Tae nows that the civil war in Japan is near its end will be read with universal satisfaction. However much we may doubt the wisdom of the extreme haste to progress which has excited the wonder of onlookers, everyone sympathies with the feeling which has prompted the effort, and has regretted to see the action of the Government and the prosperity of the country hindered by the rebellion which is now drawing to a close. Of what the end must be, if the movement were confined to the Satsuma clap, there could searcely be a doubt from the commencement. However numerous and powerfal,-coe clan could not hold out alone against the whole force of the Government, Personal bravery—and Satsuma was admittedly pre-eminent in this respect among a brave people—could not altogether compensate for numerical deficiency; and unless General Saigo found allies in the neighbouring provinees, his defeat could only be a question of weeks or months. At one time, the risk that the movement would spread seemed imminent, but the sympathy which was undoubtedly felt among some classes for the insurgents never took an active shape, and' we't now. told that they have' been-driven into their last stronghold,-and that: th final battle is imminent, if it has not been already fought. Let us hope thatthe same leniency will be shown by: the Government in its victory, -that: was exhibited towards the Tokugawa clan and its allies at the close ofthe struggle which, some ten': years' ego, resulted in the overthrow of the Tycoon.
However regrettable may be the speotacle of a people wasting in civil. wir energy and treasure so much needed to promote the common welfare, the recent straggle may be taken to have been an almost inevitable incident in the course of change which "Jepan is now undergoing. - Some outbreak of conservative hostility to that. change was certain to occur; and although Satsuma took the lead in the reform which abolished the Tycdonate and restored real power to the hands of the Mikado, it has shown little sympathy with the haste to adopt foreign customs that has distinguished the policy of the Tycoon's successors in power. It is not necessary to enquire what was the precise cause of the outbreak. There is always some especial straw which causes the impending crash, and.very likely the question of samurai 'pén-sions was the firebrand in the present instance. If it had not been that, however, it would have. been something else. It was notin the. nature: of things that the sweeping changes which are in progress should be carried: out without some collision between the: old and the new forces, Happy will it'be for the country if this is the last onto break of the-kind. Apart from. the local distress and individual misery which the contest will entail, Japan can ill-afford the cost at which victory has been gained. Ata time when her finances have been strained to meet the cost of recent innovations, and the peo ple are uneasy under o new system. taxation which presses more heavily sin some quarters than the old, she: can ill afford to throw away additional millions in suppressing internal: disorder. The money has been readily forthcoming,—in a great measure: probably through the extraordinary facilities which the Government: enjoys for creating paper. money, Japan: being one country in the world where.the people prefer: assignats to hard.coin, But this very facility involves @ serious danger, if the Government should: bo gradually led to take advantage. of sit. Tt was rumoured quite recently..that an additional issue of £8,000,000. of paper money was contemplated; and it is difficult to see from what other source the £5,000,000 which the Satsuma rebellion is said to have already cost, can be met. - The Government can hardly have that euzplus, and the foreign loan which is hinted.at has at any rate not yet been negotiated. It has been declared that the new paper is intended only to replace portion of the, old which is getting -worn: out. SINE ce a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.