So then, I find three great powers in this country: first is money, second is hypocrisy, third is "Rings." To use American expression, these three powers "run the country." Only real pure virtue has no power, because almost certainly whoever was strictly superior man, according to Confucius, must seem like a fool to all smart men. He cannot succeed like other men, therefore he must retire.

I could write a great deal more on this subject, but partly I am afraid of saying things that may offend. If I knew English language better, I could write in more flowing kind of style, so I might even tell many true things in a manner that would not seem rather rude. Still, it is not my intention to be rude, only to be quite honest and sincere. In my book which I am going to write in Japan, I have divided American vices under four heads: first, ecclesiastical vices, that is, all vices connected with sects, churches, clergymen, religious newspapers, young men's Christian associations, and so on; second, political vices, that is all vices connected with elections, lobbying, political newspapers, wirepullers, Custom House frauds, Indian administration, political rings, and so on; third, financial vices, (I have already a little touched on these, from which you can see how I can describe them quite fully,) fourth, social vices, such as vices connected with marriage system in this country, the aristocracy of a democratic republic, and many other subjects rather delicate, therefore I will not say anything more. I only mention this to show that I have indeed earnestly examined your country, and I find one thing of which you are entirely ignorant, and this is "Taou"

This one word contains such a high idea, that I am afraid it is not possible for you to understand it. Nevertheless, I will try and explain. Taou is the "way of the Sage," or "the way of Heaven," it is omnipresent and fills and influences all things, therefore Confucius says, "The Taou of the supremely sincere enables them to foreknow things: it is only they who carry sincerity to the highest point, and in whom there remains not a single hair's breadth of hypocrisy, that can foresee the hidden springs of things. Taou is what men ought to practice, Taou is the self-sacrifice by which oneself is perfected, and the knowledge by which one perfects others. Taou is the virtue of nature, the way of uniting the external and the internal." All this is Taou, and a great deal more;

indeed, it takes a life to study and understand Taou, for it contains three hundred outlines and three thousand minute particulars thereof. It is not possible, indeed, to understand it without first practicing it. It cannot be understood by the mind alone, only by strictly living every day according to the highest principles of selfsacrifice, can it be understood. Tsze Sze, who was a great sage, and student of Confucius, thus describes this most wonderful principle in a few words. "It is only the man possessed of Taou that can perfect his own nature; he who can perfect his own nature, can perfect the nature of other men; he who can perfect the nature of other men, can perfect the nature of things; he who can perfect the nature of things, can assist heaven and earth in producing things. When this is the case, then he is united with heaven and earth so as to form a trinity." This, however, is too deep for ordinary intelligence to comprehend. Only those who practice Taou, can understand fully its meaning. Though most unworthy man myself, for many years I have tried to practice Taou. Therefore, my eyes are somewhat open to perceive moral questions in different countries, because I examine them by the light of Taou; therefore I have written frankly, because my purpose in writing has been quite pure. Now most earnestly I beseech you to stop making money, because it is not possible to spend your life in becoming rich, and still have time to discover and practice the "way of heaven," which is Taou. Also give up this openly trying to persuade men that you are good, by belonging externally to churches, when internally you are following the way of the inferior Remember what the Ode says, "Look into your own chamber, and see whether you have cause for shame in the presence of your household Gods."

Never mind if men despise you, and speak badly of you because you retire from their evil ways. At last the glories of Taou will shine through you, for what says the Sage? "He who possesses Taou, without showing himself he will shine forth, without moving he will renovate others, without acting he will perfect them.” And again, "though the path of the superior man appear secret, yet it daily becomes more splendid, while the path of the mean man, though he strive to exhibit it, daily vanishes from sight." But, perhaps, you will say you have not studied Confucius and cannot obtain his works, therefore it is not possible for you to

practice Taou. Then, I at once answer most fearlessly you have your own Sacred Book, which contains the Divine principle of Taou, though, perhaps, your eyes are still too blind to perceive it, and your own most wonderful Teacher, who explained most fully "The Kingdom (or Way) of Heaven." Therefore, you cannot make any such excuse. Believe me, for I have studied this thing. It is most tremendous Power even now hanging over the world. Confucius says of it, "It waits for its men, and then is walked in, (or practiced,)" but it will not always wait; if men do not practice, it will overtake and crush them, and this is what your own great Teacher meant, when He said, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."

