22 AUGUST 1863, Page 3

A telegram has arrived from Japan via' Shanghai, of the

4th July, which is not a little mysterious. On the one hand, the Japanese have paid the indemnity demanded, on the -other, the "Mikado had issued orders to expel the foreigners, and to close the ports." We presume the explanation is that the Tycoon and the advanced party have finally quarrelled with the Mikado and the Conservatives, and that civil war will commence in apan. The natural course of events under those ciroumstances is that the Mikado should win at first, that the Tycoon should call in the British, and that the aliens should fix themselves firmly upon the necks of both. The mere approach of the men of the West seems to shatter these Eastern civilizations as an iron bar shatters fine porcelain by merely rolling upon it.