It will be recollected that Macaulay has pictured a New Zealander of some future day as sitting upon a broken arch of London Bridge, contemplating the ruins of St. Paul’s cathedral; and readers of the classics may recall the forecast of Seneca in the time of Nero, as to the discovery of a Western continent by which Rome should be dwarfed: “In later ages the time shall come when the ocean shall loosen the chains which bind us, a mighty continent shall be disclosed, and a deity shall unveil a new world beyond Britannia.” Return to text

Those who have followed the course of events in Japan since the beginning of the new era will remember that upon the return of Prince Iwakura, in 1873, from his around-the-world embassy, Mr. Yeto had to withdraw from the cabinet, owing to a difference of opinion between him and the Prince with regard to the Corean problem then pending. Returning to his native province, Saga, he tried to raise troops against the government (to carry out, of course, his own convictions in regard to the Corean problem), resulting in the famous “Saga rebellion” of 1873. Defeated by the government troops, he betook himself to the interior of the country in disguise, was arrested, found guilty of treason, and executed according to law. It is a familiar saying in Japan that Mr. Yeto died a criminal at the hand of his own Penal Code. Return to text

I make mention of these two gentlemen as representative of two classes of a fairly large number of Japanese lawyers, viz., those who have been educated in the United States, and those who have received their education in England. Mr. Hatoyama is a D. C. L. of Yale. For nearly ten years (1880-1889) he was a professor of law in the University of Tokio Law School, and during most of this time he was also Dean of the school. Mr. Hoshi is a barrister-at-law of one of the English Inns of Court. For many years he was regarded as the leader of the Japanese bar. Like many distinguished members of the English bar, he is more of a lawyer than of a jurist. Return to text

I refer to Professors Hodzumi, Tomii, and Ume. Prof. Hodzumi is a barrister-at-law of the Middle Temple, and is one of the ablest representatives of English law in Japan. Prof. Tomii is a Docteur en Droit of the Facility of Lyons, and is by far the ablest expounder of the French codes in Japan. Prof. Ume, though a bearer of the same degree from the same Faculty as Prof. Tomii, has attended several German universities, and is more of the German school than of the French. The Commission itself consisted of several other distinguished personages, with the Prime Minister at the head. But these three professors composed what was called the “Compilation Committee,” so that practically they were the Commission. Return to text

Prof. Ume, a member of the Commission, is responsible for these statements so far as they relate to the codes and laws consulted. The classifications, however, are my own. Return to text

This may be a mere conjecture on my own part. It is possible that the Commissioners never consulted his book, though to assert such a thing of them would be an insult to their scholarship. Be it as it may, it is a fact beyond question that their arrangement of these topics presents a remarkable coincidence to that of Prof. Holland’s, and this is a matter upon which every thoughtful Japanese may well pride himself. Return to text

Defined in the Standard Dictionary as follows: “The science that treats of citizenship and of the relations between citizens and the government: a new word directly derived from the adjective civic, introduced by Henry Randall Waite.” Return to text

“Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.” By Willian Milligan Sloane, Ph. D., L. H. D.; Professor of History in Princeton University. Four volumes, imperial octavo; pp. 1120. New York: The Century Company. Boston: Balch Brothers, 1896. Return to text