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treaties freely and smoothly is to prove the fact that Japan is the most civilized country in the Far East, and, consequently, not only the Government, but also the local authorities, municipal corporations, courts of justice, police-stations, as well as the general public, must be very careful in the enforcement of the treaties in question; otherwise various affairs, which may be made international questions and cause much trouble to the State, will take place one after another.

As for the State finance, I firmly believe that the Government has proper schemes for administering the State affairs and undertaking various public enterprises in a most satisfactory manner with the present resources of the country, and that the readjustment of the finance will be perfectly effected in future by means of the increase or reduction of tax, according to circumstances. Another important question of the day is that of our military armaments. It is very easy to speak of the completion of armaments, but when we undertake this great task practically, we shall meet with many difficulties on account of the fact that it extends over a number of years. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the completion of armaments will be promptly effected to our entire satisfaction.

Besides the complete victory in the war with China and the success of treaty revision, Japan may be proud of the speediness of her material progress, because she has made a progress seldom paralleled in the modern history of the world. For instance, the system of conscription having been introduced into our country shortly after the abolition of a long-rooted feudal system, it seemed to foreigners improbable that it would be successfully carried out; but it was introduced easily and perfectly, and may serve as a demonstration of how Japan surpasses her neighbouring countries, China and Corea.

Next we come to the marked development of the national resources. According to the statistics of our foreign trade for 1872 and 1873, the total amount of our annual exports and imports stood then at about 30,000,000 yen only, while it rose to over 440,000,000 yen in 1898, the rapid increase being unexampled anywhere else in the world. And, furthermore, our commerce and industry have suddenly made a marked progress since the year 1885 or thereabouts. Last year, when I was still holding the office of Premier, I made a full investigation of the general features of our commercial and industrial progress, and found that the total amount of capital invested in various enterprises of the country stood then at about 900,000,000 yen. Of course, this figure represents the aggregate sum of the authorized capital, and I cannot now tell you the exact amount of the capital actually paid up, but I think the latter may be safely estimated at about 500,000,000 yen. It is true that there