ASSASSINATION OF HOSHI TORU

229

simply because Ito had been obliged to yield to the Russian demand that Japan evacuate Manchuria. Ito, as the foremost statesman of the country, returned to power whenever a serious crisis developed. He had, for example, formed a Cabinet again in the autumn of 1900. In June, 1901, he and his colleagues resigned, presumably because of the difficulties in the financial situation. A new Government was formed by Viscount Katsura.

The assassination of Hoshi Toru, in June, illustrated a peculiar phase of Japanese sentiment. Hoshi Toru was an able politician, the head of the Liberal party, and a member of the Tokyo City Council and of the Council of Education. He was assassinated by a man named Iba Sotaro. The deed was done simply because Iba believed that upon him, as a representative of the best blood of old Japan, devolved the duty of ridding his country of a man who represented the evil principles of machine politics.

Iba was no common assassin, but a man of good position. It was reported that before he went to the commission of his crime he wrote. the following farewell letter to his wife: "Being born of the family of a bushi, a moment has come when it behooves me to consider the welfare of my country. . . . I pray you to think of me as of one seen in a dream. Desiring not to bring any trouble upon you, I now divorce you. Live comfortably at the charges of your son-in-law. Though the house of Iba now falls, I feel that I am not guilty toward my ancestors, for I have achieved my purpose."

The authorities sentenced Iba to hard labor for life. The supposed reason why he was not executed was that death might have martyrized. him in the eyes of the people.

Conditions in Mexico and South America

The peaceful conditions which had existed in Mexico for many years continued during 1901, but some concern was felt over the fact that President Diaz was becoming a very old man. It might soon be necessary to choose his successor. Who could take his place? He had ruled the country not as the constitutional President he ostensibly was, but as a benevolent and beneficent Dictator. It was his well-known theory that the Latin-American peoples were not fit for popular government such as that of the United States. His policy had followed this.

theory; and as long as he lived and retained his mental vigor there. was little likelihood that any considerable class among the Mexicans would oppose him. Much of the prosperity of the country under his administration was due to the spirit in which he welcomed investments of foreign capital.

Two men, both of whom stood high with President Diaz and with the people, were frequently mentioned as possible presidents. One was Jose Yves Limantour, Minister of Finance; the other was General Bernardo Reyes, the leader of the army and a popular idol. The military sentiment that permeated Mexico gave to General Reyes a tremendous support, though the intellectual ability of Señor Limantour was not to be gainsaid.

II

In South America there were many political shifts during the year. President Castro succeeded in holding the reins of authority in Venezuela, despite revolutionary movements that seriously threatened his tenure. His strength lay in the army, which, though poorly cared for and not always paid, on the whole remained faithful to him. When the Revolution broke out President Castro became suspicious of his advisers. He forced one of his Ministers, Señor Velutini, to resign, and imprisoned his Minister of War, General Ramon Guerra, on a charge of conspiracy.

Ecuador saw a change of administration. President Alfaro, whose term of office expired with August, 1901, was succeeded by General Leonidas Plaza. In Chile President Errazuriz was followed in office by Jerman Riesco, who took up the duties of Chief Executive on September 18, having been elected in June.

In Uruguay, during the summer, the outlook was unfavorable for civil peace. The coming fall election seemed certain to be bitterly contested, and there was danger that the results would lead to revolution. As a protective measure the President added two regiments to the army. The two political parties, the Colorados and the Blancos, finally came to an agreement by which the political color of the Chambers was to remain substantially as it was. After this compromise the elections were held without incident, the majority of the electors remaining away from the polls, since their leaders had ordained the

outcome.

W

a

THE NEW RULER OF AFGHANISTAN

231

there a

Change in Asiatic Government

A change of some importance in a rather important Asiatic Government was the death in September of Abdur Rahman, the Amir of Afghanistan, and the accession of his eldest son, Habibullah Khan. The country, a buffer between Russian Turkestan on the North and British India on the South, was not enviably placed, but Abdur Rahman, in a reign of twenty years, had done much to give it prosperity and make its institutions stable. He was one of the few rulers who wrote autobiographies and published them during their lifetimes -perhaps he was the only ruler who ever did such a thing, most Oriental potentates, especially, having been willing to leave the world to decipher their biographies in the hieroglyphs cut by the sword. Abdur Rahman's autobiography, taken with a grain of salt in those pages where personal vanity has a chance to show itself, furnishes an interesting and probably on the whole an accurate picture, of the career of a fairly progressive Oriental monarch.

In his early life Abdur Rahman was involved in the dynastic struggles that were then raging in Afghanistan. On the defeat of the party to which he was attached he went to Turkestan, living as a Russian pensioner until 1880, when he was named by Great Britain to take the vacant Afghan throne. Able, energetic, forceful, he brought order out of disorder, crushed all opposition to his rule, organized an efficient army, and gave a new impetus to industry. His ambition was, doubtless, to free himself from both British and Russian influence, but he had the wisdom to accept the existing diplomatic status and to make. no trouble between the two Powers.

Habibullah Khan, the new Amir, had been carefully trained to the work of government, and he entered upon his duties with a sure hand, giving promise of liberalizing his country's institutions just as far as would be safe. Fortunately none of the various claimants to the throne was strong enough to cause him much concern. He at once raised the pay of the army and invited the return of Afghan exiles. A broader trade policy was reported to be under consideration before the end of the year,

PART II.

CHAPTER I

THE WORK OF THE EXPLORER

A comparison of the map of the world as known in 1801 with the map of 1901 shows in an instant how extensive were the geographical achievements of the Nineteenth Century. The coasts of the continents. had been quite carefully outlined by the earlier date. The topography of Europe and of the eastern part of North America was pretty well known. For the rest, the interior regions of the continents were either mapped out roughly from the records of occasional or unscientific travelers, or were blank spaces, concerning which no information had been gathered. One hundred years later the blank spaces had shrunk to almost negligible proportions. There were still many extensive tracts which had been only partly explored and some regions of which almost nothing was known, but the great bulk of the work of geographical exploration had been done, and done well, by men who had undergone hardships and suffering in order to contribute a little to man's knowledge of his environment. The least known regions were now the polar caps.

The impelling motive of exploration has been human need. To find new deposits of natural wealth, to extend the ramifications of trade, to occupy new tracts for settlement-these are the rational objects of exploration. Some phases of the movement, however, have no other object than the gratification of scientific curiosity. It has long been recognized that virtually the only advantage in discovering the North Pole would be to round out the sum of geographical knowledge; and yet the attacks upon the polar ice, made of late years by Peary, Nansen, and Abruzzi in the North, and by various expeditions in the South, have attracted more popular attention than the useful work, say, of Sven Hedin in Central Asia or of the Princeton University expedition in Southern Patagonia,