CIVILIZATION BY BOMBSHELLS.
WE have begun the civilization of Japan by bombarding, and apparently destroying, one of its cities, known to be populous, and said to contain' no less than 180,000 inhabi- tants. Now, we have never been disposed to admit the claim of barbarous, or even of semi-barbarous, nations to seal them- selves up hermetically in a social life of their own, and to forbid the approach of every other people. History shows that every great step in the progress of nations has been marked by a new intercourse between different races—even when that intercourse has been forced by conquest. It was conquest that moulded the national life of Israel, conquest that spread over Europe the laws and civilization of Rome, conquest that made England one of the greatest of European peoples; and though to the scrupulous equity of modern feel- ing it might be exceedingly difficult to justify some of these proceedings, no thoughtful man can doubt that conquest has played one of the most important parts in the Divine govern- ment of the world, and that there must be some sense or other in which the higher civilization has a right to demand admit- tance to the lower, and to take upon itself the government of barbarous States which prove unwilling or unable to welcome the painful but salutary process of moral and intellectual grafting. We are not now going to discuss the limits under which this right must be asserted, though, of course, there are obvious limits, without which it might be made the mere plea for spoliation. But we do wish to assert very strongly that it is a barbarous and monstrous thing to interfere at all with a power like Japan, if our only purpose in interfering is to thrust in one hand, laden with merchandise, through the door of unwilling communication, and take revenge with the other for any injury then inflicted by such frightful acts of retaliation as this. In what we have just done we were revenging the murder of Mr. Richardson. The Central Government of the Tycoon had paid the fine de- manded, but had pleaded its inability to give up or punish the murderers in consequence of the great power of the Prince Satsuma, who sheltered these murderers. The fleet there- fore immediately goes down to Kagosima, a city in the terri- tories of this semi-independent noble, and demands the rendition of the murderers, which is refused. The shore batteries opened on the fleet, which thereupon bombarded the forts and town, and the last report was, "The whole town is in flames. The city is one mass of ruins—palace, factories, arsenal, &c. Three steamers of Satsuma are destroyed com- ,pletely."
Such is the result, and, probably, not the worst result, of forcing a commercial treaty from an exclusive and reluctant people, whom we are not prepared to conquer and govern, and whom we only wish to force into an exchange of merchandise. The chain of moral necessity is this :— We insist on a treaty with an overawing force, and get the treaty; the reaction naturally sets in in Japan, and the party hostile to foreigners comes into the ascendant; outrages are committed on our subjects ; we demand redress, do not get it, and make an example of a recalcitrant Prince by burning. down a large city, and driving all its inhabitants to despair. Is it possible for any man who makes the slightest pretension to Christian politics to justify such a policy,—for the sake, not of civilizing the Japanese with any of the higher resources of a European Government, but of compelling them, against the will of a large party, to trade with us?
We should assuredly not scruple at any attempt of the- English authorities to inflict condign punishment on Mr._ Richardson's murderers. But on what possible principle can we inflict such wide-spread misery on a great city which is accused of nothing but lying in the territory of a man who• screens these murderers ? Even in European and American wars, the bombardment of cities is thought discreditable, and we have heard no slight denunciations of the American gene- rals for bombarding Charleston after a six months' notice. But how infinite is the gulf between the responsibility of the South- erners for the events which led to the bombardment of Charles- ton, and the responsibility of the Japanese of Kagosima for the murder of Mr. Richardson ! War in Europe and America means war with a people who have, at least, freely and intelligently taken the steps which they knew would lead to war,—taken their side, and prepared for the sacrifice,—and yet we hesitate to inflict such wholesale injuries. War in Japan means war at most with an indi- vidual, while all the misery is inflicted on creatures who, probably, know and understand nothing of the cause. Nor is it even for a political end. The only political result will be to shake down the existing Government, as we have done in China, while we repudiate, and have, per- haps, never even thought of substituting, anything better and stronger in its place. Is there no limit at all to the. duty of national retaliation on these Oriental peoples ? Would it really be held a crime rather to have let Mr. Richardson's murderers go unpunished—there is, indeed, no proof that they were punished, even at last,—than spread this wholesale murder among an inoffensive people ? Would it not be better a thousand times to give up commerce where commerce necessitates such crimes, if it is only for the sake of commerce that we go there ? A civilization which only demands, at best, the right to exchange English linen and cotton for Japanese copper, and enforces that demand by destroying cities on the first outbreak of barbarian malice, is not a weapon of which we need be proud. If we were pre- pared to rule even a portion of Japan, as we are now ruling India, and beginning to rule China, we might have something to give worth fighting for, though not worth fighting for in this way. But to civilize only by selling cotton and hard- ware, and following them up with gratuitous bombshells when- ever the barbarian spirit bursts forth against us, is to present Japan with a type of Christian civilization it may take many generations to forget.
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