ABSTRACT
T H E Alliance with England is the climax of the Revolution. It is not the capital of the column, for the column is not complete. It is a climax, the climax of a unique spectacle ; of a phenomenon, if you like, unexplained, esoteric, inestimable. On the day of the proclamation of the Alliance, the atmosphere in Japan became charged with a new quality. The Japanese breathed a rare, electric, intoxicating air, come down from the skies on the wings of the proclamation. In the Japanese House of Representatives-their House of Commons, such as it is-men reeled, delirious, tonguetied, their speech, if not their breath, for the time being taken away. They then went mad, even as sane men will on a tremendous occasion. The country, in sympathy, also went mad. It feasted riotously and drank deep. The Japanese, you see, have no indigenous or original mode of celebrating a maddening occasion. They say even as we say,—* The gods having visited us, let us fill our bellies and tickle our throats.' The civilisations of East and West meet at some points.
