arm in
regard to the moral future of Japan because it has perused the works
of the three philosophers named. It gives me no trepidation to read
that Mill's work on "Representative Government" has been translated
into a volume of five hundred pages in Japanese and reached its third
edition. I am, on the contrary, pleased to learn that Japan of to-day
is concerned about culture, desirous of reading the works of those
great philosophers whose names are among the immortal. There are no
principles enunciated in any of the books of Spencer, Mill, or Huxley
that, so far as I know, can undermine the moral character of the
Japanese. On the contrary, I believe that a perusal of the writings of
those great men will tend to assist the Japanese into a clearer
understanding of moral principles, and in a desire to apply them to
the duties of life. I look forward with great hope and a pronounced
confidence to the moral future of Japan. Everything that I have seen
in the country, everything that I have been able to learn respecting
the people thereof--the ideas prevailing, the teaching given in its
schools and universities, the whole trend of thought in the land, the
literature read and produced, the aspirations, in fact, of the
Japanese people to-day--lead me to think and to believe most firmly
that in the Japan of the future we shall witness a nation on a higher
moral plane than any of those with which the history of the world
acquaints us.

Closely connected with the moral advancement of Japan is its
intellectual advancement. I have referred to the statement made by a
writer that the Japan of to-day is addicted to reading the works of
certain English philosophers, and that one of these books translated
into Japanese had run through several editions. This fact is typical
of the intellectual ferment, the thirst for knowledge of all kinds
that exists in the country to-day. That craving is not for
philosophical works alone; it extends to and embraces every form of
literature of an instructive or enlightening character. It is in
evidence in the higher schools and the universities of the country; it
is to be witnessed in the many periodicals which exist for the
promotion of culture and the spread of knowledge. This intellectual
ferment, as I have, I think, appropriately termed it, is extending
rapidly, and is, I believe, destined to assume much greater
proportions. The literature of the world is at the present time
literally being devour