Our country is situated far away to the East in a nook of the sea, and hitherto we have had no relations or dealings with igners; for which reason we have nei-nor heard very much. Wo have pursued this policy of jealous secu now for five hundred years, during wh time we have never swerved from the eu: toms of the days of old. Now the coun-trios of the west—say England, France, America, and Bussia—have invented appliances of the most ingenious and. benehcial description, by virtue of which they have attained to great wealth and political power. Their railways and their steamboats por-vade the whole face of the laud, and all the countries of the world are connected with each other by treaty; their balance of power is preserved by standing armies, and their relations are maintained intact by adherence to the principles of international law,—just as was the case among. the states in the time of the Chun-Tsiu. For this reason China, although she stands alone and pre-eminent among the nations of the world, still makes treaties with them on equal terms; while Japan, which repelled all the advances of foreigners 600 with such austerity, has now formed com pacts of friendship ith them all. Thus have they both d at which was directly opposed to their own original ideas; in trath, not even their strength was sufficient to withstand the pressure of the times. Well, then; our country, in the spring of 1876, ratified the friendly agreement come to between ourselves and Japan, and promised her to open three ports to and now, we have estat lished now treaties with America, England and Germany. This is an innovation, certainly, and there is nothing to be astonished at in the dissastifaction expressed by our people, But international relation now of general prevalence; so there is no difficulty in bringing about friendly ciation by the employment of right principles and good faith, The object of a Resident Minister in any country is primarily to watch over the interests of the merchants who may be settled there; there is no cause for suspicion of any ulterior motives on his part. There is alow, or principle, in the matter of international relationship; and this is found written in the classics and their commentaries, But there exist certain doltish and stupid scholars, who bear in mind how, in olden days, a feudal state would be ruined by making compact with another,—rocklessly sotting up this as an illustration, and then urging that Japan should be kept at a distance. Why do not such persons consider that if other people come to our shores in all friendliness, and we receive them as enemies and fight them, all the world would cry, What' sort of a nation can that bo?—If one country stands isolated alone, it will be bereft of all assistance, and give rise to enmity on the part of all other countries; it will become the object of general attack, and then it will be defeated, and at last ruined, and then its repentance will be great indeed. And what virtue will there be in it? Thoxo/ who reason about these matters condemn treaty-making on the ground that foreign nations will contaminate us with their depraved religions. This is because they have pondered so long and so deeply upon the religion of their ancestors, But as rognrds entering into treaty relations; of course we shall enter into them; and as regards prohibiting the foreign religion, of course we can prohibit it; and in ostablishing treaties of amity and commerce, we shall do som accordance with the principles of international law. According to the rules of propriety, it cannot be permitted that religion shall' be promulgated in the interior; besides, how can you, who have for so long practised the tonchings of Confucius and Moencius, and bathed yourselves in decorum and' ractitude all your lives, suddenly abandon the true and embrace the false and bad? Supposing, for instance, there wore to be some pid' fellow, some uneducated lout, aecrotly attempting to diffuse his teachings [in our country], then we have the law of our state, by which all such shall be exterminated and destroyed without mercy; what reason, then, is there for sorrow on account of our [alleged] inability to deal with such abuses? Moreover, when [these malcontents] see ever so little adoption of foreign methods in the direction of mechanism and machinery, they immediately regard that as contamination with foreign heresies; this, indeed, is the; ie plus ultra of obtunenesst TE the foreign}, doctrine is to be regarded as a doctrine of lechery and sensuality, then it can be kept at a distance; if foreign mechanism is advantageous, then we cin reap advantage from it, and use it to increase our wealth. Why fear, instead of having recourse to, such things as agriculture, sericulture, medical science, medicines, military weapons, ships, and carriages? ' Lot us repel their doctrines, but learn to use, or imitate, thole machinery; both these courses of! policy can be carried out, and thus no out-) rage will be done to propriety. Besides, the strength of foreign nations and the weakness of our own, are as far removed asunder as heaven from earth; if we do not learn to use their machinery, how can we withstand the contempt they feel for us, or prevent their covetousness [being directed against outland]? Most certainly are we able to cultivate their principles of government in regard to our domestic legialation, and enter into friendly relations
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.