There can he no doubt that the most spec tacular rise of nationalism in a 19th century state was witnessed in the case of Japan. After having welcomed European adventurers and missionaries in the middle of the 16th century, Japan suddenly turned against the newcomers, murdered them or drove them from her shores and returned to immobility and isolation for three centuries. This artificial aloofness was broken down following 1853 by commercial concessions obtained first by the United States and then by European states. At first, the feudal princes opposed the entry of foreigners and their civilization, but the more far-sighted among them recognized that Japan could hope to compete with the states of Europe and America only by adopting at least the superior mechanical features of their advanced civiliza tion. By the Revolution of 1867-68 and its immediate results, this reforming clement abol ished the Shogunate, brought the Mikado out of an inactive retirement, terminated feudalism, reorganized the army along European lines, and accepted the industrial methods and proc esses which had been produced by a century of economic development in Europe and America. Within a period of less than 42 years Japan passed from a mediaval feudal state to a modern industrial nation, though, as in the case of Germany, this change was limited toothe mechanics rather than the philosophy of mod ern civilization. In no modern star(• is there such an intense devotion to national ideals as is to be found in Japan. The veneration for the past practically reaches a condition of an cestor worship, while patriotism is in a very real sense the official religion of Japan. When to these conditions there is added the abnor mally rapid economic evolution of Japan, it is not difficult to recognize why she has been re garded as the "Germany of the Far East." By successful wars against China (1894-95) and Russia Japan has become the great world power of the Pacific, has acquired im portant territory on the mainland of Asia and has endeavored to erect and maintain a nese "Monroe Doctrine" in China and the Far East. The present-day exponents of interna tionalism seem likely to find Japan the most tenacious adherent to the old order of aggress ive nationalism and imperialism, but it must be frankly admitted that Japan's contact with the diplomacy of the western world could scarcely have taught her that the day of candor, hon esty and generosity has yet arrived in the field of international relations. The rise of the new Japan stimulated the great inert mass of China. Stung by the defeat of their coun try by the microscopic Island Kingdom, the progressive Chinese patriots attempted to guard against another humiliation at the hands of the Japanese by imitating the Japanese adoption of western civilization. While this movement was temporarily obstructed by the reactionary ele ment in the country led by the Dowager Em press, the liberals overthrew the obstructionists by the Revolution of 1911-12, established a Chinese republic and welcomed western indus try and culture. While this remarkable trans formation was too rapidly consummated to re main secure and unchallenged, it has persisted to a remarkable degree in spite of temporary set-backs, and China seems well on her way toward development into a modernized na tional state. In conclusion, it should be noted that no observations on the rise of nationalism in the Far East can ignore the remarkable evi dences of national self-consciousness in Aus tralia and New Zealand which were brought out by the recent World War.
The disastrous °War of the Nations,' which has just ceased, was not only a product of obsessed nationalism, but also brought with it an unprecedented inflation of national egotism and intolerant patriotism. Never before had a general war occurred when the mechanism for disseminating both information and propaganda was so highly developed or so ruthlessly utilized. The slavish eulogy of national culture and his tory and the obscuring of national faults and mistakes, which had been so prevalent in the half century before the war, were as nothing compared with the tryannical censorship and unabashed organizedpropaganda of every state engaged in the conflict. The greater strictness of the German censorship and the more sinister and extensive nature of German propaganda were, no doubt, indicative of the deeper conviction of ultimate guilt on the part of the Teutonic military autocrats, but no warring state escaped from these activities with an enviable record. Each of the opposing groups of powers represented the gigantic con flict as a sort of Persian eschatology—a strug gle between the forces of light and darkness, a clash of the powers of righteousness and iniquity. Within each state an attempt was made to sustain morale by a curbing of all criticism of the °war aims* of the government or its allies and by a carefully planned presen tation acid reiteration of the past and present criminal record of the opposing states. So powerful and all-embracing was this tidal wave of patriotic e-reactions that it engulfed not only t n the street,* but even the most emine ars and publicists, some of whom in the‘ st had seen great virtue in the cultural cola, ex of the enemy. This disheart ening speidatcle doubtless reached its climax in the of the German professors, but in no state were the intellectual classes im mune from the contagion of fervid patriotism, while those who maintained their poise were contemptously derided as "flabby highbrows" by their over-excited colleagues and critics. The
