyo It is ie wrapped up w in Ah h be W 1 to y of modern J Japan IJ apap jn n which It 10 n- n e en 4 yg avoe t C Rt T Y 4 herx wll f er 1 W 1 f se 1 r M Mf Ivy TM f q wwi h M Q Mj u try He had a swell establishment at I Tokyo and the and Samurai ma made e up his army They swelled about the country with big swords at their sides acting very much like the bad badman man ot of Bitter Creek and they con con- considered considered considered other people as having no rights which they were bound to respect In Inthe Inthe Inthe the meantime the mikado was kept in- in inside inside in inside side the walls of his p palace lace at Kioto a sort of a sacred puppet surrounded by his wives and his servants Commo Commo- Commodore Commodore Commodore dore Perry had bad made his treaty with gunboats to back him and there were foreign and foreign anti-foreign parties in Japan Among the foreigners anti-foreigners were Ito and Inouye They thought that these pale pale- pale faced faced barbarians would ruin the coun coun- country country country try They did not know much about them but they understood they were at Yokohama and they conspired to get getup getup getup up a party and go there and clean the foreigners from the face of Japan With With- Without Without Without out letting their superiors and parents know it about loo of them sneaked out one dark night and left Tokyo to go to toi Yokohama They had gotten half halfway way i when they found themselves surrounded i by soldiers They fought their way out and returned to Tokyo They soon learned however that the killing of the foreigners at Yokohama would only be bethe bethe bethe the beginning of ot a great war with the them They went to the and ana saw our warships as they floated in the harbor beside their Japanese junks funks and they saw that Japan could not successfully fight such things on the sea Ito and Inouye were in the service ce of the Prince of who was the chief of the foreign foreign anti faction a and d the qU question stion of how to get rid of the foreigners ners was dis- dis discussed dis discussed cussed ev everywhere At last the two boys concluded I that the only safet safety f for forthe forthe t th the country was in in her having good ships a and d good guns and they w went to their prince e and told him th that that t they w wanted to go to England with three other picked youths of their band They said that they would there study English customs wo would ld go into the gun works and would master the great sec sec- secret secret ret of naval paval supremacy and bring 6 it back to Japan Japan The J Japanese c cool Id then buU build ships of their beir own wn and could put these guns ov r the co q ty tyso so that they could drive th the hated for foreigners W- W ner ners away from their coasts coast The prince was as pleased with the tl ide ides idea and nd be gave gavet t et j and arranged w with th the British consul to ship th them m to Shanghai from wh whence they were to go on to Eng England A MIDNIGHT ESCAPE I Now it was contrary to the commands of the Shogun tor for any Japanese to leave the country without permission and they feared they would would be detained so they took a small boat one dark rainy ight and were taken on a ship just about to depart for China It took them some ome days to get to Shanghai their money money having been sent on in the meantime to ore one of the big English trading rading houses there with orders to ship hip them t to England The orders were not very d definite finite and as Ito Ita and Inouye could mat not t s speak eak English the erch t them and d whets when y t by id over and t dt over r A tein lit lit- lh th the tW tt-tW two Mw tt ii swords wor I Ae it wwi wi N l avi la y ape ape- oRil p tt a perch t p thought they ey wanted w to become sailors and go oft 08 to London and instead of sending them to London as passengers be with instructions that they be sent to a good naval school they were were re shipped as common sailors on a sailing ship which went around the Cape of Good Hope They had only a small amount of money with them the rest having been sent on onby onby onby by draft and this they spent during their voyage VO age I COUNT ITO'S ADVENTURES IN LONDON The English officer told me of their troubles in London The most of them said he occur occur- occurred red on the day that they landed And I venture the darkest st day dal of Count Ito's life was when he found himself wander wander- wandering wandering wandering ing through the slums of the city with with- without without without out a cent in his pocket The way it happened was this The the vessel reached the docks the officers an and crew departed and left the two Japanese boys to take rare of them them- themselves themselves themselves selves They were dazed with the din dinand dinand dinand and the sights and the confusion of the great city In the center of millions of people they knew not which way to turn nor whither to go The cook was gone and the locker was shut and there was not a bit of food to be had They waited some time expecting that the merchants merchant might send for them but after a while they grew so hungry that they decided to go out and buy some some- something something something thing to eat They had three dollars left but they did not know the value of money in England They thought how however ever that this would buy them some boiled rice and a good meal of raw fish Taking a paper with them Count Inouye marked on it a diagram of the route as they went in order that they might find their way back to the shi ship and after devious wanderings they came came at last to a bakery There were loav loaves laves s of bread breadon breadon breadon on the counter counters and Ito who was carry carry- carrying carrying carrying ing the money not knowing the price laid down his bis three dollars and picked up a loaf He had no idea how bow much it II was worth and he supposed that the baker would give him some change The baker saw he was a foreigner and swept the whole of the three dollars into the till The b boys boya ys then started to go back goback to the ship but Count Inouye found that he had had lost the diagram They walked the streets of London for hours bours and it was dusk before they got to the wharves They ate the their r bread however and the next day a messenger from the merchant to whom this money was con con- consigned consigned signed came for them and took them in charge They used their time me well They spent some time in studying English matters and customs They looked into the army and navy