but bunkum.[1] The history of India, of Egypt, of Turkey, is no secret to them. More familiar still, because fought out at their very gates, is the great and instructive case of the West versus China,—six or seven young tigers against one old cow. The Japanese would be blind indeed, did they not see that their best security for continued safety and success lies in the determination to be strong, and in the endeavour not to be too different from the rest of mankind; for the mob of Western nations will tolerate eccentricity of appearance no more than will a mob of roughs.
Indeed, scarcely any even among those who implore the Japanese to remain as they are, refrain, as a matter of fact, from urging them to make all sorts of changes. "Japanese dress for ladies is simply perfection," we hear one of these persons cry; "only don't you think that gloves might be added with advantage? And then, too, ought not something to be done with the skirt to prevent it from opening in front, just for the sake of decency, you know?"—Says another, whose special vanity is Japanese music (there is considerable distinction about this taste, for it is a rare one)—says he—"Now please keep your music from perishing. Keep it just as it is, so curious to the archæologist, so beautiful, for all that the jeerers may say.
- ↑ It has pained the writer to find this sentence misinterpreted by some otherwise friendly critics of an earlier edition (the Spectator, for instance) into so shallow and arrogant an assertion as that "Christianity and humanitarianism are nothing but bunkum." (!) What is meant is simply what is said in the text, namely, that our professions are bunkum. No doubt, individuals may occasionally be found whose practice carries out their profession. But can any impartial student of history deny that, as nations, the Christian nations (so-called) flout their professions with their deeds? Sometimes their hypocrisy is piquantly transparent, as when, to take a very modern instance, we find figuring prominently in the list of reasons officially alleged for the American annexation of Hawaii "the intimate part taken by citizens of the United States in there implanting the seeds of Christian civilisation." Could the most moral wolf desire any whiter wool for his sheep's clothing?
