se men
may not have been adequately recognised at the time, but their work
remains, and is in evidence to-day. Hawes received a decoration from
the Mikado, and the British Government gave him a consular appointment
in some obscure quarter of the globe, where he died a disappointed
man, fully sensible of the value of the work he had performed and
inspired, a firm believer in the future of Japan as a great naval
Power, but disgusted with the non-recognition of his labours.

The Navy of Japan as it is to-day is a triumph of organisation.
Discussing a short time ago the question with an ex-officer of the
Mercantile Marine who had, by a curious chance, served as a Naval
Reserve officer in both the English and Japanese Navies, he explained
to me the wonderful progress of the latter by pointing out that it had
been, as it were, called instantaneously into existence. The Japanese
Navy, he observed, had no past and no traditions to hamper its
development; its officers and administrators had only one desire--to
get the best of everything in modern naval science from anywhere.
There was no cult of seamanship, no dead wall of prejudice to trammel
modern naval developments. There was no prejudice at the Japanese
Admiralty against anything--save stagnation. Progress was the keynote
and watchword of the Japanese Navy. My friend assured me that it was,
as regards equipment, organisation, and general efficiency, the finest
fighting force the world has ever seen. So far as my own knowledge of
the matter goes, and so far as I am competent to express an opinion
on the subject, I fully endorse these observations. A visit to a
Japanese vessel-of-war, however perfunctory the knowledge of the
visitor may be on matters naval, very soon convinces him of the fact
that the Japanese naval officers and men are filled not only with
ardour but enthusiasm for their profession, that efficiency and
proficiency are the watchwords, and that the desire of every one
connected with the Navy, from the Admiral downwards, is to maintain
the _personnel_ and _materiel_ of the Fleet in the highest possible
condition of efficiency.

If, as some Englishmen imagine is the case, there is a tendency on the
part of young Japan to be oblivious of the fact that the Navy of the
country is greatly indebted for its present state of efficiency to the
zeal and efforts of English naval officers in its early days, there is
no question that the feeling of the officers and men of