The death of Marquis Okuma breaks another of the few remain-i ing links with old Japan and it 1s easily to be understood that. his countrymen are deeply stirred by his demise. For upwards of half century he has played a notable part before them. That he is entitled to the epithet "great" is open to question. He allowed himself too easily to be carried away by the warmth of his passion for that, and so it was that, except for his share in the Moji revolution, we doubt if he will be found a few years hence to have exercised any permanent influence on the destinies of his country. Some of is ideas also sounded, to say the least, curiously; as when he suggested that Great Britain should supply the money and Japan. the brains for the development of this country: although it is certain that, in this rather naive project, Marquis Okuma did not deserve so much misjudged as he was. But at least i" may be said that what. ever he did was in the grand manner. Personal considerations never swayed him and he was as superior to, as he was undoubtedly disdainful of, the professional—politician who looms so large and uncouth in all countries nowadays. Marquis Okuma was sometimes designated a firebrand. So might Don Quixote have been if he had' lived nowadays. There was much in common between them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.