14
or doing anything with a piece of paper, he is punished. The punishment is what is called Shokubatsu, or the punishment of food. That is, the food is reduced one-third. The ordinary food is scanty, but when it is reduced so much it is simply starvation. A prisoner is kept in this condition for one or two weeks. It is necessary to give ordinary food a day in a week, as it is utterly impossible to continue this punishment a week, without starving a prisoner to death. So punishment is carried out in eight days. These prisoners are examined in a secret court of trial before they are tried in a public tribunal. Here they are threatened or deceived under the false promise of mercy, or sometimes tortured by being ordered to stand in open air during a severe winter day when it is raining or snowing.
Although these things are known to every intelligent man, yet there is no means of reform. If a newspaper takes notice of these things it will be immediately suspended or suppressed. The Japanese Ministers think that the present prison discipline is so perfect that no one ought to be permitted to criticise it. But who are these Ministers or officials in the present Cabinet? Okubo and Saigo are dead. Those who have succeeded them have no knowledge of statesmanship, but are ignorant and unprincipled men. Count Ito, with his superficial knowledge of European civilization, may have the pretensions of a Prime Minister, but we know well that he is not aman of strong will—a quality essential to a successful statesman. He will never be able to control the Cabinet. He cannot dismiss a single prominent Satuma man from the government.
It may naturally be said that there are many young officials who were educated in Europe, and these must advise the government in a liberal direction and introduce reforms. But my experience for the last ten years convinces me that those young officials, who are very liberal in Europe, become very conservative when they return to their own country. Such young men have difficulties almost unknown to European youth. All the Japanese young men who come to Europe are the sons of Samurai, or swordsmen, who have nothing to live upon except the industry of their sons. As soon as the students come back to
