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absolutely impossible for her to take any backward step in the path which she has begun to tread, and in which she is striving earnestly and succeeding rapidly in catching up with Western nations. Japan represents in the Far East the ideals of Western civilization more than does Russia. The immense empire of China with its teeming population under Russian domination or only under Russian influence would constitute a real "Yellow Peril," or "Muscovite Menace," terrible to contemplate. But Japanese leadership or hegemony in Korean and Chinese affairs constitutes a guarantee of peace and prosperity, of the "open door," of the spread of true civilization, in the Far East.
The real policy of Japan in this war has been clearly set forth in various ways, of which one case follows:
On May 16 there was held in Tōkyō a most significant mass meeting of representatives of all kinds and shades of philosophies, cults, and religions. The thousand persons present included foreign missionaries, American and British, and Japanese Shintōists, Buddhists, Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, and Protestants of various denominations, besides probably many free-thinkers. There was a small number of women, both Japanese and foreign, in attendance.
There were several speakers, all of whom dwelt upon the necessity of union in the present crisis in the history of Japan. From the "Japan Mail" we extract the following paragraphs in summary of some of the addresses:—
"Mr. Ōuchi, the representative of Buddhism, declared that the Japanese do not constitute the Yellow Peril. The Mongols constitute it, and, above all, the Russians, who are Mongols. Napoleon had well said that a Russian has a white skin over a yellow heart. Japan has a yellow skin over a white heart. The whole practice of Russia,