adopted was internal improvement first, and treaty revision afterwards. Before this was finished Japan was involved in trouble with the Chinese about the question of Formosa and Loo Choo, and with the Coreans about their insult to the national standard of Japan. The difference about Formosa was settled satisfactorily, much to the triumph of Japan, but the question of Loo Choo is still pending a decided action on both sides. China and Japan are allied countries and their intercourse has been kept up for centuries; their literature is similar; the natural religions favored by the Chinese philosophers are accepted by many Japanese scholars; for the welfare of oriental countries, their friendly intercourse and alliance are desirable by all means; but Chinese conservatism and Japanese radicalism are such a point of divergence, that, unless the Chinese awake from their torpor, real alliance and friendship are hopeless. The recent outbreak of the Corean conservatives and the triumph of the progressive party there have singularly resulted in a new problem in the Orient. Nor only in the Orient; it will have some significance to those western nations which have recently entered into a treaty with the Corean king Not only once, but many times, did the Corean conservatives insult the Japanese. The last outrage was an unpardonable one. The minister plenipotentiary and his party in Keijo (Seoul) the capital of Corea barely escaped with their lives from a wild mob; still, like the insult to the flag, it was settled peacefully, without an appeal to arms, for Jaan has wished to advance with Corea in the ne of western civilization. But the great Celestial Empire has stepped in and re-asserts er claim of over-lordship, now publicly in se face of the world, but secretly trying to stify an unreasonable interference with the itional affairs of Corea. Corea has been dependent, and her sovereign is and should on an equal footing with any other ruler his international relations. Unless the lependence or dependence of Corea be arly settled by international agreement or representatives of those nations that en tered into the recent treaties with her, diplomacy in the Orient will walk in mist and uncertainty. Japan seeks her friends in the Orient, but she has practically no allies there at present. Her friends are found only in the West, but she wishes to fully recognize her duties towards her neighbors. She cannot but feel that Corea is the key to the "Eastern Question "-the Italy-like peninsula that must be kept inviolate from China and Russia, its grasping neighbors, and subject to only religious, industrial, social, and commercial influences from the outside world. Corea is our natural ally, and our nearest blood-relation. Since the establishment of the Interior Department, the forty-four governors of the State of Japan, under the instructions of the minister, have adopted a progressive policy and executed measures for the development of the interior of the country. Every law is now national in its scope, and every regulation acts over the entire country. No trace of the arbitrary rule of the former petty princes can now be found. The lands and forests are carefully surveyed; the census returns are taken with great accurateness; old temples, sacred relics, and the classic beauty of Old Japan, are carefully preserved; sanitary regulations have been adopted; the penitentiary system and supervisions are in good order; the publication of books and registration of inventions are encouraged; the rivers and harbors are being improved, and the public highways are kept in good repair. In fact, all the elements of efficient and economical government have received careful attention, and only time is needed for the accomplishment of vast good for the welfare of the nation. Agriculture, arboriculture, commerce, and navigation have also received great encouragement. Japan has always been an agricultural country. Her resources, when developed fully, are more than sufficient to support her own people, and the surplus products when exported into the markets of the world ought to add greatly to her wealth. More than one-third of the whole population is now engaged in farming, and when the latest improvements and economies are introduced in that pursuit, the net gain will aggregate millions of dollars. Agriculture, as an art, has been carried on in Japan in a state of great perfection, but improved breeds of cattle and horses, labor saving machines and applications of modern sciences to practical farming have been unknown. The new agricultural department encourages progressive farming. Already, there are several agricultural institutions for training young men to scientific agriculture, and agricultural societies and fairs for the interest of the farming community have been successfully organized. Japan will no more cling to the ancient system, but with certain modifications adopt the western labor-saving modes of farming. Already farmers are leaving the thickly settled portions of the country to seek new homesteads in new communities. The northern island, Yesso, for the development and colonization of which millions of dollars have been expended in the last ten years, attracts them most. The settlers there have been repaid for their enterprise with ample yield of crops, and are highly prosperous. The proper maintenance and preservation of the forests already in existence, and the culture of trees on waste lands are never overlooked, and forestry laws and forestry schools are now in full operation. The lack of capital and enterprise has hitherto prevented our merchants from entering the markets of the world, but the foreign demand for our national products, such as silks, teas, porcelains, and lacquer wares, has suggested a more extended commerce to enterprising men, and now their representatives are found in many great cities, such as New York, London and Paris. Ocean navigation is entirely a new feature of Young Japan. The new lines hitherto or ganized are hardly competent to rival foreign lines with their immense capital and superbly equipped steamers, but the coast navigation is now entirely conducted by the Japanese line. Of the two most powerful national lines, one has been for some time in successful operation, and the other has made a good beginning. They will sometime in the future, it is hoped, be able to plow the Pacific and Indian Oceans with their own steamers under the flag of the Rising Sun. They are rivals of each other, but this has given