can be no doubt whatever that the foreign residents in Japan
have accomplished a great work in regard to the development of the
country. The settlements established by them at the various treaty
ports and the administration of those settlements as municipalities
reflected great credit upon all those concerned, and was a splendid
object-lesson for the Japanese people. Great Britain, too, may, I
think, be congratulated on the men she has selected to represent her
at the Japanese Court. There is no man to whom both Great Britain and
Japan are more indebted than the late Sir Harry Parkes. I cannot
remember during how many years he was the British Minister at Tokio,
but during the whole of his term of office he used his best endeavours
in the direction of showing Japan the way she ought to go in the path
of progress, and in rendering her all the assistance possible in that
direction by procuring for her the very best assistance of every
description. I strongly advise every person interested in Japan and
its development to peruse the Life of Sir Harry Parkes, by Mr. F. V.
Dickins and Mr. Stanley L. Poole. One interesting feature in Sir Harry
Parkes's career I may record here, as I have had it on the authority
of a gentleman conversant with the facts. Sir Harry was always a
_persona gratissima_ with the Japanese Government, and about the year
1877 he and the late Admiral Sir A. P. Ryder, then Commander-in-Chief
on the China station, had a conversation respecting, in view of the
aggressive policy of Russia in the Far East, obtaining a British
coaling station much further north than Hong Kong. Admiral Ryder
mentioned as an appropriate place the island of Tsu-shima, so famous
in the recent war with Russia. Sir Harry Parkes promised to use his
good offices with the Japanese Government to obtain permission to
occupy this island with a view of its ultimate cession to Great
Britain. The permission was duly obtained, and Admiral Ryder thereupon
cabled home to the Admiralty for the necessary permission to take over
the island. His request was promptly vetoed, and Great Britain,
accordingly, lost for ever the opportunity of obtaining an admirable
coaling station and a splendid strategical position in the Far East.
It is quite certain that Japan does not now regret the refusal of
Great Britain to accept her too generous offer.

Europeans have been in Japan, and very much in evidence, during the
past half-century or so, but I do not thin