We are often told that in spite of her apparently motionless attitude China is really advancing, and of course we know that in a certain sense she is astir, We observe too that those who advocate the stenchness and reality of her progress most freely and frequently are apt to cast a sidelong glance of contempt at the bustling and imitative activity of Japan, There is hardly a word of approval ever bestowed on the., Japanese for doing the very thing which we profess to desire the Chinese todo, The criticism offered by Englishmen on the two Eastern countries with which we have specially to do throws a curious light upon our own national character. The substratum of conservatism which, notwithstanding passing waves of liberal thought and sentiment, underlies genuine British opinion, manifests itself nowhere more strongly than in the real respect for China and the depreciation of Japan which is perceptible in the remarks of average Englishmen when they contrast the two realms. Still, when one looks at certain results of the so-called "Foreign fashion mania" in Japan, one is struck by the width of the gulf which sunders the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.