us a healthful competition. Their representatives have lately gone to Europe. and purchased a number of steamers for the purpose of extending their lines. We have docks in which ship building is carried on by native ship-builders, but not sufficient to meet the increasing demand for vessels. The success of the steamship lines is ow ing in a large degree to the efforts of our late postmaster-general, who also founded the postal system in Japan. The operations and success of our post office have been remarkable. The income exceeds the expenditures. The mails are constantly increasing and postal lines extend everywhere over the country. The mail business is the most successful branch the new government has ever undertaken. It has been a potent means for the development of the interior of the country, and is a notable triumph of New Japan. The promotion of the postmaster-general to membership in the Imperial Cabinet is now in question. The best policy of the government is not to maintain postage beyond the requirements of business, but to reduce it by degrees to the lowest point that pays expenses. As interprovincial communications and traffic increase, the necessity of railroads has been fully felt. In some parts of the country, railroads of considerable length are in full operation; but the rad icalism of Japan is not satisfied with railroads of a hundred miles or so, and a project was placed before the public a few years ago by a number of capitalists and statesmen, in which the construction of rail roads throughout the entire length of th country was planned. This was received b the nation as a grand project, and the N tional Railroad Company was organized wit its needed capital guaranteed on easy terr by the government, and now a line from t metropolis to a northern seaport of abo four hundred and fifty miles distant is process of construction. others now projected are When this line a finished, the tra of Old Japan now remaining will soon disappear. There will be no more of the romance of travel in the interior of Japan. The railroads will spoil the beauty of the past, but they will bring such great good to New Japan that this loss can be forgiven. Telegraph lin es extend all over the country, but are under the control of the central government. They are a part of the telegraph and cable lines that connect the Old and New Worlds. Not only has the extension of the telegraph and railroad lines been made by government aid, but also mining, manufacturing and other kinds of industries have been started and some are still maintained by the busy government of Japan. The result of this is a depleted treasury. An income of about eighty millions of dollars is hardly sufficient to carry on the progressive affairs of the nation, to pay the interest on the national debts and to somewhat reduce the paper currency. The late minister as well as his successor was a careful statesman and economist, and national confidence has been placed in both. Nevertheless, the department of the Treasury has had a hard time for the last ten years, but the worst seems now over, and it will probably go on smoothly hereafter. The government often feels the need of more funds, not only to meet ordinary expenditures, but also to meet unexpected ones, caused by the present political relation of Japan in the Orient. This year a revised tax on alcoholic liquors, tobacco, and other luxuries will bring an income of about ten million dollars more than usual, which will be appropriated for the increase of the naval and military forces. This increase is only a question of time. The feeling of patriotism is strong among the people, and they feel that the resent army is inadequate to support an inlependent nation in the circle of the Orienal powers. The naval and military acadenies are educating cadets well qualified for heir posts, and it is the policy of Japan to edcate the sons of noblemen in this discipline. Still, Japan must not attempt too much. Commercial progress and agricultural develpment must go ahead of a much larger army. It is individual enterprises, manufactures and industries that make a nation strong. But the present policy of steadily increasing the national forces seems to accord with the other functions of the government. When Japan knew no other nation than herself, she had peace and war within her own domain, and accepted no outside rights nor duties; but now she has relations on a larger scale in a world where might is right, and our new burdens are often heavy ones. The world will be patient with the accomplishment of two-score years. We had hoped to do more, yet we are not ashamed of the results. Obstructions and prejudices are always in the way when new systems are introduced, but perseverance is conquering all things. Yet Japan too often has had to learn that change in everything according to the fashion of the western nations is not desirable. This is especially so in the administration of our civil and criminal codes. The peculiarities of the people, their customs and habits, are the most important consideration for the law-giver. Our criminal codes have been revised three times since the Revolution, and the present criminal codes, which have been in operation since January, 1882, are modifications and combinations of the French, Chinese, and Japanese laws. Trials by jury are not established yet. Otherwise they agree in general with the codes of any civilized nation. Torture, the disgrace of Oriental courts, has been forgotten in Japan for a long time past. Testimony and evidence, rather than bodily chastisements, have become the features of trials in the present judicial courts. The civil codes are now in process of compilation by a committee of the Senate. Education in Japan has never been neglected. It is almost universal; but to become an intelligent and cultured Japanese one needs a vast amount of time and labor. Japan has its own classic literature, which consists of a study of ancient laws, philosophy and poetry. This is not of common practical use, but the beauty of the pure Japanese language is worthy of attracting the attention of scholars. Japan has also a pure Chinese literature, which has been the chief subject of study by the cultured class for centuries past. Neither Japanese nor Chinese literature received any attention at the time of the Revolution, and for several succeeding years; while the western languages were enthusiastically studied by every ambitious scholar. Now, as a common literature has developed