TO THE COMITY OF NATIONS BY BARON ALEXANDER VON SIEBOLD TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CHARLES LOWE, М.А. AUTHOR OF "PRINCE BISMARCK: AN HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY," KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD AUTHOR'S PREFACE THE substance of this little work on the entry of Japan into the comity of European nations has already appeared in the form of a series of articles in the magazine Ost-Asien; and the author thought it right to revise and republish them as a whole, in view of the fact that the opening up of the Japanese Empire had, in the meantime, attracted universal attention to his subject. The following narrative is based on personal observations and recollections extending over six different periods of residence in Japan, between the years 1859 and 1887, but not on official Japanese sources of information, which, unfortunately, have not yet been rendered accessible. The work of a prominent German labourer in the same field, Japan's Volkswirthschaft und Staatshaushalt (The Political V 95972 |