and their r bright minds soon grasped the tact fact that Japan could never make a success success- successful successful ful struggle against such wealth and such a mighty nation as that about them They considered it the their r duty to go 20 goback goback back and tell the prince what they had learned I ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF COUNT COUNTI I INOUYE The two boys had some trouble in getting ba back k to J ap aDd and they finally made their way into into the be presence of their prince and told fora t him their story stary It was as by byl byj l no rib means well received for hee he e P lit q the foreigners at lie ti pe a iM tred ed of h b w s are O The TheS t S I f C CI I warp cee i gJ J y a the he as that at 1 were w Je pan a pR e brave and when when- Inouye uy left the c castle one night he was Vat as set upon b by jr a mob and aDd slashed and hacked and left for dead bY bYthe bythe bythe the roadside He recovered conscious conscious- consciousness consciousness consciousness ness and was able to crawl to his mothers mother's house and it was only by careful nursing that he was brought back to life lite and he bears on his face today the scars of the wounds he re- re received re received during that night Sh after this time the Shogun was put down and the revolution was organized by which the mikado again became the real seal ruler of the people and the western wes- wes western tern civilization gradually worked its way in In every movement toward modern progress both Ito and Inouye have been in m the front and it is due largely to them that Japan now stands shoulder to shoulder with any mod modern rn ti nation on the globe Count Ito has long been the most influential and powerful powerful pow- pow powerful erful of all the Japanese statesmen and he is now pushing the civilization of which he got his first knowledge in this romantic way into the land of Corea and there is no telling but that his am ambition ambition ambition may be the eventual revolution revolution- revolutionizing revolutionizing revolutionizing izing of China itself He is certainly a diplomats most remarkable man and all the dip dip- who have met him speak of his wonderful ability He had an inter inter- interview interview view with Li Hung Chang not long ago and during it Li changed his views ot of Japan which he had thought up to that time was dan dangerous erbus us of China but Ito Ita told him that Japan apan and China should be friends an and that it was to their in interest terest to work together I am told that Ito at this time really believed this to be bethe bethe bethe the case but he has since evidently changed his opinion A TALK WITH COUNT ITO I arranged strange to say for my talk with Count Ito by telephone Think of it Telephones in the land of Japan I called up his private secretary and was told that the count had gotten my letter Jetter and would receive me at 4 o'clock Sharp that afternoon In a with two men to haul me I rode along the edge e ge of the moats which surround the palace grounds passed the new parliament buildings and on up by the American legation into what is now the most fashionable part of the Japanese capital It is made up of modern modem buildings surrounded by large yards So walled waited in that they look like the fashionable suburbs ot of a European capital Count Ito's Ita's house was a large one of ot two stories built of brick with witha a great porte running out above the front door A Japanese butler in brass buttons and European clothes received my card and showed me into a parlor parlor as large as the blue room of the White House It was furnished in foreign style and was to my eyes not half so pretty as many of ot the pure J Jap Japanese Japanese ap anese homes I waited a moment when a faced dark-faced heavy man of per per- haps perhaps fifty years entered the room He had a long loog body but rather short legs and he was dressed in a frock coat of black and dark pantaloons wh while Ie his shoes were evidently imported from England It was Count Ito He is I judge about five feet six inches hight high and he weighs wet hs about one hundred ana and sixty pounds pounds He is well formed and muscular His eyes area bright black and not Dot so almond in shape as the aver aver- average average age Japanese type His forehead is is high hIS nose rather thick and his mouth which shows through rather thin mus mus- mustache mustache tache and abd whiskers of black is strong and yet pleasing He shook my hand handin handin 1 in American fashion and a addressed toe rh mein in English He chatted me w with th-me th me about the growth of Japan and he told me that he thought the country was just on the edge of its development and that it hada had a great future He referred to the Japanese troops which he was then sending into Corea and when I asked him as to whether he thought that there might be a war between Japan and China he shrugged his shoulders and said Who can tell We are sending our soldiers to Core Cores Corea to take care of our people and if the should ask us to help them put down the rebellion we might possibly possibly consent There is isone isone isone one thing that is certain and that is that if our soldiers are attacked they will fight and as it is now China has hasI I already been the aggressor But you I know I can hardly talk on this subject just now The situation is critical and no one can tell whether there will be war or not nol DID ITO PLAN THE WAR This was three weeks before the war was declared and there is no doubt but that Count Ito at that time had all alJ his plans laid and he gave me to under under- understand understand understand stand during the interview that it would take very little provocation to bring his men into battle A few days later the Japanese transports were vere carrying thousands thousands thousands ands of troops into Corea and the con con- condition condition condition of the J Japanese army shows that Japan had long had war in sight The military department was so thoroughly organized that troops were shipped out of the country without creating more than a ripple upon the waters of the social and business life of the Japanese empire and the troops which were sent to Corea were thorough thorough- thoroughly ly equipped both for fot fighting and for tor reforming the country They carried telephonic and telegraphic material materia and while the ChineSe tried to live on of of the people they carried all of their ow provisions and took coolies with them by the thousands to aid them in transporting their b |