a mixture of Japanese and Chinese-it is universally adopted for the education of youths. But what Japan needs most is to transplant the arts and sciences into her own soil, and this cannot be accomplished except by the study of the western languages, and through their instrumentality. From our schools have sprung up colleges, and from colleges universities, using foreign books and teaching with foreign tongues. Advanced scholars have been sent abroad, and on their return home do much 'good for the cause of education. But our present system of education, through the instrumentality of foreign tongues, is, of course, a great disadvantage on many accounts, and is being revised. The public school system has now been organized, and instruction is given in the mixed literature, which is easier to master than either pure Japanese or pure INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A CALIFORNIA DETECTIVE. SOME years since, the stage line in the southern part of this State suffered from frequent depredations by "road-agents." The express company offered liberal rewards and the local officers displayed commendable zeal, all to no purpose. Some of the officers of the company, with whom I had been acquainted while sheriff of one of the mining counties, requested me to take the matter in hand and see if I could get any clue to work upon. Suspecting that some of my former acquaintances who had served a term or two in the penitentiary had returned to their old vocations in "pastures new," and believing that if such was the case I could soon get upon The day after I had received my instructions, I was on the road to the scene of the last robbery. I represented myself as a stockraiser looking for feed; and, as it was an exceedingly dry year and feed very scarce, my representations were readily accepted. numerous robberies were the most frequent topics of conversation among the very sparse population on the line of my road. I affect ed indifference to the subject, but carefuli noted everything said. their track, I readily consented. The At a certain station where I had remaine two days and had vainly sought eviden upon which to found a theory, Ihired a hor of a native Californian, telling him and ot ers that I was going across the mountains the coast to look for grass; tied my blankets behind my saddle and made other preparations for a journey. While I was thus engaged, a man rode up to the station with the information that the stage had been robbed the night before, about ten miles south. Pretending to pay but little attention to his narrative, I got all the information he had to impart, and then started on the trail leading to the coast. This trail I followed about a mile and then struck across to the stage road, and hastened to reach the scene of the robbery while the tracks were yet fresh. I had but little difficulty in finding where the stage had been stopped. After about a half hour's search, I found the spot where the express-box had been broken open. It was in a ravine a few hundred yards from where it was thrown off. It was evident from the pieces of brown paper, such as is used by the express company in wrapping up packages of coin, scattered around that the robber had made a good night's work. I examined the ground carefully, and came to the conclusion from the tracks, made evidently by a high-heeled boot, that but one man had been engaged in the robbery. The ravine was rocky and the tracks only occasionally visible, but they seemed to go up the ground. When I had satisfied myself of this, I went back after my horse. I found, how ever, no horse in the place where I had left him; he had broken off the branch of the small tree to which I had tied him and was out of sight. The rope and branch as he dragged them along left traces easily followed, and just before sunset I found the horse quietly grazing it the junction of two small cañons. I had but little difficulty in catching him, and, as I ound a little water, I concluded to camp here for the night. So after picketing my orse I made my supper of the dried beef nd crackers that I had brought with me, lled myself up in my blankets with my sade for a pillow, and slept until daylight. In the morning when I went to get my orse, I found the tracks of another, and in e moist ground near the spring to which I horse for water, I could easily distin my guish the difference between the tracks of the two; mine being barefooted while the other was shod forward; and in examining carefully I discovered that about an inch was broken off from the inside of the off shoe. I also found boot tracks that corresponded with those I had found at the place where the express-box had been broken open. Beyond the moist soil near the spring, the ground was hard and rocky and the tracks difficult to follow. Being convinced, however, that they pointed up the cañon and that I could find them at some point to the west, I mounted my horse and, to make better time, rode up the narrow ridge that runs parallel with the cañon. I continued up this ridge about two miles, until a dense thicket of chaparral compelled me to turn down into the ravine again. It had become less rocky and in spots somewhat moist. Here I could occasionally find tracks of the broken shoe. Following up the bed of the cañon about a mile, I came to a perpendicular bluff, but just before reaching it found that the horse I had been following had gone out of the ravine up the steep bank to the right. Here the soil was less rocky than in the bed of the cañon, and quite a trail had been made, so that I had no difficulty in following the tracks. This I did for a distance of, as I judged, about twenty miles, when the trail seemed suddenly to stop. So I unsaddled, picketed my horse, and taking some crackers and beef in my hand, continued my search on foot. I found that I was now almost on the summit of the mountains and that the tracks forming the trail had here taken different directions, all, however, leading down towards the coast. After a close examination I selected that which appeared to be the freshest, and followed down the mountain some distance until the tracks turned short to the left and crossed a cañon. I then returned for my horse, and, as the mountain was steep, led him, still following the tracks, which I noticed here, as before, appeared to seek the roughest ground on which it was possible for a horse to travel. This served to confirm me in the belief that I was on the right trail. I walked as fast as I could lead my |