SIONARA,

A Japanese Traveller.

NOTE. The author of this article requests us to state that the word Sionara has been mistaken for his name, when in fact it is a Japanese word, meaning farewell. As, however, he wishes to remain incognito, or, in his own vernacular, Naibun, he has expressed his wish to retain it as a nom de plume. — ED.

UNTIL very lately a clear notion of the great Northern Empire under existing social conditions was only possible for those who were conversant with the Russian language. About two years ago, however, M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu began to print in the "Revue des Deux Mondes" a remarkable study of the New Russia, which has been continued up to the present time, and this has now been supplemented by Mr. Wallace's book. With the aid of these independent authorities it is practicable to trace the actual results of the reforms instituted by Alexander II.

Naturally the first question would direct itself to the position of the enfranchised class, and to the completeness with which the new element has been adjusted to the framework of Muscovite society. On the threshold of this inquiry we are reminded that in the greater part of Russia the dominant and subject classes were of the same race, and that serfdom was of modern origin, having been created by an arbitrary ukase less than three centuries ago, at the precise epoch when similar institutions were disappearing from Western Europe. There was always, therefore, room to doubt whether in principle the ownership of land was vested in the mowjik, or in his master, the boyar, and it is well known that the former was allowed by custom the usufruct of a part of his lord's domain. These circumstances partly account for the equitable provisions which distinguish the Russian plan of manumission from some analogous undertakings.

Not contenting itself with the naked gift of personal freedom, as in the United States, the law has here endowed the liberated class with lands for its support; and we may note further, that not mutilating its favors by leaving the new citizen under the tutelage of his former owner, as in Eastern Prussia before the reform of 1872, it has secured to him local independence by clothing his communal organization with administrative functions. On the other

Russia. By D. MACKENZIE WALLACE. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1877.

hand, it was recognized that the loss of prescriptive rights entitled the boyar to an indemnity, and it seemed reasonable to impose this burden upon those who profited by the social revolution. We should add that the quantity of land conceded to each male peasant in fee was commonly equivalent to the area of which he previously had the usufruct, varying from five to twenty-five acres, according to fertility of soil and density of population, while the indemnity represented with tolerable accuracy the value of the services in kind (corvée), or of the money stipend (obrok) which formerly accrued to the proprietor. For the lands whose purchase devolved on him, the mowjik was as a rule able to pay only in small annual instalments. Hence the necessity of extending the process of liquidation, and consequently, in a strict sense, of emancipation over a long series of years. So long as the peasant has not formally accepted his allotment by completing a first payment, he continues to owe labor or pecuniary tribute to his former lord. The difference is, that these dues are no longer arbitrary, but fixed by local ordinances. According to the "Messager Officiel" the number of quondam serfs subject to this transitory régime is still considerable, amounting, on January 1, 1876, to rather more than a quarter of the whole category in the thirty-seven interior provinces.

Without the financial co-operation of the government it is obvious that such a method of purchase must have been fraught with much embarrassment to the proprietor as well as to the peasant. Accordingly the state advances the sum required, or rather the larger part of it, to all who demand assistance, the terms of reimbursement contemplating forty-nine annual payments. Under this system the instalments of purchase-money which would reluctantly be made over by the enfranchised serf to his former lord are transformed into a species of impost, whose collection is enforced by the civil authority, while to the manifest advantage of the proprietor a private claim is converted into a government bond. The state, in short, has made itself the banker of the two interested parties, and that its aid was an indispensable factor in the scheme of emancipation seems to be demonstrated by results. Out of 5,300,000 male peasants, who in the thirty-seven districts abovenamed have availed themselves of the decree and now own upwards of 50,000,000 of acres, seven eighths required government advances, which already aggregate more than $500,000,000.