Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/245

 them, and that the results wore an air of some artificiality and confusion. But the Government never faltered. Its confidence remained unshaken by any predictions of danger, and its energy defied any obstacles. Englishmen were employed to superintend the building of railways, the erection of telegraphs, the construction of light-houses, and the organisation of a navy. To Frenchmen was entrusted the work of recasting the laws and training the army in strategy and tactics. Educational affairs, the organisation of a postal service, the improvement of agriculture, and the work of colonisation were supervised by Americans. The teaching of medical science, the compilation of a commercial code, the elaboration of a system of local government, and ultimately the training of military officers were assigned to Germans. For instruction in sculpture and painting Italians were engaged. In short, the Japanese undertook, in the most light-hearted manner possible, to dress themselves in clothes such as they had never worn before and which had been made to fit other people. The spectacle looked strange enough to justify the apprehensions of foreign critics, who asked whether it was possible that so many novelties should be successfully assimilated, or that a nation should adapt itself to systems planned by a motley band of aliens who knew nothing of its character or customs.

The truth is, however, that conservatism was not really required to make such sweeping sacri-