Srd November, 'Tue third of November is a great: day in Japan and wherever there' is a Japanese colony, for it was on the 8rd of November, 1852, that' the Emperor was born. " His name," says Mr. Chamberlain, "is Mutsuhito; but this name is scarcely ever mentioned, and is probably not even known to the great, majority: of the nation, In Japan the Emperor is simply the Emperor—not a personality, an almost familiar individuality, as Queen Victoria and, Kaiser Wilhelm, for instance, are to us. To future generations of Japunese the present monarch will pro-chably be known as Meiji Tennd, the word Tennd meaning emperor, and Meiji being the chronological designation of the years comprised in his reign." the mass of the Japanese people he is regarded as semi-divine, and implicit obedience to the Mikado is one of the two fundamental principles of the national berlain': again,. in -refaretioe "$0 religion, Shinto. To quote Cham-
the Imperial family: "We know positively that it has reigned ever since the dawn of history in this archipelago, and that even'then it was considered of immemorial age. The fact is particularly striking if we reflect upon the usually brief lile of oriental dynasties, Little wonder, therefore, all things considered, if a religious reverence for the Imperial line is as axiomatic in Japan, as completely removed beyond all doubt or controversy, as is the doctrine of the equal rights and duties ofall men in the democratic societies of the West," Western: people nay smile when Admiral Togo or Marshal Oyama ascribe their victories to the merit of their Emperor, but to the mass of the Japanese there is nothing fanciful in this;. it is. a. condi born in them, and to doubt it would be profanity. The axiom, "The King can do no wrong," is a legal fiction in England, but an article of faith in Japan, mot Ascending the throne' in 1867, when he was only fifteen. years old, and his..throne.at. Kioto was a phantom one, the real power being in the hands of the Shogun at what is now Tokio, the Emperor has had a more eventful life than any European Sovereign, except perhaps his imperial brother of 'Austria, and he has never failed to rise to the height of the, situation, In. the first year of his reign came the struggle between his' partisans "'and those "of the Shogun, which ended in making him the real ruler of Japan, He has seen and sympathised with the vast change, with all its exciting incidents, which has transformed his empire from a little group of islands almost setally secluded from foreign inter course, into one of the Great Powers of the world. From a nominally absolute he hus become a really constitutional sovereign, being. one with his people in two successful foreign wars, working as hard as any of his subjects to achieve that success, entering into every detail connected with his army and navy, and ever ready, hand in hand with his gracious Empress, to help his subjects in every mishap, and rejoice with them at every stroke: of good fortune. Beloved by his people, respected b foreign Powers, and almirad by all foreigners who have visited his capital, and experienced his courtesy and good will, he. has been and is a model sovereign of a free country. History will realise more clearly than we do the grandeur of the events of his reign, and how much the progress of his empire owes to his personal efforts and character; and we gladly join with his own subjects in wishing bim on this his birthday deservedly high has reached, go perity. sition his country health, and pros-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.