astonishing effect of the wartime patriotism upon the public mind and its stimulating in fluence in creating a super-nationalism has been brilliantly and accurately set forth by Professor Hankins in the 'following citation: "Patriot ism, like nationality, is not readily definable. It signifies loyalty to one's nation and implies the obligation to serve and defend it. It is thus a passion which all normal men feel, and which in time of our country's peril• commands our in stant loyalty. Of all the emotions that move men to action it is the most capacious. When it is aroused there is nd other social force comparable to it in the completeness with which it dominates all other springs of action in all Sorts and conditions of men. It lifts the average man up out of the concerns of a work-a-day world into the noblest spirit of devotion; it quickens the pulse of the sluggard, reforms the wayward, forces generosity from the stingy, arouses the plodder to dreams of heroic deeds, gives courage to the cowardly, and makes the hearts of the shrewd and crafty wolves of society swell with an ostensible love of country. In its face local feuds are for gotten ; the bitter struggles of parties and classes are submerged; differences of creed, of social status, and even of race are obliterated. Under these circumstances only the group leaders may speak. The citizen must offer himself in silence as a willing sacrifice on the altar of his country in whatever manner those in authority may dictate. Even honest criticism is anathema; the conscientious objector, who in times of peace is praised as a courageous man who dares to stand against the world for what he believes right, is denounced as a sneaking coward and herded into prison. The individual rights of free speech, press, and assembly so essential to democratic government, so zealously guarded during peace, and so boastfully dis played to an admiring world on the national holidays, not only cease to exist but are even denounced and proscribed as inimical to the public safety. The noble sentiments of tolera tion are fiercely denounced, as is also individual variation from type which is vigorously de fended during peace under the ideals of indi vidual liberty and initiative. Every social in stitution is brought into line; all organs of public opinion send forth a constant stream of uniform suggestions; the appeal is made through church and lodge and every customary association, until the members of the social group coalesce into a solid sociality that sur passes the fondest imaginings of the utopian Socialist. It is not unnatural that such a titanic social force should stir men's emotional nature to its depths; and especially during war, for war hallows every cause. At such times pa triotism, like a resistless and mysterious genius, fills the entire fabric of society with its magical oti power. Few individuals its enchant ment, and almost no one d k its hostil ity. While it ennobles the s l the sublime spirit of self-sacrifice, it com en to dilute the honesty of their thoughts; s s cowards of all but the most stalwart soul y forcing them to substitute the worse fo he better be higher. Under its guise every sort of sin ister human purpose thrives, for anything which can be made to appear patriotic is in stantly and deeply approved. Any counsel of moderation is pounced upon as enemy propa ganda, while the advocates of internationalism are accused of silly sentimentalism and treason. To encounter a suspicion of lack of patriotism creates a greater defilement than the .violation of an ancient taboo. As in the days of witch craft, suspects are whipped, tarred and feathered or hanged, or like the distinguished list in 'Who's Who in Pacifism and Radicalism> are immolated on the altar of militarism amid the shouts of the mob and the secret glee of the patriots who find the established social system the best of all possible systems. In other words, patriotism gives full sway to fear, unbridles the lusts and brutalities of savage man, in tensifies our innate suggestibility, and subordi nates the mind to every sort of' delusion and deceit. Unfortunately there is no printed guide for the propei• conduct of human affairs, and so deep is the mystery of social processes that only the ignorant and the simple have complete con fidence in their solution of social problems. In times of stress therefore the social mind finds• refuge in those torrents of instinctive emotion which arise from the deepest recesses of human nature and which propel the social group like a rudderless vessel before the ocean winds. Patriotism makes of national thought 'not a cerebration but a contagion, not an activity but an epidemic.> >> When one reflects that it was in the midst of such a psychological setting that the Peace Conference had to carry on its work it need cause little surprise that many of the liberal and generous sentiments expressed by the allied leaders have vanished in thin air and that the result of their work bears very evident tracts of revenge, a lust for spoil, and rampagious nationalism. These de fects, together with the crop of newly emanci pated nations, will furnish enough problems to tax the ingenuity of the statesmen of future generations.