From the launching in 1850 Of Commodore Perry's ?agship, the Susquehanna, which I wit nessed, to the end of the life of Mutsuhito the Great, in July, 1912, and the world events in 1915, my interest in Japan has never ?agged. The present volume was written in large part during the lifetime of the august monarch, but the manuscript was withheld for much the same reasons of delicacy that prompt one to refrain from publishing the letters of a friend in the lifetime Of their writer. In this age, however, the people who revere their great ruler's memory should fear neither the light of investigation nor the revelation of a human life, in however exalted a position. Mikadoism is the symbol of all that is dear to the Japanese; yet, like all social forces, whether religion, or the magic of a great name, or the national ?ag, the dogma is Often abused by its so-called friends, is made an unnecessary engine of cruelty, or is debased to selfish or mercenary purposes.
